The BEST? The best for doing what? And how much are you willing to pay? If you want to do interior stuff, then look for a program with radiosity. Consider Lightscape (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/section/0,,775058-123112,00.html) or Truespace (www.caligari.com) But get your wallet out. Bryce does a pretty good job of landscapes. And the price is reasonable. If you need really high-end scenery, there's Digital Nature Tools by Arete, but it'll set you back at least a grand. Steve S.

There was a long discussion about this over at the Bryce Delphi site. I'm not sure if they ever resolved it. Steve S.

You could cut down on rendering time by doing the DOF in post. Do your normal render (no DOF) and then do a distance render. In your paint prog, use the distance render as a mask when applying some Gaussian blur to the original pic. Steve Sanvito