Attached Link: Poser Based Sky Domes

I think [ Daz3D's Bryce 5.5](http://www.download.com/Bryce/3000-6677_4-10696716.html?tag=lst-1) is your best start!  It's not quite Vue, but for Free; you will get over Vue's learning curve, for a while!

If you do decide to go with Vue, make sure you get a version that can Export Skies(only Infinite and XStream.)  An exported Sky is a sky that has been transformed into a Map, that is meant to be textured onto a Sphere; or more appropriately a Sky Dome.  Is Sky Dome is how Vue, and Bryce opperate; it's the shape of the scene, a it's outer edges.  WHen this Sphere is mapped, properly, what you see looks like a normal 2D background; but actually it is the inside of a sphere you are really looking at.