Bryce is an excellent piece of imaging software.  I have just rejoined under another name, having not been around for probably seven years or so, and my previous gallery can be seen under the user name of MikeArizma.  My real name is Walt Bagley.  My work was done using both Poser and Bryce, with all my renders done in Bryce, with a tiny bit of work done using another art program (for streaking out hair and some touchups for the most part).

I love fantasy artwork mostly, adding realism to the mix, and used to work in oils and acrylics before I discovered what could be done in CG.  While here, I met a lot of folks, did quite a few tutorials for individuals and won some contests, including three of the writing contests they held back in the day.  We developed a world, too, which I was fortunate enough to name, called Terre kindre, and we added both graphics and writing to create a continuous story in which quite a few participated.  Most of us used Bryce for our rendering engine.  I joined that group because my images each have captions, some for my own fantasy adventures and some to add a bit of humor to my old "Primitive Man" seriies of images.  Six of my images were used at a Siggraph convention one year, which was quite flattering for me.  The Poser folks showed them, even as they were all Bryce renderings. 

To some novices, Bryce might just render out a series of plainly textured terrains that seem difficult to make look fairly real, but all it takes is a little experimentation, sometimes creating one's own devised textures, or cleverly combined textures, in order to eventually develop lands that can become serious artwork.  Once one becomes fairly proficient, stepping out of the box and freeing him or herself from the standard use of the tools, great pieces of work can be accomplished.  Bryce is, and has been for a very long time, an open platform that allows for a significant degree of complexity that can sometimes baffle the newbies who wonder how far they can go.  There are few limits, actually.  Back then, artists who used other platforms would constantly argue over which was the best, and most all were actually quite good.  My take was always that most platforms can bring forth quite an array of really good stuff once the artist, or promising artist, begins to use the imagination and is willing to experiment.  For me, Bryce and Poser alike were quite intuitive programs, so I preferred those.  I developed my own particular textures that I kept to myself, only telling those who asked how I made them by telling them to experiment and mix ones for the various aspects that are important.  I forget now the names of the various stages of development, because I haven't used these programs for those seven or so years, but I do know that ordinary, sometimes plain textures that are either provided or found on the Internet can be made into more complex ones, making an ordinary slope into one filled with many shapes and interesting colors, with little shadow areas and the pits and cracks that are found in natural terrains.  I always wanted to keep my images in the fantasy realm, so that was my mindset when I did my creations, including the types of terrain I developed.

Using Bryce, one can develop spaceships, buildings and any sort of structure that can be imagined, and the textures available can certainly turn those into great pieces for satisfactory, and satisfying, artwork.  Adding Poser, at least for me, gave me all I needed for my own satisfaction, and my artwork has been bought, displayed in printed form and some even used by a teacher at a high school.  A guy who was moving to England bought a large series of prints for display at his large home, which he said was a mansion, because he was among those who delighted in my particular style.  And, once you become proficient in using the tools, you will all develop your own style.  It is great when that happens, because then your work can be recognized before anyone views your name.  With plenty of practice, experimentation and enough talent to let you see what you want before you begin, you can take this program, adding Poser if you wish, and become almost as recognizable as Frazetta and others in the less-than-digital world. 

Bryce can help you to find your way into the realm of more advanced graphics, and all it takes is a lot of developed skills that can take a relatively simple structure and turn it into something fantastic.  I love the program myself.  Just the terrain and those primitive shapes, and the ability to extrude, to bend and to erase various parts of other parts--all the tools that come with the program--can turn into things many might not realize are possible.  Even if it seems difficult to get there, once you see a pretty good image, you will know that it can be done.