ah, a fellow haggis basher!! ;)

 

as folk say, yes try the Vue 10.5 PLE version, it has all the bells and whistles, just adds a "watermark" to renders

The higher end versions of Vue are expensive, so yeah very important ot "try before buy"

there's some really nice 2D apps, "Painter" is, unsurprsingly, the best "natural art" app, and Photoshop the more "wide variety of tasks"
lot of 3D work is improved, effects added etc in Photoshop
Paintshop Pro is much like Photoshop and can be used ot paint etc.

get a Graphire or Intuos graphics tablet with a good 2D app and you can still paint on the computer ;)
I can't draw worth a damn so I use 3D as I can envision scenes/lighting etc

 

Other apps to look at are Bryce (free, over on DAZ3D) it's very like Vue but not as "powerful".

Mojoworld, quirky but creates awesome alien/scifi vistas

Zbrush, 3DCat and Mudbox (all are sort of 3D modelling/object painting tools, I preffer 3Dcoat)

 

3DMAX and Maya are the "big boys" in 3D art, veeeery expensive but have PLE versions too, lightwave is similar but not so expensive

 

My site, Geekatplay, Quadspinner, AsilFX have lots of tutorials on Vue.

have fun! :)

 

"I'd rather be a Fool who believes in Dragons, Than a King who believes in Nothing!" www.silverblades-suitcase.com
Free tutorials, Vue & Bryce materials, Bryce Skies, models, D&D items, stories.
Tutorials on Poser imports to Vue/Bryce, Postwork, Vue rendering/lighting, etc etc!