Professional -vs- Amatuer also speaks directly to the heart of the matter... I have been using 3DSMax for about 6 years, though this has been using 3D for architectual visualization, not artistic per-se. I have been paid for this ie. -professional. not better than amatuer, but deadlines definitely trump art in my work! As such render time is VERY important! In 1995 I was retired prematurely due to Multiple Sclerosis, and bought Max from my employer. I am an amatuer as an artist and bought Bryce and Poser et. al. for a hobby, hoping one day to get paid, at that time I'll probably use Max for rendering. Unless Bryce does improves dramatically of course. Bryce creates wonderful skies to use in Max as tiled skydome materials, by the way. Bryce doesn't cost much and is worth it for that alone. But I also purchased Lightscape a couple day's ago. Once you've had true radiosity it's hard to go back! Bryce has a chance at competing with Lightscape. But if you are comparing Bryce to Max, Maya, and Lightwave. forget about it! I am sure Corel doesn't try to measure themselves and Bryce against these 3D dev/animation systems. I would have loved for Bryce 5 to support rendering enhancements similar to lightscape because I love the Bryce UI. And HATE the Lightsacpe one. Not to mention price (Lightscape cost $495.00) Bryce renders are not the best or the fastest, as a former Pro I don't plan to upgrade. ... but the aspiring artist in me probably will eventually anyway! I don't want to fan any flames here. But if there are people who read posts here hoping to make an informed buying descision. ALL opinions have some value...