Attached Link: http://www.3d-digital-wasteland.com/wip.html

Recently I've been making a lot of models not in bryce... settle Bryster... setttttle.. and even been toying with another landscape program to see what it can actually do.

Installed B6 yesterday (after having to redownload it cos of a CRC error in the DazStudio part of the install, and then having to put SP2 on the XP machine so some silly MFC library was there to keep the DazStudio part happy when it did want to install...) and then had to play about with the hdr stuff after seeing what you guys and gals have been up to with it.

Anyway, here's my playing about with the hdri thing (attached image) - thats one of the models that has devoured my life as of late. A larger version and some earlier versions can be found at the link above. None of its textured yet, so any colour is from the coloured hdri. A little bit of contrast adjustment was done to it as well.

The image was done with 25% quality and took about 16 hours at about 1100x1200 original size (using the premium 4rpp - things like image size, rpp, quality just kept getting reduced until I got a time under 24 hours on my 3.2GHz P4).

And now comes the question - how do you know what orientation the hdri image (for the lighting) will take with relation to your scene? Or is this a suck it and see thing. I tried using a hdri and then flipping it horizontally in hdrshop and it didn't seem to just reverse the prediminant light direction from left to right is why I'm asking.

 (Edit - and a merry christmas to brycers old and new)

Awesome model/scene Flak,.. bet that took some time.  We may have to wait for 6.1 update to get a decent HDRI setup in Bryce. I think the IBL is locked at a 90 degree angle and you would have to rotate the entire scene to get the light showing from another angle. I don't know if Bryce can use muti-layered/exsposures HDRI yet either. I always use the quality at 1 to speed the renders. Some Bryce IBL takes days to a week to render at a high quality on some systems.

Some excellent modeling!! I love the architectural arrangement, and the buildings make a great massing that seems organically intrinsic with the terrain they rest on. It's a pity Wings can't handle more polys 'cause it's got an .stl plug-in for export and this design would make a hell of a rich man's paperweight. Just print out a 3D prototype, use it as a master, and make tons of pewter or cast porcelain copys and sell em in gift shops the world over. Er, uh sorry. I mean do that after you've textured it and used it for a proper render or two.;-) I Cheers, Dan

Amazing modeling Pal !

Since the HDRI is locked, start your scene, toss the I-plane, create a 2-D elipse object(layout flat) and apply a mirror mat. Now you can determine HDRI direction. Rotate your scene to preference, and start building your scene once you've acheived a desired angle.

I did a few scenes in Carrara where you can rotate the HDRI mapping, so when I realised I couldn't do that in Bryce I figured why not Rotate the whole scene.

I like Dans Idea..(grin)
Now I'm inspired to attempt something similar in modeling clay.

Happy Holly-Daze

Shades of Gormenghast perhaps. Wonderful work!

Bryster - parts of it are based on real world castles (Mt St Michel and one other that I can't remember the name of), but a lot of it isn't.

ICM - yeah, being able to rotate the hdri would be very handy. Doing it in clay would be tricky I'd imagine  - are there limits as to how fine structure/detail you can make in the clay and still have it survive the firing process? Or you could just make it into a very rich man's backyard 16 foot tall garden ornament ;)

fpfrdn - I think Bryce's hdri may be able to use layered/multi exposure hdri's. The different way that some of the light probes behave (downloaded pre built ones, and home made ones from an image say), and there's some tut that AS followed that uses layers to create the hdri's that he made available recently. So I suspect it does.

Dan - texture?? Scene?? I'm seriously  thinking of joining the ranks of those that make grey "model only" display images lol Actually am trying to work out how to get it into the scene I want, but to keep a POV where you can still see stuff. Not easy (yet).

Must say I wouldn't have thought that would happen.

Good to see you still at it waiting for your semi anual post. Still don't have 6 and well needless to say playign with other apps myself.

OK, as soon as I win the lottery you are hired to be my personal architec(sorry for the sp). Awesome modeling!

Actually this is an interesting insight into how others work. Here, we see Flak is one of those 'let's build it and then texture it' kinda guys; me, I'm a 'texture each piece as I  go'.............

Oh, this model is so beautiful!!  As I slave away trying to learn how to model, I really appreciate the time and effort that goes into something as superb as that citidel.

What program are you using for your modeling??

I wasn't sure if B6 could use multilayer/exsposures HDRI, I guess it can. I was thinking of one of AgentSmiths posts about the size of the HDRI not making rendering times any different maybe. Oh yeah, I forgot about the quality slider making scenes light different, which you already found out.  Compared with other 3D app IBL features, Bryce does need to improve a bit, but DAZ has stated they are working on it now.

 Unless my eyes are going, I see the banding your talking about easy(poly smoothing in other app maybe?) plus artifacts and/or antialias compression(like .jpg) in your pic. I hope its not artifacts from IBL in Bryce. Im noticing this the more I use other apps and Bryce...

fpfrdn - AS has also mentioned the banding in the shadows that you can get with low quality settings in one of his posts (might have been in Matcreators thread...can't remember). Where the really obvious banding in the 0 quality is (right next to the tower on the left)... that wall is one flat polygon.

The artifacts you mean (jagged edges where you'd expect straight edges) - thats purely from having a really low (rpp) render quailty setting in bryce (nothing to worry about lol). Its not the hdri.

Ricky - thats modelled in LightWave. Its a modeller that seems to mesh well with my brain. 

Bryster -  yeah, sometimes, especially when I'm not sure what the final model will be rendered in, I leave the textures off until I know where its going. Also I do a lot my scene setups (organisation) without textures  - just for speed reasons.

Ok, I looked again, and yes your right, its the rpp tearing/smearing the lines, but nothing wrong with that setting choice. I was just hoping I was seeing it right since Im on an old monitor. Still a very nice project.  

Very nice piece of work Flak! I am really looking forward to the final you make of it!
Along the this place is kinda dead line, I haven't been in much or even had a chance to render much since November, end of year work just took a lot of time and I bought a house, (the SOLD sign was put up Wednesday). The family is also here for Christmas this year.
Merry Christmas to all and lots of happy new year renders!
Richard

So there you are :p   Thats one awesome model...please keep us updated!

i want your babies!

Drac's Back!..;)

better than his front! - sorry i couldn't resist - WB drac!

Incarnadine - Yeah, know what you mean about the end of year work - I ran into the same thing - everything got very busy. And you know we want to see pics of that house, don't ya?

Drac - so you've given up being a baby incubator and now your a baby collector? - gone from wanting to have babies, to sinply wanting babies ;)

Beautiful modeling pal. Looks fantastic even without textures.  :thumbupboth:

Exellent ! ! ! !