lol ok, so now it's my turn to ask a silly question... I've been surfing the web and free stuff here, and got some kewl textures, images, objects and all that other fun stuff. grins I think some of the stuff i got was for another version of Bryce tho and i won't be able to use it... so my question is, does Bryce 5 still use .obj files? or .3ds files for that matter, have a ton of those....lol and if so, how on earth and where too, i should add, do i import them? lol JenC

Bryce 5 does indeed import both of those formats. Just go to File< Import then choose your file and hit ok. Viola! should work...and hey, dont sweat askin the questions...thats what this forum is for :-)

grins great, so i can actually use these then...tried that and it works...grins... lol then each time i want to use them, i have to reimport? or will a simple file name conversion do the trick to be able to import into the program for easier access? like converting the .obj to .obp then importing through the create editor import option? thinking if that works, would a 3ds convert that easily to a .obp too....hmmmm lol will take one and play with it and see what happens...lol JenC

ok, lol, neither works as a valid file format that way...although i didn't get any warnings about the file extension conversion, B5 just won't recognize it by importing it into the User folder of the create box....lol well, that question is answered....hahahaha thanks soooo much for your help Innovator. grins i looked up soo many tutorial sites to see if those files were recognized, and none said anything about it being version specific, but i found alot of tutorial sites stopped at 4.. Jen C

no prob...gald i could be of some help :-)

If you import an object and want to put it in the Bryce object preset library (the little triangle next to Create) just put it in a blank scene with texture, make sure it's selected, clic the triangle, find a blank box in one of the categories, (I found tutorials didn't have much in it), down the bottom of the window there's, 'add', 'delete', etc, just clic 'add' and it'll ask you to give it a name and description, and then just clic the checkmark and voila, a your object (.obj or .3ds) has become an object preset (.obp) Just go to the preset library you saved it in to retrieve it for use in a scene...

Zhann

BTW, there's also an Installed set of libraries and a User area for object libraries.

In Bryce 5 you can make your own catagories in the default 'USER' presets folder. It's a bit tricky but I do it this way. Go to your 'presets' folder and find the 'User'and 'INSTALLED folder. Open the 'USER' folder, copy the default 'USER.mat' catagory, and place it somewhere else. Rename it and place it back where you got it from, next to the 'User.mat' cat'. Open Bryce and go to the catagory you just added to. You should now find the original 'User' cat and your new 'WHATEVERYOUCALLEDIT.mat' cat. Delete the presets in your new cat' and voila! You new cat' is ready to use.

Be careful adding to your presets library. Its never happened to me yet (knock on wood) but I've heard of people losing there presets from I think overload. You can also make up additional folders that come up as options along with the user and install folders. One other thing I think I heard is to keep object names fairly short. Long names have caused problems for some, I think. Way back in this forum is an explanation of how to add new folders into the libraries. Its not hard to do, I do it in windows explorer. HTH Ang PS someone correct me if I'm wrong on anything here.

Another alternative is to import the object (.obj, .3ds, etc) and texture it then delete the ground plane. Save it as a scene file. Then when you need it in an image go to File/Merge and select that scene file to merge it into the new scene you want it in. No more worries about corrupt library files.

thanks everyone for your help!! so many helpful things here i WILL try...grins one more question...lol something i been trying to do today, but haven't read anything onit yet, so just playing around with it....i have a picture and was trying to make it a background pic, then add something across the middle of it to make a new pic....lol does it work as a background pic, or do i need to make a wall type thing and use the pic as the material? or is there a sure fire simple way i haven't been able to figure out on my own? lol

Pics go on 2d planes, not sure what you mean by putting something across it. Lots of people render trees then put them back into a bryce scene as background trees on a 2d plane. This reduces the poly counts and time consuming rendering of stuff which is further back from the camera. But it can also work up close too. There's several people here who have done this very well. And its not just good for trees. Only thing is the plane needs to be at a 90 degree angle with the camera (I think) so if you put one in then change the view it could mess up the scene. HTH

If you want to use a 2d plane close up, like Ang25 mentions, but not actually at the camera, render your tree or whatever with trans map and create a 2d plane 5x, and rotate them in place spacing equally, map your tree to all 5, then when you change your view the tree or object should still look ok....

lol ok, sounds confusing, but then is late, so is hard to tell....lol actually at this moment, i'm working on jusr remaking the whole pic, which look like a huge render...lol anyhow, this is the pic, and this is what i wanted originally....i wanted to load this pic in there, and then add like park benches or something across the middle of the grasses....this pic has been made to this point in psp, in a group effort of 3 diff people...lol blending, smudging, collaging...lol (and a few tubes)

That's some really strange lighting you got there, if it's high noon in your backdrop, and it looks that way, the foreground should reflect that fact...that looks alot like Hanging Lake in Glenwood Springs...:) Which part did you render in Bryce?

JC01: You mean everything from the lake back is a photo?

everything in this pic so far is psp....the falls themselves were part of one pic, some trees part of another pic, the grass, yet another pic....some trees cloned intto he pic, and the pink ones are tubes...(had to get creative doing the distant tubes since psp is 2d, had to layer and vut and all kinds of fun stuff...the bear i believe is a tube, and the flowers as well, the fence i didn't do, butthinks it's a tube also....the patio was from a website who makes stone patios....(we have an animated version in our manor and it just feel sooo right) The bryce part, is i wanted to add some benches across the middle for sitting...grins in the mean time tho, am working on just making the whole pic in bryce, adding some color besides green of course...lol hope to have it done today, then will see which looks better for the room...lol

correction, should say psp/photo alot of the grass was also painted in psp