Importance of illusion

akmerlow

Originally i came to Bryce from more realtime-focused experience (e.g. i made this little virtual art museum project together with my friend during student years, using Unreal 3 technology; see video if interested).

And when i started learning Bryce, which aimed more at creation of still renders, i noticed interesting thing when watched tutorials and inspecting demo scenes. That in most cases you don't need to make "the whole environments" (something that is required for animation and/or realtime experiences like VR or games), so e.g. with objects and materials in far, far background it's wise to optimize and do them in economic way.

But also, what surprsed me, how often "illusion" is used. Like, for example, making lighting with upside-down bryce tree. Or those "fake grass / fake tress" techniques i know from Horo & David. Sometimes such "illusions" are really unexpected and creative. And i think art of doing them is kinda getting lost with more modern approaches (where you need to model/compose everything in a way you can freely roam/fly around and quality is the same in every part of scene).

 

So, what do you all think about this? Would love to hear opinions on matter.

Sergey Sam_T

Yes, this is true. I long ago paid attention that many Bryce scenes look empty without people. In order to correct this any users began to use models from Poser (as well as form DS later). It was ok for the foreground but literary several figures demanded all computer resources preventing the work on the scene. But the idea is that people's figures are necessary for the middle or background, not the foreground, and more than just 2-3. So not to waste computer resources on "heavy" figures with difficult geomentry I had an idea, I learned how to make by Bryce tools simplified figures which would look terribly in the foreground but are quite good and look nearly the same as the ones imported from DS or Poser in the middle/background.

Hansmar

Hi Sergey, Great idea. Can you inform us how you made those 'light' figures, e.g. via some kind of tutorial?

mermaid010

Sergey Sam_T - I second Hansmar request, I don't use Daz or Proser so having people in my scenes is always a problem which I try and overcome using 2D faces.

Horo

Sergey Sam_T - yes, this would be nice and greatly appreciated. I did once create one but it is extremely primitive. I used them here http://www.bryce5.com/details.php?image_id=1452 and here http://www.bryce5.com/details.php?image_id=6841 and it's hard to make worse.

Sergey Sam_T

Thanks to all of you. Reckon, here is no sense to write a detailed tutorial, as many variants are possible. Perhaps, I 'll describe and illustrate several main rules which I was able to single out while working on this.
Which is more preferrable - to create a separate forum theme or describe it right here? I' ll need a couple of days to create illustrations. Then I 'll upload them to the forum.

Horo, the people you modeled are not that bad. They are just too big compared to the picture scale. In the far background they should have been far better. Near the waterfall they really look primitive and unnatural, in contrast with the soldiers in the picture with the fortress where the same soldiers look better as they seem smaller there. Besides, if you make the picture 2-3 times smaller in some viewer, they will look much better... )))))

Horo

Sergey Sam-T - thank you. It has always been my biggest problem to get the size right.

Hansmar

Sergey Sam-T, Would be great to have some tips. I think a separate thread would be best (easier to find again later).

 

S Ray

A little off topic but, you may find these tips helpful when using figures in Bryce. You'll need to be fairly fluent in your figure program ( Poser or Daz ) 

I use this method in (Posers) for adding many figures in Bryce. . Set up your figure in Poser export it ( OBJ ) . Import it back into Poser.. It will come in as one mesh with many groups. Open Group Editor . Delete all groups Body parts cloths parts ext. Create new group, use add all command. Now you have one mesh with one group. But all the UVs for all body parts, hair & cloths are still in tacked. Export it as obj.  Now when you import it into Bryce you have 1 mesh ( not a group of meshes ) So the figure can be Instanced with no problems.  ( I don't use Studio, But I would think it has a tool set that will do this too)  

Here is another trick that will keep your Bryce file size down when using Daz or Poser figures in Bryce. Resize the tex maps & save in a new folder. You will see little to no difference in a tex map that has a rez of 4000X4000 to one that is 512X512 in Bryce.



 

S Ray

mermaid010 said:

Sergey Sam_T - I second Hansmar request, I don't use Daz or Proser so having people in my scenes is always a problem which I try and overcome using 2D faces.

 Here is a free fairly easy Program to learn. That will let you make & export people, with basic cloths & pose.  They also have a community with help forums & some  free assets.  Give it try

www.makehumancommunity.org

mermaid010

Thanks S Ray for the link

Horo

S Ray - thank you for the link. I downloaded and installed this Python program, I think it got to take some time to get familiarised with it.