It all depends on what your trying to accompolish with your 3D efforts. For a landscape scene designer, it really can't be beat for the price. If you're looking for a modelling application I would suggest Carrara, Bryce's distant cousin. Right now you can get Carrara, Amapi 5 and all the plugins for Carrara for $399 from eovia.com. But if a basic all around 3D program is what your after you will like Bryce 5. Again, it all depends on what your after.There are a lot of 3D tools out there for different purposes. I personally use Bryce strictly for Landscaping and abstract stuff, Carrara for scene building and modelling and Rhino for detailed precise modeling. I hope I havn't further confused you. Good Luck in your quest! kaom