Bryce 

Bryce is an animation suite designed to create digital landscapes and virtual environments. It is built with a simple interface that allows new users to learn create animations or populate a scene with objects and make amazing 3D terrains quickly and easily.

If the user doesn't want to start from scratch, he/she can choose from hundreds of objects within the large DAZ 3D library or import a landscape project previously created in DAZ studio.

Bryce 6.1 has a whole new set of features that make it a great choice:

You can make web animations using Quick Time format VR, create thumbnails with preview in storyboard format. The Light Lab makes it possible to have precise light control over the objects when creating sunsets, for instance. The Tree Lab allows to plant vegetation on a landscape. With the Sky Lab add light realism using the HDRI technology; it has the ability to control quality, intensity and effects of the lighting on a scene.

The image rendering has been enhanced supporting now dual-processor systems as well as hyper-threading.

3D creations can take up some good hard drive space, so ZIP file compression takes part when saving out Bryce 6 scenes.

Bryce, as of version 6 and over has a cost; however if you can get a previous copy, register it, get a serial number and do an Upgrade which will cost less than the full download.

Try it out; it has a 30 day money-back guarantee, and some tutorials and sample videos at the web site.