which do you prefer to render in if you work with both? any advantages to either?

Bryce is much better in quality terms, though it is much slower, and is a little "harsh" - any flaws in the mesh will be very visible.

Well here's my 2 cents on this. Cause it's close to my heart. While I have done some very nice renders with Poser only, I have to say Bryce 5 hands down (not Bryce 4). Even though it's slow (500 times slower), the quality for close ups can't compare. Poser seems to not like extreme close ups. Shadows tend to get too heavy and run into each other. While Bryce does indeed leave artifacts (Little black triangles), they are easy to PhotoShop out. And with the NEW soft shadows (again makes it just that much slower), bryce begins to render like the big boys. Now if they can re-compile their engine so it's a bit speedier... But in Poser's defense. It does do some fast renders that are quite good. But one major flaw (since it's not a true ray trace engine in Poser) is with hat or hair. Even with a 4000 shadow map you still end up with a gjostly light shining through what seems to be a seam breat in a hat or bals spot in the hair. Not to mention the glowing nostrils. I guess I should have stated that Poser's NOT a ray trace engine to begin with ;-) I could go on for hours, but I'll stop. I use both and both are indespensible! James