Actually it's called MaxMem... Heh... Pardon me... ;) Should have clicked the "about" button before I posted the first time. D'oh! L8R!

Heheh... I know all about the memory "dissappearing" especially since I have a modest 128Mb on the computer that I'm currently using. Windows is bad that way sometimes. However on a good note, AnalogX software makes a free utility program called freemem that does a nice job. It accounts for memory addresses that are not being used and makes them available. Dunno if that helps. L8R!

Hmmm... I think the lighter fluid would work. Depends on what solvent breaks down the rubbery stuff. I'd just start trying various household solvents. Apparently isoproplyl (rubbing alcohol) and xylene/touluene (nail polish remover) are off the list... So, one could start with the safest solvent and work from there. Try dish soap, baking soda (with water), amonia based cleaner, degreasing agent, metal polish,... Eventually you'll hit on something that works. Of course keep in mind that some solvents will eat into the plastic and should be ruled out for future use. Or you could just get one of those CD holder "books" and chuck your jewel cases. Heheh...

I have both Wings3D and Anim8or, and I started out on the wireframe modeling with Anim8or. I've gotta say that in some aspects I like the Wings interface better for modeling, as I can rapidly position and build a model by clicking with the mouse instead of going to the menus. Anim8or is just about as straight forward as Wings. Anim8or does have its bugs when it comes to selecting things (it prefers the background parts to foreground, which isn't very intuitive.) Each seems to have its own advantages though. I still haven't found anything like an absolute coordinate system in wings yet, which Anim8or has (as far as I know, Wings only lets me punch in relative coordinate positions.) Wings also assumes some things about the mesh that Anim8or doesn't. Sometimes it seems a good thing and sometimes it doesn't. This can make the poly's faces act funny at edges, etc. Also Wings will not allow you to connect points sometimes when building meshes. But I suppose it all depends on what one is trying to do.

Also if you haven't figured it out by now, it helps to use this with terrains set to "render as solid". That little pull-down arrow below the terrain editor window will have the setting there. Just in case you didn't know. Otherwise your stuff will be hollow (sometimes it might be intentional though.) Just my $0.02.

I'm willing to bet there's a file hidden somewhere in one of the bryce folders that tells it how to orient the display settings on startup. Whether or not this is editable by a user with little programming skills, I am uncertain. Perhaps by asking one of the people at Corel you might get lucky. You should be able to change the alignment from the center position. Well, I'm just guessing anyways. Couldn't hurt to try...

Ya gotta admit though, it's funny how sometimes imagination and reality aren't too far apart. Your ship looks like it would be based on such technology. And it even seems like it would be plausible using further materials development, being if your ship were molded out of a formed ceramic/alloy composite with the right magnetic properties... (Even your color would be right for a bismuth based composite.) Heheh... It couldn't be too far off. ;) Speaking of things that looks like something that I've seen before on renderosity, has anyone seen the Dodge Tomahawk concept vehicle? I swear that I've seen that a couple months ago in a rendering somewhere. Makes one wonder who influences who sometimes. :)

So... I knew lifter technology just needed further development. Aparently Groingrinder is ahead in the game... I bet this is where he got started from... ;) http://jnaudin.free.fr/html/lifters.htm Interesting stuff if you ask me. I think the other site with this cool stuff is at www.tdimension.com.

I've got an idea for a plot outline. Dunno if it would go over well, but it couldn't hurt to suggest. Make a short titled "Escape from Area 51". The movie would be about an alien who has a spaceship malfunction (it hits a tiny asteroid and computer gets fried) and wrecks (somewhere in a desert, of all places.) When he wakes up, he finds himself strapped down to a stretcher amongst a bunch of army guys. And the story continues from there... I'd tell the story with a humorous and not too serious cartoony style.
What do you think?

One can always copy an object and increase the scale a bit and add a water texture to the copy. Not always the best option, but sometimes it's an easy way...

I'm not exactly sure how this relates to the discussion, but it might be why you're getting the reflection. For some reason Bryce does something involving the ambience and diffuse on transparent objects even when they are both set to zero. Try this as an experiment. Render one bryce transparency with diffuse/ambient set to zero and the color set to white. Then do the same thing, but with color set to black. I think I might be onto something, but don't quite know what it is. This may also be the same with some of the other channels like mettalicity, etc. Hmmm...

Hey EricofSD that's a cool site. You should post it somewhere on the Bryce forum if you haven't already. It helps by showing how things work that arent 100% clear in the manual. Definitely worth going to if you have a good internet connection. Not to mention what a service it does for the Bryce-newbs. Heh... Now what I'm looking for is a way to figure out all the tricks to getting the most out of Anim8or and Wings3D. Heh... Funny considering I made some Anim8or tutorials here myself, but theres still some aspects of those programs that would be a lot more useful with better understanding of how they work.

Oh yeah, and advice for the picture... It could use a bit of random foilage tucked in the crevaces that are getting light, and perhaps somebody in a raft or kayak in the water at the bottom.

Seems like everyone says Rhino is good for the money. I haven't tried it yet so I can't really disagree. I found that Anim8or is pretty good for no cost. So for my meshes, that's what I've been using so far. It still has its weaknesses, but it's freeware and it's better than having nothing to create custom models with.