"I considered yafray, but I dont understand if you need blender".
Hello,
yes you need yafray along with Blender. I advice yafray 9 and
Blender 2.44.
Blender 2.44 + yafray give really good result and it is free !
You however need to buy the doc "essential blender" in order to
work efficiency (25 euros I think). It will take you lot of time but you will learn much more things than with Artlantis. You can also make animation and many other stuff. Personally I use both programs.
All the best
Jean-Luc