All,
I posting this in a couple different forums because Bryce is so often mentioned in them:
If you're interested in 3D terrain and skybox creation software, run, do not walk, to the link below. Daz is giving Bryce 5 away for FREE until September 6. IMHO, Bryce is one of the best 3D programs ever written. I used it to create all of the skyboxes at
www.vaxwar.com (over 30,000 downloads so far, so there's a good market out there for these).
For terrains, Bryce can generate height maps that work perfectly with DBPro terrains. It will also output terrains as 3D objects (.x, .3ds) and USGS Digital Elevation Model (DEM) format.
Another cool feature is generation of panoramic views and
QTVR (Quicktime virtual reality movies). I don't think DBPro supports QTVR, but I'm already embedding QTVR movies in .NET Visual Basic forms and web pages, with the intention of letting Vaxwar gamers generate solar systems that I'll then create in DBPro.
http://www.daz3d.com/program/bryce/bryce5free.php
The major difference between the free (V5.0) and commercial (V5.6) version is the added support for Daz Studio and Poser (import/export) in V5.6. No big deal to anyone who only wants to generate terrains and skyboxes.