On this tutorial it says to make 1 spere and then make 1 more by duplication. Then the 2nd sphere should be 1 unit larger on all axis' than the original. Then you are supposed to link the newer, bigger one to the smaller original one. And it says you need to go back and edit the first one's materials. I can't figure out how to get back to my first sphere since the new one is bigger and on top of the original. The tutorial is http://www.digitalblasphemy.com/tutorial/planet/textures.shtml . Any help would be very appreciated.

Hold your CTRL or CMND(MAC), click on the spheres. A sub menu will appear. Select "sphere". By default they're named "sphere" first the "sphere 01" etc,etc. Welcome to the Forum! ICM

tab key, when smaller one is red it's selected

Attached Link: http://stevesartgallery.bryce-alive.net/tutorials/bryce/keyboard/shortcuts.html

Thanks! The ctrl and right click worked perfectly! The tab did work but there's takes longer :) Thanks for your help! I'd LOVE to get a nice Bryce 5 book but I can't afford one at the moment.

hmmm..sounds like a good way to make planets with atmospheres..;) well, maybe with one sphere just a smidgin larger..;)

Message edited on: 04/23/2005 22:21

The planet looks really good! It's in my gallery right now. Now I am trying to make my planet way way back there in the distance and have a planet landscape forground that overlooks it.. but I can't get it to look right. All my landscapes look so cheesy.

LOL welcome to Bryce. Respect it, and it shall respect you.

what do you want the surface to look like?

Sulfericacid, heres something to experiment with:

Create a terrain then while still in mesh mode, click on E in the drop down control panel for the selected terrain to bring you into the terrain editor. Since your planet terrain will be in the foreground and closest to the viewer, we need to increase its resolution for better detail rendition.

The default resolution is 128. So, along the left bottom youll see an icon that looks like a grid. Click on that and choose a higher resolution. The higher the resolution the more detail but this comes at a cost of larger terrains which translates into longer times. I would select 512 to start with, later if youre not satisfied you can up it to higher resolutions.

Go over to the Terrain tools panel and click new. Poof! Your terrain disappeared leaving you with a clean canvas. With the Elevation tab selected slide your mouse cursor down to Fractal and over to the little down turned arrow along side it and click on that. A list of different terrain types unfolds and you can select any of these as your new terrain type. Once youve checked one, go over and click on the little blue button next to Fractal and your new fractal will appear at the higher resolution on the canvas. Each time you click on the button, another but different terrain comes up of the same type you selected. Don't like that type, select a different one.

Once youve gotten one youre happy with, click the check mark at the lower right to accept the changes. The new terrain type is now on your main display. Here you can continue to edit it.

You can if you like, turn your terrain on its side the using the edit tool elongate along the y axis. Then angle your terrain back to level. Also, while in the terrain editor, you can select the Paint effect brush behavior and in the elevation tab of the terrain tool panel hold down the space bar and click on a effect, like eroded (the button will stay selected) then using your brush on the canvas apply the effect around the highest (brightest areas) slowly and deliberately. Experiment with some of the other effects as well and different brush sizes and flow speed. You can even paint on different fractal types onto you existing terrain. While using this brush behavior, if you dont like the way something turns out, you simply hold down the Alt key and go over the area and it will become undone. This is just a few of the things you can do. Most importantly, have fun!

Message edited on: 04/24/2005 03:15

Here's a tip to get a background planet which looks as if there's an atmosphere in front of it. I couldn't get this to look right when I was starting with Bryce. All my planets looked like they were IN the atmosphere instead of beyond it. So if your foreground planet is supposed to have an atmosphere, click on the material editor of the planet in the sky, then click on the downward pointing arrow next to the "Material Options" in the top right of the screen and select "Additive". You should now have a realistic renedered planet which looks as if is is "behind" the sky. (You may need to do this to your atmosphere sphere and your underlying sphere)

You can see the effect of using "Additive" on an image like this one.

Message edited on: 04/24/2005 04:39

Looks like your in panoramic mode...try the normal photo realistic mode....