Hi Silgrin,

Daz has over the years acquired different packages, Bryce from MetaCreations and Carrara from Eovea (SP?)

Poser in my opinion is for modeling humans and creatures is what I've used it in the past.  I stopped using Poser around version 4.0  Just not my thing.

Bryce is looked at as this terrain, sky water render software, but it can do a lot more and has matured over the years, the great interface comes from MetaCreation days.  But you can do a lot with it.  The price is great, and although I dont use it as much or to its full potential I've upgraded to the latest edition.  I like supporting software that I like.

Carrara is just amazing, I can maybe use 1% of what it is capable of.  I can easily animate and you can quickly create some neat effects with the physics engine without knowing much about it.

3D Magazines time to time include free copies of both with coupons to upgrade towards new versions.

Thats how I started my upgrade path to the latest versions.