Is there a way to render an item (the golden shell, for example) without any background.  Just the shell would be super to be able to use it in other graphics programs such as Paint Shop Pro.  Thanks.

Hi goofygrmom

(all credit goes to Clay for this one and another user who helped with the PNG file idea unfortunately I can't remember there name(sorry very rude))The best way to do it is this make the shell in bryce and render it as the normal image and then go into render options and select object mask then save that as a seperate file and use a mask channel in Paint Shop pro. Bryce can't make transparent Backgrounds I got this information from Clay who is a fantastic Brycer and he helped me in a big way. Another good way to do so is save the open the object mask invert it and save it as a brush and then open the file for the full version and remove the padlock by the background layer by dragging it to the trash and then make a new layer align the brush with the image and make sure the colour is white(also make sure the render colour is black) and once aligned paint it on it should just fit is and then get the magic wand tool click on the white brush layer then click on the other layer and cut then open a new document make sure you get the size right paste and save as a png file and save with layers as the option(I can't imagine its much different in psp (i use Elements 9.03) I hope that helps but the person who deserves all the credit is clay and the user I mentioned before. so I would like to point that out.

Thanks

Karl

Thank you very much.  I'll give this a try when I get back from the grocery store.  I'll reply here to let you know how it works for me.

Another simple way is to erect a cube and stretch so that it fills the screen. Lift this and the egg way above the ground and move you pov until you can't see anything but the egg and cube. Make the cube white and render.

Thank you both for your help. 

I tried the way you said Karl, and it works perfectly for me.  This means I have extra masks to play with in PSP too.

Glad to be of help. Oh and if you want to play about making shells and other objects similar try peter sharpes tutorials or go to youtube and type in bryce tutorials and a guy who calls himself freetutorials will tell you how to play about with the multi replicate tool. 

Karl