All this discussion should also be analyzed in the light of all those photographic sites in which you see images of real clouds which are so far from our stereotipical model of cloud to make almost everybody say "nah, it's photoshopped"...
When you see great Vue clouds, you are never watching the result of stock configurations: they are always the result of long tuning of internal parameters and shader structure. GeekAtPlay tutorials give the false idea that you can create a great Vue render in a quarter of an hour: in reality, expect to spend even a full hour tuning just ONE single material.
At the end in Vue you have to edit in detail the shader network structure and parameters, exactly as you would do in TG2, only with a more friendly user interface (the network analyzed in small chunks and not thrown into your face in one shot).
Now that I have bought also Carrara 7, I have understood one thing: every render creates images with its own particular style. I have never seen a dreamy, foggy scene done with TG2 exactly as it is extremely difficult that you will see a sharp, photo-like desert scene in Vue galleries. Carrara renders are about in between the two worlds, with DAZ Studio it is horrendously difficult to have fuzzy shadows and so on. There is no Swiss Army Knife program around, each has its philosophy and area of excellence; all this mine is bigger... sorry, sharper than yours talks are somewhat pointless, so if you have one program, specialize in the kind of scenes it does best, otherwise, get the program which does best what you want (and nothing, apart from the credit card limit, prevents you from having many tools).
Bye!!!
P.S.: is TG2 final going to be available also for free evaluation?
