Most veteran Bryce users know that while a mirror in a scene can show the scene reflected in the mirror, it can't reflect light from the scene back into the scene. Until now. Using true ambience as a light source for a scene (as mentioned in my thread a few days ago), a Bryce mirror will reflect that light back into the scene. In the image above, the smallest sphere and the 2D face have a pure mirror material applied. As well as reflecting the scene normally, they also reflect light from the source back into the scene in a realistic fashion. (you can see the light source reflected in the sphere - it's a kind of partial light hood similar to that used by still life photographers) I'm glad I started fiddling with this again. The more I fiddle, the more I'm convinced the basics are there within the program for a true radiosity feature - should there ever be another release...

Yes, PJF, go for it (radiosity)! A photographer at heart I see.

Very nice!

as I posted in the other thread, yes true ambience has a radisoity quality to it. As you can see the colors bleed onto the floor and the left sphere but not so much on the ceiling and back wall.

Yeah but it's really hard to work correctly and can often ruin complex objects in scenes. IE white reflections become burned.

Also did you use blurry reflections for the floor?

Ornlu, who is the question referred to? Me or PJF? My pic has no reflections except on the metal sphere and even that you can see directly under it a kind of light reflection on the floor.

WOW!

PJF, I have to say, that for the first time I see a striking reason to use true ambience for certain things! You might know that I have a tip for traditional techniques for that problem on my BSolution pages [BIG, modem users beware ;-].

Would you allow me to include a smaller version of that picture and your technique there? Of course your contribution will be note appropiatly! Certainly a way to get some eternity for your tip, the page is there for 4.5 years and is still responsible for most of my network traffic ;-)

Best regards! Klaus

Striking. What a bunch of things I'm learning everyday from you people. Thanx for posting it. And, Klaus, I'm glad to have the occasion to thank you directly for your BSolutions, it's a page I visited very often in the past. Stefano

This one i rendered using the blurry reflections technique. Render setting were: blurry reflections and soft shadows at 36 rpp. Took about an jour and half to render this scene. At the moment I am rendering one with true ambience, boy this is fuN!

Ornlu, no, the floor doesn't have blurry reflection. The only setting it has is ambient. Obviously the mirror objects (sphere and 2D face) have 100 percent reflection applied. The other spheres have a very low reflection setting (and slight specular) to give them a glossy appearance; otherwise their only setting is ambient. This "ambient object as light source" thing I'm doing seems to be stretching Bryce to the limit in rendering terms. Sometimes it is impossible to get a render without 'noise', even at the highest setting (256 rays per pixel) - you can see the problem on the floor in my pic above). This is more for exploring things rather than making art. Klaus, sure, this can go on your tips page. But I think I ought to refine and define exactly what the hell it is that I'm doing first! ;-)

Hey PJF, if you would like to elaborate your tip further that's fine with me ;-)) Regarding the noise: I would not see that as a limitation. In fact, it creates a kind a haptic feel to it that's often missed in 3D work. So, keep up the good work Klaus (2:21 am, just coming from the cinema ;-)

0342hrs Just sad. ;-)