Well, I now have Lightwave for the Mac (version 8.5 -- and incidentally for the PC, but for various reasons, it's better on the Mac, despite the fact that the Mac is 40% slower in actual rendering tests).

But here's a bonus -- Lightwave, despite being "cheap" again, comes bundled with another piece of software called Vue, and it's pretty powerful, not to mention cool (and scriptable). So, without further ado, the first renders (click for larger versions):

Here be an example of that mysterious force known as radiosity rendering in Lightwave:



And some examples of what Vue does -- here be a canyon, some mountains, and a gratuitous cherry tree (which I did not chop down):



And, just for fun, alien mud ferns!




Yes, Steve, this is giving me some interesting ideas (so write a contract! Prod, prod).