Note:  Bigger is better =======================

Starting with a larger scene gives you a better pallet to work in.

2000-W X 1400-H is minimum. This allows you to zoom in on the scene and effectively manipulate small details that would become a problem later.

 

 

RENDER

Render your scene in Bryce, selecting a basic flat gray material from presets.

Alter the gray value slightly for different items in the scene. Depending on the design and nature of the scene, contrast background and backdrop (sky etc) from foreground objects. This will keep them distinct in the scene, also keep in mind their individual value in the scene itself, for example: an object that is going to be in the background in a dark corner, you can make it closer in color to a dark SPACE BG color, where as with a lighter BLUE SKY, keep it similar to the sky.

Reflective materials work well with gray also.

 

 

Note: Not everything in your scene has to be gray, you can render one item in your scene with flat gray, blue, red or whatever color you want depending on the result you’re looking for. Once you’re familiar with how layers and layer effects react with each other, the possibilities are endless. Try rendering an object with a few different materials, then layer these separate pieces together with different layer effects vary all kinds of great results. I’ll show you one of these later.

 

 

Once the scene is rendered in gray, Save the file, and now select an object for alpha mask rendering. Go to “render options”, choose render mask.

When the mask render is finished, DO NOT “save the file”. Choose “ Save Image As”. Repeat this process until all the components have alpha mask renders. Finally, close Bryce and DO NOT save. If you save, it will replace your grayscale BMP image with your last mask render.

 

Next: Building your scene layer by layer…

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Ockham's razor- It's that simple