How does Bryce 5 compare with Vue d'Sprit 4? (Including ease of use, render quality, render time, features, etc.)

I've been a long time Bryce'er, waiting still for my ver. 5 but I'm on top of what it can do. I've had Vue for about a week now. If I had to choose, and by all rights everyone's got an opinion, I'd probably pick Vue -- but that's at this stage at where I'm at with digital artistry in general. I like the split windows. I like seeing TOP, SIDE, etc., in one shot. Bryce has some nice advantages -- for materials, I think Bryce has a number that outdo Vue's presets. The deep texture editor in Bryce is great, but I haven't gotten that far into it yet. Bryce has network rendering now, Vue doesn't. Bryce's tree lab gives you good control over the trees you make, but overall I think Vue's vegetation implementation is better and diverse. The lighting is easier to handle in Vue, and has lens flares, motion blurs, depth of field, etc. It also will import from poser directly (no exporting from poser needed). That's huge -- there's no reason why Bryce shouldn't have had that. As for rendering quality, I've heard arguments both ways. I think Bryce has a larger user base, but I've seen some incredible Vue imagery. The thing I've liked about it so far is that there is a ton of complete scenes on the vue cd. Virtually all of the vue 4 PR images and first Vue 4 images in their gallery are on the CD, so it's easy to check 'em out. Hopefully I'll have more to say about Bryce 5 when it arrives. -Brian

I don't want to offend anyone, so I will choose my words as carefully as I can.... I have been a very long time user of Bryce, I was sent a picture from someone who was using Vue, I was totally amazed at the rendering of the picture, that is what first caught my eye. I didn't want to give up on Byrce because I had become devoted to that software. I decided that all I could do was look and read alot about Vue and I decided to also download the demo of Vue, which can be found on www.e-onsoftware.com. At first it was strange to get use to because the interface is different than Bryce, but within a few hours of play time with it and invetigating it, I felt right at ease and found it quiet easy to manipulte. I did fall in love with it though over about 2 weeks of investigation. I visited the Vue forum and asked alot of questions, and received great answers that were not prejudice in any way, but did answer my questions. I did decide to also get the Bryce 5 upgrade, because of my loyalty to Byrce.....I have to say I was greatly disappointed in the upgrade. I still like many of it's features and still like it in general, but if I were to have to make a choice between the two, Vue would win hands down. You need to speak with MikeJ or Varien over at the Vue forum, they can guide you along, and they will not sway you over,they will give you answers so that you can make a fair choice that is right for you. Sharen

You should wait till they have a demo out and try it for yourself. Both programs are comparable, Bryce does better at some things Vue does better at others. Vue 4 has a ton of problems right now seems no one is able to run it without bugs shutting it down. Perhaps waiting until a demo is out or until Vue fixes all those bugs. Bryce is rock steady. I would suggest to go through all the Galleries online for both programs check what it is you are looking to do with your art. See which one most suits your style and needs, I personally feel Vue limits one to a certain type of image though it does those images very well it seems to handcuff the artist. I also believe with this new update Bryce will be vue'd :) as a mid level renderer now instead of low end. You will start seeing Bryce renders on the highend websites like raph.com. If you download the Bryce 4 demo Bryce 5 is very much like it, except it has trees and options that enhance its Renders (depth of field, optics, super high ray per pixel, multible undos. (actually when you think of it Bryce 5 is like a refined Bryce 4 with trees). Power and versitility vs. ease of use and speed

Thanks very much for the input. How does Vue handle animation compared with Bryce?

Also, what about rendering time? Which is faster? And how much faster? Thanks!

You need to go to Vue to get accurate answers to your questions. Hope this helps you.....Sharen

Sharen, I have asked this same question on the Vue Forum, but no replies yet. But I am interested in hearing from those who have used Bryce 5 (or 4) and Vue 4. I own Bryce 4 (started with Bryce 3) and understand what it's about, but have just heard of Vue. I would really like to hear about how Bryce's animation ability compares with Vue's overall. Animation is very important to me - I'm not so interested in still images. Also, comparisons in render time would be helpful - Bryce takes a LONG time... Thanks for any info.

I was just checking out e-on's site again. When you're looking at the VUE 4 features, the page that has '40% increase in speed' (or something like that) info has a thumbnail of their test project and a table of the rendertimes between Vue 2, 3, and 4. What I didn't see was the size of the rendered image. And I'm not sure if the figures are hours/minutes or minutes/seconds but it would be hours/minutes in English but that's a French site. Done on a 900mz Athlon. So (bear with me here) I realize my machine renders at about 1/5th to 1/6th the speed of 900mz Athlon (PPII 450 and I've checked render benchmark times for Bryce). So that image, under Vue 4 would take my machine 25 to 30 hours. I know Bryce very well, and doing a similar scene would not take that long. Of course...it MIGHT mean 25 to 30 minutes!! LOL in which case it would be faster than Bryce because that image would take me about an hour or more in Bryce at 640x480. I bought Vue 2 but it was so slow rendering I stopped using it. So it's good they speeded it up and it may very well be faster than Bryce...depends totally on what those figures are on that page. Sorry for the long post. Spit

Well I own both and I like both for different reasons. The demo for Vue 4 will be out in sept. right now you can download a demo of Vue 3. I am still playing with both right now, and to tell the truth I am trying to do the same image in both to compare programs for my own knowledge. I like the vegetation in Vue much better. The tree lab is fun but as far as I have found the trees aren't as realistic looking.The new atmosphere editor in Vue makes some beautiful skies(I also find it easier to place the sun in Vue)I know I have mentioned Vue more but I really like both programs,but Vues improvements were more dramatic,IMHO. You can ask me any questions you want and I will see if I can give an answer. Marge

Again, thanks all. I still haven't heard from anyone re: animation. The process by which Bryce 4 creates animation does not seem extremely intuitive to me. How does it compare to Vue 4? Does Vue 4 have any plug-ins? (Bryce 4 has KPT3, which is fun) Also, how does Vue import images compared to Bryce? Can Vue 4 do anything with Hash AM objects?

Vue's import of images is almost like Byrce, same consept, but Bryce's image importer is a little better smoother to use. I use alot of images in my projects, so that was important to me...but like anything else to say it is easy only because you use it alot and it seems easy. I like both my software, as far as animation, I really think Vue's is easier to manipulate, but the rendering time seems about the same. I tested both lastnight. Sharen

Vue has no plugins that I know of. Vue has an animation wizard. As for the rest I wish I could be more help but I don't do animations. Let me check around though because it seems to me that someone I know from Big-i.com has used both for animation. Marge