I'm going to buy one of these three as a gift for a young artist and am trying to figure out which would be easiest for her to learn. She's never worked in 3D before. Any opinions? Thanks in advance.

Worldbuilder is pretty hard to learn, it's aimed at professionals (much more expensive as well). At least the last version (2.2) was, haven't tried version 3. Bryce 5 isn't out yet but I'm pretty sure it will be quite like version 4 and that's pretty easy, it has a weird non-standard interface though. I would say Vue 4 is the easiest of the bunch with an easy to understand interface, ready to use vegetation and so on... Just my 2 cents (or euros ;) /Jesper

World Builder V3 has come way down in price. ($299, last I heard) but it DOES have a fairly complex user interface, geared less toward artists and more toward tech people (architects, engineers, etc...) As was said, Bryce 5 isn't out yet, but I expect it to be a significant improvement over Bryce 4. Just remember, When you're dealing with Corel (makers of Bryce 5) you and expect service that's second to all! I have to say as an artist, that Vue4 is a blast! The amount of gratification is so high compared to the amount of effort. Vue4 IS having a few teething problems (typical of new software) but E-On's tech support has been first class, and I expect the problems to be resolved very quickly. -SMT

$399 for the standard version of WB3 isn't it? $299 is the upgrade price? It does give spectacular results though but with a much steeper learning curve. Expect to invest much more time in WB3 to get results... /J

Attached Link: http://www.digi-element.com

This is from a thread over on the Poser forum: "The sale price of $299.00 is only for orders via Digital Element. On the site price is set to $399, but they plan to sell it for $299 till July 1st for those have wish in on this offer. Be sure to contact fast! :)"

Yeah but when I visit the site I see nothing about this offer. When I choose buy I get the regular $399 price (not that I'm going to buy it). Never mind, might be looking in the wrong place then... :) /J

I actually would recommend Bryce for a first time user...I don't think Vue is artist designed...Bryce has more of an inuitive interface, more artistically designed...don't want to start a flame fest...because I love Vue... That being said...price might also affect your judgement: Bryce 5 is retailed at $309, though you might be able to find it for a more reasonable price...around $200 maybe Vue4 is $199 And as said WB is $299 for the standard edition I definetly wouldn't recommend WB. Either Vue4 or Bryce5, you could also go for Vue3.1 or Bryce 4, which would be $189 for Vue3.1 and Bryce 4 for $199 Cheers! Nick

Well, I would recommend Vue for anyone, really. If she's new to 3D , then the Vue 4 interface might be a good place to start for yet another reason, and that is, most of the 3D modeling programs that aren't trying to be radical, and as far as I can tell, all of the pro 3D modelers have that 4 viewport interface. So it might be good for her in the long run, if she sticks with it, to get used to it now, from the beginning. I like Bryce and I actually like Bryc'es interface. There are a few things about it that bug me, but I love the trackball camera. Well, Vue 4 now has an optional trackball camera. :) Hope this helps!

Also, the control that Vue offers over creating materials for texturing is just simply awesome.

Thanks all for your input. You've helped me decide (at least until something else comes up). Thanks again.

Vue is definitely the way to go... Bryce is a little harder...

The problem with Vue 4 is that it would appear to be unstable. People continue to talk about crashes. Nothing is more frustrating to a newbie in 3D then crashes. If they work for hours on something only to lose it in a crash they will leave that software and not come back. Bryce 4 was fairly easy for most people even novices to begin to work in and it was fairly stable. I don't know if version 5 will continue to be that way. The only problem with it was it created sterile scenes, i.e. no vegetation. If version 5 carries over that stability then I would suggest that program. But it just came out and I think its too early to tell. Best to check the boards there. Vue 4 is to unstable for a newbie. If you can get a legit copy of Vue 3.1 that would be a better choice in my opinion. WB has too steep of a learning curve for a newbie.

Vue 4 is the best. Even If anyone is new to 3D, they'll be can create stunning scenes in a matter of mins.

Vue 4 is the best, thats true. It might is unstable in Version 4.0 but if you get the free (for thoose who have bougt an version of vue will be registered users) upgrade, version 4.1 or higher, i promise that it will be stable...it did really work for me. Bryce i slow on redendering and the results doesn't look real, vue 4's results is much better. Bryce 5 is even slower...

Hi there Though I am new to Vue and Bryce but from what you guys has put under this section to compare Vue 4, Bryce & world builder, that fail to address the key features or advantage over one another and this is hard to convince new user to help to make decision on which software to buy.. hope someone can highlight!! thanks Regards Ed

Whatever. Look above click cool and groovy stuff. This topic has been beat to death and it just keeps coming up. I tried them all I own most of them. If I was giving a gift I would give Vue. It is by far the best place to start.

One thing for sure if Vue and Bryce had been available since Bryce 1 was made we would not even be having this discussion. Bryce would have long since disappeared, The only reason it got so popular in the first place (Bryce)is it was the only program available at one time for a reasonable price that could do a decent render. It was easier to learn than the text based POV Ray. The next version from Coral will be interesting in that they will eather fix it up properly and make it work or it will die and go to software heaven. It will be the first version that Coral will be completly be in control in making. They have a hell of a lot of catching up to do, and I personally don't think they can catch up. They'll have to draw the line somewhere on features and price and I don't think they'll do it.The program will end up being too expensive. There is just so much competition out there right now. Everyone makes a ray tracing program. Time to brake out the climbing gear cause that mountain is growing. I wish them luck. I think Metacreations realized that they could not continue developing Bryce without a fundimental change in direction and that direction was a very expensive road. They dumped it when the time was right. Coral just has yet to realize that.

Hi MightyPete I agree with your opinion.. 'cos to me the most I look at Corel. if you realized that you look at thier product lines. They don't really position themselves in 3D industry and I wonder weather they are really intend to spend more money in R & D to further develop the Bryce program to compete this highly competitve market. As a user that we have invest our money into the program, this is important to consider the further development of the program likely to be.. Corel has made many buy-over on some other product like Macrografix (Layout and CAD program) but how well can they do in making the future potential of this product. Since they don't have the experiences in the 3D industry. Regards Ed

Like your right and I'm not trying to trash Corel there a great company and have some great products but Bryce needs to be rewritten from the ground up so what on earth did they purchase? A name? Now they have to make a profit. Now if they rewrite the entire product I'm sure older files will stop working, and that right now is one of the only reasons people own Bryce is because of the vast libraries of stuff they have collected over the years for it. Cut that all out and your devoted following will have some really hard decisions to make. Like what can they add to Bryce to keep people buying it? Plants like Vue? That's soild growth is patented and I'm sure E-On is just waiting for somebody to try to offer a similar idea in there product. So doing plants and trees right now is a big big problem for 3d guys. How to keep it different enough as to not infringe on E-On's protected idea. That's going to be hard to do. Think about it. I would not want to be the programmer that is given the task to try to come up with a idea that will work around it. Like there is ways of doing it. Lots of meshes or flat picture trees like World Craft.I'd say Bryce has almost reached it limit of what can be done really in it's present form. Sure they can add some stuff and improve there code. Lets not forget everyone points out how bug laden Vue 4 is but seem to forget the offical version right now is 4.1 If you don't think so write E-On and ask them how to fix something in 4.0 and you are going to get no where. It's already been taken care of. Bugs that are in Bryce 2 are still in the latest version. What's up with that? I'm not saying that even 4.1 is completly bug free but I haven't found any that get in my way when I do stuff with the program. I'm sure there is still some. The product Bryce cannot be justified by it's price. It's overpriced right now. Z Brush is cheaper and it has many many advantages over Bryce. Mojoworld it catching up real fast and it's going to pass them real soon. Like all the cool stuff in Bryce right now is also already available in Mojoworlds new version 2.0 Like I'm sure Bryce will not go away anytime to soon but I bet Coral gets rid of it to somebody else as soon as they realize that they made a mistake. Personally I'd like to see it succeed and I'd buy it if there was a reason to buy it but I don't see any reason to purchase it right now. So if you see me in the future with Bryce it's going to be one powerful program for sure. That's not the case right now. It not the best tool for the job at hand. Maybe some day but not in it's present form.

I started in graphics on Bryce 3, and have Bryce 4 and 5, and I have Vue 4 with 4.1 update. There are positives and negatives about both programs. I can't speak to Worldbuilder, as I've never tried it. One big difference I see in Vue and Bryce is the learning curve. It took me months (and finally online voice lessons from a friend) to figure out the interface of Bryce and understand the basics of the program. The learning curve for Vue is almost flat; it is a very easy program to learn the basics with. That said, both of the programs, imvho, offer the ability to do photorealism, abstracts, and all sorts of other stuff. Although I find that I can do more precise modeling in Bryce that is difficult to do in Vue. But Vue doesn't advertise itself as a modeler. Most folks who model and then render in Vue use another program for the modeling. I find the atmosphere in Vue easier to cope with and understand than the atmosphere editor in Bryce, but then Bryce has the Deep Texture Editor which allows for very complex materials and textures. However, the Vue material editor is more simple to understand and use. There are also a great many Bryce resources out on the net, just because it has been around longer. One reason I tend to use Vue more these days, is the Poser import. Rather than import as obj or 3ds into Bryce, then have to apply textures a bit at a time, I can save a figure (or prop) as a Poser file and then import it directly into Poser. Some tweaking may be called for, but it's much much easier. The Vue plant generator is pretty nifty. The one thing that bugs me is that aside from the Vue plants and trees that come with the program, and the few that are offered for free (and most for additional cost) at Eon, there doesn't seem to be interest at Eon in providing more. Most of my vegetation/flowers come from 3rd parties. Bryce's tree generator was a brilliant idea, but I don't think it was ready for prime time. Even with my 1G Athlon, 512 Ram, the plant generator/editor will sometimes hang my machine, and I can get some real strange effects at times, like pieces missing out of the trees. So I probably haven't answered your question...just confused you more. Basically, I use Bryce for some things, Vue for others. I do think Vue can give softer looks to renders, and Bryce can do abstracts extremely well, as well as give a harder edge to renders. Just depends on what you're looking for. Anyway, I use both products, and would really hate to give up either of them.

Hi Djeser :) Thanks for your comment on both products as the very user side.. If I going to ask what is the product that provide the most features riched. Can you highlight.... Thank you Edmund

Hi Edmund, I'm afraid I don't understand exactly what you mean by "features riched". Could you explain what you are looking for?

Attached Link: http://market.renderosity.com/%7Evue/compare.html

Mindways. I don't know if you found this yet but I'll post the link here. This discussion has been going on forever. There is no perfect answer. All programs have advantages and disadvantages. It all depends what you want to do. Like look at the output that people have made with the programs. Like bryce blows me away what people have created with it but there is very few people out there that actually mastered it. A lot more people have mastered Vue. One reason is it's easier to learn. Download the demos is the best way to see for yourself I guess. It's hard to tell though with the demos. The programs are better than the demos.

Attached Link: http://brycevsvue.netfirms.com/

Yet one more comparison. If your still reading this then do yourself a favor and just buy them both.....:)

Attached Link: http://millimeter.com/ar/video_build_own/index.htm

Are you still reading? This review covers them all pretty much in the prestigious Millimeter Magazine...

Attached Link: http://www.graphinc.com/presentationvue4.htm

I'll add the link here so it does not get lost. A french review of Vue d'Esprit by Cenderic: I made a french review for Vue d'Esprit. Hope some people will discover what is really this program with this little presentation : http://www.graphinc.com/presentationvue4.htm ced@graphinc.com

WB has an ugly user interface in my opinion - its primitive and hard to come to grips with like mid 90s versions of Autocad for Windows 3.1 (thats what it reminds me of!) - both Bryce and Vue are way ahead on user friendliness. Both Vue and Bryce have gorgeous procedural textures but Vue it seems to me has the edge on user control and fine tuning of these things. (Not something you pick up straight away.)

My subjective opinion is real simple - I got Vue because Bryce renders look like Bryce renders whereas Vue has the potential to look more realistic if that is what you are after. Don't get me wrong - Bryce renders do look gorgeous in their own way but they are kinda too clean and too metallic looking if you ask me - if you examine a bunch of landscape renders you can usually pick the Bryce ones - to me that didn't seem a good thing. (Sorry - told you it was a subjective opinion.)