Hi Brycians,
I want to use this medium to say something...
A lot of us out there fall into the trap of confoming to 'industry standard' when it comes to our choice of 3d software. I used to be like that  partly because I'm a Libra who sometimes has a problem with indecision and because I'm a sucker for detail,quality and perfection.
The trick is to believe in yourself,believe in your concept and why you have to deliver to the world. I've seen some truly mind bending artwork here in Rosity created with Bryce and some truly mind destroying artwork created with 'state of the art' software. My point here is, it depends on the person behind the software and NOT the software itself!
A car could either be a weapon or a useful machine.
A trick I use when I'm getting fed up with Bryce is:
I remember the old pioneers of this industry who labored over ink and paper and remember that they truly expanded our minds with their respective masterpieces. Now in this age we have Bryce with which we can create magic and illusions that not only call for ovation but also spread
positive messages.
Lastly, do not forget that those who impact the world are those whose belief in themselves inspire the same in others. BECOME WHO YOU ARE. To me,a software is truly 'hi-end' only when it transforms the concept to reality. Thanx for your time.
PS: I still intend to make a Bryce movie that WILL win multiple oscars.
I'll remind you.

I have VUE  6 easel  its
better for me than bryce ever was JMHO

Cheera

well.. the so-called high-end software just has a lot more stuff to make things easier. I've seen some of the guys here create models and images in Bryce that are every bit as good as those out of Max, Lightwave and Cinema. Could they have done it faster with a bigger platform? Maybe. Depends on how well you know your weapon of choice.

Very much agree with you on this. Bryce is an excellent tool. I spend a lot of my time in C4D but I still have Bryce 6 loaded on my big box and I still use it. Knock them dead at the Oscar's Fo3!

I agree that the artist is more of the person than the tool used. For me an artistic master isn't someone who uses some software, like vue or something, but what comes out from his/her hands/mind. Like the artists of old, I have never read in any of my art history books where some painter commented that he used a highquality brush that was the pivot point to him making quality art.

Being funny, I can almost imagine it, though, if we were to take some comments commonly posted in a thread comparing software and associate it to old world art. Can you imagine someone saying "I bought this camel hair brush and now I'm better doing my oils with it than I ever was with a horse hair brush." Or "real artists make their own pigments." Or more to the point, where is it written where one of the old great masters attributed the quality of his paintings to a specific type of brush, or a specific type of canvas. Is it not skill with the tools at hand?

So I agree too. 

But now with that said, I must admit that there is only one tool fit for comment.. and that is Bryce ;-)

I think industry standard apps are not neccesarily traps. The name is actually quite accurate! Industry standards are standards set by the industry. From an industrial point of view its just very economical to work on a system of generalization and standardization. At the same time this broad use stimulates further development of these applications to even higher levels of technological perfection.
Every application has its strenghts and weaknesses. Bryce is very good at certain things, but also very awkward at other things. Its easy to use, but not as technologically advanced as most of those expensive industry standard apps. Like you said its the artist that makes the magic, but even the best artist can only make things within the functionalities his/her tools allow. This is why at some point brycean users switch to using other applications too. Just because industry standard applications have become technological megalomaniacs with (sometimes) steep(ish) learning curves with a maze of features doesnt reduce the potential for artistry. Sometimes they make things possible that would be impossible otherwise. There's no reason why an artist cant push him or herself to the limit in much the same way as we're all used to or getting used to in bryce.

The thing that makes the difference is that bryce is easy to use due to its simple and less advanced approach to very specific problems. It provides a broad basis of simple and not technologically mindboggling functionality. Its an example of the art of keeping things small. Because bryce is small, its easier to learn it through and through, which allows us to start exploring creative usage much faster compared to larger more technical applications.

One can approach usage of industry standard applications in a bycian way, It just requires more effort and time and more technolgical understanding to learn more and more extensive tools untill you are as free in using them as we do in bryce.

Larger more expensive applications can do more, but it takes more time to master. Which means fewer people will master it.

Ack!

Anyone remember that aircraft analogy pic? :rolleyes:

nope? which aircraft analogy pic?

Bryce -> Piper Cub
(some other app) -> 747...

Must have been a good while back.