The drive isn't bad...to get to the stuff I am talking about is only about 45 minutes so day trips up to the city on the weekends are very doable
You might even consider driving just up to Millbrae...that would be north on 101...and getting on BART there to go into the city. You would get off at the Powell station which would put you right by the cable car turn around.

San Jose is kinda trendy night lifey as a hold over from the .com days.
I put on my thinking cap and see what I can come up with on that end of town.
That's right in by where I went to school..Santa Clara University...so I need to readjust focus off of college drinking spots and more on culturally cool....

I grew up out there actually...SF is one of my favorite cities.

If you're in the city itself take the cable car from Powell and Market there is a turnabout there
Take the Powell Hyde line all the way down to Fishermans Warf Price is like $5 one way...you can also do all day tickets but I typicallt don't bother.
Watch off the right hand side as you get towards the bottom...you'll know it is getting there after you've done a sharp left and a sharp right...and you'll be able to see Lombard street...the zig zaggy one. You can get off there and wait for the next car to come if you want the photo op.

There is a kind of cool Maritime museum right by where the line ends...old ships, several you can board for a reasonable price. It is out on the Hyde street pier...not to be confused with the maritime museum which will be up the street to your left (as you face the water)

If you go up the pier a bit to your right as you face the water you can find numerous site seeing boats and opportunities to do Alcatraz if that is your thing

One of the places you'll pass if you wander that direction will be The Cannery...a collection of shops...nothing to notable here unless you're into musical instruments then you need to find the Lark in the Morning music shop. This is one of my favorite stops just to see what they have and try playing a few things....cool stuff from around the world on display typically.

From where the line ends if you go left, facing the water, you can get around to the Palace of fine Arts which houses, among other things, the Exploratorium...pretty cool hands on museum of science with changing exhibits.

Go back up Hyde street a block or two to the corner of Hyde and Beach and you'll see the Buena Vista...world famous for its Irish Coffee. I typically hang out in there for a warming evening beverage and a chat with the bartenders...not bad food either.

I'd recommend getting one of those touristy maps of the city that you can find about anywhere...typically for free in your hotel...they are easy to follow around and once you get your bearings you can find anything on them quickly.

I can keep going...I grew up more south, towards San Jose, so if you give me more specifics on what you're after I can probably come up with a couple more options.

Where is the training?

woohoo!!!

Pina Coladas at Trader Vics..Rod is buying.

Well done Chris, well done!

Ah...I remember my sojourn into radio years ago.
I finished my first show, looked at the guy who was my "co-host" and said,
"Let's get out of here before we really f*** something up"
Only then did I notice the mic was still hot...
Ah well..we didn't get fired and even managed to last a couple years.
I look forward to giving you a listen!!
ROCK ON MAN!!

Actually the technology to take a CAD drawing and render out a plastic model does exist in reality.
I know this because for a little while at least my brother was head of R&D for a company that made it...or one of them anyway...back in the infant days of the technology.
I've seen the machine itself..watched it work.
It was a bit like watching paint...or plastic...dry but it was kinda cool.

So, in order to facilitate changes THEY made to THEIR stuff because they rolled it out in a piecemeal fashion I have to go delete all the temp internet files in MY cache...most of which have nothing to do with here.
Hmmm...now I remember why I left....
Sorry...done ranting now.
:)

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=1947683

The link is to an old post that contains a quick tut on how it works.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=1154675&ebot_calc_page#message_1154675

The link above is an old forum posting that contains some metaball info. In particular there is a picture that shows how metaballs react to each other.
I think it probably says it in there but to create a negative metaball you hold down the shift key when you create.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2604276

This second link is another old forum post that has a short tut on mapping texturs to metaballs, specifically trying to get an image texture to map in a specific location or direction.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2605592
Another in the series of discussion on mapping textures to metaballs.

Hope those help.

I'm using Bryce 6.0 as far as I can tell..not sure what patches have been applied or not applied.

Dude!?!?! There's a manual???!!!
Sheesh...been using it since Bryce 2 and never seen the manual....

It isn't boolean
If you have the proper version of Bryce...
First thing I would do is to make the cityscape positive.
Select the object then click the little A and choose positive
Next create a sphere..any primitive really...and hover it over your city scape
Select the sphere, click A and choose negative
Now, select both the sphere AND the cityscape and click G to goup them.
You should have the G change to a U (ungroup) and a letter C (cut) should also appear
Click the C
go to FILE and the Export Object option should now be available!

That's the long version of what Bryster explained up there....

Wait until you start experimenting with subtracting lights from the dome in specific spots, changing colors on a few lights to add directional color change, spreading the whole group further or closer, ranging some lights not ranging others...you could be experimenting at it FOREVER!!!
Try turning off cast shadows too...it sometimes winds up almost looking like a film negative kind of image

Absolutely.
You can even see considerable difference in render time just by modifying the resolution of a garphical mat.
There are times when I'd be willing to bet you can get away with uber high poly count if you use simple mats one no additional lights.
Reflective mats like mirrors, metals, glass...all increase render time.
Add extra lights to those and it gets worse.

I emailed you a br5 and a br6 file today.
The one rig done from the old tut
The other done by changing mats

Unfortunately this doesn't work on thelater versions of Wings.
At least not as easily.
Now you have to assign a different material name to each of the wings "cubes"...then it works as planned in Bryce.

That's right, I forgot about that one.
I suppose it just takes the right motivation...