I've used Bryce since it first came out. I have done the same with Poser. I've never had any trouble bringing a Poser model into Bryce, and Bryce usually works fine for me (especially now that Clay led me to the autokey fix). I agree that it renders a bit slowly, although on a MAC G4, it is tolerable.

I'm on a MAC, and I don't see much available at a price similar to Bryce on the Mac end of things. Sure, I'd love a high end program, but worry that I'd never be able to figure it out, and after all that money--well, it gives one pause to reflect! An expensive, high-end program may have tremendous capability, but it also needs to be learnable. Sitting alone in a room struggling with a manual isn't much fun. Bryce isn't too bad on the learning curve. I was able to use it when I first bought it to make primative scenes following their tutorials right away. But, when I find I can go to a place like the Renderosity forums and find help and tips and tricks that take the program to the limit...that tells me it is a good program because so many talented people enjoy it and share what they have learned.

I have Strata 3-D Pro (similarly priced), and it IS a better modeler than Bryce, but I find it much harder to work with for complete scenes, and it doesn't render faster than Bryce. It has MANY strengths, and I have found the best solution is to use it to make models of objects I need and bring them into Bryce for composition. This way, I have the best of both worlds. I am much more comfortable in Bryce for composition and animation (although animating in Bryce can sometimes be extremely frustrating). I think it's what you like working with. And, of course, as it seems is so often the case with software, one does need several programs to get the job done. (Where would we be without Photoshop?)

One thing I must say is that much of the work I have seen posted by artists here on Renderosity for both Bryce and Poser has sometimes completely blown me away for excellence! I have seen Bryce forests that almost come alive, Poser characters with real "character", and combinations of the two programs to make images that are truly inspiring. Then there are the incredible tutorials with amazing tricks and tips that people post and share with others. It's humbling to see such things, and inspiring to learn more and do more.

I don't know if reviews of a program take into account the effect that a program has on the people who use it. I think they should, because that tells a lot about the value the program has. Based on what I have seen here in Renderosity and around the Net, Bryce (and Poser) has a strong and loyal following of highly talented people. Therefore, the program must have value.

And, I can actually use it... which I can't say about some other programs I have never been able to figure out!