Wow, superb animation! I love the camera angles. I'm a Battlestar Galactica fan and this is fantastic. It's a great advertisement for Bryce too.

Quote - Okay I'm sorry if I'm misunderstanding but I'm not sure what links you mean (especially for the forums) we haven't taken away or changed any links in the gallery or forum so I'm not sure which links you mean?

 

It's monday so bear with me if I'm not clear on what you mean, sorry but I want to help so if you can give me more specific details I'll try.

Hi Stacey, sorry if my post wasn't very clear - before the recent site changes, i f you clicked 'Forums' or 'Galleries' on the main menu a page would immediately open. For Galleries it showed images divided into sections on the page as Miss NAncy kindly describes. There was  another small link at the top left, just above the first row of images called 'Browse', which when clicked would show you the collection of all images recently posted, spanning a number of pages  - it didn't appear to be the same as 'What's New' in that  I think it extended to a longer time period of images posted. Basically you can no longer open a page of images as described by clicking 'Galleries' - you have to select from the drop-down list.

Similarly, clicking 'Forums' open a page showing all the forums available - again you get no page opening now and have to choose from the drop down list.

Thanks Frank, but previously you didn't have to do that and it only show a certain number of pages. When you clicked the main gallery link before you had more pages, as it didn't just show the newest.

The  'Galleries' link doesn't appear to be working only the options in the drop down list, and the same is true of the main Forum link. Is this a bug or is it designed this way?

I have to agree I think marketing plays a factor. Poser and DAZ Studio are far more popular and promoted more (Something that irks me a little as I think Bryce is fantastic). And also I think because of that, the return on investment of time etc. in making stuff for Bryce may put off potential vendors. I make materials for Bryce but my DAZ Studio ones always sell better - so where should I invest my time I could ask. Well actually it doesn't personally put me off that much cos I love Bryce so much! But that's just me and I'm not necessarily representative of others...:)

Thanks for the info RAMWolff. Would be good if one of te DAZ folks posted an update in the forums there though so everyone knew what was happening. I hope they manage to solve the problems, must be a real headache finding the foums don't do what they thought they would.

I've found this simple method works well too (using Bryce to make a light probe):

http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=47825

For me too it's a lack of time. I don't even browse the galleries as much as I used to:(. I do try and check the forums every now and then. Would it be possible to get a banner image (could be small) saying 'Bryce Challenge' or something that could used to link to the challenge each month when the new challenge goes up, that could be used to link to from other sites? I have a few Bryce related sites,   and I'd be happy to post an image to link to it there to help spread the word, even if I don't always participate myself.

I think that the presentation of  Rendrosity Challenges and Contests has some issues which is not helping people find the contests and enter - the contests and challenge page needs to be updated - if you look at it the Bryce one isn't even listed. Also, if you click the Challenge sticky post, in the Bryce forum, then the Challenge page link and then 'Entry Page'  you see January's challenge!...I find this offputting - the link to the current challenge should be easy to find, direct and should be put in the challenge post. Also, there's no deadline in the post... So personally speaking I don't think that helps the situation. Make it easy for people and they'll more likely enter.

I'm not sure I would agree there is  a slide in Bryce interest at the moment - now is a great idea to push all things Bryce as DAZ has recently given the software away free. I don't think it's any great assumption that this would have increased the Bryce user base and now's the time to rope them in!:)  I would like to be able to suggest making a post about the challenge each month over at the DAZ site in the forums over there but I think that'd be a bit cheeky...:biggrin:

Yeah, as clay says it' not been right for a long time. My renders always seem to finish when the progress bar is somewhere between 40 and 50%....which I suppose can be good because just when I thinkit's going to take forever it's finished lol!

I think it's great their offering Bryce Pro free as it gives users access to these features not available in the standard version:

• 4 new lights
• True Ambience optimization
• Influence (Include/Exclude)
• IBL: light from inside
• IBL: Cast shadows - softness, and intensity
• IBL: Specular map
• IBL: Background DOF
• IBL: HDRI transaprency
• IBL: Export Image
• IBL: Tone map
• Materials lab: Displacement maps
• Rendering: True Ambience
• Instance Lab

Is there a deadline for submitting pics?

These are in the freebie section here..I think it's the pack I have (can't remember to be honest but it sounds like it)..I installed them into DAZ Studio, then I just import them via the Bridge. 

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/details.php?item_id=50131

Your're most welcome. I hope to add more when I can, so if you, or anyone else, has any suggetions as to what other beginners tutorials would be useful, let me know!:)

Hi, you might find my tutorials useful, they are aimed at total beginners to Bryce, find them here .

I have to agree with markschums reply. It's important that you research the apps out there before you buy - definately try out demos first, especially for those apps that cost money! It also depends what you want to do. Do you really need an app like Maya when Blender is free but is also used for professional modelling and animation?

I'm still  a  newbie as far as modelling goes  I've tried Blender and it's a great program but there is a steep learning curve if you don't mind that. But also there are some great tutorials on the web - the best by far that I've found for a total newcomer can be found here . My personal favourite program (and I've tried Hexagon and C4D)) is Silo by Nevercenter. I love it. It has all  the tools of the other apps that you would need,  but the interface is way easier to learn! And for me this was  a great selling point. Plus there are some great beginner tutorials on Silos site and the program doesn't cost the earth (less than $200 and it's on sale right now), but it is a quality program.

Whatever you do, I hope you find the one that suits you best. Good luck in your search:)