Do I get a prize for coming last? :-)  

Though I like the sci-fi theme of Distant Worlds, I think Secret Garden has more mass appeal, so i'd vote for that to be the next theme. Like rj001 said, it could be a Secret Garden on a Distant World! :-)

Though having AS or Zhann officially bring this challenge to a close is preferable, I think that the spirit of the competition has been entered into so I'm happy to say lets close it off so we can all get on with the next one. Nobody else has voted for six days now, so I think we've all had plenty of time for sure. So, congrats to Orbital, 1971s and Dan Whiteside (is that correct?). Besides, I didn't get a single vote, so the sooner you put me out of my misery the better!! :-)

So, whats the next Challenge then Joe? Perhaps you could nominate a date for voting to close as well :-)

Ok, here we go - I've never voted (or contested) in this before) and found picking my three faves really quite a task, but here they are....

jimw1 - 3 points
dan whiteside - 2 points
electroglyph - 1 point

They were all great entries (err...except my mediocre effort!) - best of luck!

All things considered, Its definitely worth the upgrade and its never crashed once on me (spoken with fingers crossed - I have a render still processing thats been going for 14 days now!!). Go ahead and grab it and it'll mean B7 will be here just a little sooner ;-)

D@M - I'd not heard of that book before where you first saw that Angus McKie picture - might have to track that one down! I've always loved scif-fi illustration, spaceships in particular, so was instantly attracted to the works of Chris Foss, Peter Elson, Angus McKie etc.

I saw that model on turbosquid.com - I agree- I'd rather make my own. Bringing one's vison to life is all about putting in the effort, and that includes modelling (well, in my book anyway).

I do hope you can get your image done in time for the challenge - it'll look superb! When I first read your notes on the challenge - "a ruined spacehip in a desert" - I immediately thought of the Angus McKie picture! Best of luck with it!

Thanx Rosemaryr for the translation of greeble - that was just what I was looking for! I've heard the term a bit, though never knew what it was until now. Thanx too for the link to D@Ms 'Greebles' thread - now I can make them too! I have been doing something similar using PS already, but I like this 'all-Bryce' solution mentioned in that thread.

Thanx again!

I've always loved this Angus McKie illustration - an aboslute classic! The sense of scale is just awesome. It was referred to as "The Wreck of the Jancis Jo" I think in theTerran Trade Authority Handbook called Spacewreck. Can't wait to see the final version of your tribute to this scif-fi classic, D@M! It looks stunning already!

Now, can someone please explain to me exactly what a "greeble" is and how you go about making them? I would love to have a go at a complex ship such as this, and greebles (whatever they are!) seem to be the way to model such complexity. There is an exact model of this very ship available at turbosquid.com, but I'm into making my own stuff!

Mine was bestowed on me by a Japanese guy I travelled with for a week in Brazil in October 1999.

We took a 4 day riverboat trip up the Rio Madeira to Manaus (along with a couple of hundred locals, one of whom looked like Charles Manson's twin brother!!). Each day, I would make a point of standing at the bow of the boat and watch the sunset so my travelling companion called me Sunset Hunter and I thought it was a pretty cool name. He even wrote it out in Japanese script for me, something I still have. I'll always remember that trip as it was so peaceful gliding along a river deep in the Amazon jungle, hour after hour, day after day....

Here at Rendo is the first time I've ever used that name though. I'm a member of a music forum as well, and go by the far less romantic nick of Dazza66 over there!

Great thread by the way D@M!

Thankyou for the replies!

SndCastie - no worries; I'll keep my fingers crossed that the programmers can find a way!

Miss Nancy - Good tip - I will check out the Art Theory Forum.

Yes, I downloaded this little baby almost 18 months ago when it became available on the Propellerheads site - an absolute classic (I used to own a TR-808). Lots of fun!!

In the interests of creativity through music, I thought you may be interested in a little stand-alone ambient sound generator. Unlike Re-Birth, this is much simpler as it plays itself. Its called "Soundborb" and you can grab it free from the 'Download' page here:

www.soundborb.com/

Soundborb comes with two built in 'borbs, but there are about 30 others you can download. Just install using the Soundborb.zip file - it runs without any other software required. Open it up, select an ambience ('Ocean' is the best one I think), press play and away it goes: a never repeating, endless sound of waves crashing on the shore! Perfect for inspiring any 'Sphere over Water' render! ;-)

There are a few other (really quite sophisticated) ambient sound generators about, but this is cool as it doesn't require any further software to run. Enjoy!

Great thread!

Has the standard of the gallery dropped despite the software improving? I'd have to say "No, it only seems that way".

I've been here at Renderosity for a just  a year and have spent much of that time in the Bryce gallery (and occasional forays into gasp! the Vue gallery!) as opposed to the forum. What I found was that most everything I saw initially filled me with amazement!! It was extraordinary - even, or perhaps especailly, spheres over water! It was all new to me so I was bound to be impressed and very taken with it all. I'm so glad I was, or I would never have bothered trying to learn how to create such images myself.

Of course, naturally over time, that initial amazement and awe subsides somewhat as you tend to become more focussed on styles you really like. That initial thrill gives way to a more considered view of the artworks which are presented for your viewing pleasure. During that time, Bryce has been improving fairly substantially as well of course - the march of progress never stops (and better had not for Byce either!) so it would 'seem' that the quality has diminished over time. I daresay had I joined Renderosity in 2002 and someone posted the same question in 2003, then my answer would be the same - its a function of the change in focus of the individual's taste as opposed to a lowering of standard in the face of increasing software sophistication.

I really enjoy trawling through the galleries - I'd like to get more time to do so as its very rewarding. We are all fortunate that we can appreciate the visual arts. I get a kick out of commenting on works that are obviously quite basic, particularly those from new members. Why? Because its the best thing to do to encourage new talent and always keep Renderosity fresh and dynamic. Artists do tend to be sensitive creatures by nature, so they need to encouraged and made to feel welcome and feedback from fellow artists is the way to achieve that. Providing feedback (or equally, the lack of it) can also encourage an artist to develop and extend. As has been mentioned in this thread already, churning out the same old 'variation on a theme' isn't going to help the artist, or their chosen community here at Renderosity, to improve at all....but at the end of the day, all art is valid and has a right to be posted (as well as a right to be ignored ;-)

Couldn't believe it when I saw you'd posted a new pic....and it was your first image!! Sorry to hear you felt that way about your art, but please, if you get to that point again, let us all know here first so we can talk you out if it! :-)

Your art is special - there is a sense of peace and magic in your work that really suggests there is something more than what we, as human beings, have  - something just out of our grasp in some way; something wonderful; a better place. I've only been using Bryce a little over a year and it was stumbling across your gallery here that inspired me in the first place to take up the challenge and learn Bryce. Your work is truly inspirational - it brings such joy.  As well as your entire 'balloon' series, there was one particular piece called 'Amongst The Clouds' that really struck a chord with me - as well as inspiring me to learn Bryce, it even inspired me to write a piece of music! There is just something so wonderful about that piece - its like being in the perfect place; Utopia.

The amazing work you did for the Space Symposium is continuing testament to your skill as an artist. You've been blessed with a gifted imagination and I'm sure I speak for everyone here in saying we'd love for you to keep sharing it with us!

Success!! Thanx for that advice as that worked a treat! :-)

BTW: Once the notification came out from DAZ today re. the boxed version of Bryce 6.1 being FINALLY available, I signed up immediately, so V6.1 here I come!

Hey, thanx for all that feedback - D@M: I'll try that out tonight, but that looks to be exactly what I was looking for! thankyou!  I checked through the help file in Bryce but it didn't mention anything about this functionality (so much of Bryce seems to be hidden in this way - which makes the program both frustrating and fascinating!). BTW: congrats on winning the Bryce Glass challenge!!

Bryster: yes, I think you're right - could be time to upgrade! :-)

Okay, I appreciate I'm a little late to the Ivy Generator party, but how do I export an object from Bryce to use it in IG? I can see that it needs to be an .obj file, but I'm not able to export anything other than a terrain or lattice into this format from Bryce. I'm attempting to export a group of stones (which I thought would be ok as they are meshes like the terrains and lattices), but no luck. What's the trick with this?? I'm using Bryce 5.5....or is the answer just to get off my butt and upgrade to 6.1 ;-)

Thanx in advance!