Over the past few years, Ive been to many different forums looking at posts, and I swear I've seen over 50 posts saying "I modeled and textured this in insert high end proggy here, and rendered in bryce", and "scene setup was done in bryce due to render quality". I am sure there are more I've missed. I'm just saying that there are alot of closet bryce users out there too that wont admit it, cause they have a rep to maintain in the industry. (maybe ego is a better word). Bryce is powerfull enough for many things, and used in conjuction with other programs, can yeild outstanding results. I started with bryce, researched a ton of info into possibly going to a higher end program, played with a few demo's, and went back to bryce cause its fun, easy to use, and everything you can do in bryce is very tweakable. There are a ton of hobbyists out there that are not 3d professionals, and cant afford things like max and lightwave. On the other side of the coin, there are a ton that can afford that stuff, and are still just hobbyists. You'll find that those are the ones who use bryce as well whatever thousand dollar program they ended up with. (my definition of a hobbyist is someone who doesnt try and make a living from 3d), now I know there are alot of people that sell poser stuff, and make very professional images, but I would say they dont make most of their money from these sales. (some of em make a good amount though).