How can I have a more rounded border on this snow block?

launoklaunok Posts: 793
edited December 2016 in Bryce Discussion

Hi there,

I want to add some pieces of snow blocks on the terrain base with extra hight (some snow pile) but not as straight blocked as the attachment.  I am working on a town render with snow.  Is it possible to give the snow a more natural, rounded border when using Bryce's cubes .  I have used the block cube but the lines are too much blocky.  Can one do such borders in Bryce?

Thank you for any suggestions.

 

 

Capture - snow block.JPG
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Post edited by launok on

Comments

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604

    you could use one of the alternate prims from the object presets.

  • launoklaunok Posts: 793

    @Chohole - thank you, forgot about those options!

  • mindsongmindsong Posts: 1,701
    edited December 2016

    you could import most any obj meshfile, and there are a bunch of mesh editing tools that would probably easily let you create such a starting rectangle, moosh it into a snowy shape and export it as an obj that you could import into bryce and further stretch and warp to match your bryce scene...

    I think pixelogic's free sculptris tool may be able to get you there without having to master the entire app.

    (anyone know of any other mesh tools that let one do more organic stuff?) wings3d is well-used by some folks in this crowd. Perhaps they could chime in.

    you might also be able to import an obj rectangle and use bryce's mesh editor to smooth the heck out of it... Note that any mesh, even a rectangle, will need enough ploygons to smooth for that option to work.

    Lastly, DazStudio deformers (pretty easy to use) could be used to take a basic DS rectangle primitive and stretch it around. Not sure about the corners/smoothing tho'.

    hope this helps!

    cheers,

    --ms

    Post edited by mindsong on
  • launoklaunok Posts: 793

    @mindsong - thank you for your reply.  I have sculptris but barely use it, though I think I must start using it.  Will try the other options as well you mention.

  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433

    You could just make random uneven blocks in the terrain editor. But that would be a memory and render intensive way to do it.

    No one DARE mention using displacement as it will inevitably crash Bryce (unless you set Bryce's priority to "Low" before you start and of course that will slow down any rending too)... But sometimes clever use of the bump channel in the Texture editor can sometimes give the appearance of smoothing off sharp edges (especially if the transformation tools are set to between 0.0 and 1.0% on the scale tool).

     

  • HansmarHansmar Posts: 2,929

    Though I don't know Wings, I'm quite sure you can do it with Wings. It can be done in Hexagon, I'm sure. Sculptris will work too. In summary: any modelling program!

  • While it won't make a rectangular looking block, have you tried simply squasing a Bryce stone nearly flat?

  • launoklaunok Posts: 793

    You could just make random uneven blocks in the terrain editor. But that would be a memory and render intensive way to do it.

    No one DARE mention using displacement as it will inevitably crash Bryce (unless you set Bryce's priority to "Low" before you start and of course that will slow down any rending too)... But sometimes clever use of the bump channel in the Texture editor can sometimes give the appearance of smoothing off sharp edges (especially if the transformation tools are set to between 0.0 and 1.0% on the scale tool).

     

     

    Thank you for your reply.  Actually I am not at all experienced in Bryce but all the hints are much appreciated for future reference.  I have also downloaded the LAA after one of my scenes run out of memory when putting more objects and it helped a lot after uploaded it.  I have not used displacement up to this stage but thank you for the tip.

     

    Hansmar said:

    Though I don't know Wings, I'm quite sure you can do it with Wings. It can be done in Hexagon, I'm sure. Sculptris will work too. In summary: any modelling program!

     

    I have most of these 3D modelling programs, of which many are free: Blender, Wings, Hexagon (not free anymore), even designCAD bought few years back but never used.

     

    mspieth said:

    While it won't make a rectangular looking block, have you tried simply squasing a Bryce stone nearly flat?

     

    Wow, thanks for the tip!  It just show how many options one have on the end.  A flattened stone with snow mat will give just a perfect touch simply because it's uneven.

    Regards to all and have a happy Christmas!  angel

    Laura

  • mindsongmindsong Posts: 1,701

    Hey there, I was just in the Bryce terrain editor and saw an option...

    use the fractal rounded dunes to make a smooth-ish terrain, and try the 'round corners' action and see if playing with that sort of thing can get you there. The fractal has a pulldown that has the different types, and the rounded dunes is near the top. press the 'new' to clear the current terrain (all black), then press the fractal pull-down and select the rounded dunes, then press the fractal button, and you should get a windblown-looking surface, but the edges are clipped square. round them with the round edges action and see how that goes. Playing around with other options may be viable too. smoothing, once you get the main shape!

    Once saved, you can rescale/translate the terrain like any object, etc. and place it to taste...

    --ms

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