Ooops sorry yes forgot to mention Carrara 8 Beta.

I got an awesome deal going from 5 to 6Pro, but the prices to upgrade from 6 to 7 havent come down.  I think once 8 comes out than 6 to 7 will be cheaper.

They have a couple of video previews for the 8 Beta and Its impressive.

The one clip shows a cloth being droped over a few cubes and it drapes the cubes like a real cloth.

Its amazing what you can do on a desktop.

I remember back on the days of the Commodore Amiga, it would take 48 hours or more to render a 320x200 resolution scene made of just a brick wall an a couple of glass spheres. :)

Its pretty neat what can be achieved with Bryce, and the machine doesnt have to be super powerfull.

I remember the early CG Days where everything was animated with simple geometric shapes the body, legs and head made of triangles, cones and spheres.

Now you got Poser and at the comfort of your desk you can produce something that would take a building of MainFrames to render.