Attn: 3D people - Vue vs. Bryce?
By
Darkjedi,
Posted on: 2007-05-25 24:52 in Multi-Media Fan Creations
I would love to know what folks think too. That price for Bryce is cheap.
I often kick myself for not getting dozens of Poser 5 & Bryce 5 licenses when they ran that Free promotion. I've checked the links and both deals are dead now.
I opened Bryce a few times, but never spent time with it. This weekend I'll throw my Kilotonnage model into Bryce and let you know the results.
My initial response on Bryce's low price is that you get what you pay for. I tried Bryce for 2 versions and didn't like it because the terrain was clearly digital and the interface was restrictive. I haven't tried recent versions, so maybe they've matured.
I'm a Vue fanatic. Everything I render is in Vue. Their terrain is convincing, the interface is smooth AND powerful (a rare thing), and they support Poser imports (up through Poser 6). As a testimonial to their render results, Vue was used to create backgrounds for Pirates of the Carribean 2.
If you're thinking about using Poser in unison with your terrain renderer (such as Bryce), make sure you verify Poser is a supported program.
There is a DAZ exporter plugin available to push Poser/DAZ scenes to Bryce.
(personally, I'd rather export them as meshes and then import them into POV-RAY... I can actually get better terrain from that than I can from Bryce, it's just a LOT more work!)
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Thank you all for your responses. Based on responses here and elsewhere, I'm going with my original inclination and getting Vue. Thanks again for the feedback.
My friend uses Vue, and does some fantastic work. And like others in here I've tried Bryce to no avail. The whole program isn't as friendly as it really needs to be.
Myself, I just use Terragen and stick stuff randomly on top of it... but then I draw, not render, characters... 
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
I'm looking for a program to add landscapes to my set of 3D tools. I've been considerting Vue 6 Esprit, which I feel confident is a great product, and I've heard lots of good things about the Vue rendering engine. But at $200 it's a little outside my budget.
Well, DAZ just put Bryce on sale at 60% off, meaning it can be had for $40, a real bargain. They've also put their content & tutorial bundle on sale, meaning I can get both for around $80 including shipping.
On one hand, I feel more confident that I'd be really happy with the Vue product, primarily due to what I've heard about the Vue rendering engine. On the other hand, I'm a hobbyist, not a pro, and I'm not made of money. So there's a little voice in my head that says that Bryce might well suit my needs without breaking the bank.
So, if anyone out there has had any experience with either product: what would you recommend? Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated!