This is a very early wip. Pretty much everything is gonna change, especially the lighting. The red tubes will be glass, but they are solid to speed up my test renders.

I'm kinda wondering how random the people have to be...... rather than a few random people dotted round, what about a herd of very similar people all moving in the same direction, jammed up close together? Like when you're shuffling in a huge crowd to get on a big boat?

I recently found some low poly 3d ppl just for that purpose, IM me with your e-mail, i'll send it to ya ! :D P.S. I got 6 different characters !

Pog, I'm figuring not really a crowd. More a mingling of people going about their business as the cruiser makes it's way into the dock. Thanks Kemal.

E-mail sent :D Hope U like them, tested only one of them, but they should be fine ! :D

Both azl, and Lordswarrior sell a crowd generator in the Marketplace. Otherwise you can just use maybe 5-6 different people, and make alpha maps of them, import them to Bryce, and multi-replicate. At that distance, you really don't need them to be all that detailed.

Drawbridgep, a short while ago someone here posted the link for a small program called Grass3d. Well on that site they have a small free program called scatter for use in creating clones of objects and scattering them within a prescribed area. I personally have not tried the program but it sounds like its something that may come in handy for your project.

The primary use of Scatter is to clone objects and scatter the clones over a defined area and space. You can finetune the manner the objects get cloned and scattered such as variable size, orientation, and grouping. For example, if you have a few 3D models of ducks (in .obj format), you can use Scatter to create a colony of ducks. The outcome of Scatter is a .obj file that contains all the clones. You can then import that .obj file to most 3D applications for rendering.

Heres the description page:

Program Info

And heres the download page:

Download

And heres the home page, there are other free programs here:

Home Page

If you try it, let me know if its any good.

hythshade, thanks. I was up with you until you said sell :-) I may be lazy, but I'm also cheap. :-) Kemal, two of the girls see to work. The rest are a little weird. But might be good enough for what I need. Thanks.

Quest Now that sounds very interesting. I'll check it out and get back to you.

Good idea quest, dunno how it works with models consisting more then one meshes, i guess, same parts go in the same groups, fish school on my latest render was created with it ! :D

Hmmm, just tested them all, men figures are bad, 3 female ones are fine on my side, one has a little extra polys on the bottom, but editable in wings ! :D I'll do some more research and see what I can come up with ! ;0)

I'm thinking this space station may be manned by amazons. maybe cloned amazons, so that kinda works. :-)

(qoute) hythshade, thanks. I was up with you until you said sell I may be lazy, but I'm also cheap. :-) lol drawbridgep I can definitely respect that ;-)

Attached Link: http://www.3dm-mc.com/modelsbank/index.php

http://home.clara.net/geralday/newsite/choice.htm - geralday specializes in free low res models. There's both lo-res females, and males ("John")

Um, quest...I think you can do that right in Bryce...import .obj, create multiple copies, select all, randomize...either 2d or 3d size, rotate, all that...don't think ya need scatter. But scatter WOULD let me re-use crowd more easily though...hmmm

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=741509&Start=1&Artist=macmondo&ByArtist=Yes

Phil, Let me know if you find anything. I am in the midst of making some low poly crowd people for a scene that requires something to similar to what I think you're after. If you wind up empty handed I'll send over some of my people. :)

You can also make .... go like this . . . . Or even: . . . . Can anyone tell I haven't had enough sleep?

If you'll forgive the shameless plug, Meshes 4 (available on our Combo CD) is made just for this. www.baument.com (check out the products page, Meshes 4 preview.....)

Yeah, I just bought that CD. Definitely a great investment. In one render I used several of those lo-res people to fill a bus...

My hero!

3 female ones .....one has a little extra polys on the bottom

sadly, quite common ;^)

**two of the girls see to work. The rest are a little weird. **

so you're not an equal opportunities employer, then?

I made a lopoly figure walk-thru some time ago, that might be useful - it's a bit dicky in spots, I seem to remember making a complete hash of the face, and the modelling is generally a bit amateurish, but you could make one lo-poly figure in roughly the same way, then bring into Poser, animate it, stop the animation at various points, export the obj of that pose, and change the material for the clothes in Bryce itself. That way you could easy-peasy make ten or twenty basic figures, then just replicate them round all over the place. Another thing - nowadays I'd move the reference image way out on the X and Z planes, and work in ortho, rather than positioning them in the centre. Anyway, it's just a thought, as it's always useful to be able to make your own lopoly figures, not have to rely on finding what you need.

Note to self: Must re-do that how-to now that I can use Wings a bit better lol

Message edited on: 12/24/2004 01:49

Wow, Phil! Onslow is my hero too!

I import a few different poser peeps, then plop render them as I move them about the scene. This helps to keep file sizes down.

great idea! and that way you'd get shadows 'n everything...

For distant figures use 2d planes, intermediate use Bryceman!, that'll keep the poly count down. (maybe you could sneak the odd robot in there too :) )

So, I take it all you people have finished your holiday shopping...

Shopping? But it's not even 6pm on Christmas Eve. I'll nip down to the gas station at around midnight. (As usual) Thanks for all the ideas. I'll try various things and get back to you.