WIP THREAD FOR NEW USERS CONTEST, February 2013.

124

Comments

  • ZelrothZelroth Posts: 910
    edited December 1969

    I am still working my way through the posts on this forum and the tutorials. But I have played and created this. Just thought to share, any comments welcome. Yes, I know a different camera perspective might work better, but I am not yet at that point.

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  • Shinji Ikari 9thShinji Ikari 9th Posts: 1,184
    edited December 1969

    something that i've noticed is that if you use an image to generate the landscape in the editind lab, is that if you render with the camera directle above the terain looking down, is you can see the image used. just a little fyi.

    p.s. i recently got a second laptop to transfur my 3d resorces to so i could free up space on my first system. for some resone, bryce keeps telling me that i need to input a serial number everytime i launch it. I always use the serial i got with bryce 7 pro, but in never sticks. any advice?

  • Jeanval LabJeanval Lab Posts: 13
    edited December 1969

    I have continued to study the Sky Lab. Since my precedent render, i have modified the sky to get more clouds.

    dwsel_ said:

    The current sun direction (midday, quite high) flattens the image. Moving it to left or right and lowering will make shadows to appear and be more contrasty and interesting imho.

    As Dwsel suggests me, i have lowered my sun and try to adjust the hdri effect and the sun intensity to get a good contrast between the shadows and the other zones.

    For this render, i have tested the fog controllers too and put a morning fog to see how it works.

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  • BlumBlumShubBlumBlumShub Posts: 1,108
    edited December 1969

    There are some really nice pieces here, I'm enjoying myself looking at them.

    My own piece has undergone somewhat of a radical change, but I'm still keeping the essence of the original. Hopefully a render later today.

  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited February 2013

    Sasje said:
    I did some chances.
    Dwsel you’re right about the mountain so I chanced that and give it fully snow
    I scale the bears so that it fit more in the scene (polar bears are big bears)
    About the sky, I don’t know if this is volumetric clouds.
    I think it looks better now.

    Comments are welcome.


    Looks great to me...nice work! :) I don't know enough about Bryce to recommend something specific, but I wonder if there's some way to make the bears' fur look more lifelike?

    Oh, I did really like that mountain you had before, but I agree that it wasn't right for this scene.

    One of the slight problems with Bryce is when you import an .obj that has a bump map (for a fur texture for example), the Bryce Mat lab sets it to 0 and it needs altering to give any texture bump (see 1st attached pic).

    Having said that, I've got no idea if the model imported in Sasje's render has a bump map texture, but as a great supporter of anything polar bear related (as I'm developing a series greeting cards at the moment - see 2nd attached pic), I'd say that's what it needs.

    :)

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    Post edited by Dave Savage on
  • BWSmanBWSman Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Here's my entry for this contest. I wanted to get the same feel as some paintings by Tom Thomson or the Group of Seven and used these references as my inspiration:
    http://www.galeriedada.com/img_big/Thom18.jpg
    http://www.lochgallery.com/files/lochgallery/imagecache/artwork-image/client-files/artwork-images/jackson-alexander-young-ay/splitrockislandgeorgianbay.jpg

    Unfortunately; I couldn't manage any windswept trees. I had to settle for a premade one from the library.

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  • SasjeSasje Posts: 835
    edited December 1969

    Thank you TheSavage64 for the tip, it has a bump map texture
    So I chanced the bears

    comments are welcome.

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  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Sasje great image, just one suggestion about the shadows...too dark for the surroundings. Ice and snow reflect a lot of light so the shadows are generally lighter...apart from that nice image. I will let the Brycers suggest how to lighten the shadows.

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited February 2013

    Shadows, umm.

    For a start I would tend to have a blue tinge to them, just a tinge, and shadows can be affected a couple of ways, depending how Sasje has the sky lab set up


    http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/to-the-arctic-3d-01.jpg

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • BWSmanBWSman Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I would appreciate any comments on my image. :)

  • SasjeSasje Posts: 835
    edited December 1969

    These are my settings

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  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    BWSman said:
    I would appreciate any comments on my image. :)

    I would pull in more, so the island is mor the point of the image, rather than sitting there in an empty sea.

  • Miss BMiss B Posts: 3,071
    edited February 2013

    OK, these are NOT entries. I am NOT a beginning Brycer, though it has been a long time since I've used it.

    That said, I started out in 3D with Bryce 4, upgraded to Bryce 5, and even though I had purchased the B5.5, B6 and B7 Pro upgrades after DAZ acquired Bryce, I hadn't used it until I installed it on this newish laptop last month.

    Below are some of my earliest Bryce renders. The first, Broken Glass is circa 2003, and the first Bryce render I was happy with. It was also my first attempt at working with booleans, thanks to a tutorial by a gentleman named Peter Sharpe. His site's no longer online, but most of his tutorials can still be found on the Wayback Machine site. I think most of my oldest Bryce renders were based on his tutorials. ;-)

    The 2nd through 4th renders titled, Red Mist, Outer Space and Rolling Hills, are circa 2004, and the 5th render, Night Waterfall, is circa 2005. Rolling Hills was my first render using Bryce 5.
     

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    Post edited by Miss B on
  • Miss BMiss B Posts: 3,071
    edited February 2013

    This last render I did last month, which I posted in the Bryce Discussion (Bryce Talk) forum, is my first render using Bryce 7 Pro. I did this a little differently as I created the terrain in another terrain editor/creator called Terragen and exported it as an OBJ and imported it into Bryce. I was surprised and happy that I was able to compose this scene, and have it come out as well as it did. I've tried a few more times since, but the POV (camera view) is very different between the two apps, so the terrains didn't look quite the same in Bryce as they did in Terragen. I guess I got really lucky that first time that it still looked good, if not better, in Bryce.

    The only postwork done to the image, aside from my sig, was the addition of some of Ron's birds, as the only 3D bird product I have is Noggin's Macaw, and somehow it just didn't fit the scene. ~ROFL~

    Be sure to click to see it unsquished.
     

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    Post edited by Miss B on
  • BWSmanBWSman Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    So I moved the camera closer to the island and it does look better.

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  • David BrinnenDavid Brinnen Posts: 3,136
    edited December 1969

    Oh I do wish the forum would be consistent... either it should notify when posts are posted or not. Not sometimes and not others... anyway, I've kinda lost track of what was going on here, but here's a new tutorial that might be helpful - the first 10 minutes at least. After that things will get a bit hairy for beginners.

    Bryce "Nuts and Bolts" - breaking down lighting, diffuse, ambient, specular and... by David Brinnen

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  • kittenwyldekittenwylde Posts: 151
    edited December 1969

    Ooh! Lighting tutorial, yay! Thanks. I've never messed with lighting in Bryce much other than the sun. And one pretty dramatic wizard's staff in a sunken treasure chest, that was fun. Off to learn something new!

  • BlumBlumShubBlumBlumShub Posts: 1,108
    edited December 1969

    Right, it's about time I showed what I've been playing with!

    I took my original image and threw it away, preferring instead to start again from scratch, though I wanted the same feel to the picture.

    Having played with many things, especially the lighting, this is where I'm at now. As always, constructive criticism is welcome.

    Many thanks to David and Chohole for their help and advice.

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  • David BrinnenDavid Brinnen Posts: 3,136
    edited December 1969

    Right, it's about time I showed what I've been playing with!

    I took my original image and threw it away, preferring instead to start again from scratch, though I wanted the same feel to the picture.

    Having played with many things, especially the lighting, this is where I'm at now. As always, constructive criticism is welcome.

    Many thanks to David and Chohole for their help and advice.

    Looking very good indeed. My recommendation, more light (in addition to the sun) and lift the haze (goes upwards with cloud height). Lighting choices depend on the power of your CPU. Either put in a simple bluish radial somewhere behind your camera. No fall off, no shadows, about 4 or 5 diffuse. Or go to town with IBL or if you are feeling really brave / daft - melt your CPU with TA rendering (but that's very hard to set up so probably not for now).

  • BlumBlumShubBlumBlumShub Posts: 1,108
    edited December 1969

    Right, it's about time I showed what I've been playing with!

    I took my original image and threw it away, preferring instead to start again from scratch, though I wanted the same feel to the picture.

    Having played with many things, especially the lighting, this is where I'm at now. As always, constructive criticism is welcome.

    Many thanks to David and Chohole for their help and advice.

    Looking very good indeed. My recommendation, more light (in addition to the sun) and lift the haze (goes upwards with cloud height). Lighting choices depend on the power of your CPU. Either put in a simple bluish radial somewhere behind your camera. No fall off, no shadows, about 4 or 5 diffuse. Or go to town with IBL or if you are feeling really brave / daft - melt your CPU with TA rendering (but that's very hard to set up so probably not for now).
    I was going to set up IBL the way you showed in your earlier tutorial but I didn't get round to it yet because of the render time. I just wanted to get a render out and published here before I gave up!

    Lighting is a large arse cake! This is the best I've had the lighting. I deliberately dropped the haze intensity because it looked like I was viewing it through dirty specs, but I didn't raise the height.

    Won't be around much to play today, but I'll work on it over the weekend.

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Hey Barry love the sig line....if I had room I would have added that myself.

    Your image reminds me of my first ever Bryce scene I did. Nice work but as David has already suggested, more light. :) But stick at it, follow Davids tuts and all wil be well, yes lighting can be bottom cake but as time goes on it becomes a comfortable blanket. :)

  • Jeanval LabJeanval Lab Posts: 13
    edited December 1969

    I have continued to adjust my ligthning (i found my previous render was a bit too luminous).

    And during my experiment of the cloud tab, i got a full covered sky with dark clouds, so i made a darkest version of my scene with a bad weather.

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  • BlumBlumShubBlumBlumShub Posts: 1,108
    edited December 1969

    Szark said:
    Hey Barry love the sig line....if I had room I would have added that myself.

    Your image reminds me of my first ever Bryce scene I did. Nice work but as David has already suggested, more light. :) But stick at it, follow Davids tuts and all wil be well, yes lighting can be bottom cake but as time goes on it becomes a comfortable blanket. :)


    I've struggled a lot with this image. Ok, yes, it's my first time trying to use Bryce to make a proper image. In the past I've just used it to make skies to use in Studio.

    I find it so hard to position things in Bryce, I'm not sure it's worth the effort using it beyond this contest. I like the DTE, if I can get to grips with that then there's potential for more art in Bryce. I hate the trees. I would need to get fluent with the tree/vegetation creating if I'm going to use it a lot.

    And I'll absolutely NEED to find an easy way to position items, especially when Bryce starts slowing down when you have more than a few items in it.

    Having said that, I'm happy with the direction this art is going, and I've got a render which thinks it's going to take 3 hours including IBL. Normally I'd really sulk about a 3 hour render, but in this case I'm just looking forward to seeing the result.

  • kittenwyldekittenwylde Posts: 151
    edited December 1969

    I find it so hard to position things in Bryce, I'm not sure it's worth the effort using it beyond this contest.

    Funny how that works... Bryce was my first experience with anything 3D. When I started working with other programs, I used to get seriously frustrated and holler at them, "Why can't you be more like Bryce!?"
    Your image looks mighty cool, by the way. I like the camera angle.

  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited February 2013

    ... I find it so hard to position things in Bryce, ...

    OK, some pointers in moving stuff into position in Byrce.
    Sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know, but if so, let's hope it can help other people. :)

    1; If you have a large, complex scene the components will be slow to respond to movement and jump around, so make sure you have the wireframe view set to 'Default Wireframe'. This option is down at the bottom right of the viewport and is identified by it's little icon that looks like a wireframe cube. Click on that and from the top section of three, make sure that the Default Wireframe has a tick against it.

    2; There are several ways to move things around in Bryce and selecting a component and dragging it around with the cursor is the least efficient way. So select the component you wish to move and then in the "Edit" tab on the top row of icons, use the icon that looks like a cube with arrow heads on the stalks that stick out of it.
    Now this can be a bit confusing because your camera view doesn't necessarily match with the natural North, South, East and West orientation of this movement icon. One way around this is when you start to build your scene, go to Top View and make sure your camera is at the bottom of the default grid, pointing North. Then your movement and re-sizing tools will a bit more sense. Otherwise hope you get used to sometimes having to move the movement icon arrow one way to make your component move in the opposite direction.
    So if you've set up the scene as suggested above, to move your component North you put the cursor on the Movement icon at the point where the lower left arrow stick out (the cube will slowly throb and you should see an 'X' to indicate the X axis is selected), now slowly move the mouse or trackpad to either push the component North or pull it South. If you wish to move it in smaller increments, press the Alt/Option key at the same time. This same process can be used to move a component (or group) East, West and Up and Down but choosing the corresponding arrow head on the movement icon.
    You can also move stuff by selecting it using the arrow keys on your keyboard. Again, if you wish move things in smaller increments, you can use the arrow keys in conjunction with the Alt/Option key.
    You can also move stuff by clicking the little A in the components sub menu to access the Attributes and type an exact position in the matrix grid.

    3; Moving stuff into position is much easier in Top View and once it's close enough, for more exact positioning, zoom in to the area.
    Zooming into the area is easy in Top view as Bryce will automatically center the selected component in the viewport. The zoom button is found at the bottom right and is a magnifying glass with a plus (+) symbol. there is also a zoom out button with a Negative (-) symbol and a move around button with a picture of a hand which allows you to scroll around the view. Using these buttons will not affect the view when you go back to Camera or Director view. Zooming in has another advantage as there is less geometry in the viewport, moving items should speed up.

    4: Now your item is in position it may not be at the correct height.
    If it needs to sit on the floor and is at present floating in the air, just select the item you need to position and in the item's sub menu, click the bottom icon (an arrow pointing downwards). This will drop the item down to either the floor or the surface of any object it first comes into contact with.
    If your object is below the ground and it needs lifting up, Bryce will put a little upwards pointing arrow in the sub menu instead of the downward pointing one. Clicking it, will bring your object up to the ground level.
    If there is no little arrow in the selected item's sub menu, it is already at ground level.
    If you're altering the height of an object and it doesn't need to sit on anything (a plane in the air for instance), use either Left, Right, Front or Back view to see an overview of your scene and using the movement instructions above only selecting the Y axis movement arrow head on the movement icon and remember that pressing the Alt-Option key at the same time will move your object in smaller increments for more exact positioning.

    Hope this makes sense (it's early here) and that some of it helps. :)

    Post edited by Dave Savage on
  • BWSmanBWSman Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    ... I find it so hard to position things in Bryce, ...

    OK, some pointers in moving stuff into position in Byrce.
    Sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know, but if so, let's hope it can help other people. :)

    1; If you have a large, complex scene the components will be slow to respond to movement and jump around, so make sure you have the wireframe view set to 'Default Wireframe'. This option is down at the bottom right of the viewport and is identified by it's little icon that looks like a wireframe cube. Click on that and from the top section of three, make sure that the Default Wireframe has a tick against it.

    2; There are several ways to move things around in Bryce and selecting a component and dragging it around with the cursor is the least efficient way. So select the component you wish to move and then in the "Edit" tab on the top row of icons, use the icon that looks like a cube with arrow heads on the stalks that stick out of it.
    Now this can be a bit confusing because your camera view doesn't necessarily match with the natural North, South, East and West orientation of this movement icon. One way around this is when you start to build your scene, go to Top View and make sure your camera is at the bottom of the default grid, pointing North. Then your movement and re-sizing tools will a bit more sense. Otherwise hope you get used to sometimes having to move the movement icon arrow one way to make your component move in the opposite direction.
    So if you've set up the scene as suggested above, to move your component North you put the cursor on the Movement icon at the point where the lower left arrow stick out (the cube will slowly throb and you should see an 'X' to indicate the X axis is selected), now slowly move the mouse or trackpad to either push the component North or pull it South. If you wish to move it in smaller increments, press the Alt/Option key at the same time. This same process can be used to move a component (or group) East, West and Up and Down but choosing the corresponding arrow head on the movement icon.
    You can also move stuff by selecting it using the arrow keys on your keyboard. Again, if you wish move things in smaller increments, you can use the arrow keys in conjunction with the Alt/Option key.
    You can also move stuff by clicking the little A in the components sub menu to access the Attributes and type an exact position in the matrix grid.

    3; Moving stuff into position is much easier in Top View and once it's close enough, for more exact positioning, zoom in to the area.
    Zooming into the area is easy in Top view as Bryce will automatically center the selected component in the viewport. The zoom button is found at the bottom right and is a magnifying glass with a plus (+) symbol. there is also a zoom out button with a Negative (-) symbol and a move around button with a picture of a hand which allows you to scroll around the view. Using these buttons will not affect the view when you go back to Camera or Director view. Zooming in has another advantage as there is less geometry in the viewport, moving items should speed up.

    4: Now your item is in position it may not be at the correct height.
    If it needs to sit on the floor and is at present floating in the air, just select the item you need to position and in the item's sub menu, click the bottom icon (an arrow pointing downwards). This will drop the item down to either the floor or the surface of any object it first comes into contact with.
    If your object is below the ground and it needs lifting up, Bryce will put a little upwards pointing arrow in the sub menu instead of the downward pointing one. Clicking it, will bring your object up to the ground level.
    If there is no little arrow in the selected item's sub menu, it is already at ground level.
    If you're altering the height of an object and it doesn't need to sit on anything (a plane in the air for instance), use either Left, Right, Front or Back view to see an overview of your scene and using the movement instructions above only selecting the Y axis movement arrow head on the movement icon and remember that pressing the Alt-Option key at the same time will move your object in smaller increments for more exact positioning.

    Hope this makes sense (it's early here) and that some of it helps. :)

    From the top view; North & South will be the Z axis and east-West is the X axis.

  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited December 1969

    Yes, sorry, I did say it was early when I typed that up... thanks for the correction. :)

  • BlumBlumShubBlumBlumShub Posts: 1,108
    edited December 1969

    Thanks guys. I picked up a tip from David's tutorial when I started this image again last week and set my camera to face North, so thankfully that eased the transition when I moved items using the transform tool.

    The problem I have is that I can't visualise the height or contour of my terrains or other items just by using the wireframe, and it's a pain in both bottom cheeks getting them to look right. If I was trying to position something precisely, I'd have given up by now.

    I've used IBL and changed some settings. My render is still rendering two days later! This is annoying me chronically. Anyone that knows me knows that I hate long renders, and to me an hour is too long, let alone three days. But it's looking pretty and it's rendering in the background so I can still use my computer for anything I want to, so it can finish. Provided I don't miss the deadline for the competition. If that happens Bryce gets uninstalled and all install files and content get removed from my hard drive, and anyone mentioning Bryce to me will have their lungs surgically removed with a shovel!

    I want to hug Carrara!

  • David BrinnenDavid Brinnen Posts: 3,136
    edited December 1969

    Thanks guys. I picked up a tip from David's tutorial when I started this image again last week and set my camera to face North, so thankfully that eased the transition when I moved items using the transform tool.

    The problem I have is that I can't visualise the height or contour of my terrains or other items just by using the wireframe, and it's a pain in both bottom cheeks getting them to look right. If I was trying to position something precisely, I'd have given up by now.

    I've used IBL and changed some settings. My render is still rendering two days later! This is annoying me chronically. Anyone that knows me knows that I hate long renders, and to me an hour is too long, let alone three days. But it's looking pretty and it's rendering in the background so I can still use my computer for anything I want to, so it can finish. Provided I don't miss the deadline for the competition. If that happens Bryce gets uninstalled and all install files and content get removed from my hard drive, and anyone mentioning Bryce to me will have their lungs surgically removed with a shovel!

    I want to hug Carrara!

    Seems a bit extreme.

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited February 2013

    I am working on him David, Have threatened him with the trusty club. I keep telling him Bryce is the best thing since Sliced bread. :coolsmirk:

    Post edited by Chohole on
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