I'm about at my wits end here...I started off with this problem by trying to add a little ground fog...it doesn't seem to matter what density or thickness I make it, it is way too thick instead of a nice light, wispy ground fog...in the sky lab I set both the density and thickness to as little as 1 and the base height anywhere from 1 to 50 and all I can get is opaque fog ...I'd love to be able to get a nice barely-there hint of fog...the kind where you can pretty much still see objects on the ground... secondly, I've been playing with the sun & moon settings as well, but for the life of me can not get anything to show up...no stars, no comets and no moon, no matter how large I make the disc size...I do have a preset library sky in my sky, maybe that's my problem? I've tried several different ones, same results... so are these problems that others have had in the beginning but were able to solve, or am I simply hopeless? I've been reading the pdf manual and am following what it says but with not one bit of success...thanks for any advice offered... :/ Karen

For your ground fog, try a volumetric slab (ALT-click the infinite plane on the create menu). Try the material 'Summer Soldier Slab Clouds' (Volume materials -> top row, fourth from the left). Manually place your moon where you want it in your scene. Hold down CTRL and double-click the sun trackball on the Sky & Fog menu. Then hold down SHIFT+ALT+CTRL and click in your scene window where you want the moon (just CTRL+ALT+click for the sun). You will see a blue (yellow for the sun) star appear in your scene that represents the moon. Stars..... hmmm.... dunno 'bout stars. Try lowering the haze to make your stars brighter. Oh, and they only show up at night. ;)

Attached Link: http://www.diardsoftware.com/universe.htm

Bryce is a failure when it comes to stars and moons and comets, don't waste your precious time M'lady... There's a free program many of us use called Universe Image Creator. It does excellent starfields and nebulae, give it a shot! (link above) When it comes to fogs, try Vanlippe's materials, I'll find you a link to them. Using the standard fog will produce only basic results, with the controls being nearly useless on large scenes. Also, the standard fog will not accept shadows, which will make it look shbby no matter what you do... Real fog accepts shadows and lights...

I appreciate both your help so much...by the sounds of it, my seemingly banging my head against the wall was maybe not all my fault...that makes me feel better...thankyou! I'll try all suggestions ;D

Hmmm. I'll have to try Jaymonjay's sugguestion too. Learn somthing new every day! That will make my life a lot easier now lol. Why the hell could'nt they tell you that in the manual that came with it? ;) -Dave

One thing to try in case you haven't before, Blonderella, is when using a volumetric fog, turn down the Volume Quality while preview rendering. Then when you're ready to render, turn it back up to 50 or so... Might look funny in preview mode, but it will preview much, much faster and allow you to actually develop your scenes still. I have plenty of really cool fogs and cloud materials, if you want any to play with, let me know and I'll email them to you. If you're not certain what the hell I'm talking about, I'll email your a quick sample project file to mess with!

Bryce has a manual?! ;)

sure does..it's lost right next to my Poser manual in storage..;) Actually this forum is my manual..;)

Karen..I can attest that the Universe program really works. I have used it many many times and it does a super great job. It is also extremely easy to use. :)

Jaymonjay...I copied the pdf manual off the Bryce cd onto my hard drive...it's the one thing I managed to actually accomplish in Bryce tonight! ;P hehehe Ardiva...sounds great, all of you cant be wrong...I'll give it a shot tomorrow... lordstormdragon...I'd appreciate your material and sample project files...I'll IM you...thanks so much :D

lordstormdragon a link to vanlippe's fog would be really nice :)

Aye, Bea... There is no such link available. Vanlippe does not appear to exist anymore... I wish I knew how to find him or his materials. Blondie, I've got a file coming your way... Let's hope your email will support it! If not, we'll make you a quick fake yahoo account. They will accept up to 10 MB of data per email...

lordstormdragon...I am on sattelite so I *hope* it will accept a file that size since it would be quick to d/l for me, but if you've already tried to send it, there is nothing incoming on my server yet...I really appreciate your time and assistance I'll see if I can post my WIP...I know there are several things I need to work on, like the trans map on the fae's skirt for one...also, I haven't started to play with the fog again since last night...anyway, you will see what I've accomplished thus far with all the help :D

actually, regarding the trans map on the fae's skirt not working properly, does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this problem? I imported the fae fully clothed from Poser into Bryce, and put all the relevant files for the fae and the clothing in one folder, including trans maps, textures, etc etc...as far as I know, I added the trans map properly but as you can see, it's not fully transparent so I'm again at a loss...many thanks! :D

Aye, that problem is easy to fix... What's happening is that your transmap isn't all the way white and black, meaning that the areas that are showing glowy white need to be black in the transmap. Most likely you need to set this object's material to "Blend Transparency", in the Material Editor. This screenshot will come in REALLY handy if I ever get this damn file to go through to your email, too, so make sure and save the image to disk somewhere... Hope this helps. If that doesn't fix it, that means your transparency map's cutoff areas aren't black enough, although they may appear black to the naked eye... (the Blend Transparency option tells Bryce to use an "Alpha Channel", or mask, instead of a glass-type transparency...)

that worked on the skirt!!!!!!! oh thank you so much :D :D :D btw, I just received your file successfully and saved it to my hard drive...thanks again, I dont know how I can thank you sufficiently for all your time and assistance...you are an enormous help

You can thank me by doing the same for someone else, when the opportunity arises. Countless Renerosity-ites have done this for me in the past, don't think any ONE person can learn CGI and 3D imaging all alone. Hell, have you ever seen the credits for the Matrix, or the Lord of the Rings? No reason our names shouldn't be on those lists one day. OR on those paychecks. Keep at it, we all find our creative niches, and there's plenty of niches in this industry... Even if it's just doing art for personal fulfillment!

I love learning new things and creating digital images for personal fulfillment, but getting any type of pay for it would just be the icing on the cake...a large portion of the population cant do what they love and make a living at it, but for those who can, it's a blessing beyond measure... :D

lordstormdragon, "I have plenty of really cool fogs and cloud materials, if you want any to play with, let me know and I'll email them to you. If you're not certain what the hell I'm talking about, I'll email your a quick sample project file to mess with!" Is there any chance I could also have a go with that? I could do with learning more about fog and clouds. FranOnTheEdge

I would love to have those cool fogs and cloud materials as well, big guy! :)

Drop me an email, Ardiva, The file is under 4 MB now and fairly easy to transfer. You can reach me at : lordstormdragon@yahoo.com I'm gonna keep this file around for awhile, if anyone else needs it just let me know!