Same here, danamo. I whiled away many an hour and never got it right, until just about two weeks ago. It is very gratifying. Congratulations, ladymist95. I can tell all of you where I kept high centering. I simply didn't realize you have to save the obj from uvmapper. I kept trying to put the mapped texture on the old obj file that didn't have uv coordinates. When I finally realized I had to save the obj from uvmapper, life was good after that. Stupid, stupid, stupid. An example of the old addage that, "If I can do it, anybody can." Two years of spinning my wheels. 'Bout time. :-)

Where is this "Art for All" of which you speak? EDIT: Oh, OK, found it. :-)

Message edited on: 07/29/2004 19:54

Thanks. Very cool, indeed.

Any chance somebody knows where Rochr's tut is? Or, if it has been too long, do you think he might post it again?

Hmm, I don't know. about edit/undo. It's odd, really, because, if I do test scene and mess with with a bit and try to use the buttons, they react exactly as I've been told they should. However, whenever I've had a complex scene and rendering is mostly complete, the scene CHANGEs when I inadvertently hit one of the buttons; it doesn't save. If this comes up again, I'll try edit/undo. I have a feeling, though, that it won't do the trick, but you never know. Thanks for the thoughts, guys. Has no one else ever had this happen to them?

Thanks. I was afraid that might be the answer. I got up very early this morning, saved several hours of rendering and, when I got up an hour and a half later, I attempted to save that hour and a half; that's when I boo-booed. So, fortunately, not much lost. About the buttons. It seemed like saving POV would be their purpose. The weird thing, though, is that, upon clicking a button, it goes to some other, bizarre POV, not the one I'm on. Then I can never figure out how to get back. Weird, very weird. I appreciate your reply. I guess I may have to do some down-home experimenting.

OK, drawbridgep's tutorial starts with

STEP 1:
"Run autolevels on the Bryce picture to sort out ambience ..."

This is found on the menu: Image>Adjustments>Auto Levels (Shift>Control>L for windows users). It is precisely what it says, automatic; there are no adjustment knobs or sliders, it just does it.

Next drawbridgep's instructions say to do

STEP 2: Duplicate the Bryce layer.

This is found on the menu: Layer>Duplicate Layer ...
You'll have a dialog that will pop up that will give you a field to name your new layer, or you can just leave it default. Whatever you choose. I just named mine "diffuse layer."

Now that layer is there, and it looks just like your other, so you won't see any difference, but it is there nonetheless.

STEP 3: "Do a gausian blur of about 12.6."

This is found on the menu as follows: Filter>Blur>Gaussian blur ...

You will get a nice dialog that allows you to type in the 12.6 as specified by drawbridgep.

STEP 4: "... reduce the opacity of the layer to about 45 percent."

Transparency are on the Layers dialog that I actually keep up all the time. If, however, you don't see it over on the right among your open windows, F7 will get you there or, on the menu as follows: Window>Layers. Change the setting of opacity to 45%.

That's it; all his instructions and where to find them. I hope this is of help. Neat tools to get a wonderful soft diffusion without killing your image's clarity.

Message edited on: 07/23/2004 15:29

I think this is wonderful. I tried it, and I absolutely love the results. Interestingly, though, when I did the first step on the image -- run autolevels -- one pic I had, with a completely gray floor, turned cyan. Bizarre. I loved the slight clarification/equalization of the rest of the image, though, and the cyan looked somehow normal, so I left it alone. Freaky-deaky. Then with the diffusion, the result was just fantastic. Thanks for sharing this.

I may be denser than most, but I can't seem to find the stone textures now. I'd still like to download them. Where should I look?

Have you ever thought about modeling one? Wings had a dragon challenge a couple of months ago, in fact. There were a variety of dragons, some basic and some more elaborate. Maybe you could start learning Wings or Nendo or some other modeler that isn't sub-divisions surfaces. Maybe even venture into the world of NURBS. Just a thought.

There used to be several good junk yards in Delta. I fished successfully for parts for Willys wagons -- and I mean a lot. We even salvaged wood strips out of one for the bed of one we were fixing up. I hope they're still there; it's worth a try. BTW, terrain looks familiar. Wish I were there.

Now, THERE's a company I'd like to work for. Several are snowboarders, mountain bikers and campers -- a big plus. Several speak Oriental languages, another plus. Just dad-gummed fun, eh?

Renders are excellent. All banter aside, this should prove to be a helpful tool in any Bryce renderer's toolkit. It matters not who's done what previously. You guys are terrific. Enjoy and learn from one another's accomplishments.

My question to pumeco is this, and it's simple:
When will we get to take this program or these settings for a test spin?
Message edited on: 07/08/2004 10:51

I'd thicken the glass itself a bit, so you have some more refraction at the hourglass's narrowest point. If you're going for realism, you might also try putting in a reflection map and change the settings of how it's placed. Bryce actually can do some amazing glass.