Quote -
if we compare Bryce to its Closest market competitor pricewise
VUE6 easel ( not infinate just easel), and you take away poser V-chicks etc.
and skilled modelors using other programs and stick purely to what comes
"straight from the box "
Bryce still falls short in the area of realistic landscapes,skies
plants and water in my opinion.
The vue renders just look better and more real to me
and Bryce still renders WAYY to slow.

 
Vue is a great landscape app, no doubt about that. But if we´re discussing work "out of the box", let´s not forget the modeling capabilities. I´ve tried working with Vue as well, but modeling in it is basically a freakin nightmare procedure. You just don´t get anywhere close to Bryce´s precision boolean modeling or the ease of its terrain editor.
This to me means a lot more than realism, because it makes the program far more useful, versatile and more complete.
Bryce is as good as you make it.

Regarding slowness, you really should try Maxwell render. Now there is a slow renderer. :)

Quote - *Quote - "...it’s possible to create professional images with Bryce, but high quality output needs high quality skills..."

*The same can be said for an artist with a pencil.

Or any other app for that matter. There´s no such thing as instant excellence even if one uses $10000 software. Without practice and skills, you´ll more likely end up with $10000 worth of garbage, and i´m not sure that´s so much better. :)

Here´s an old one. And no nviatwas in sight. :)

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=178922

Yes, Bryce can easily be considered a beginner 3D software. It´s cheap and easy to learn and use. Unfortunatly these two things allow people to dismiss it easily, and imo the biggest problem is that most people never bother exploring the program thoroughly. 
They see a few shiny spheres images, a few nviatwas scenes, perhaps play with the software for a few weeks, create a few crappy drag&drop scenes, and believe they know its full potential.
Those of us that have used Bryce for a little longer however, know that they haven´t even scratched its surface.

To a certain extent, you can match the quality with the best apps out there, but it would probably never work as an industry app.
Even so, getting a nice job in the industry with nothing but Bryce images in the portfolio is not at all an impossibility. From my experience, most of the big people (the employers and heads of the studios), will not dismiss good work because it´s made with Bryce. In fact, usually they get that much more impressed, because they know that if you can pull of great stuff with a "beginner" 3D app, you can do wonders with something more advanced.

These days i mainly use C4D, but Bryce is still an irreplaceable part of my toolbox.

A good portion of patience will be required for any program. I´ld say that with some practice, you´re capable to model just about anything in Bryce, except for realistic human characters.
I use C4D these days, but still use techniques i´ve learned and used with Bryce.

And for massive scenes, Bryce is still unbeatable. 
While all high end programs will start to crack at around 4-5 million polys, Bryce can handle a few hundred millions, and still render without issues. And that on an average system.

Very slow at times. Some operations actually worked like you described above. :)

Just my old P4. Still a good build, although i´m aiming for a dual quad next. ;)

There aren´t many setting in Maxwell, so i went for "acceptable quality", which means as little grain as possible.  Outdoor scenes aren´t that bad in Maxwell, and i only used a flat blueish/white surface for everything, so there´s no highres textures eating up RAM. :)

The base render was 4200x2673, which was the largest Maxwell could output on my machine and that took around 16 hours, i think.
I had to blow it up in Photoshop to final resolution and painted the rest using some ice berg photos as reference

Thanks guys. :)

Yep, they  used the ZoomQuilt to describe the project for us in the initial stages, and it´s quite impressive. And long. :)

Deviantart is a perfect example of how a community should not look like. You have to be a 12-year old and part of the r0XX0r-generation to make something out of it.

Although i´ve found an old buddy of ours not to long ago. Or more correct, he found me. :)
http://doublecrash.deviantart.com/

I think you can blame most of that on Microsoft and Vista. Very few things is working well with that OS. ;)

I´ld definitely recommend a Wacom Intuos model. Sure, it´s slightly more expensive, but you´ll also have a top quality tablet that will last a very long time.
Just make sure you buy a size that suits you. I have an Intuos3 A4, and even though i´ve gotten used to it now, there are occasions it feels way to big.  An A5 would most likely be a really good size.  

Don´t listen to Bryster. He´s just trying to scare you away so that he can purchase the package himself. 

Don´t worry mate, your offer of $5223 is acceptable.

Well, i hope so. Or i´ll be forced to learn Lightwave as well. :)

If you don´t have the opportunity to take courses, the best way to get noticed is to spread your work through online galleries where potential clients may look for artists. CG Society for example is a good place to start. 

I´ve never looked for CG work. People usually spot some image somewhere that they like and contact me. I´ve also been a little lucky a few times when i´ve sent some stuff for a magazine gallery, and got a job offer in return.

Having no degrees is not a problem if you freelance, but if you´re looking for something full time, it can sometimes be an obstacle. Beeing self taught, i´ve had to turn down job offers from a few of the nicer studios in the states because of green card issues. 
There are some tideous workarounds to that though , if you think a job is worth it.