Attached Link: http://www.buildaposter.com/

You should render it up to the size you want in Bryce first. Depending on the print resolution you want, ie; 300 dpi, 200 dpi, 150dpi, etc..., calculate how many inches you want the poster to be and multiply the inches by the resolution you want. For example at 300 dpi (dots per inch) a 36"x24" poster will need to be 10,800 x 7200 pixels. This may be a bit large and take a long time to render, so let's say you print at 150 dpi, now you're looking at 5400 x 3750 pixels, much more managable. Depending on the printing process, ie: Duratran, Fiery, etc...the printer may have their own requirements of file type and size. It is always best to check with the printer first to see what res. they can work with. You can check with the guys at this link to see what they require, they also are very reasonably priced.

Here's what you should see after changing Document Resolution.

I think you're missing something. You keep saying you changed the "render resolution", but what you need to change is the "Document resolution". Look at what is circled in red. Is this what you changed?

These are the boxes I check; 1) Include body part names in polygon groups 2) Include exact internal names except spaces 3) Include figure names in polygon groups 5) Weld body part seams These I leave unchecked: 4) Include existing groups in polygon groups 6) As Morph Target (no world transformations) I suppose it could be a PC thing, but I've never heard of anyone with a PC having a similar problem. My OBJ's import into Bryce4 and 5 with no problems, I can even export certain parts as OBJ's, or any other format, and reimport them without crashing. I also set my memory allocation for Bryce5 at around 600MB because I do very large scenes.

You're welcome tradivoro, Since you are using 1280x1024 screen res. You might want to make your document size 1152x870. If your renders take too long you can always reduce your render size for your "proofs" until you are ready for your final render. Good luck. Also, the Minimize/Maximize toggle only affects the interface, not the document size.

I get in trouble a lot for saying this, but here goes: "It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools". No offense intended to anyone here, but I hear waaaay too many people blaming the software for their short comings as artists. I do a lot of rendering in both Poser4 and Bryce5 and I get very good results most of the time. I don't blame my machine or my software when I don't. I also don't expect a $200 to $300 application to work like one costing $4000 to $8000. You can export your Poser models and motions to Lightwave for rendering, but you'll have to spend several grand to do so. Lots of people are producing high quality animation using Bryce and Poser. Just because you are not does not mean the "Software sucks". It is what it is, a good inexpensive way to do animation. Is it Maya, Lightwave or 3DMax? Of course not, but then you "get what you pay for". Poser has some idiosyncracies that you have to learn to overcome to make good anime with it, but it is far from impossible. I'd suggest you learn a little more about the software before proclaiming yourself an expert on the subject of it "sucking". Also, with regards to "photorealism" in 3D animation. I believe "Final Fantasy" proved that 3D animation will always "fall short" of reality. A little "cartoonyness" is not always a bad thing as opposed to "hyper-reality". "Final Fantasy" flopped at the box office and the critics panned it, "Shrek" however, was an instant classic. So don't be so quick to wave the "photorealism" flag as a victory banner, because the majority of viewers don't really like or appreciate it. IMHO.

Hi Adam, Believe it or not your script is the most important element. Before you start any animating you should finish your first draft, second draft and third draft. Once your script is as good as it can be you can begin story boarding. Story boarding is very important because it will let you see how scenes and elements will fit together. In essence it lets you edit the film before you start "shooting". We have a saying in flim production; "Every hour of pre-production saves you five hours on the set". The same is true for animation, the better prepared you are at the outset, the easier your job will be. A good script writing program is "FinalDraft", it's not cheap but it automatically formats your writing into script form and makes it very easy to write a coherent script. You should work with your actors and record your voices first before animating characters. Afterwards there are a couple of good lip sync programs you can use to match voices to lips. One of them is offered for sale at www.curiouslabs.com, I can't remember the name of it. I hope that helps get you started, remember though "the script is the most important element". Good luck!

You have the right to disagree, but the fact remains. They are the going rates for 2D and 3D animation as set by professionals in the industry. As for the difference in 2D and 3D prices. If you'll notice, the prices are mostly the same with the exception of corporate and web based clients. From my experience as an animator a key frame is a key frame. It doesn't matter if it is a 2D or a 3D computer program, the "inbetweens" are created automatically on any program. Remember that these are the prices for "Computer Animation" NOT hand painted CELL animation. If you are referring to cell animation, then you are right, you must create every frame manually. (just like we did in the old days) These days, using Adobe After Effects and Photoshop layers you can crank out 2D animation faster than 3D because the render time is a fraction of Ray Trace rendering time. 3D animation requires lighting, posing, camera moves, etc... and is much more time consuming in my opinion. In the old days "Computerized Animation" meant that an old Tandy or IBM machine controlled the servo motors on a big 35MM Oxberry animation stand. You would move the camera through the computer and set the key frames. When you were ready, you would "run" the program you created and hope that the film didn't snap on the 30th pass through the camera. I know, I worked in an animation house in NYC back in '83 and that's how we did it.

Leadnut: If it doesn't have the little "E" then it is not an "exportable" mesh. It may have some exportable elements, but it may also contain metaballs or boolean objects as well, in which case it won't export. if you want a good import/export and modeling app you might look into AMAPI3D, it has probably the largest amount of export options. Stephen Ray; I've NEVER had a crash of the type you described. I import Poser OBJ files and export parts of them all the time without crashing my G4. In fact I did it again (when I saw what you had written) just to be sure. No crashes, no problems. Your crashes might be caused by system conflicts or by a corrupted installation of Bryce clay; I don't think anyone has mentioned UVMapper or CV points in this thread, but you could be working on a level that is unknown to me. Rock on dude! ;-)

I never do, but you can. It just pulls the interface back a few more pixels, but if you want full screen every little bit helps. Another tip when I am rendering larger images is to leave my document resolution at 960x720 and turn up the "render resolution" way up. I click on the render button to start the render, then stop it after a few lines. Next I click the little "minus" sign (lower right corner) until the render is small enough to see the whole frame. Then I start the render over again. This allows me to see the entire image as it renders for the next day or so. ;-)

Go to your pull down menu and select "File/Document Setup". Change the numbers in the "Document Resolution" box to the size you want. I prefer 960x720 on an 1152x670 screen. This fully fills the frame and leaves room for the interface. As far as I know Bryce will always open the default 640x480 window size, just use "Document Setup", you don't need to "select new". In fact you can change the documant size (and shape) at any time while you are working on the image. I hope that clears up some of the confusion.

You're welcome Don. Remember that these are "guidelines". It's okay to charge less if the client doesn't have a huge budget. Or charge more if you feel the project will require more time to complete. Always get some money up front, I prefer 50% in advance and 50% on completion. That includes any rerenders to make sure the client is 100% happy. If you're not sure about the client, get the whole thing up front to be safe. There's nothing worse than doing a good job and then getting stiffed for 50% of it. Also, put everything in writing before you start any work. What was requested, the terms, what you were given, etc... so there can't be any question about it later. Good luck!

Attached Link: http://www.flamingpear.com

There's a cool plug in called "SuperBladePro" from Flaming Pear that makes great bumpy metal effects. You can download a free demo that works fully for like 30 days. They make some other cool plug in's too.

If Microsoft owned Adobe you wouldn't be able to use a PS filter unless it was bundled with Internet Explorer. Adding any third party plug-ins would cause your machine to crash, and all the interfaces would be that "Stock gray block" Winblows design...yuk ;-P hehe.

Attached Link: http://www.ninafine.com

This is a friend of mine who is a singer and actress. I've done some 3D studies of her as a 3d character. I know she is looking for animation and voice over projects and she's a really nice person. here's her web site.