Thanks for the vue look at Bryce I think you mentioned the word vue more then Bryce in the article. You can blend materials in countless ways in bryce. Slope and Altitude are two of the basic ones and there are several versions of each. Bryce imports 20 different formats not just the few that you mention. You can set different gradiant skies (its not called gradient in bryce) with the custom sky on the menu. I think though the biggest overlook is bryce's ability to render things other then just landscapes with clear and accurate raytracing. Something that Vue and worldbuilder cannot do. I noticed in your vue article that there was a mac version? Did I miss something here? As of right now Bryce is the only option for mac and landscape in the hobbiest range.