New Brycer, here! I have a project that needs a sand dune type terrain with a large gear buried in the foreground...for the terrain are there any presets available for a starting point or do I need to build one in the Terrain editor (maybe using Photoshop?... For the gear how easy/difficult is Bryce for modelling this kind of thing...would I be better off using a modelling app and importing into Bryce? Are there tutorials for this kind of thing? I'm learning on Lightwave, Amapi and Cinema 4D (meaning my modelling skills are minimal!) Learning As I Go, hurdygurdyguy

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1772197

I've done a mini-tutorial about dunes some times ago. I hope it helps! welcome on board, pal! vasq

Here's a quick gear that I wipped up using Illustrator and PS. I'll post the gray image for you to use if you like. I have found that in a program like Illustrator you can create some very complex designs to be used in the terrain editor in Bryce. . . . or as a path object in Maya. Enjoy!

Here's the gray image.

These are exactly what I was looking for!! Thanks, vasq and nuski...these give me a good starting point!!! When I get my project done I'll post it (if I figure out how)... Is this a great community or what??!! hg guy

When I bought Bryce it came with two discs,one had a pile of stuff including a "terrain maps" file.one of which is called "Dunes".This may be an easy way to start your project.Use a 2d program to make your own gear like nuski.I'm just off to check out vasquez's link!
Best of luck,welcome and have fun!

Message edited on: 07/07/2004 18:29

If you have a thing about gears, there's a neat little prog called .....ahem....GEARMAKER.......sorry, I don't have the link. :-(

I'd like to post what I've done so far in order to elicit advice, but I don't know how to include a rendered image with my post...how do I do that...I see the "attach file" below the message window...is that the way to post an image? BTW, nuski and vasq's suggestions above have been very helpful! hg guy

Okay, sorry for the bandwidth waste...I did figure out how to include the image. So far the terrain is coming along... the gear needs help...I used nuski's greyscale above and modified it and got it into the terrain editor, but upon applying it looks like a vacuform object with the flat base plane not cut away yet...nuski, when I get to "adjust as needed" per above what do I adjust to get rid of the square base? hg guy

Looks interesting so far. I hope this helps. Don't be afraid to ask questions,I still do,lol.

Sorry about the loud red lettering,lol. It looked smaller in my image editor. I didn't mean to shout.

Click at the arrow to bring up the clipping bracket, then drag the bracket up to and watch the 3d image in top right as you do so. Make sure it's the bracket you drag, not the coloured portion...

Oops, cross post! I'm wondering why you don't use the dunes preset? If you click on the triangle beside Fractal, you'll get lots of choices. Select Dunes, then keep clicking on the button beside Fractal until you see a terrain you like in the 3d preview window.

Lol, thanks Pog! you helped 'splain it a little better than I did.

Thanks, all! This has been an enormous help! I'm really trying to figure most of it myself and not go the "can someone else do this for me?" route. There are so many little details in the workflow to learn!! hg guy

So, here's my final result...it's very simple and lacks depth, but it also needed to be done before the weekend and so I couldn't spend days tweaking and getting that or this thing "just" right...it's back cover art for a dvd sleeve and will be mostly covered with text anyway... My thanks to all for their excellent advice (I did alot of "ah ha's")... hg hguy

Hey,looks great! Good colors, and the composition would work well with text. I design an occasional cover for some local bands(including mine) and use Bryce in nearly every design. It rocks for cover designs!