Would those that bought it say it was worth the upgrade price? If I want to get it, I have to scrape and grovel at my benefactor's feet, sooooo... do you think I should? s Honestly, I really would like to know if those who are now demonstrating its use feel it was worth it or should I wait for an update to 5?

Well it is upgraded to 5 now, that is the new one. Yes, I think it is worth the upgrade price. Sharen:)

I personally haven't had any problems with it. Now that it has vegetation, I think that it was very worth it. Of course, I got it for $99 at CompUSA. And I'm not sure what it is, but the renders are a little different now. Much better. I could never quite get that photoreal look before. Now I think that I can, and with a lot less work. Plus throw in the soft shadows, color gradients on the lights, some very nice new volumetric presets (which I have been abusing lately, lol!), the new render settings (DOF, blurred reflections, the ability to choose the number of rays per pixel, etc., etc.), and so much more. I think it was waaaaaay worth it! If you get it I don't think that you will be disappointed. ;-)

I bought mine at Comp Usa for $99 also. Considering the new features. Soft shadows New lighting editor, Including gradients Metaballs Very high quality rendering(slow but great) Depth of field Blurry transmissions Blurred reflections Rays per pixel choice Ray depth Tree Lab Improved terrain editor Higher resolution terrains And a few other features I can remember right now Yes I would say get it! I'm very satisfied with the upgrade now, sure it could always be better, but for the price I can't complain right now. Good luck kaom

Thank you for the feedback. This will help in, hopefully, convincing my benefactor I need this.

Considering what a person might spend on buying a new character and some clothes or props and for the same price get metaballs, 60 trees plus the ability to redesign the 60 plus all the other things mentioned above by kaom. Yes, I'm happy with the upgrade.