I thought I would share my impressions after using the demos of Bryce 5 and Vue 4; after all I did post asking opinions several weeks ago. I will break it up into categories. Interface Vue easy to work with, didnt really need much help Bryce needed a little help not that it was bad, just different. My big complaint is that the working window in Bryce is so small. Three things in my opinion need to be done with the Bryce interface (1) needs to be made larger! (2) need multiple views 4 pane, like a Bryce pro-pack (3) need some type of object tree like in Vue, and the layers too. I found it sometimes difficult to go back and select an object in close vicinity to another object in Bryce (there might be some way to do this, but I didnt see it). Working around Vue not bad. Liked the ability to place objects, but then again the 4 views helped. Bryce not bad either, but I had a somewhat difficult time precisely placing things (trees) mainly due to the fact of switching views to do it without the other views for reference. Which brings me to a confusing point (for me anyways) Why is there a director and camera view? Do we really need a director view? Vue doesnt have one, and I dont know why it would. What exactly is the point? Objects manipulation In general, it seems like in Bryce it might take a few more clicks to accomplish the same thing as in Vue. For example, creating a fractured piece from a (glass) sphere Boolean operation. But I really wouldnt consider this a main drawback or difference Rendering This was the funny part. I recently picked up Computer Arts Mag and it had reviews of Vue 4 (4 stars) and Bryce 5 (4 stars). It stated that the rendering in Bryce could be better. For Vue, it states good quality rendering. I think its just the opposite. I found Bryce to render, in general, superior to Vue. Sure, if I knew what I was doing I could probably super tweak the settings (of Vue) and get the quality the same, but Im talking using their default and higher quality settings. Side by side for each type, Bryce was better, IMO. As for the speed thing, when you dial up those settings in Vue to get a really good quality, it takes just about as long as Bryce. So I think the rendering time issue needs to compare apples to apples, which I dont think it did in the magazine. Dont get me wrong, I think both could use a faster rendering engine. So which one am I going t buy. I still dont know. I love the quality of the Bryce renderings, theyre awesome, and I could learn to live with some of the other things that bother me in bryce (small interface, one view at a time), but I do like the ease of use and interface of Vue, I just wish the render quality were better. And, in the end, after playing with the demos some more, I think the quality of the render will ultimately sway me one way or another. I just wish I knew of the future plans for each, which might help my decision. Thanks for listening, Chris

I find the ability to switch views rapidly in Bryce using the keys `,1,2,3,4 makes a four-pane view unecessary. To help in selecting objects in Bryce, hold the control key when you click - this makes life much easier! The camera and director are very useful, particularly when you exploit the ability to move C to D and vice versa. Suppose you are working in camera mode. You have the shot more or less angled up, but there's something strange you need to have a closer look at. Pull D to C, switch to D, move in and look closer. Fix the problem. Did it work? Switch make to C and look. Still a little adjustment needed? Back to D. And all viewpoint switches need just one keypress, unlike say Poser, where you have memorise ctl+ all sorts of things.

i don't know about 5, but Bryce4 has a little button to maximise/minimise the interface to the right of the viewscreen. Couldn't work without this!

A great reveiw you have made. It shows the basic differance between the two programs. Vue ease of use vs. Bryce power. In the end the choice is a choice we all need to make for ourselfs. I may add a few things I find to be different. When Vue renders (atleast in win2k) your computer is nearly useless you wait a few mins just to dial the internet. When Bryce renders you can do what you please with your computer I often chat or surf while my computer is rendering with no effect what so ever on my surfing. I even model in lightwave, or rhino at the same time. Network rendering. If you have more then one computer this is a thing which increases your work fold by countless times. You can't tell what your changes with the sky will do with vue there is no picture showing until you close the popup window. In bryce you have nearly instant feed back on your changes. With 100 times the users Bryce has a huge amount of support by the community there are so many presets and tutorials available its overwhelming at times. More trees cost 0$ in Bryce I think its 100$ in vue. ick I hate to keep paying for a program. finally anything you can do in Vue you can make with bryce (except those cheesy lens flares) :) You can with work make a bryce render look like a vue render. Yet..... There are things you can do with Bryce that are impossible with Vue. The highend bryce settings produce truly beautiful images that will be impossible with Vue Good luck picking one that's right for you. Griggs

"More trees cost 0$ in Bryce I think its 100$ in vue. ick I hate to keep paying for a program." I'm afraid you are wrong Griggs. The vegetations with Vue will accept different materials, so that not only can you have different species of leaf and bark texture, but different times through all the seasons. Besides, Vue 4 comes with over 30 different species, and you will find that it will set you back just $10 per realistic extra species, and nothing to add the extra textures. "You can't tell what your changes with the sky will do with vue there is no picture showing until you close the popup window. In bryce you have nearly instant feed back on your changes." Wrong again my friend. Once you start a new scene, Vue will give you instant feedback of any changes you make to the atmosphere, materials etc in the Render Preview window. "The highend bryce settings produce truly beautiful images that will be impossible with Vue" You will find both Vue and Bryce outputs used by professionals, but then again I thought beautiful images where a matter of taste and came from the artist and not the tools ;) May I just add that Vue is multi threaded, so it will make use of dual processors. I am at this moment rendering a Vue image, and have no problems with communication or slowdown. Hope you don't mind me barging in Griggs, but I feel that when comparisons are made between the two, the weaknesses and stregnths of both should be considered fairly. BTW I feel that there should be space for both on the hard drive, they make a nice compliment...although we all have are favourite ;) Thanks again, Cheers

Whoops, please forgive me Griggs. Reading my post above, I did not mean to come acros so blunt...but I do love my Vue ;) Sorry. Cheers

Hey Chris, you bring up many valid points, but I'm not for either, because I've only used Bryce (2,3D,4,5). I wanted to give some pointers, if I might help.... When selecting iobjects in Bryce, if you hold down CTRL it will bring up a list of the object piled up where you are clicking, and also the use of families for texturing quantities separately of their groups comes in handy. An all-Bryce castle scene I've been working on for the past year would be impossible to manage without families, or the "show as box" option... Just some pointers.

Bryce 5 will utilize dual processors, just launch lightning and your bryce file on the same machine and POW, dual processor works. I do it on mine almost daily. A G4 450 dual with 896 megs of ram running OS 9.1.

With Bryce 4 I find that while it is rendering, sure I can use the computer for other things, but most other programs have the effect of slowing the render speed by 95%.

I have Bryce 4, and like it, though I find it difficult working with textures and materials, and I've gotten quite used to the "standard" 4 viewport configuration. Haven't tried Bryce 5, except for the demo, and I was not impressed with it's speed, but I do know it's intentionally slowed down to discourage the crackers. I love Vue 4, mostly for it's ease of use, speed of use and rendering, and now, especially since it imports Poser PZ3 files, with textures, transparencies and bumps intact, without any need for manually loading textures. Since a PZ3 contains all the path info for textures (as opposed to a .OBJ's .MTL file), large scenes are a one-shot deal to load. Well, alot of people's Vue install won't recognize the Poser .BUM format, for some reason, while others' will... shrug I wouldn't knock Bryce at all though... it's like saying your Ford truck is better than your neighbor's Chevy truck from the same year. "Better", how?..... Certain things are better for certain people, and it all depends on what you want, and how you use it. I honestly believe that someone skilled in both softwares could make equally good images in either. It's essentially all in what you like. Besides, compared to 3DS Max 4, they both suck. ;)

Thank you all, your commentshave been very helpful and insightful. thanks, Chris

yeah, yeah yeah, I bet you tell everyone that. ;)

No, just you MikeJ :)

:)