Show Us Your Bryce Renders! Part 9

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Comments

  • HoroHoro Posts: 10,633
    edited July 2015

    @Sandy - good.

    @Art - The distant light resets? You have Auto Keys on. Switch it off. Click on the Palette Toggle (right most at the bottom), then click on the down arrow just left of it. On top, deselect Auto Key. That should resolve the distant light resetting issue.

    The deer, check the materials of each mesh. Perhaps there's the problem. Though it looks good to me.

    Below the "classic" clouds but Object Space. Sun and a distant light at the same position to boost sun output. Both have 20% soft shadows. An HDRI lights the shadows (excluded slab). 1-1/2 h double size, premium, 9 rpp, normal priority.

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    Post edited by Horo on
  • SlepalexSlepalex Posts: 911
    edited December 1969


    Every light I added (radial, distant, dome), I tried including the deer only. No matter how high I set the diffuse setting, the deer never lit up. I tried excluding everything, but the deer, and evidently I had some objects grouped that Bryce didn't like because it still lit up certain things I didn't want. Also, using the distant light, no matter what coordinates I typed in to match the sun's settings, it reset itself to the defaults. I gave up with adding lights and used some ambience on the deer, which didn't turn out the way I wanted.

    This morning, I decided to try again with the lights and re-render just the deer. Still the same problems with the include option and the distant light settings, but I was finally able to ungroup whatever was causing the problem, exclude all the items, and got the deer to have more appropriate light.

    Any thoughts on why the Include option wouldn't work? The issue of grouping? Why the distant light would reset itself to the defaults?


    Read all of this page (http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/53147/P735/#853166)! Especially my comments to the post of David, and you decide the issue, with excluded/included! :-)
  • SlepalexSlepalex Posts: 911
    edited July 2015


    Any thoughts on why the Include option wouldn't work? The issue of grouping? Why the distant light would reset itself to the defaults?

    Prompts how in 4 reception to solve this problem.
    1. Select a deer.
    2. Switch to "Solo".
    3. Select the mesh -> select all of the meshes and mark "Positive".
    4. Enter and exit the "Solo".
    It's all! Be happy. :-)
    Post edited by Slepalex on
  • Dan WhitesideDan Whiteside Posts: 500
    edited December 1969

    Horo - thanks for the tip about non-shadow distance light and exclusions. That should solve a bunch of shadow problems I've had!

  • HansmarHansmar Posts: 2,927
    edited December 1969

    @Slepalex and Horo: Thanks for correcting me. Indeed, the slab does go to the horizon, but not when you make it too small in the z-direction as I had done! I tried increasing the z and indeed, now it reaches the horizon. So, the size of the z is apparently important. I should have thought of that.
    And why I got a black underground without TA? I can't really see. I did see only black before, but when I use the simpler rendering options, now I do have colour. Must have made some stupid mistake.

    Anyway, in the lavafields, the weather improved a bit and sun came through. (still with the very small z-size for the slab, but that doesn't matter in this render).

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  • Fencepost52Fencepost52 Posts: 509
    edited December 1969

    Horo said:
    @Art - The distant light resets? You have Auto Keys on. Switch it off. Click on the Palette Toggle (right most at the bottom), then click on the down arrow just left of it. On top, deselect Auto Key. That should resolve the distant light resetting issue.

    The deer, check the materials of each mesh. Perhaps there's the problem. Though it looks good to me.


    Ahh, well how 'bout that! Never knew about that feature. Thanks so much!

    slepalex said:

    Any thoughts on why the Include option wouldn't work? The issue of grouping? Why the distant light would reset itself to the defaults?

    Prompts how in 4 reception to solve this problem.
    1. Select a deer.
    2. Switch to "Solo".
    3. Select the mesh -> select all of the meshes and mark "Positive".
    4. Enter and exit the "Solo".
    It's all! Be happy. :-)

    Thanks for the link to the thread and the 4 steps above. Just to make sure I'm understanding correctly. The word "Solo" is the same as "Ungroup"? I did a quick test using your steps with Ungroup and it worked.

  • SlepalexSlepalex Posts: 911
    edited December 1969

    hansmar said:
    @Slepalex and Horo: Thanks for correcting me. Indeed, the slab does go to the horizon, but not when you make it too small in the z-direction as I had done! I tried increasing the z and indeed, now it reaches the horizon. So, the size of the z is apparently important. I should have thought of that.
    And why I got a black underground without TA? I can't really see. I did see only black before, but when I use the simpler rendering options, now I do have colour. Must have made some stupid mistake.

    Anyway, in the lavafields, the weather improved a bit and sun came through. (still with the very small z-size for the slab, but that doesn't matter in this render).

    Hans! Still, you do not understand! Endless plate or plane because so called (infinite) that does not depend on any size X, Y or Z. Only stretching or compressing of the texture depends on the size of the object along the axes XYZ, if you assign it to the object space. In any case, the endless slab or plane will go to the horizon, irrespective of compression or stretching XYZ.
    If you want to stretch the cloud, do it in the "Edit Texture", changing the scaling.

  • SlepalexSlepalex Posts: 911
    edited December 1969

    Horo said:
    @Art - The distant light resets? You have Auto Keys on. Switch it off. Click on the Palette Toggle (right most at the bottom), then click on the down arrow just left of it. On top, deselect Auto Key. That should resolve the distant light resetting issue.

    The deer, check the materials of each mesh. Perhaps there's the problem. Though it looks good to me.


    Ahh, well how 'bout that! Never knew about that feature. Thanks so much!

    slepalex said:

    Any thoughts on why the Include option wouldn't work? The issue of grouping? Why the distant light would reset itself to the defaults?

    Prompts how in 4 reception to solve this problem.
    1. Select a deer.
    2. Switch to "Solo".
    3. Select the mesh -> select all of the meshes and mark "Positive".
    4. Enter and exit the "Solo".
    It's all! Be happy. :-)

    Thanks for the link to the thread and the 4 steps above. Just to make sure I'm understanding correctly. The word "Solo" is the same as "Ungroup"? I did a quick test using your steps with Ungroup and it worked.

    No, you misunderstood! On the bottom right on the palette of selection has a small round button. Move your mouse cursor on it and left below help bubble will appear.
    If you select one or more objects in the scene and click on the button, you will enter the "Solo". All objects that you have selected will be visible on the scene, and the rest will be invisible. If you choose "select all meshes" that all meshes will be selected to of all the objects that are visible on the scene. But now you only see a deer! Re-click on the "Solo" scene returns to its original state.

  • CTippettsCTippetts Posts: 162
    edited December 1969

    @DavidBrinnen - You HAVE to be proud that one simple tutorial video has stimulated so much art to be generated by this community. Keep it up!

    @The Rest of You - Amazing results. I love seeing all this artwork. I like the various in lighting and color. It's dumbfounding what some of you managed to do with it.

    Myself, I'm not as good as you. However the realism of the clouds generated by David's method reminded me of my childhood. I was raised in a very small community that was surrounded by farmland. My friends and I used to lay in the fields and imagine all kinds of fantastic shapes in the clouds. I realized even then that imagination can not be transferred from person to person, as one of us would see something no one else could, though there were always some clouds that we all saw the same thing in. So, I decided to have some fun with David's material.

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  • HoroHoro Posts: 10,633
    edited December 1969

    Ahh, well how 'bout that! Never knew about that feature. Thanks so much!
    You're welcome. The logic of resetting the position of a distant light by enabling key frames for an animation is the most natural behaviour. After all, what are position controls for if they cannot be reset to any arbitrary position? :lol: If I remember correctly, Rashad found that trick.

    On the bottom right on the palette of selection has a small round button. Move your mouse cursor on it and left below help bubble will appear.
    If you select one or more objects in the scene and click on the button, you will enter the "Solo". All objects that you have selected will be visible on the scene, and the rest will be invisible. If you choose "select all meshes" that all meshes will be selected to of all the objects that are visible on the scene. But now you only see a deer! Re-click on the "Solo" scene returns to its original state.


    That's not clear to me. The round button is the Time Selection/Palette Toggle. Obviously, you refer to another button.

    @CTippetts - our brain tries to make sense of anything unknown. Cloud forms are assigned to a known shape that has some remote similarity. It very much depends what associations are evoked while the "data base" is scanned and what's already in the data base.

  • Fencepost52Fencepost52 Posts: 509
    edited December 1969

    Horo said:
    Ahh, well how 'bout that! Never knew about that feature. Thanks so much!
    You're welcome. The logic of resetting the position of a distant light by enabling key frames for an animation is the most natural behaviour. After all, what are position controls for if they cannot be reset to any arbitrary position? :lol: If I remember correctly, Rashad found that trick.

    As much as I love animating things in GIMP, I haven't experimented with it in Bryce, so I would have never guessed to look someplace like that! Glad I asked because I would have given up on distant lights, which would be a shame because I do like them. :)


    On the bottom right on the palette of selection has a small round button. Move your mouse cursor on it and left below help bubble will appear.
    If you select one or more objects in the scene and click on the button, you will enter the "Solo". All objects that you have selected will be visible on the scene, and the rest will be invisible. If you choose "select all meshes" that all meshes will be selected to of all the objects that are visible on the scene. But now you only see a deer! Re-click on the "Solo" scene returns to its original state.That's not clear to me. The round button is the Time Selection/Palette Toggle. Obviously, you refer to another button.

    Wasn't clear to me either, but found it! Thanks, Alex! I will definitely be using this feature now.


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  • SlepalexSlepalex Posts: 911
    edited December 1969

    To fencepost52, Horo /
    Gentlemen! Do not understand how you can build complex scenes in Bryce, without knowing these basic things?
    Maybe you do not know what to appoint a "color family" and to select by "color family"?
    If something is not clear in the screenshots, you ask me one more time!

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  • Fencepost52Fencepost52 Posts: 509
    edited December 1969

    Thank you, Alex! I did find the controller and posted a small screenshot of it.

    slepalex said:
    To fencepost52, Horo /
    Gentlemen! Do not understand how you can build complex scenes in Bryce, without knowing these basic things?
    Maybe you do not know what to appoint a "color family" and to select by "color family"?
    If something is not clear in the screenshots, you ask me one more time!

    You are correct. Creating complex scenes is new to me so there's so many things yet to learn. I appreciate your gracious help very much! :)

  • HoroHoro Posts: 10,633
    edited July 2015

    @Art - WOW! Never played with those buttons, I thought they are for animation only. Great, you can also select the next and previous object or family.

    @slepalex - thank you for that tip. Clever Art showed stupid me how it works. I know the hidden attribute, the selection by the TAB key, the families, ctrl-click, the meshes, but this one I never tried.

    Post edited by Horo on
  • HansmarHansmar Posts: 2,927
    edited December 1969

    slepalex said:

    Hans! Still, you do not understand! Endless plate or plane because so called (infinite) that does not depend on any size X, Y or Z. Only stretching or compressing of the texture depends on the size of the object along the axes XYZ, if you assign it to the object space. In any case, the endless slab or plane will go to the horizon, irrespective of compression or stretching XYZ.
    If you want to stretch the cloud, do it in the "Edit Texture", changing the scaling.

    Alex, I agree that I do not understand it all. Now, here are two examples of the same scene. One with a texture in world space and one in object space (the one with not a lot of variation). I also show the slab from top. I clearly see the horizon and no clouds in both renders.
    Then the render with the triangle is with a much wider (longer) z (texture in world mapping mode). And also this one from the top.
    Now the horizon is just not or just visible. I also tried this one with object mapping texture mode: similar result
    So, In my view, the size of the z does make a difference (not only on the texture, obviously).

    Either, I must still have some misunderstanding, or, infinite is just a word in the software and does not necessarily mean that it is infinite.

    By the way, I also tried with much higher texture frequency: no difference in the horizon view at all.

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  • HansmarHansmar Posts: 2,927
    edited December 1969

    @CTippetts: Very nice results with these fantastic looking clouds.

    I also played some more with the technique. I tried all kind of options. I coloured the clouds and rotated the slab a bit in the z-direction. This is the result. I added some of my 'poplars', that do not look too good close-up. But all-in-all, I do like the result!

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  • Fencepost52Fencepost52 Posts: 509
    edited December 1969

    @Hansmar: Nice render. Looks like a cold, desolate place. :)

    Here's some more of my recent work. I've modified my most recent landscape without the deer, but adding a small marsh, some additional greenery, and clouds, and a couple of other cloud experiment renders.

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  • HansmarHansmar Posts: 2,927
    edited December 1969

    @fencepost52. Thanks. Looks a bit cold indeed.
    Your renders look very good, specifically the marsh! And the clouds in the last one are a fun sight.

  • mermaid010mermaid010 Posts: 5,483
    edited December 1969

    Sandy –the country house is a nice model. I like your “from above” version.

    Horo – thanks, another great render

    Art – thanks, great minds…. Lol all your renders are very nicely done. Love the addition of the marshland and the last one.

    Hansmar – both your renders are nicely done, I really like the effect of “threatening sky”

    CTippetts – very nice fun render.

  • HoroHoro Posts: 10,633
    edited December 1969

    @hansmar - nice cloud experiment.

    @Art - the marsh landscape looks great, the clouds fit nicely. The other two are nice, too.

    I had to give myself a bit of a rest with clouds. The cage I had bought for Bryce 5.5, the plants are from the Vegetation set, lighting and backdrop from the Hyper Texture base set. The lens, which is behind the plants and encompasses more of the HDRI backdrop than otherwise visible, is after an idea of David's.

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    CagedPlants.jpg
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  • SlepalexSlepalex Posts: 911
    edited December 1969

    hansmar said:
    slepalex said:

    Hans! Still, you do not understand! Endless plate or plane because so called (infinite) that does not depend on any size X, Y or Z. Only stretching or compressing of the texture depends on the size of the object along the axes XYZ, if you assign it to the object space. In any case, the endless slab or plane will go to the horizon, irrespective of compression or stretching XYZ.
    If you want to stretch the cloud, do it in the "Edit Texture", changing the scaling.

    Alex, I agree that I do not understand it all. Now, here are two examples of the same scene. One with a texture in world space and one in object space (the one with not a lot of variation). I also show the slab from top. I clearly see the horizon and no clouds in both renders.
    Then the render with the triangle is with a much wider (longer) z (texture in world mapping mode). And also this one from the top.
    Now the horizon is just not or just visible. I also tried this one with object mapping texture mode: similar result
    So, In my view, the size of the z does make a difference (not only on the texture, obviously).

    Either, I must still have some misunderstanding, or, infinite is just a word in the software and does not necessarily mean that it is infinite.

    By the way, I also tried with much higher texture frequency: no difference in the horizon view at all.

    Hans, it is obvious that you Slab tilted at -1 ° (or so) in the axis X. Either you distorted geometry. Perhaps that Slab looks like a parallelogram in any lateral projection. Use the command "Unscale" and "Unrotate" to the Slab and everything will fall into place.

  • SlepalexSlepalex Posts: 911
    edited December 1969

    @Hansmar: Nice render. Looks like a cold, desolate place. :)

    Here's some more of my recent work. I've modified my most recent landscape without the deer, but adding a small marsh, some additional greenery, and clouds, and a couple of other cloud experiment renders.

    fencepost52, the first picture is very good. Just put the camera at eye level! It would be more natural. You're not from the top of the tree is shooting. :-)
    For the rest of the images is also true, if you do not shoot from the top of the mountain. In the latter case, the high position of the camera is justified.

  • mermaid010mermaid010 Posts: 5,483
    edited December 1969

    Horo- wow awesome render

    Slepalex - thanks for sharing your expertise with us. :-)

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,119
    edited December 1969

    Horo

    Great render.

    mermaid010

    Thank you.

    This is the image I made with the house.

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    elfholm-002.jpg
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  • mermaid010mermaid010 Posts: 5,483
    edited December 1969

    Sandy - lovely render. Someone on the forum also used this country house, but I can't remember who.Thanks to Alphons Blom for sharing this beautiful model.

  • SlepalexSlepalex Posts: 911
    edited July 2015

    Fishtales said:

    This is the image I made with the house.

    Fishtales, you see a keg in the foreground on the left? Click on this object, and then click on the icon "E", then click on the smoothed ball and confirm.
    Then visualize and you will see striking changes. :-)

    Post edited by Slepalex on
  • StuartBStuartB Posts: 596

    Whats happened to the forums. I can only get to page 27 of the Show us your renders forum.

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,583

    There are more posts per page now

  • CTippettsCTippetts Posts: 162

    Oh! Sometimes I fear change. This is one of them. The new forum requires that I allow Google to track my activity ... cannot use the forum without allowing ajax.googleapis.com through my firewall.  This is an MAC/IP tracking site. Can you say, "Big Brother"?  I feel like I should learn Newspeak, and maybe type this in a corner. (Um, Apple users, the MAC refers to Machine Address Code, not a Macintosh.)

     

    About those clouds ... on my offline computer, which is XP Pro SP2 on an Intel Duo CPU E4600 at 2.4GHz, (with 3.25GB RAM running at 1.2GHz), I used Bryce 5.5 to do the following renders.  This is 3 stacked terrains at 2048, 1025, and 512, with the water in the ground plane. The clouds are the exact same ones I used in my last post, (minus the objects in the clouds), made following Davids video.  I have three points here:

    1) Render times.

    The first image was done using Normal AA. It took 46:56 for this 1.62 Megapixel image. Bryce cast 4.31 Billion rays at a maximun ray depth of 6.  This was 4.34 billion ray hits, and 1.57 trillion misses, for about 2 trillion intersect attempts.

    The second image was done using Premium AA with True Ambience, Soft Shadows, and, (since I had the time), 256 rays per pixel, also using a max ray depth of 6. It took, (get this), 3 days, 14 hours, 34 minutes, and 46 seconds. Yup ... really.  It was 2.02 trillion rays with 877.4 billion ray hits and 1.2 quadrillion misses.

    2) Banding.

    In the third image, (which is the normal AA image), I point to banding that still was able to occur despite the slab compression that made it take over 45 minutes to render.  This banding is not at all visible in the 3+ days rendered image.

    Conclusion of points 1 and 2.

    This method of making clouds produces such realistic and beautiful results, any time it takes to get it right seems to be worth it.

    3) Terrain Editor.

    In the fourth image I point to areas on the terrain I would like to make it look like water is flowing, as if this is a natural dam with a larger body of water on the other side of it, with the water flowing over the top at the lowest point, and through natural gaps in the dam wall, where the terrain material makes it look like water would naturally flow.  I wanted to slice up a 4th terrain and use a water material, and extend that terrain slightly past the others toward the camera.  I failed miserably, and am not even posting the results.  Trying to get the exact locations of the places on the material to slice it up in the gray scale terrain editor proved impossible.  I couldn't even do it by exporting the terrain to Paint Shop Pro.  I spent hours trying ... hours I didn't really have ... put off stuff I was supposed to be getting done.

    Question from point 3.

    Does anyone know of a tutorial or such, or perhaps know themselves how to accomplish this type of terrain editing, matching up to the material applied?  Davids Geocrafting guide is the closest thing I've seen to what I'm trying to do, and it doesn't touch it.  I need a method much more precise.  It would be nice if Bryce had a feature allowing the material to be seen in the terrain editor, but, alas...

     

    Also, how do I get the spell checker to work in this new forum version?  I'm spoiled.  I hope I don't have to open up more ports to Google/Amazon.

  • StuartBStuartB Posts: 596

    "There are more posts per page now"

    Oh yes, I see now. Don't like the new layout though.

    It worked fine before, why do people fix things that are not broken.

     

     

This discussion has been closed.