One thing to note about the right image in part 1, if you achieve a certain amount of horizontal separation visually the interference resolves itself regardless of distance. It seems to be 1 to 1 1/2 (original) trunk diameters. I think the issue is very probably a duplication artifact associated with the render engine algorythm. Alternate interpretations welcommed.

Are those "duplicate" trees or "multireplicated" trees?

All duplicates in these experiments were duplicated a la Ctrl-D. Haven't tried with multi replicate, give it a shot and put the results up here (grin)

I have a couple of questions... Q. Is there really a difference between duplicate and multireplicate? Isn't multireplicate just a quick way to may copies so you don't have to do it one at a time? Q. When you want to literally duplicate the tree because you need an exact copy of it, is there any way to work around the artifact problem? Sometimes the effect I want a tree to have looks better to have multiple copies of the same tree rather than to increase the leaf count. What I've done so far is to change the trunk(s) of the duplicate(s) to transparent but that also takes out the branches which I'd rather not do. (I've been thinking that the thread earlier where someone had a transparency that faded out towards the bottom might be a solution to this particular problem.)

Multi-replicate should be the same thing as duplicate, as a programmer I don't see any practical reason for them to be any different. Flak might know otherwise, though, he obviously has quite a bit of experience with this.

Attached Link: Tree thingy

Looks like a tree lab bug, and perhaps the only way around it is to use Copy/Paste Matrix on original trees only? As in, no duplicating per se?

OK, next question... does this glitch happen for the branches or just the trunks (the leaves seem unaffected by this) - I wish I had bryce with me...?

If you go back to tree lab for the affected tree and touch the randomness scale, the glitch disappears. As you'd rarely want the tress to be identical, and a minor randomise seems a good fast way to get a few replicated trees slightly different, that seems to be an OK workaround.

I never had that problem on the replicate, but I do tend to rotate the duplicate trees some or resize them a bit with the attributes box or the resizing thingie on the tool bar. Maybe that has the same effect as the ransomizing.

Strange, but it must involve the way Bryce "thinks" internally. Perhaps it tries to keep duplicates as just separate "instances" of a particular object, a'la Ray Dream Studio, in order to try to save RAM or system resources. And the artifact-ing is just a visual demonstration of such programming?

shadowdragonlord, I am of similar mind myself. sdnoble, I will have to try that, sounds promising!

Incarnadine, After playing with it I was able to duplicate the problem. There seems to be a space around the tree which causes Bryce to misinterpret distance if two trees cross paths at an angle. You may find a workaround, but I think it's simply in the way the tree was made. - TJ

I want to try that randomize the dupl tree and see if it resolves as suggested by sdnoble (post 12 above) anyone else, please feel free to try as I am stuck at work for a while tonight.

Yes it does work and you only have to move the random amount by 1.

Cool! (still stuck at work) Thanks.

Got to escape a bit earlier than expected. IT REALLY WORKS!!!!!!! We have a cure! I went in to my tropics image model and tweaked the offending trees randomness by one or two percent and the interference resolved itself. Agent Smith, can we put this into the FAQ? (still grinning like a small kid in a candy store that has just found some extra change in his pocket!)

That why I haven't had this problem 'cos when I made my little forests for a past challenge I randomised them all slightly before grouping them. Such a simple thing too. Catlin

Aye, same with me Catlin_MC. It was kind of a shock to see this come up, but at least we have the workaround, and quickly, too!

Did you notice also that there is a 'shadow' tree effect that seems to show up partially sometimes to the left and slightly lower that the intended tree? as suggested by sdnoble: perhaps if you multirep you could adjust the scale so that as least one of the XYZ axes is not 100 percent.

bikermouse- can you post a sample of that effect? I don't think I have ever seen it.

Oh you meant the ghosting - it's in your third pict on this thread look wher the trees on the left of the screen cross - it shows up there as nearly hoizontal parallel lines.

Ah! No that is an artifact of the I didn't have any AA on and a distant horizontal tile pattern type! (LOL).

no I got it too when I tested it out and I had aa om and a completely differrent background. It seems to appear where the ghost intersects the background tree. Now I wish I'd saved a pict.

Oh. Can you save a copy of my 3 image post and mark it up/repost to show me where you are referring?

Ah!! Had me confused with the 'horizontal' ref. Thought they might be what you were referring to but they weren't horizontal. Was beginning to think I was getting low on coffee! These (I believe) are part of the duplicate render interaction flaw. You will find this in most of the images I have posted above. I have had these many times in this sort of situation in other images. I found, via test images I had not posted here and in some of my image models where this was seen, that this is cleared completely by the randomize process.

<<getting low on coffee!>> or that someone had slipped de-caf into the pot by accident! (grin)

Well I offered my observations - Kind of pointless to go much farther with this except to figure out how to make Corel aware of it so that if there is another version, it can be corrected. may all your coffee be caffinated, - TJ

Oh here we go again..............when will Bryce 6 be available.............and the death bell tolls in the background. Excuse my cynisism, but whenever I think about Br6 and Corel at the same time my heart takes a nose dive. 8( Catlin

Catlin, I don;t expect another version of Bryce in the near future but I'm not pessimistic about it either. Corel just released Painter 8 which shows that there's life in the old dog yet, and as you know there are people wanting to take it over given the good fortune to do so. Keep the faith, - TJ

I'm trying to keep the faith TJ, I really am. Thanks for the encouragement, it raises my hopes. I guess time will tell. Catlin

Bikermouse- Thanks for making the observations. When one stares at something too long... Catlin- As long as B5 works, I am not going to worry! There is sooo much that I haven't even tried yet! (I do believe 6 will come, when, I don't know but I don't see it not happening)

Ok Incarnadine I got to agree with you. I'm still at the point of finding something new in Bryce every time I use it. So I guess all is not lost. Thanks guys for bolstering my spirits, never give up. 8D Catlin

"Never give up, never surrender!" - Galaxyquest :D

On that anolgy, hopefully our artworks is not inspiring a alien octopii race to remake the universe in our vision! (grin)

...but then again - why not?!

Is someone who can see both sides of an arguement a split personality?

I think so, Incarnadine. Split personality is fun.

I don't think so, Incarnadine. Split personality is a serious problem.

smug grin!

another smug grin!

LOL..................8D