To me, Bryce is the perfect hobbyist tool. It's got everything you need to export your inspiration unto 2D. However I feel that I'm slowly moving away from the hobbyist level and on to something a bit more professional. I wouldn't go as far as C4D, 3DSMax or Lightwave, because I'd never want to go THAT pro. In my mind there's a number of mid-range apps that have the things I'm looking for (GI, HDRI support, better modelling tools, etc). These are Truespace, Vue and, surprisingly enough since a couple of nights ago, Carrara. I've downloaded the Carrara 5 demo and I have to say that it's THE easiest transition tool from Bryce to something better. I've gotten used to 40-50% of the interface in a matter of hours, even some of the controls are identical to those of Bryce. Texturing is dead-easy, perfectly reasonable in terms of logic and looks, with everything you need including displacement maps. The tree lab doesn't give you headaches, etc. Let me post up some screenshots, so you guys can get an idea :) drac