Now for the trick question... Could we use anisotropy to create that distinct kind of look you get from the crop being pushed to the ground in circular patterns?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VSzoDpeDwJ4/TNYyM1oHyBI/AAAAAAAABXA/Nwe7eurdRQc/s1600/lucy_pringle_crop_circle.jpg

I wish I had some answer to that question, but I got no idea how to do that...

Isn't it weird how it's all over the news when someone dies from drug abuse, but when a great artist dies of cancer, nearly everyone has forgotten about it within 24 hours?

At least he gets remembered here :) DP was a good band!

Ahh thats great! Good to see you all having a good time out there in the UK! That's one of the things I like about this forum. There's always room to truely connect, even meet up across continents! And we share parts of our life together too!
I don't think bryster needs to worry about any of the photo's, it's good to be amongst online family! 

Interesting subject! I don't think I have anything to add to what AS has already said, but if at all possible, I'm curious to see some work-in-progress shots, the final render, and the final photoshopped result...

I think that should be an interesting case for anyone here on the forum.

@Karl, it's always worth a try :) I say go for it, its the only way for things to move forward.

What bryster said, cool link!

@rosie, i always have chocolate in the house :) i think she's losing more weight then me though at the moment :P

What if i give her food? runs hahaha just kiddin

Its lots lots lots less scary then alien :)

Hooray for San Miguel! I love that beer! Its so refreshing... sadly I only know of one place in all of amsterdam that serves it... :( 

@Bryster, i guess it depends on what you expect. Its not an Alien movie, its not a horror movie, it doesnt star xenomorphs etc. It does have an interesting and reasonably complex story, and plenty of open ends allowing you to give your own interpretations to things and/or wonder what the next movie will be like.

I have seen it, it's been out here since last week :D

The movie is GREAT but you should probably be familiar with the alien franchise.
They really payed attention to the gigeresque style, including some of H R Giger's artworks that weren't neccesarily made for the alien movies! Which i personally find pretty awesome...

When i got out of the theater the audience reaction seemed to be mixed. The people that knew the alien movies were rather excited. But those that didnt were a bit "wtf did i see?".

The movie is definitely capable of standing on its own, but being a spin-off of the alien movies, playing in the same universe etc. it just gains a lot of perspective if you have seen the alien movies.

@Rosie, Prometheus was definitely less scary then the alien movies, i wouldn't even classify it as horror. You'll probably be able to see it without getting nightmares ;)

In my experience, many polygons isnt really an issue in bryce when you use native bryce objects such as terrains and booleans.

Might get different if you import an object from an external program.. but i havent really pushed those past half a million polygons a piece i think.. at least not that i can remember.

I think this can be done with some parenting and manipulation of the origin coordinates of the moons.

Lets start with a naming convention so my explaination makes sense:

The planet's name is: "Planet 1"
T the moon orbiting the planet is: "Moon 1"
The moon orbiting Moon 1 is: "Moon 2"

Setting up the animation:

I would take the Moon 2 and put its origin at the center of its orbit around Moon 1, which would probably also be the center of Moon 1. You can then animate the rotation to make Moon 2 orbit its parent (Moon 1).

Also, make Moon 1 the "parent" of Moon 2 ao that Moon 2 will follow Moon 1.

Now take the Moon 1 and put its origin at the center of its orbit around Planet 1, which would probably also be the center of Planet 1. You can then animate the rotation of Moon 1 to orbit its parent (Planet 1).

The result should be as follows:

• Moon 1 should rotate around its parent Planet 1, in a tidally locked orbit. Meaning Moon 1 will always face its parent (Planet 1) with the same side, but other then that it'll orbit its parent in a circular orbit.

• Moon 2, will follow its parent Moon 1, because Moon 1 has been defined as being its parent.

• Moon 2 should rotate around its parent Moon 1, in a tidally locked orbit. Meaning, Moon 2 will always face its parent (Moon 1) with the same side, but other then that it'll orbit its parent in a circular orbit.

**
**

Simulated axial rotation:

If you want the moons and planets to look like they rotate around their axis (instead of being tidally locked) you can animate their textures to reflect this.

Actual axial rotation:

Another option, if you need to rotate the moons around their axis without animating their texture. You could do the same as above, only you replace Moon 1 and Moon 2 with an intermediary object (lets call it a "null object").

This Null Object be anything, a sphere, a cube, doesnt matter as long as its an object and its made to be invisible during render time (hence the name "null object"). Then you animate the null object to orbit as if it were the moon (see my original example).

When the Null Object has its orbit, you turn the Null Object into the Moons' parent, so that the moons will follow the intermediary Null Object in its orbit.

Finally, now that the moons are following the Null Object, their origin point can be left unchanged at their center. Now, when you animate the rotation of the moons, they'll rotate around their axis, while following their null parents in orbit around their parent moon/planet.

The catch:

There is only one catch.. in older versions of bryce, using animation and parenting of objects used to be buggy, and sometimes it would break down entirely, messing up the animation quite horribly. I dont know if this has been fixed in bryce 6 or 7 because i never tried anything like this since bryce 5, but just in case it is still buggy, i recommend making a back-up of your un-animated scene before trying the above.

I guess for me the main problem is lack of time... I even had to let last christmas slide without making a digital card.. which is something I've previously always been able to make time for even in the busiest of times (mostly by starting 2 months in advance and just barely getting it done by taking one or two days off of work).

I suppose if I had more time i'd gladly enter the challenge like I've done in the past.