I'm a frequent user of Bryce and Poser and I have been working on this one image for quite a while. After finishing the final product I realize that it just doesn't give off that sense of realism that I see in other artists creations. I was wondering if any of you would have any suggestions or advice of how to make this picture more realistic looking. Any advice is good advice. Thanks.

Realism is hard to achieve, and landscapes are the hardest ( for me anyway ). 3 thing I would point out, 1. the terrain, is only one color, not very realistic. 2. the water falls, color's to flat no highlights at all. 3. the tree on the left is growing out of rock, just doesn't look very convincing. here's a place that may help you in your quest for realism, it's about 3D in general. check out the observations and tutorials. http://www.dvgarage.com/garage/a2d/a2d.php

I just finished taking a beginner's Bryce class, and (to echo Stephen Ray) one of the main things I learned was that it's important to manipulate textures and skies. Your sky, in particular, looks as though you've used a preset without altering it even a bit. You might also want to change the POV somewhat so that the horizon doesn't (predictably) cut right through the middle of the image. I think the cross-hatching look of your rocks takes away from the realism, as well. Maybe try a different texture or fiddle with the frequency in the Mat Lab? One other thing: where's the waterfall coming, since there isn't even the hint of a hill or mountain in the background? Unless, perhaps the source is an enthusiastic spring ;-) I'd also suggest a little variety among the trees. It's too obvious that you've used the same model one for each tree. Hope this doesn't sound too negative. I think the basic image is quite pretty. I especially like your use of the bridge - makes me wonder who uses it. And I admit to feeling a bit foolish, as a beginning Brycer, giving you such a critique. So please take these words with a gigantic grain of salt, if you wish. By the way, I tend to avoid doing larger landscapes like this myself because of their inherent difficulties - LOL! My scenes (most still works in progress) are all very close in. Now I'm gonna go check out that link Stephen Ray provided and see what I can learn to help myself!

Very nice start .. you have all the elements here you just need to tweak a bit I think .. I have a few tricks I use if you feel like it, for instance the water .. I never use a water plane .. I either use a flattened rectangle or a terrain and usually both ..I find if you use a terrain for water even if it is to be almost flat you will still add some depth and what I call "pop" ;-).. try making a flattened rectangle make it big enough so that it covers the area you want your water.. apply a water texture on it and then add a terrain over the top .. now texture this with a second and different water texture, something with a bit of noise .. as well make this more transparent Play with it and you will see what I mean.. Second trick .. never use just one terrain to build your ground .. make several terrains and fit them together like puzzle pieces .. I find that detailed textures work best on small terrain pieces.. to get a more realistic ground I also recommend layering the odd terrain here as well .. I describe the tecnique on one of my images if you are interested .. it is called "River Trail" in my gallery .. and example of my water trick can be found in my gallery as well on the image "Magic Falls". The sky someone already talked about.. For the falls .. again I suggest duplicating the terrain and adding a second water texture .. same idea as above .. were the falls hit the water add a symmetrical lattice .. sink it into the water .. now add a water texture with lots of noise and vary the transparency.. so it is just a bit of mist .. the same technique can be used on all sorts of strange terrain shapes to give a feel of foam and so on .. Trees .. well that's a whole nother story ;-).. mainly as mentioned do not cut them off.. show some root .. and really vary the shapes and the tree tops.. and last I suggest you spend a few minutes a day hunting down great landscapes ;-) .. and study them.. I have a HUGE folder and find they really help. Wew more I am sure than you wanted to know .. hope you find some of the above of uses.

Great ideas, Laurie S. Thanks for sharing them. They'll come in handy for my work, that's for sure! :-)

One thing you need for realism that no one has mentioned is Scale. Your scene looks small because you probably used the terrain at almost the same size they were created. One trick I use is to make all my terrain very large. I try to make the camera the same proportionate size as a human head in the scene. This way the atmospheric perspective looks more realistic and you get a better feeling of size and depth. Also if you move your camera further into the scene and widen your focal length you will get a feeling that you are in the scene and not looking at it from a distance. Another tip to remember for depth is "Kai's Law", which says that you should place an object of high detail close to the camera to make the background seem less detailed. Besides that, an old standard is "The Rule of Thirds". Divide your frame into three parts; foreground, middleground and background. This also helps make your composition more interesting, right now you have a middle and background, but no foreground. Keep at it though, you'll eventually get it.