As many of you know i havce released my Zenith freebie that acts as a replacement for the default bryce sun. The only difference is that zenith provides soft shadows at default settings and you have to use premium setting with the bryce sun. Can I use this instead of the sun for my challenge? It is available to everyone in the freestuff section and is a small download (60 kb), although it is for bryce 5 only.

Max? lol, question bout the smart pipe, if i may? how do i apply textures to it? lol been playing with it and having a tonnn of fun...lol but can't seem to get it anything but gray...lol (lol all i needed was a new toy...hahahahah) Thankssssssssssssss Max!!

Wow, that's funny Max because I was just thinking along the same lines! It would be cool if we could use it for the challenge. Wotta ya say DC?

Hey Jen, click on the metaballs icon on the bottom of the workspace- it will show all the metaballs and they will say locked, select all on the top of the dropdown menu, and then you can assign a material. I had to fiddle with this for a couple of minutes before the answer occured to me.

kewl...thanks danamo will give it a shot tomorrow...grins :D

yes do that, and to make it easier, select all the balls and then assign them to a different color family, that way you can just select that family and it will color only those metaballs. This makes it easier when dealing with a scene that has multiple smartpipes.

one other hint: hold either the C, T, or B keys down while dragging on any of the smartpipe points for some awesome effects. C, or continuity, allows you to create sharp angles easily. T, or tension, moves the metaballs closer or futher from the point you are dragging on. This is useful for adding detail to certain areas. B, or Bias, seems to strenthen the atteaction of metaball to either side of the point. Also useful for adding detail to areas that are crucial.

oh and holding option(mac) or alt(pc) will twist the path along the normal of the point you are dragging on.

Thanks for the tips max.................8)

Oh Max, this pipe thing sounds awesome, I d/l'd it yesterday but haven't had time to open it. Its driving me crazy sitting here at work knowing I have a cool new toy at home to play with! Thanks!! Angela

glad you are all excited...anyone used Zenith yet?

I've been checking it out Max, but I'm not a lighting maven or wallah like Ornlu, DC, AS, or yourself( and others). But I must say I am amazed at the quality of illumination and how fast it renders compared to other lighting rigs I've tried! Thanks again. I am totally addicted to the smartpipe, it is so fun! Yer a genius man!