So...while I like the HDRI stuff and while I do believe that the base image quality put out by 6 is superior to it predecessors I can't say I am all that impressed.

For grins tonight I tried opening 6, creating a default random terrain, assigning Flat Grey texture to the terrain and the default plane and rendering.
3 minute render time.

I opened 5, the corel version since 6 installed over top of 5.5 for me automatically, did the same thing.
sub 30 second render time.

I'm thinking I could make up the image quality difference in post work.

Terrain brushes? Not seeing any advantage there since I could have done that with photoshop anyway...(I would have given them FULL props on terrain brushes had they included a nice set of splash ripples that didn't include a "barrier")

and as cool as the HDRI stuff is it created wierd artifacts in the first image I tried using it on...the halloween door...so I did it without in 1/10th of the time. (Of course that may have been caused by the particular light probe I chose so not a full rejection of it yet.)...and it still adds a ton of render time.

Am I missing something? It's cool...but I was really hoping for another performance leap which I am not seeing. Someone educate me please? I am willing to be converted to being a believer...

Well, DAZ never actually gave any performance leap promises for B6. Other than the one you get one if you have a dual core cpu, which is great.

Not truly trying to convert people this time around. Myself, I didn't upgrade from B4 to B5 for more than 6 months.

Not every update is going to include stuff that everybody wants.  I certainly didn't get the couple things that I was sure DAZ would put in B6, lol. Yet oh well, those have already been announced for B7.

Then again, I managed to get it for $6, as did a lot of people.  For me, well worth the price.

I have another 3D app which is alot more powerful then B6, but I paid alot more, and its more difficult to learn too.  I think DAZ wants to keep Bryce at the price to user friendly ratio. Plus the code is older than dirt, lol. But I have to admit, that I'll keep going back to Bryce for different 3D jobs, and everytime I do , I find just how powerful Bryce really is(old or not).

Bryce 6 default render quality is Premium.

Don't get me wrong...I have several apps to choose from too but always come back to Bryce. I just wanted to be sure there wasn't something over the top cool about 6 that I was missing.

nah dude, you just need a hug

drac
(nevermind.. )

Ya know drac...I had the chance to live in Ukraine for some time a few years back....I quickly learned that eastern europeans have a whole different concept of "personal space" than we do here in the fledgling west.

heh.. no, it's not that.. i was just commenting in regards to something completely unrelated to you. and i do whole-heartedly agree with what you said about b6

m

Most of the work in 6 is a partial core code re-write. 5.5 was as far as the old core code could go, without engaging in a re-write.

Judging an app by the number 'cool new features' is a mistake, especially when you consider the mess the core code was in, which is why Corel buried Bryce. Before Daz can add a lot of 'cool new features', they have to get the re-write to that point. Re-writing Core code is expensive, and Daz is doing it in stages.

Daz stated up front, that there would not be a bunch of 'cool new features' in Bryce 6, and that most of the work would be focused on Stability and proper Memory Management.

Basically, Bryce 7 will be the "sexy" update, lol.

I appreciate what you're saying Sarissi, more than you know perhaps since I work as a software product manager.   In previous places I have had to deal with legacy code that was in excess of twenty years out of date. This last week I started with Oracle...so believe me...I know about dealing with old code.
That being said one can judge an app "upgrade" by new features OR useability. In my original post I mention that I am seeing little in the new features bucket and less in the useability bucket. Given the long wait that the Bryce community had in anticipation of 6 coupled with what, at least in my opinion, was a performance enhancement in 5.5 I think I would have called this 5.75 or some such and saved the WOOHOO IT IS BRYCE SIX!!! for a new feature set.
I'm not dogging them in the least...I like where they seem to be headed. I was originally just asking if I had missed something.  AS said it well...Bryce 7 is the sexy update...hopefully.

Yeah, I mean DAZ has already stated that Bryce 7 will have Instancing and a SDK. Thank god for both those.

Once the SDK is out and people get on that, there's no telling what we will have. I'm hoping myself that I can somehow, eventually  tackle how to use the SDK.

SDK.... thnk porting mojo's volume clouds plugin to bryce! :biggrin: that'd be coooooool!

Terragen 2.0 clouds into Bryce....

Bryce already has some bizarre form of instancing in it (or at least code that does some form of instancing) from what I've seen with multirepicating trees up into the 100s). Had a scene that was 1 tree - about 1.5MB br5 file, then multireplicated it up to about 4-600 trees and it was only about 20MB br5. So the basis for it might already be in there... it just needs to be made more "useful" lol

SDK might be interesting.

Out of curiousity - have they given any loose, non-legally binding, timelines for B7 - i.e. a year. two years, DAZ "soon"?

Well I'm sticking with 4 for the time being. I have tried 5 and 5.5 and prefer to stick with the tools I am familiar with. Call me old fashioned but to my way of thinking this is about imagination rather than showing off DAZ programming ability. We all started with a shere over water which for all intense and purposes was pressing 5 buttons - if it was all that simple.......Well done to DAZ for keeping Bryce moving forward but if we could all produce images the quality of Rochr with B3........HDRI and such look really good though there are still plenty of things it doesn't do that well - still love it though!

Quote - Terragen 2.0 clouds into Bryce....

Mojo's volume plugin is better think isosurface terrains, multilayer volume atmospheres, multiple layers of entirely customizable clouds (like DTE and then some)

Sounds like I need to check out the Mojo gallery again....

I have tried 5 and 5.5 and prefer to stick with the tools I am familiar with.

-I did the same thing. Even though I had newer versions I kinda kept going back to the older versions for a while, still creating some stuff in them. But, with B6, I'm pretty much moving on and using just that. It's extremely stable for me, Bryce 5.5 wasn't (at first)

"...have they given any loose, non-legally binding, timelines for B7..."

-Nope. I would hope they will spend the next year just programming instead of out running around & buying up the worlds software, lol.....(j/k daz...)

-Right now DAZ will probably dive into the B6.1 update along with creating the Mac/Intel version. What are the average time spans between software versions, with other companies?

Most software companies in the enterprise sector go a year or longer between major releases. The tensions is to find how short you can make a cycle and still get in enough new stuff that people are willing to pay for the upgrade. Typically you get a MAJOR relase in something like an 18 to 24 month time frame with several maintenance releases in between.
That being said I have been places where supposedly major releases were in an 8 to 10 month time scales and others where it was more like 36 months....
Of course, it does no good to go on to a next major release until the "current release" can be confirmed as being stable...or in the case of some operating systems that are named for certain household portals...until the current release can be confirmed as having absolutley no hope of EVER being stable.

Yeah, I thought it was normally a 2 year turn around... but there can be variations.

Dude I would just ask for yer 6 bucks back lol. I on the other hand did not mind pay 6 whole dollarineos for the upgrade. Yeah its a bit buggy yeah not all what I expected, but watching our developers revamp a 10 year old database interface I can see the light at the end of the Bryce tunnel. I have a feeling Bryce 7 is going to much more then any recent versions have been and be a more robust 3D program.

Besides Bryce 6 is no worse then the crappy overhaul they did to Renderosity!

Its either get that money back or get a hug from the Romanian...

Just kidding Claymor you know I dig your stuff and you know me I will probably be bitching about something else too! Hey wait I already have been...

Or you could pickup Vue for $6.... Hundred and 45 dollars... LOL or the dozen other neutered versions for $99 and up.

Quote - Or you could pickup Vue for $6.... Hundred and 45 dollars... LOL or the dozen other neutered versions for $99 and up.

Just think how many hugs he'll need after spending that much money!!!

I think DAZ's little marketing ploy worked quite well on me. I signed up for PC, got few more props, decided to finally started tinkering with poser and DAZ studio more, and I think I opened up Bryce 6 about 4 times since it came out...
I have another 50 bucks worth of items in my shopping cart, just itching to click that checkout button.  By the time I find my way around Poser's runtime directories and which piece of clothing, prop, or a pose works with what character, Bryce 7 will be out!!!

The Platinum Club is the best marketing strategy around, bar none! I got my PC membership for free, with option to renew several years ago.

I had placed Bryce on my list of apps to get, then learned in the Daz forums, that Daz had acquired Bryce from Corel. That was version 5.

The best way to see Bryce move forward is to support it by buying a copy.

Quote - Besides Bryce 6 is no worse then the crappy overhaul they did to Renderosity!

Amen to that.
My avatar still reflects the feelings that were generated by THAT "upgrade" experience.

Ride the Renderosity Rollercoaster.

(Note - You must be this high)

Woohoo!!!

Does it take a picture going around the last curve so we can see what we look like on the ride?

heh heh Maybe we should draw names out of a hat a do renders of what each other look like...

8x10 for only 13.95

I am still waiting for my CD version of v6 to show up in my mailbox right now, so this thread has been quite informative (and entertaining). I really am looking forward to seeing what is going to be different this time around.

As for the 'upgrade' to Renderosity... let's just say that it wasn't broke until they fixed it. I know quite a few people who have stopped coming here as a result of it. Such a shame.

-SJ

I just got my Bryce 6 Content DVD in the mail yesterday, so I'd bet you would be getting your CD soon.

I expect a full review of that content DVD when you've opened it :)

And you still haven't checked your sitemail !!!!!!!

Arg, site mail! Hold on....

I'm loving the Content DVD, there are some nay-sayers, whom do make some good points, but myself I'm getting a kick out of it. More later.

Ah yes, the Fern Leaf I made. That scenefile actually made it into the Content DVD, let me go find it for ya....

Here is the scene file I had made that uses the fern leaf, that way no one has to wonder what settings I may have used.

I have an optional transparency maps for this somewhere that I will have to find. The one in this scenefile is more complex and has softer edges, so its more realistic, but takes longer to render. I have a harder edged trans map that is a little faster rendering.

Download

Enjoy.  ;o)

Yeah I think  I have all of the transmapps and things from when you first made it available - I could have a look if you can't find it.

Yeah, just forward that link to whomever/wherever.

Hehe already done - sent him a link to this thread.

Cool.

I've been away from Bryce for so long, that version 6 did seem new to me.  I had all the previous versions since Bryce was Metacreations product -- I think I liked it more then.  When version 4 came out I think I may have used it once, when subsequent versions came out -- well I don't think I used Bryce at all then.  I don't know what it was that made me get interested in Bryce again this time around - and I'm having to learn most things all over again. But I guess it was the $6 price.  I think many people will come back to Brycing as I have done.  I'm already seeing work from folks that say they haven't used Bryce for years!

Makes you wonder how many Bryce users there really are worldwide.

Not so long ago I exchanged quite a few emails with a guy in China who was doing some geographocal journal work asking me about DEMs and texturing and bryce.. so its may even be going strong over there.

I've stumbled around on some german and french 3d sites, and had found Bryce users, and even links posted to some of our tutorial forum posts here, lol.

It is very nice to see Bryce making a strong comeback.

AgentSmith, I seem to remember that you use Windows 2000 Pro. If so, does it recognize a Dual Core CPU (Athlon 64 X2), as Dual Processors? (or anyone who might know)

I do still use Windows 2000 Pro, but as yet have not upgraded to a dual core. I'm not sure about the answer to that.

Maybe after Christmas I can answer that, lol.

I do know Windows 2000 will recognize dual cores, but are there any problems with using just Win2K and dual cores and Bryce? I don't know. There shouldn't be....

I wouldn't think there would be a problem either. I call it the Poor Person's Dual Processor. I think 2K is too old to see a Dual Core as a Single Processor with 2 cores. This would be like the old Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP), where you have 2 CPUs and a shared memory setup.

 By the time I find my way around Poser's runtime directories and which piece of clothing, prop, or a pose works with what character, Bryce 7 will be out!!!   lol  i hear that conniekat!!:biggrin:

SirJohn
As for the 'upgrade' to Renderosity... let's just say that it wasn't broke until they fixed it. I know quite a few people who have stopped coming here as a result of it. Such a shame.
<
I wonder how bad it is?
Seems ok to me.
Am a member at another site and they do live changes all the time.
Logon the next day and there is new stuff and you wonder whats up with that?

I probably will get Bryce 6, I hope that it works fine with macs and pcs. Do a lot of making scenes on the pc and giving them to the mac to render. With Bryce 5.01 (PC)  and Bryce 5.5 (Mac) it was not happening. The mac would choke on scenes that the pc would handle and it was not hardware related, the mac had more memory than the pc. Did not have this problem with Bryce 5.01. Still

Makes you wonder how many Bryce users there really are worldwide.

there are at least two in scotland.....nah make that three

:b_tonguewink:

I have a laptop with dual core and it seems to render pictures faster than my desktop but my desktop also has a lot more stuff running in the background than the laptop. So I am not sure its really faster or its faster because it has less stuff.