Hi Guys, A couple questions for the fine forum hounds. In the Deep texture Editor, what function does the "Phase" slider have? Seems to have no effect on my textures. ?? Also, Am I wrong in remembering Negative lights in Bryce 4? I don't seem to see them in 5. Thanks! Pope

Dunno about phase, but B5 has negative lights, and they work wonderfully, specially in deepening shadows where you want them. You only have to drag the corresponding sliders backward in the LightLab and watch for the effect. Pay attention to the color, because the neg lights subtract from the scene their colors, thus generating shadows of the RGB opposite. Hope this was useful. Stefano

Clay used Phase to animate his famous volume fire mat if I remember correctly. I never got it to show any difference when changing the phase settings on any of the materials I tried it on. If I'm right Clay knows what it is. And Clay, if you do know I'd appreciate it if you shared that knowledge with us. :)

I second that Rayraz.

I third that!

Phase is easy to use... The reason you aren't seeing any difference is because it's not set to anything. When you click the little "dot" for phase, it only brings up the phase slider. You need to click on the upper-left "square" of the phase-slider, and it will pull up the phase functions. If the "Type" is set to nothing, then your slider won't do much at all. Click the "nothing", and change it to one of Bryce's internal algorithms, and then you can tweak from there to your heart's content! Phase is a useful tool, without it we'd be stuck with VERY little reason to play with Bryce materials... Here's a quick layout of the DTE in case you missed it last time...

Thank you very much! We have now more things to play with!

What phase is really is distortion controlled via the slider applied to the underlying noise. It is great for adding natural undulations for tree bark and water waves, for example. Eric Wenger designed Bryce with a musical background in mind and the DTE is analogous to a big music synthesizer - you have a noise (like rnd continuous) which you distort via phase (say 2d sine noise) and apply an envelope (filter - like smooth clip ax+b) and save as patch (texture). Also the blend modes are just like the patch cords used to blend two patches on an old synthesizer. That's also why in the noise dialogs he has octaves - again octaves come from music. In music each octave is the same note a full step above on the scale. In reality each octave doubles the complexity of the previous octave. Octaves are great for adding detail to a noise but they cost you in render time. Thus endeth the quickie DTE history lesson - hehe : ) Scott

Thank you for the information guys. I have used these features before and got some really good results but as is the case with many folk if you don't know the reasoning behind it you're always flying blind. Catlin

Be sure to check out Real World Bryce4 by Susan Kitchens - the real gist of it still applies to Bryce5 so don't let the name fool you. Susan has a huge section on the DTE and good section on the origins of Bryce. Susan is a good friend of mine and a great software author. She was there at the very beginning of Bryce and she'll fill in all the missing pieces for you. Scott

I've got the book but I keep forgetting to look there first before coming in here. I guess I'm a lazy reader. Scott, since you are friends with Susan please pass on my thanks and gratitude for writing such a wonderful book, it's saved me lots of trouble on many occasions. Catlin

Sure will Caitlin. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear it I'm sending her this thread now. : ) Scott

Hee! This is just to let you know that Scott did as he said he would. Thanks Scott, and thanks--and you're welcome-- Catlin.

Reminds me that I've got some in-development materials re: the DTE (pun unintended) that I plan to make available (pdf document, extremely reasonable cost) when I get a visit from The Great Round Tuit.

(namely: visual chart showing all the noise appearances, grouped with like noises, and shown in multiple octave versions. It's been helpful to me. I was working on a project for a city building, and I thought, I know there's a way to make randomly lit office building "rooms" in the DTE... but how? but how? A little look through my chart led me to the AHA insight that led to the city light look.)

Cheers and happy DTE tinkering,

Susan

P.S. I went to Death Valley a week and a half ago. What an amazing place that is! In view of the tallest point of the lower 48 united states and with the lowest point of the western hemisphere. Dry, dry dry (well, except for after the rain, so it was actually a little wet and cloudy) with amazing geology. (see a picture taken from Dante's View here.) I want to start an alluvial fan club! Only gneiss people can join. You know, the kinda people that don't give you any schist! ; )

The thing that happens to me, lately, when I go to new fascinating places, is to think: "Hey, what would be the ambience setting of that grass down there?", or "Look at this muddy water, what base density could have the volumetric material?" I think I'm having a strong case of BryceFever... Anyone else has this illness? Know a cure? :) Stefano

I definitely look at the world in a different light so to speak :) "Hmmmm....what shadow intensity is that? How can I get that lighting in bryce?" and so on.

Pleased to meet you Susan, I really appreciate the work you put into RWB4 and look forward to any updates that come along. Stephano and Aldaron, this is a common problem with Brycers I think. Too many hours spent Brycing and not enough fresh air. I think I'll go out into the hill some day when the weather gets better and do some sketching instead. Then come home and start Brycing again, it's a never ending circle. Cheers all Catlin

Gosh, didn't realized AuntiAlias was you, Susan! I think I've read your RWB4 at least three times whole, and I keep on returning to it anytime. Thanx a lot! :) Stefano

Thanks, Catlin. Stefano: three times through? You chear my heart. Really. I mean, I re-read Jane Austen and A.S. Byatt and all, but it's nice to be on the other end of that. Speaking of getting out and observing the great outdoors, I was riding shotgun in a car traveling from Las Vegas home to LA area with laptop. The basin-and-ranges of the Mohave are an inspiration, and I finally got a round tuit and worked on a basin-range image. I was highly inspired by all the alluvial fans in Death Valley, and considered how to Bryce them. There was an amazing place called Titus Canyon, a slot canyon which you can glimpse here and here. I hiked into it and took dozens of reference fotos (alas for gray overcast skies, resulting in lower contrast images). Also took pix of tons of dried mudcracks with Bryce reference material in mind. Will I Bryce from memories of my trip? I'd like to... but who knows when that will happen?

oops. typo. cheer, not chear. (I clicked the post message rather than preview message button)

Oooh I like the basin-range image very nice. And I'll put my 2 cents into thanking you for the great book RWB4, it never leaves my side and I'm always going through it for tips and ideas.

Susan, yep, I read it three times. You're in good company :) My record is about 20 times "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (dunno the English title, sorry) by GGMarquez, a good 10/12 times "1984" by George Orwell and six or seven times "The Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy" :) ___ Among you three-timers there are your RWB4, Stephen King's "It" and "The Stand", William Gibson's "Neuromancer" and so on... :-) Stefano