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Bryce F.A.Q (Last Updated: 2024 Nov 12 7:03 am)
Subject: HOT OFF THE PRESS - Legit Bryce 5 Info!!!
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OK Now the excitement has had time to wear off and the hands have stopped shaking..... Light Lab - One screen with all the light options on it, including slider for hard/soft shadows and new option for colour gradients. Terrain Lab - windows now resizable and moveable, new textured preview window. Terrains have adaptive subdivision and can be exported, the material can ALSO be exported as an image map so wysiwyg when taking the terain into other 3d apps. Tree Lab - can create trees using preset elements or from scratch including leaves. Has a gravity component to give drooping branches. Can specify branch density, angles etc. Main interface - some tweaks and it now silver/blue, looks v.cool! New light type - Round Parallel Bryce Lightning - Client app for render only PC's. Bryce can now break up any single image into subsections and each machine can render a sub section, works for animation too. Now I just have to persuade my fiancee the 3 dual 1.5 GHz Athlons are more important than any honeymoon could ever be!!! Mat Lab - no details. Sky lab - one addition, a "Celestial" button for stars, no details but has random or customn options. Pricing - 309 Euros for full, 189 Upgrade, 189 - 108 for us UK residents. Release date provisionally mid/late July. The mag has some screen shots - anyone wanna see??????? Should I have bothered asking????? will scan some in ASAP. ALL THIS CAME FROM COMPUTER ARTS MAGAZINE I AM NOT A BETA TESTER - I WISH I WAS!!!! Later David
They keep this up and they'll use their "toy" status in the industry. ; (Not that I support that view, never have, never will) Love the Terrain Editor & Tree Editors. Those were over due !! Wonder how export is (for objects & trees).. hmm..
The doctor says I have way too much blood in my caffeine system.
Ok still not impressed. Any mention of the renderer. How many antialiasing stages? Does it support motion blurring and what mode? Object import and export or is it still only terrains? Radiosity and caustics, what about those?Interesting that no mention was made of the deep texture editor as it was one of the biggest pains to use and quite anemic. I must admit I do not see anything there that is a huge departure from the existing SW. Some nifty improvements but not the major overhaul a major release I expected. Network rendering, without reworking the render engine it is of no real benefit as most people are not going to run out and buy a render farm. With the speed of their render enging the need SMP. But not many are going to run out to buy a Dual CPU set up. Meatball modeling is just about one of the most useless techniques for modeling objects available. They needed to include a spline modeler or subdivision. Still lets wait until someone coughs up the full specs. I just took a good look at terragen. Now while it has it;s drawbacks and on it's own limited. With the LW plugins available for $90 even the default terrains it generates blows Bryce away. Besides so far it is still free.
Well, there's Vue D'Esprit to think about folks... :) They've had trees for years... :) So that feature is equalled in another terrain application... :) However, it's great to finally get some info about the new Bryce... Sounds like great stuff... The price is a little too steep, since I agree with Peter, were still not talking about major upgrade here, just cosmetics with some new features... How about that render engine? Is it faster?? :)
OK to answer some of the above. No mention of any improvements in the render engine "other" than the SMP options. Some of my single frame stuff used to take 15 hours. So some improvement would have been fantastic. Also I felt some work on water textures etc. e.g. waves/water based motion would have been due, nothing mentioned. Another comment in the review says that the more realistic (soft=raytraced) the shadows the "lot longer" it takes to render. Smacks of the "volumetic world = kill your machine or go on a two week holiday before this ones ready" option. As for the modelling stuff, I could not agree more. Boolean modelling can only go so far. For a freebie try for metasequoia - can't remember the link but it's not bad for nothing. Will look for the link, I think I got it from the Poser forum. Having seen whats avbailable in Bryce 5 and Vue 4 I would like to compare the two together myself. Whilst I LOVE bryce and always have this is far from the "major upgrade" I was expecting. Still drooling and counting the pennies/piggy bank/ mortgaging the future wife!!! Also no mention of Radiosity OR caustics. Export facilities seem to be the same for trees as for terrains. You may be able to find more on the Computer Arts website at www.computerarts.co.uk Now theat a magazine review has been published lets hope Corel gets it's finger out and starts releasing some more info! Cheers D
While these specs are certainly interesting I hope there will be a bit more to B5 than that. Simply because they've had more practice I would not be surprised if Vue's veggies are better than B5's. Their render speed is already quite a bit faster and there was no mention of improved speed in B5. I couldn't care less about metaball modeling and I suspect those who want to do more complex modeling for their Bryce pics are already using an external modeler. I was disappointed that no mentionwas made of finally including a decent way to manage textures and presets but we can still hope I suppose. The real kicker is that the U.K. upgrade price translates to about $150 U.S. The new Vue 4 full package is only $50 more and it seems I'll get a lot more bang for the buck going that route. It also seems to address most of the things I disliked about Vue 3. Unless Corel releases some more info soon I think that my B4 upgrade might just be Vue 4.
Hi GoM, I think both programs can be improved but also preferred the look of Bryce renders. But lately I've seen a few Vue pics that have the look I am after and have concluded the fault is mine rather than Vue's. At any rate, they have made me go back to take a closer look at Vue. Still, I really, really, really hope that the new Bryce will be tempting enough to force me to upgrade to it.
Soft shadows, true ambience (which I assume is radiosity) blurs etc are all in the new render engine, but yes, they are equivalent to Volumetrics in render time! - having said that, with the Mac platform, specifically OSX on g4, render times should be greatly improved over the competition. Now that I have seen the 'other' features mentioned above, there is no question, its definately worth it! - and net rendering guys!! - gotta be useful!
Adam Benton | www.kromekat.com
Well, I only mentioned Vue d'Esprit in regards to it's tree generating properties... However, the latest version that is coming out this month will definitely put it in a category to compete with Bryce... They have improved their rendering engine as well as just about everything else in the program... It looks very impressive... It also will import Poser models without any hitches, due to some liason between Vue and the Poser people...
Frankly, I'm not too impressed either, BUT the Light lab catches my eye. What gets me about this is: One: Bryce was NEVER intended to be a modeling program. Thus, they made a whole new piece of software that strays from the original concept. Don't ask me why I'm mad about this, I don't know why (been a sold user since version 2) Two: IF the Dev team spent a bit more time on this (say releasing Winter 2001 or the following spring) They could have made a whole NEW render engine to include radiosity. Three: I think they should have concentrated on more important things besides a veg lab and light lab. Render speed needs to be vastly improved, and judging by the release date, it's not gonna be so. Numerous shortcommings need to be fixed (i.e. export and import) And MPEG Movie support should be added. Hidden menus (DTE and other things) Need to be brought out more, but that aspect is next to perfect IMO as I spent most of my time in it. I don't know if I'll upgrade or not, this sways me a bit, but not to the point of me drooling. I agree with the tree lab thing, it's needed it ever since the begining. -Matt 3DCommune Moderator http://www.3dcommune.com
Davecr, Overall I also think Bryce has been a bit more flexible than Vue but the two companies seem to be stealing each other's best ideas and are definitely getting closer. Each has had strengths the other lacked. Based on what little info we have it appears that B5 is not going to be hugely different than B4 and this prompted my "bang for the buck" comment. I was not saying that Vue 4 will be vastly superior to B5. But I already have B4 and do not have Vue. If I buy V4 instead of upgrading to B5 I may well wind up with greater versatility than I would have by continuing to work with Bryce alone. After all, there is no rule stipulating I must work with only one and there seems to be little financial incentive to stay with Bryce only. If Corel gets too greedy with their upgrade prices they should expect that people will consider alternatives.
I agree, I'm a beta tester as well and this is actually old beta screens you have posted and C A got some old news heheh, and as for new functions, we can't talk about those, but I will say you haven't looked deep enough into any of the BR5 images to see some of the enhancements, and for the Vue people ( pnevai ) If you don't like Bryce go to the Vue forum and shut the hell up!! Good god man, you say you don't use Bryce much anymore, well fine, go to your forum and quit commenting and harassing Bryce users in the Bryce Forum, a lot of them are beginners or non professional users, how demeaning for you to come in and hack on everything. I use and test 10 different 3D apps for companies ranging from Lightwave to Pixels 3D to Bryce, no one app does everything, if it did that company would be a monoply and bathing in money!!! So for now, everyone, your getting old beta screenshots and it's not worth bitching about, that app isn't even done yet and you're not gonna see anything bout it for a while still. If ya want the new stuff to work, we have to test it first Simple as that.
Do atleast one thing a day that scares the hell outta ya!!
Ironfixer, Clay- thank you for your encouraging remarks. I too wish you could say more but appreciate that you cannot. I had assumed that CA's preview article (which I have not seen) was based upon info given to them by Corel but it seems this may not be so. This is not the only place that I have been reading speculations about B5. While few people are disparaging this new version a number of us are publically wondering whether we should bother upgrading (based on the little info and few images we have seen.) In addition, many of us are childishly and impatiently eager for new "toys" and Vue 4's release is imminent. Under these circumstances perhaps you could suggest to Corel that at this stage their secrecy may be doing more harm than good.
I would like to stick with Bryce but if they don't improve Poser imports, I'm switching to Vue 4. Speaking of which, why hasn't there been any mention of the Bryce team working (or not working) with Curious Labs? It would seem most natural for them to be able to share files since they both came from the same company.
I am hoping against hope that the beta testers out there are right and that this was just based on an early beta that CA got. Have been using bryce since v2 (when work allows!!) and was expecting a whole lot more for that kind of price range. If this stuff is duff(due to magazines always being a little out of date anyway) is there anyway we can persuade Corel to even say WHEN they will tell us ANYTHING other than "yup it exists as a beta" One wonders whether they may link with Poser too, seems to be a big gap plugged with Vue. Could bryce be lookiing at some better animation???????
Simple fact: People are very over-impatient. When it comes out, people can view the enhancments, and THEN decide if they want to buy it. There doesn't have to be sneek preview or other things The main problem that everyone has is the ease of importing. i.e. poser textures need to be poser textures and not washed out, transparencies need to be imported with no fuss ect. ect. People want everything to be 'perfect', and if a product doesn't have that certain function, they bash it.And I don't understand this. Something always taks a bit of tweaking to make it perfect... And Now that BT has his tutorial out, it should be that much more easy. I hardly use the animation aspect of Bryce, but I think it's simple to use..I just had to sit down for awhile and figure it out. Poser to Bryce imports isn't really that simple. Poser was orginally a Curious Labs/Ghost Effects Product. Version 2 went to Fractal 3&4 went to Meta and now its back home. It's seen a lot of enhancements from 3 differernt companies. And it's sort of hard to have two programs Coincide with one another when they're owned by two different companies, even if the two are used hand-in-hand. I don't think anyone wants a flame ware, do you? snicker -Matt
To ghostofmacbeth and prism break: I thought it was an accepted fact that importing Poser figures to Bryce doesn't work all that well. That's why there are tutorials on how to do it. Anywho, when I import a perfectly good Poser figure into Bryce, it turns to sh*t. All facial features (lips, eyebrows, teeth, etc) turn the same color as the skin. And the figure over all is very dark. I know that some of this stuff can be fixed with tweaking, but I don't wanna. I'm in a hurry and I'm lazy. If Vue can import without hassle and Bryce 5 can't, I'm going with Vue.
As far as improved poser importing....why didn't metacreations do that while they had BOTH programs? But, really, I think 5 will be worth the it. As far as being TOO slow....Bryce is the only TRUE raytracer engine that I know of. Some other programs do a type of 'partial'raytracing to increase render time. Bryce is a total true raytracer and that takes time, that is why Bryce makes better images!!!
Jackson, Jackson, Jackson, you're breaking my heart here!!!! Like Ironfixer said, quality takes time. As far as grey posers go,huh? maybe a little peekid but nothing creative lighting cant fix. As for the rest of your probs (eyebrows, lips)I have no probs there. Of course, you have to smooth your model once you get it into bryce, and some post blurring the shadows on the model soften the skin. Ive seen vue posers look worse than bryce posers, its all in the hand thats tweaking, I guess.
Attached Link: http://www.milamberart.com
I don't know what to say about Poser importing- all you need to do is import the texture maps from Poser, into Bryce. That has worked since at least Bryce 3D. If you don't know how to do this, take a gander at http://www.petersharpe.com/Tutorial11.htm . According to Amazon.com, Bryce 5 will be released on July 10th. More info available at (__ http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005LD1F/o/qid=992117680/sr=2-6/ref=aps_sr_s_2_3/104-1740779-9074348 __) URL will wrap, get everything between the marks. As far as the negative comments you guys seem to bestow upon the program, just wait till the program is out, read the reviews and see the images (take a look at http://www.bryce5.net if you've got a few minutes), and decide if you're willing to give this program a try. I can't comment on features, as I'm also a tester. Clay said it best: we just need to test it. You don't like B5? Think something is missing? Let Corel know and maybe they'll work it into B6. Ciao, Waldo
Prizm Break wrote: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Of course, you have to smooth your model once you get it into bryce... <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Whenever I import a Poser figure (OBJ format) into Bryce it is smooth by default. In general, I find importing Poser figures to be straightforward, if not 'easy'. I'm so used to the steps involved in setting transparency, etc, that it is a breeze. It would be nice to not have to do it, but the issue is certainly not enough to drive me away to another program. I don't understand pnevai's input here. Lightwave is a terrific application but it costs 1500 against Bryce's 200. It is logical to expect Lightwave to be better. I can't afford Lightwave, period.
(can't resist sticking my nose in. sorry if this posts double.. software seems to have eaten first attempt..) I am amused at the comments that Poser figures should look the same in Bryce as they do in Poser. How do you figure that? The main difference is simple: lighting. It is the difference between "studio" lighting and bright natural "sun" lighting. Any girl can tell you about that. Heck, ever walk outside and realize one of your socks is back and one is blue? I can set up lighting in Bryce to imitate the very flattering lighting in Poser and get the same basic results. But when I am using all the lightin available to me, yes, some adjustments are needed. I don't find that unreasonable. I would like to see the figures smoother, but remember, you are changing from native Poser to flat .obj. The fault is the format or at best, Poser's. I don't see the figures look better in other apps, they always need smoothing. Smoothing such a dense mesh comes at a huge price... size. And I can't speak for Vue, but I find importing period a bother, importing into Bryce seems pretty straight forward. I'll agree, Meta should have integrated these two. But then Meta should have done alot of things. I'm surprised at the disgruntlement. I've seen and heard alot, and think this at least should be called a major upgrade. One thing I think many forget is that Corel just spent a huge expenditure on purchasing Bryce and some key engineers. They need some return on that, much more then they could get from the few sales of those just now buying Bryce 4. Without that, there will be no Bryce 6, maybe no Bryce. Do we want that? And I am vastly reassured to see "our" Bryce is still there, some enhancements, but the same software we all love. I think they are offering a nice little treat here, enough to make this totally legitimate. This whole thing to me seems a winning situation. Oh, and Amazon is now taking preorder with a release date of July 10th. ok, off my soapbox. m.
PJF, me either.....seems like the comments are getting shot out of the sky in other bryce posts anyway..pretty lame attempt to praise Vue if ya ask me. What with all the bryce supporters here and such. Lightwave's alt is Inspire, which is superb also, costs around 300 US Dollars last I checked. Metaball modeling is awesome, however I do like spline better, just simpler and less time consuming.
:-> Thanks, Prizm. It is rather liberating being able to speak my mind and not be in "proper mode". Just hope I don't get carried away! Laugh. Nor do I want to contribute to this being a flame thread or a "jump on those who dare to disagree" situation. I just honestly think some expectations are off, and couldn't resist commenting. And face it, Bryce does inspire fierce loyalty. Oh, and I've heard World Builder is a bear to learn. :-> Now, can someone PLEASE tell me how to find this thread again? Can't seem to find it unless go through link from another message. (continues to wander around totally lost.) m.
To DigitalArtist: I'm looking at my Poser version 1 box right now and it says Fractal Design on it. To All: I think I might have been misunderstood. I wasn't knocking Bryce or hyping Vue. I merely stated that Bryce4 screws up my Poser figures--especially the faces. For example: I just now imported a Michael pose into Bryce. His eyebrows and eyes turned pure white. With regular P4 figures, all facial features turn the same color as the skin, no matter what I do with the lighting. Like I said, I'd like to stick with Bryce. But logically, why would I pay $150 to upgrade and get a few new features on a program I already have--but that doesn't fix my problem--when I can pay $50 more and get a whole new program that does fixe the problem?
Hey PJF, perhaps you're correct. I just did it and notice no diff. I've been habitually smoothing them all this time. But I remember the reason I tried it was a model had striped polys down her leg and after smoothing, they were gone. Maybe I did a 3ds import??? who knows, but im glad you pointed that out, it takes a while to smooth the entire model.
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Hi, Check out this months issue of Computer Arts. Preview of Bryce 5. It has : Network rendering for both animation AND still images. Uses grid rendering to achieve this. Tree lab Light lab - including gradient lights Metaball modelling Enhanced Terrain Editor Improved Sky lab Area Shadows Multi-threading Still reading the article, will post more as soon as I have finished!!! Oh yeah - release date expected middle of July. More soon! Cheers David