If you search through the "Free Stuff" section, someone put a material for grass on there quite a while back. Also, you can go to www.3dplants.com and she has one for free, plus a ton of nice plants for free as well!

Aldaron, that sucks about the OS, but you could still download it, burn it to disk and then just install after you get upgraded. Heck, you might want to try it with Win98. When I installed it, it said it would not do well on XP Home Edition or with a nVidia GeForce 4 card, but that's what I have and it runs great, even before I upgraded my RAM from 512Mb to 1Gb. No real rush I guess. It is free now and in a few months will only cost $5, plus S&H, according to the site. Well worth it. If you do every download it and try it, I'd like to know what you think after your bad experience with 3DS Max. Like I said, I think you will find Maya a lot more user friendly.

I don't know what the heck that thing is....but I like it. :) Really cool structure. Sometimes, it's best not to try and lable something or make more out of it than it is, IMO.

I agree about the dark cloud. Would help complete the mood more. Also, the idea about roughening up the wood is good, as well as putting a few things on the pier, such as a rope to tie boats with, maybe a barrel or a light pole. Great start though. Love that water. :)

DhurakhapalaM, I would upgrade your RAM to at least 512Mb. I'm not saying it will definitely end your problems, but it couldn't hurt. As a general rule of thumb, never do what the "minimum requirements" state for any app, because they are very rarely right, and are trying to appeal to the largest possible audience. My Machine came with 512 and I just added another 512 for safety sake, and because I am now running Maya which is a systems hog. The more RAM the better, especially with 3D apps. And with it being so cheap now (around $50 for a 512 chip, and even less for 256), it doesn't make sense not to have at least 512 on your machine, IMO. Just make sure if you do add RAM, you get a quality name chip, because I've heard some horror stories about people using no name chips and having there system act really funky after installing it. Good luck.

Aldaron, I agree. Some Maya, Lightwave, etc. users to tend to stick there noses in the air, which I don't understand at all. I think Bryce5 is fantastic, as is Poser4. When I first downloaded the demo of Bryce and began creating with it, I was floored. It was my first experience with a 3D app and I couldn't believe the things you could create with such ease. As far as 3D Max goes, I've heard that before about it. I've got it, but I don't use it. If you want to try a app that is easier to use for basics, Maya is the one. They redesigned the interface last year and it is very user friendly. One click puts a cube, sphere, torus, cylinder, etc. on the screen, and then they have scale, move and rotate tools that are very easy to use (sorry, don't mean to sound like a commercial). The Maya website (www.aliaswavefront.com) is still offering it's Learning Edition for free. You should download it and give it a try. Way better than 3D Max. Plus, like Bryce, there are a ton of tutorials on the web to help you learn how to use it (www.digital-tutors.com, is one of the best). By the way, don't apologize for having a passion about something. Especially something as personal as art! Take care, and keep creating..... :)

Aldaron, if you are comfortable with Bryce, and are happy with the results you achieve, then by all means stay with it. Bryce is a great app, I still use it, and it is well worth any time and effort spent on it. But, in all honesty, you are wrong about what can be achieved with one or the other. Modeling aspects aside (which Bryce is not made or meant to be able to do), there are particle effects, collision effects, fluid effects, cloth effects, etc. that Maya and Lightwave can do with a little effort, that Bryce just can't, no matter how hard you try. I'm not sure what examples of Maya or Lightwave work you have seen, but perhaps those didn't really "show off" what the apps can do. Not sure. I know that I have seen some work on the net created with these apps that leaves my jaw on the floor. Truly amazing stuff. And the possibilities seem to be endless. Yes, they are expensive, but if the desire is there, there are always ways to get what one wants, for a lot cheaper than might be expected. In the end, each artist must find his/her own way, and be happy and content with it. There are some artist that still refuse to use a computer to create with, and they are perfectly happy and create beautiful works of art. I guess, in the end, what it all boils down to is, to each his own. Take care...

shadowdragonlord, the Poser 5 situation was that everyone was asking/demanding for it to come out, so Curious Labs rushed it into production and it had a lot of bugs. I mean alot. Plus, as most are aware, they decided to try and get more money from Daz3d, which wouldn't pay, so it doesn't support the new V3 models, or as far as I know, any of the Daz3d models (though I could be wrong about that). Honestly, I've never used it (I have Poser 4 with the Pro Pack), but from what I've heard, and the reviews I've read, most people were a little dissappointed in it. Saying that it is a good start, but it could have been a LOT better if they had just not rushed it. Maybe that is what Corel is thinking about. Better to take our time and make some real improvements and have a solid product out, than to rush it and have everyone say, "this is what we waited so long for." Bryce is at a stage now, with so many 3D products out, that every release needs to be as solid as possible. Just have to wait and see. As far as Lightwave is concerned, it is a a very, very nice product. Can't go wrong with investing time and energy with that. It will definitely take you to the next level of 3D work. I was going to go with it, but, in the end, decided on Maya. And to Aldaron, as I've said, Bryce is a great product, no doubt about that, but I have one question for you. Have you ever tried Maya 4.5, Lightwave 7 or 3D Max 5? If not, you really should give one of them a try. Most have free or cheap learning editions that are the full product with a watermark on it, so you can try without dumping a lot of money in to it. No, they are not as easy to use as Bryce (I created a full picture with Bryce within one hour of downloading the demo, which is something your average person won't be able to do with these other apps), and can actually be quite compicated, but once the "learning curve" is behind you, Bryce can't touch what these other apps can do. Not in it's wildest dreams. That's not a knock on Bryce, it's just a fact. These apps are made for big time production, such as movies (Spiderman, The Perfect Storm, Monsters, Inc., The Matrix, etc..)and professional videos, whereas Bryce was not.

SevenOfEleven, I agree. I don't want them to rush it, or we will end up with another Poser 5 situation. Don't want that for sure. But, considering no one has heard anything about a number 6, including any beta testing going on, it makes me wonder if Corel hasn't put it on the far back burner.

I agree with you about Terragen, shadowdragonlord, as far total ability. I was refering more to just terrains. I think Vue d' Esprit has alot going for it, and better plants and trees than Bryce. But, like I said, Bryce has it's points, and what it does, it does very well. Some of the pieces in the gallery are fantastic, but the app still has it's limits. But, you can only expect so much from something that costs a few hundred dollars, compared to apps that cost a few thousand. Now, if Corel were to dump a little more $$$ and R&D into Bryce, and maybe team up with the new Daz3D Studio app that's coming out soon, so it could import the Victoria & Michael lines with ease, then I think they would REALLY have something (and I thnik it would but spell the death of Poser, in the long run). Of course, then they would also probably start to jack up the price as well. Just have to wait and see I guess. I hear ya about Lightwave. I am currently pulling my hair out with Maya, but I know in the end it will be worth it. I soon as I get something respectable, I'll post it. Take care!

Shadowdragonlord, don't get me wrong, and please don't take offense. That wasn't my intention. I like Bryce and still have it on my system. I just feel that almost anything you can do in Bryce you can do in other programs, and with better results. As far as landscapes go, Vue d' Esprit 4 and Terragen both have the capability to produce more realistic pieces, in my opinion. On the other hand, if Corel was to actually stand behind it and an improve Bryce, taking into account the strides made by other apps, that might not be the case. I realize Bryce was not intended to be a "modeling" app. But, it also seems like most of the complaints from the Bryce users are that it isn't a better modeling app, and that it is hard to use Poser characters within it. Whereas other apps, like 3D Max 5 or Maya 4.5, can create landscapes (granted, with more work, though with Maya you can import Terragen files now as well) and are much better suited for importing Poser figures and using them to there fullest potential, because they are modeling apps, and Poser figures can have skeletons added in those apps and be posed/altered after importing. In the end, Bryce is great for what it is, I just think people are expecting too much for what it costs.

Sorry EricofSD, I read the Spotlight without ever looking at the date it was done. :) Anyway, to tell you the truth, I like Bryce alot, but recently I have been using a couple of other apps that have caused me to decide to leave Bryce and use them instead. Bryce is nice, but you have to go through too much to get results that still can't match that of other apps, such as 3DS Max 5, Lightwave 7 or Maya. At the end of the day, to get truly awesome work, you end up having to import your final render into Photoshop for post work. Not an option if you are trying to do an animation. I have learned that if you create a figure in Poser and then bring it into Maya or Lightwave, life is much easier, and the results for both stills and animation, are much more exciting. Anyway, like I said, Bryce will always hold a special spot for me, because it was my first 3D app, but it's time to move on and up.

I didn't think you have to have Poser installed to import a figure into Bryce, because they are .obj files and should include all the data within the file itself. Does anybody else know for sure if this is correct, that you have to have Poser installed on your system to open and exported figure in Bryce?

The link is at the top of the page: Spotlight with Conan Hunter-Programer Manager for Bryce 5

Not trying to "beat a dead horse", but if you will recall, there was a Q&A here a month or so ago with Conan Hunter which addressed many of the issues you are all talking about, and it boiled down to this. He is heading the Bryce 6 team, and they are working on things. He has plans for version 6, as well as future versions (he said as far into the future as Bryce 10), but will not rush into saying anything or rushing out a product (as Poser did, and we see what happened with that) just because users are getting impatient. As far as Corel goes, they never say anything about what there plans are, until it is almost time to release something. Unfortunately for us, we will just have to keep playing using the current version and be patient. Personally, I think they are waiting on Daz3D to be released and then they are going to enter into some type of agreement with them and make Bryce 6 very compatable with it, since the Victoria model seems to be the "standard" by which models are measured, leaving Poser SOL. Just a thought.