The overall toolbox one needs is:

1. a terrain generator;
2. a procedural texture generator;
3. a mesh modeler (even only to modify other people meshes);
4. a renderer;
5. an image processing app for postwork.

Even if Vue as most of these functionalities, obviously specialized apps are better.

As terrain generator, get WorldMachine and/or GeoControl. If you stay away from higher end configurations, which are only usefull to game developers, the price tag is reasonable with functionality which vastly outperform Vue terrain editing.

I still have to find a good and appropriately priced procedural texture generation program (though this is not a high priority because I haven't reached the limit of Vue materials engine).

For mesh modeling , the app I feel very well with is Hexagon. After having tried Blender (an app for masochists, developed by sadists) and being disappointed by Wings3D, AC3D and Silo, I settled with Hex. It has a truckload of tools, a very intuitive and consistent workflow, does everything I need for modeling and costs even less than Silo. I also recommend everybody to try Google Sketchup with the LWO exporter for overall "sketches" and initial mesh modeling for architectural subjects.

To convert meshes to OBJ format and fixing "borderline" OBJs, you cannot find anything better than PoseRay.

As renderer... well Vue! About TG2 there is the need of a clarification. On Terragen forum forums.planetside.co.uk/ it has been clearly stated a few times by TG2 developers that Terragen 2 is NOT going to be a all-out renderer like Vue; e.g, OBJ import is limited to 16 materials and they are NOT going to fix the thing. TG2 developers have written that TG2 place is to render backgrounds and possibly export some kind of shadow information to use in other renderers (in which assemble the whole scene). I think that at the end TG2 real raison-d'etre will be being a superb atmospheric engine with which create skyboxes for HDRI renders.

For 2D I have to use GIMP because I cannot justify to myself the cost of Photoshop.

Obviously there are better and more powerful programs, but unless 3D is your job, it does not make sense to think about 3DStudio or Maya or Houdini with Fryrender or some other beasts as backend.

Bye!!!

P.S.: the key is to try apps and find the ones you are confortable with, whatever they are, and at a reasonable price. Your mileage WILL vary!

GIMP 2.7.4, Inkscape 0.48, Genetica 3.6 Basic, FilterForge 3 Professional, Blender 2.61, SketchUp 8, PoserPro 2012, Vue 10 Infinite, World Machine 2.3, GeoControl 2