Average Rating: 
Rating:  - What are you waiting for? ORDER IT!
If you have Bryce 3D, don't hesistate, UPGRADE NOW! If you have Bryce 2, UPGRADE YESTERDAY!This release is awesome, Corel has done a bang-up job! When Metacreations started selling things off I figured, "this is it, it's over for Bryce" I never bothered with Bryce 4 because it was in that in-between sell-off phase. One box was MetaCreation, the other was Corel. Bryce 5 is light years ahead of Bryce 3D! Now you can design trees! I've seen the demos version of tree designers, now we've got a better tool as part of the package! over 50 tree types and 50 leaf types and endless tweaking options in between. As with any new feature, it IS a bit rough around the edges. Don't expect to set the settings to Scotch Pine, and the leaf to Scotch Pine, and get a Scotch Pine. Instead you wind up with more of a maple tree with Scotch Pine leaves and trunk! But with some tweaking, guess what? You get... A SCOTCH PINE! These trees are CPU hungry though, don't expect to create trees and get blazing renders, it ain't gonna happen. But it beats the heck out of importing DXFs and OBJs. Speaking of importing, WOW! Bryce 5 handles a ton of import options, even full Lightwave scenes! Metaballs are another new feature, don't expect a full blown modeler implementation though. You're stuck with positive spheres unless you use the "secret" (undocumented) shift-click to create negative spheres (nice to see Corel is keeping the tradition of undocumented features!). Hopefully Corel will keep going with Bryce and Bryce 6 will offer the remainder of the primitives as meta-objects! The terrain editor has really improved... Now you can create terrains up to 2048x2048 (although these took a while to generate on my 1Ghz Athlon). The terrain editor has greatly improved though, much more user friendly. Guess what??? No more limit on materials! or objects, or textures! Now if you create a subdirectory in your materials folder you can create another set of materials! The default is to have an "installed" folder, and a "user" folder, but another undocumented feature lets you create more folders and VIOLA! they appear. Simply copy over the OBP or MAT files, clear them out, and you've got new settings, same with textures! AWESOME! No more cramming everything under one category. Want a category called "Walls", make it! And no more clicking on an arrow and holding til things speed up, you can just click & drag now, be at the bottom of the list in an instant, no more scrolling endlessly! The Sky lab is awesome, lots of new features there too! So needless to say, if you're waiting to upgrade, spend the $$$'s now. Don't bother waiting, this is a 6 star product on a 5 star scale!
Rating: - Wonderful product
If your on any kind of budget and start choking when you see $500 or $1,000 for 3D software this is an excellent product. Bryce 5 has an easy to learn interface that allows you to move and alter objects, change atmosphere, and change camera views without having to beat it with a stick. The program lets you save objects, textures, and atmospheres you've created into the program so that they're always there when you come back. It also comes with alot of preset object and textures you can use, so you can create an image the first time you open the program. This isn't the program you want if your trying to do complex character animation, but it's really good for landscapes, architecture, and background. If your not sure this product is for you go to a few 3D sites and look at images people have made with Bryce 5. I've been using it for a year and I'm really happy with it.
Rating: - Excellent Buy.
This is a great program. Throughout all the modelling and landscaping I have done, I have faithfully turned to Bryce.It offers the basics shapes (spheres, cubes...), but its real power is in landscaping and scenary renders, offering you many filters and tools to creat unique and detailed mountains. The simple set-up of this program makes it easy for everyone to use. I have to agree that rendering takes longer than I would like, but you can always buy more RAM and increase your speed. I did switch over to Lightwave and 3dsmax for a while; however, I did not like the four screen set-up, and returned once again to Bryce for it's nifty camera switches. All and all, it's a wonderful program for those looking to pick up this hobby.
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