Hey guys me again; Listen I am having a really hard time creating shadows in bryce. I would like to create shadows on demand when I want them. Sometimes when I add a light source I get shadows, but when I want to create a shadow I just cant seem to do it. Here you see two pictures one with out shadow and one with. I cant for the life of me figure out how I got the shadow in the first one. Can anyone help me out with this? Thanks E

try to play with the shadows intensity settings. it should work vasq

I kinda agree with Madmax br5 when it comes to placement of light sources.
What I'd do is to to place my object/character etc...
then I place the light source depending on where and how I want my shadow.
Let's try a little practical example(In the 'real world')
get a flashlight, get an orange or apple and get a white cloth or paper for the background and position the light at different angles and different distances( closer or farther) you could benefit from this as I've discovered the best tutorials can be gotten from Mother Nature. Nice Picture by the way Elliot! A beautiful and Mature composition.

Message edited on: 11/15/2005 05:31

Real world lighting is a great way to experiment. Another factor is your initial enviroment. Daylight(consider source direction), incandescent(source, direction & distance) which will be softer and the new energy saver bulbs have yellow and pink hues. Flourescent, harsh white and sometimes different enviromental hues added to these also. (consider the same variables). Even when I'm not trying, I find myself noticing light factors as to how it would look in an image.

One way you could get "shadows on demand" is when you place a light in your scene is to add a light gel to your light in the light lab/texture editor. Play with the settings (mapping mode of picture gel, rotation on X,Y axis, sizeing/strength of the light, etc.

Personally, I don't trust Bryce's sun. If I want more control over the placement and strength of shadows, I use radials. Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster, er I mean the sun, but an elegant option for a more civilized age.

Yes, My technique is to Not use the sun for Light effects, I use Radial Lighting. The only trouble that I find with that is the light is usually 360 degrees and I may want only 20 0r 30 degrees of illumination. There are several ways to combat this: 1. create a model sphere and make a hole in it and then place the sphere where you want it and then place the radial light inside the sphere. This gives you control over the direction and the intensity of the radial light and it doesn't merge or blend in with other radials you may have working. 2. I use a darker picture and then use very low settings on my radial lights, like 8 or 5 or the appropriate setting.Setting Lights closer or further away also adds depth and drama to your scene. 3. There is a third method by Bob Meski in the 3dc tutorials that has to do with the distance a light travels from the source. This a is very important and powerful way to control light settings. I hope this helps and adds dimension to your work. My very best to you always, Lightpen

Lightpen: So why don't you use a spotlight? I just don't get how what you are doing helps any.....