I'm noodling around with Poser6, Bryce 5.5 (waiting on Bryce 6 to come out) and Shade 8, but
http://www.daz3d.com *may still have* Bryce 5.0 free for download right now, and DAZ|Studio (
http://www.daz3d.com/program/studio/1_0index.php) is always free. Not bad in terms of use and the output quality is great, you just need to leave your machine alone for long renders.
*edited for addresses*
