I don't use bryce now beyond the render. More importantly I never turn on bryce and get inspired - my starting point now is to model something and take it from there
 There are those events in your life -  9/11, death of Princess of Wales, birth of my daughter and Bryce which stick with you.
I've lokked at C4d, Vue amongst many others (octane) and am taking a serious glance at terragen.
Someone talk me round!

Play with the Bryce betas until it become an upgrade.. If you still don't think it is worth it... then you'll know what to do....

Go back & remember why you came to Bryce the first time.

Look at your FAV artists galleries.....and your own.

There's a long learning curve to some software, and I like to come back to Bryce because I know it so well.

Wherever you land, Have Fun!!

Hang in there man...when true instancing is implemented Bryce will, IMO, be the equal of terragen or vue, if not better.. ...

we love you lots.. ain't that enough to stick to bryce? Follow your heart..

i've downloaded the vue trial version to see if i like it... I love terragen.. but bryce has this irritating way of getting under your skin and staying there.

bryce 7 will get you back.. fear not.. stick around for that. like tom said..play around with the betas.. stick around for the upgrade...then decide if you want to change.. take it stage by stage.

I, too, have tried other programs.
I love Terragen because I can make such fantastic skies in it.
And terrains, ofcourse.
But I will always keep Bryce, no matter what fantastic other programs there are.
For me it's the easiest program to make what I want.
As the others say:
Hang in there and you will be happy you did. :-)

Corrie

I dont see why you would have to abandon Bryce all together you can use Bryce along side other programs.

I like to play around with whatever software I can get my hands on - but still love Bryce the most.  Having said that, there are indeed other good proggies and you should use the one that feels right to you.

I actually started out with Terragen (it was free)...but the lack of vegetation, import/export (v.84, I think) etc., made Bryce worth getting...back when I had money...;)

I still tinker with Bryce and do use it's terrains in some of my C4D work. I have also rendered trees and used the images on alopha mapped placards in C4D. Bryce is still one of my tools is what I am trying to say.

I agree with what’s being said. No need to walk away from it altogether when it should be considered as part of your tool set. Bryce, like all other 3D packages, is not the end all of all 3D programs. I use several and enjoy them all to the extent that they can provide me with what I’m looking for when trying to accomplish the end results.

Well thanks gang

Airflamesred,
Use whatever you ENJOY using :)
Ok if Bryce doesn't have Vue's ability, you can do a hell of a lot using postwork, composition and "working smarter" in bryce to do stuff.

See martin Murphy's stuff from 10 years ago in bryce to see what I mean! :)

But try various different apps, ***work with whatever one is pleasant to use. That is the real important thing!
Doesn't matter if it's Bryce or Maya, a tool is no damn use if you hate using it and gain no pleasure from it (unless of course, it puts bread on the table)

***I can't stand Cinema4D ugh, interface form hell, 3DMAX is soemwhat better btu still f'ugly and no fun to use (amazing cabailities IF you buy plugins and costs too much anyway), Lightwave is I find the easiest of that "class" to use and affordable,, Maya I havne't tried but heard it's anotehr "arcane, geek desigined UI from hell" hehe

terragen makes awesome landscapes and..that's about it. 

though I haven't used Bryce In ages I did enjoy using it and would recommend folk try it.

Currently I use Vue infinite8, Rhino4 (and Maxwell renderer v1 can't afford upgrading that alas), Poser 8 (omg I still don't know that much really about Poser6, but hey cheap upgrade prices at sales can't be argued with especially cause Poser8 finally has a decent library system!), Photoshop CS4 Extended (another upgrade, friggin' HATE Adobe for their prices, but Photoshop really is damn good, postwork is essential), and still using Paint Shop Pro (X2, PSP has some abilities photoshop lacks, and is nice to use), UVMapper Pro (had that for ages, still awesome), and Particle Illusion (sweetest way to add SFXs in post, ever!)

sign up for EVERY newsletter for apps/plugins you are interested in, you can save tons when they do special sales or competitions.

other thingsto try are 3DCoat and Zbrush, ok zbrush "z sphere" modelling is AMAZING, but I despise Zbrush's interface, and want ot sit down and learn3DCoat one day (same with Lightwave, never enough time to learn 'em, sigh)

current scene I'm working on in Vue, still lots to do :)