I've been a Bryce user for quite a few years now and I was sad to hear that Corel is no longer interested in producing new versions and updates for Bryce. It will probably be picked up by another company, but until then I think I need to find something a little better. Although I'm familiar with Bryce and like the easy interface, I feel that it's fallen behind a bit and Vue might be a better choice for someone who creates a lot of landscape renders. Are there any other Bryce users out there who have switched over to Vue or at least use both programs? From what I've read, Vue 4 seems pretty impressive, but I'm curious to know how it compares to Bryce 5.

I am a Bryce 4 and 5 user for years, I bought Vue about 4 years ago......I never looked back...I use to use them both, but found that Vue was so much nicer to work with that I have since abandon Bryce completely. I use it now just to test our models in it for Bryce users. Compare to Bryce, I feel lots of different things and you know only you will be the judge as too which is better for you...so I suggest you download the Vue demo and try it out...I really don't think you will regret it. Sharen

Same here, as Sam said. Longtime Bryce user from the earliest days, switched to Vue 2, got Vue 3, then Vue 4 and have always loved it. Vue seems to be one of the easiest programs to use, I think. I think you will find MANY former Brycers now using Vue. Eric Wenger wrote the original Bryce for the Mac a very long time ago (in computer industry ages- sort of like DOG YEARS) But it always had technical limitations in its own rendering engine- which was meant to be primarily a landscape render. Metacreations and later Corel have, in my opinion tried to make Bryce primarily a cash generating "consumer" program and went off on their own somewhat insane corporate cocktail party business schemes and largely crashed their companies on runway 22. The original Bryce technies who CARED about Bryce left a long time ago. If Vue was ever bought up by a big corporation it would probably be ruined too. Smaller, dedicated companies do a better job maintaing neat software that is still largely a "niche" market. So bottom line: Get Vue, its an easy transition from Bryce. Just my $32.53 cents, plus 2 subway tokens on the Paris Metro.

Why not downloading the Vue demo from e-on software? Easiest way to find out how it suits you.

Once you go Vue, you'll never go back! :)

Been a Brycer since 1997 but brought view about 12 months ago and have never looked back. It's especially great when used with Poser.

Veritas...that's simply untrue. Sheesh. Making up things about the people who worked on Bryce doesn't make it so. Many of the programmers who worked on Bryce when it made its transition to Windows for Bryce 2 ALSO worked on Corel Bryce 5. And the Corel folks who worked on it were dedicated, sharp, and LOVED the program and were absolutely thrilled to be working with it. I've used Bryce for years, bought Vue 2 and put it away, bought Vue 4 and have been playing with it for a while. Vue has some very nice features, and is easy to use. The skies are wonderful. But I find it's a little rough around the edges. If you can't use OpenGL with it, it's very difficult to see what you're doing. I don't care for the move/rotate controls in the wireframe..they get in the way. If you're used to it, no problem. But I can't get used to it. Sigh. Also, Vue takes over your machine while rendering. That's a biggie for me. Bryce uses idle time for rendering and lets you minimize to the taskbar. But having object heirarchy is absolutely wonderful! And the terrain editor is cool with lots of stuff to do. Much nicer than Bryce's IMHO. The built-in vegetation is really nice, but there's not enough of it. But the trees look much nicer than Treelab trees in the background (not close up though). With both Bryce and Vue you need to augment your vegetation with other stuff. Being able to import pz3 is killer! It's a snap. The only way to know for sure if you'll like it, though, is to try the demo.

Spit, you and love these Bryce-Vue dialogs! But what I always TRY to do is say that Bryce and the dedicated Bryce technical people were NOT the problem. As we know, they were kind enough to put in those wonderful Easter Eggs in 4.0.1 so as people moved onto Vue they could get their Bryce OBP models out and into VUE! (Or at least someplace else- they probably did NOT have Vue in mind when they did it- OR did they?- I'll hear from Spit about that, I'm sure)(Vue was just an infant then- Ver. 1) The PROBLEM really was the corporations of Metacreations and Corel who believed that they could leverage programs like Bryce into big cash-cows and morgaged their own futures to the point that eventually it all crashed, bringing everything down. I think it was really a lot like the related DOT.COM era when companies were WAY AHEAD of solid business reality. Mike Cowpland, CEO of Corel was known for some pretty wild things- (which I won't go into here). Metacreations also had a "head in the clouds" business philosophy and got ahead of their bank accounts. Were their NICE, CREATIVE, FUN to be AROUND people at these companies- you bet! The teams working on Bryce, Painter, and Poser were FIRST RATE and BRILLIANT! People like Kai Krause had "Rock Star" status in Silicon Valley in those "heady" days. It was FUN! They are all STILL really nice people. Spit, you were part of that era, yourself- so pick out the movie star to play your role when the movie about that era is made.

Attached Link: http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=ab87e03b-1364-4915-9694-e4878d4d1e4e

Bryce wasn't the only program in the stable for either Metacreations nor Corel. In fact for Corel their cash cow is and always has been Draw. Metacreations got a new CEO that thought the future was in spinning 3D objects on the web rather than dealing with software. So that's what happened there. Corel has been in and out of the tank like a bouncing floater so many times. Before and since Bryce. How they handled Bryce has NOTHING to do with their current situation. 'Technical limitations' in the Bryce renderer? What are you smoking. The thing about the Bryce renderer is that it is a pure raytracer. Nothing more. Nothing less. And it remains pridefully so. And that may be the problem. Other software have moved away from pure raytracing because, no matter how gorgeous the results, it's sloooooooooooow.

Thanks Spit!

LOL! Well, hugs. We're meeting all over Renderosity! LOL

(link is at bottom of Vue banner) and look on left menu for "Comparing Vue and...". You'll see lots of comparisons between parograms, that might help you to see some similarities and differences. I've had Bryce for about 4 years, but work almost exclusively in Vue now. Easier to drive for me.

It's apples and oranges. They're both fruit, but which do you prefer? Vue has the advantage of still being progressed further right now, and it is a good program. Yet, a lot of this comes down to usability for me. The Vue interface just does not flow like Bryce. And, this isn't a dig on Vue, what I think is great about Bryce and Vue is that their GUI's are so different. I'm just Bryce minded, hardly ever touched my manual while learning. With Vue I had to have it open in front of me while I tried to memorize where everything is. Yet, if someone has hated the Bryce GUI, I know they will probably love Vue and I send them on to e-on. And, given the fact that if anyone sits down and learns the hell out of their program, their talent will show through no matter what program it is, or how much it cost them. There are a few things I don't care for in Vue, yet I can say the same exact thing about Bryce, they both have their oddities, lol. But, I think both are fine programs, and will continue learing my Vue, alongside my Bryce. And, I think we all agree such unique programs like these, should belong to companies that can truly nurture them. Not just any company could own products like these and see them to a great progression AND a profit. Corel; they have NEVER publically stated they no longer are interested in producing new versions and updates for Bryce. This is an assumption rolling around because of Corel's situation. They stopped work on it, because they were broke. All anyone can do is guess (which is all that is going around) and wait. Vue better than Bryce? Bottom line, it all depends on the artist. An artists greatest tool is themselves. period. Btw, I think the Bryce, Vue and Poser galleries have some of the most talented, clever people here. (but that's just my very biased opinion, lol) AgentSmith Bryce Mod