Ok, perhaps this questions and debate has been going on for a while (or maybe it hasn't, I'm relatively new to the 3d Community) - BRYCE 5 Vs. VUE 4: Which is the better program?

It has :) The answer is : depends on what you want to do. Do you want realistic natural scenes ? smooth metallic surfaces ? easy procedural materials ? editable vegetation ? classic interface ? organic shapes ? The best way to choose is to download both trial versions and make up your mind.

I own both programs. I have had bryce 5 longer than vue 4, and what i would say is to purchase Vue 4 over bryce 5.
Vue is a TON better, much more flexible, better materials, much better layout. As far as beautiful realistic 3d scenery goes Vue is much better at doing the job, vue also renders better, It even has a very nice lense effect setup. Plus if you like to animate anything, it is harder than crap to animate in bryce, to get smooth motion and everything. Vue does smooth motion automatically, with a much better key frame design to work with. Even has preset animated water, skys, clouds. Vue 4 is just a ton better and it's positeves out weigh bryce by far. what more can i say. Vue also keeps texture coordinance on the models perfectly when you import from you 3d max or Maya.
Don't make my mistake and buy bryce. I never use it anymore now that i have vue.

I agree try the demo's it's what I did. Also take some time and browse through the galleries. Even browse through the forums... see which has more problems etc. I have used Bryce 4 a lot and I admit I liked it. But, I happened to find Vue much more comfortable. You have to decide on your own though. Bottom line it's your pocket book. So do the research and get what's right for you.

Vue also has another major thing over Bryce, but it's more of a technical thing I'd say, and not necessarily an advantage: The inteface. Vue 4 has a 4 viewport setup, in addition to a trackball camera. Plus, Vue's "world browser", which is much like Windows Explorer makes grouping objects and assigning materials, creating booleans, etc., etc., nuch easier than Bryce's setup. Also, Vue's Material Editor is very intuitive and easy to learn, so you can spend more time making pictures, and less time learning a difficult interface.

Just to add my two pennies worth - I bought Vue4 a few months ago, my first and so far only 3D landscaping tool. So far I am overjoyed with it! I can't stop using it! I've never used Bryce so I can't really compare the two, but the render engine in Vue4 is 40% faster than Vue3 (they make a point of always working on the render engine), and I have heard that its a lot faster than Bryce :) The only gripe I have with it is that none of the objects you can create in Vue4 can be exported out as any other format, which I find disappointing as the object-creating ability in Vue is amazing! It's certainly a LOT easier than making ojects in Poser (you can import from Poser, as well as other 3D standard formats). Also, there have been a few bugs in the system, but Vue's support team, headed by Steve Bell, are excellent and always appreciate bug reports, so that they can create the right patches for them, and incorporate the improvments into the next version. The bugs haven't stopped me using it or enjoying it :) So overall I'd go with Vue4 - it's beautiful, graceful. elegant, intuitive in the design. You won't regret it :) JoeBlack

I also have Bryce 5 and Vue 3.1. I'm still waiting for Vue 4 to make it to my door as I just ordered it last week, but I was a Vue 4 beta tester so I know exactly how it works. I've used both and I have to say, as much as some of the bugs in Vue agravate me, Vue is BY FAR the easier of the two to learn and use. One of the things that nagged me about Bryce was that kludgy interface where you are always having to constantly switch back and forth between views. I'll only mention that I detest (strongest word I could think of) Bryce's material editor, because if I really got rolling I could go on for too long about how much I hate it. Procedural material creation in Vue is an absolute dream. Also, Vue's renders have an almost painterly look to them as opposed to earlier versions of Bryce, but you can achieve a similar look in Bryce 5 now that it can do soft shadows, blurred reflections and the like. Now in Bryce's defense (enough of that snickering from the back row!)...some folks genuinely like it's interface. It really confuses some folks to see 4 different views at once. And Bryce 5's tree lab is cool and the metaballs are really neat. And even with all Bryce's other shortcomings (only in my opinion of course), I have always really dug it's terrain editor :). Like most folks have already said, download both demos and try them out for a few days. You'll be better able to make up your mind which is the best for you. (But also keep in mind that Vue is $100 cheaper and Bryce is owned by Corel - need I say more? Not exactly the best company known for it's support...LOL). Laurie

Vue wins hands down there is just no comparison.

I've rendered 78 million polygons in Vue. Try that in Bryce. I bet you can't even keep bryce running after you load the environment.

Try importing 1000 meshes into the mesh viewer will tell you who's on the ball and who's on the bus. I did it in vue no problem, I tried to do it in bryce and I have twice as many steps to do and have to type in every single thing every single time.

Bryce *.obj files take up more disk space.

Why do you have to import obj files one at a time in bryce? In vue you just browes to the folder and pick one and there all instanly added. (*.vob files)

Make one rock material in both then make it so that the bottom part is mossy. Need I say more?

Plant a tree make it so the shady side is covered with moss.

Bryce is soooooo slow...........

I always render 1280 X 1024 in Vue. I never even tried in Bryce. I don't have weeks and weeks to wait for it to finnish.

Vue can render a better picture if you tweek the render settings a bit.

Put 100 mesh objects in each then pick one and edit it. Like add window frames to the sides of a box. Hmmmmmm

The trees and plants look like trees and plants in vue and you can actually edit them and the new ones also look like trees and plants.

Plant 100 trees and see how long it takes you to get the ones in bryce actually on a mauntain terrain and not growing in the air. You can do that in Vue in one second.

Bryce was cool at one time but that time has come to pass.

The same bugs that where in 3 and 4 are still in version 5. I tried the demo. Oh and there breeding....

Look at any realy cool complex render done in bryce and I bet you'll find that the meshes where assembled somewhere else, only the rendering was done in bryce.

Bryces sky editor seems to be easier to use sometimes. Vue default skies are overpowered by fog and haze at first. Unless of course your making tiny scenes. I try to make mine about 40 km in size about and to me that seems that the fog and haze kill everyting in about half a km if you don't tweek the setting.

Importing meshes is more perdictable in Vue and you can actually edit extreamly complex ones no problem. Try that in Bryce.

I'll stop now. But I could go on for days.

I wrote a reply thanking everyone for their input, but I guess I fumbled the post somehow. Anyway, thanks friends for all your great info! I received Bryce 5 (upgrade from 4) before I posted it. I really like it, however, I do have some gripes (render time, no object geometry editing), but I really do like Bryce. And I admit, although I have tried the Vue 4 demo version, I haven't given it a chance really. I was just interested in the Vue 4 versus Bryce 5 debate. MightPete: "I always render 1280 X 1024 in Vue. I never even tried in Bryce. I don't have weeks and weeks to wait for it to finnish." I agree that Bryce is SLOW! I tried rendering a 4000 x 3000 (I think), but it stopped responding after I stopped the render to open up PSP3 to see how the render progress was going. I have a Pentium 3 with 128MB of SDRAM, so I guess I need one of those industrial computers, or something. Laurie A (and MikeJ agrees with Laurie here): "One of the things that nagged me about Bryce was that kludgy interface where you are always having to constantly switch back and forth between views." If I gave Vue a fair chance, and got used to the interface, I probably would agree, although I haven't yet, so I cannot say for sure. I'm so used to the Bryce interface, and love the changes in B5, that I felt the Vue interface to be too "soft", but as I said, I really haven't given it a chance, and most likely, when funds are available, Vue is certainly something one would want to add to their graphic utility lineup. Joeblack: "Vue4 is 40% faster than Vue3" This is an excellent enhancement. How did they do it? THis is one of my gripes with Bryce, and if they could revamp the engine to make it faster, without compromising quality features and enhancements, I wish they could do it. Either that, or I get a new computer. Agiel, MsOutlaw, You have to decide on your own though." This is good advice, I hear echoed from many on Renderosity. artman3d: "is hard[] . . . to animate in bryce . . ." Excellent point. I have had Bryce 4 for a long time, and haven't figured it out. Of course, I almost never use the manuals, and like to try it out myself. This could be a hint on the intuitivity of the interface here. And I have seen an amazing animation of fish from Vue, on the net. Again, thanks to everyone for their input, and look forward to any replies, and further debate and information on this subject. BR Burton http://www.MessianicArt.com/

Oh, hi Mr. Burton! Didn't realize it was you :). Just got an email from you recently. Nice site :). Laurie

Hey Laurie! Thanks much! God bless!