If you had to do it all again, knowing what you know now about both programs, would you buy Vue instead of Bryce for sure or would you buy Bryce?

That is a hard question. I probably would have bought Vue first because of the realistic look and the vegetation. But I would have bought Bryce also because of all the material readily available on the net along with the fact I go through my fantasy periods and I like Bryce for fantasy landscapes better(at least right now). So in answer to your question is I would buy both( probably not at the same time though) AH! indecision. Marge

Well, I did a demo vs. demo...I actually learned about both programs at the same time. I bought Vue and I really don't regret it. I'll buy Bryce too if the right price comes along, I know it does some things Vue can't. As a total newbie, I got results immediately with Vue and only a headache from Bryce. NOW I could probably do something with Bryce....but I do like Vue a lot.

There is a web site that reviews the features of Vue vs. those of Bryce: http://www.gdiekert.de/3dstuff.htm I would go with Vue over Bryce because of the vegetation. Good luck, Brent

There are other considerations. Vue has one of the faster rendering engines around. Bryce has one of the slowest. Vue has a simple, no nonsense user interface. Bryce's interface is somewhat unique, and not very straight forward. Vue does a much better job of importing textured models from formats such as 3DS, Lightwave, and Wavefront. E-On software's support is very good. Meta's support...well, I won't go there...

Having looked at the review listed bmoberly above, it should be noted the author was comparing Bryce 4 against Vue 2. Since that time, Vue 3 has been introduced, and many of his complaints are no longer valid. Specifically, The algorithm used for light through glass has been rectified. The number of available vegetation is greatly increased. High quality animation his been added. Alpha channel support has been added. Support for fully textured model import has been added. The render times have been greatly reduced. The crashing bugs have been eliminated. In addition some of the supposed shortcomings in Vue were a simple matter that the author missed how to do it in the manual. The author's grievance about the fake looking sun in Vue is totally correct. Until E-On comes out with Vue 4, good looking suns and lens flares with have to be done in post rendering.

I love them all (Vue 3 and Bryce), including Terragen. Each has there own take of the credit. As for Terragen, incase those who are not aware, the current version 8.++ is free and allows you to render up to 1028 x 768, registered it and you can render to any size in "Ultra". Comes to sun, atmosphere, terrain and water, IMHO - it beat the hell out of Vue and Bryce. Too bad it does not have Vue vegetation, len's flare effects, light rays etc....but looks like its gonna be a Vue 5 someday. E-on...hint, hint! :-) I am not promoting, but sharing. Bill