Well, I've managed to build something I quite like but I'm not happy with the rendering.  Before I spend 18 hours playing with it can I ask for any suggestions on what I've got wrong.  I'm not sure about the materials but I don't know what to do to them in order to get them better.  I'm fairly sure that the haze doesn't look quite right but again I'm not sure how to change it.  Some people get the most incredible photo realistic stuff out of Bryce and I'd love some tips on this one as to how to get closer to that.

I can't do it though.

Dude, you rock.

Thanks.  I'll have a go and let you know how I get on.

Cheers.  I'll copy that and save it for further use.

BTW does anyone know how to get the terrain editor to be smooth at high resolution?  If I put a dome like the one above on top of a square building on a high resolution the cube's edges end up spikey, if I smooth it down I end up with steps in the dome.  Any ideas?

Danamo I've got a really good celtic knotwork font (it's a freebie - DS Celtic Border) which you can use in photoshop to create height maps for Bryce.  If you check out my picture "The Entrance" all the gold stuff was created this way.

You can also use latices made like this to carve into other objects using the boolean function which looks great.

I for one will watch this space with interest.

Thanks.  Not only does that make my life a lot easier here it sparks off loads of other ideas too :)

I don't have a material but as a long time member of www.coffeegeek.com...

Most freshly roasted coffee has got patches of slightly different colours in it.  Slightly slick darker oily patches over a deep brown.  The other thing is that the groove in the middle quite often has a light streak that runs down the middle (it's where the chaff created during roasting doesn't come off.

You'll want to have a bump map on the material as the surface won't be smooth.  One thing on the model is that the bean I've got in front of me is convex at the top while your model looks like it's concave.  A green coffee bean would be concave but during the roast the carbon-dioxide in the bean expands so the whole thing looks fatter and plumper.

I might have a play with materials for you if I get a chance.

Will you take a virtual credit card for that :)

Thanks a huge amount for all the help and encouragement (especially diolma who I forgot to thank above).  Changing the pool surrounds really made a huge difference and I had a really good play with positioning the camera.  I think I've managed to produce the only real piece of "art" I've made as a result (As The Suns Set) which is up on my gallery.

It's really nice to find a bunch of people so willing to help.

Rendering that much gold really crunches the processor.

Haloedrain, thanks.  You're definitely right about the walls around the pools, I'll try to do something about that next.  I guess it didn't help that I've knocked this idea around over several months slowly evolving it so things have ended up changing their roles.

I know what you mean about the decoration but I'm deliberately trying to keep it plain on the outside if I can (I'm thinking in the direction of Hiagh Sofia in Istanbul for the main building).

Guys, I've only had a few mins to check the thread I'll dig into this in detail later, but huge amounts of thanks.  It's really great to find people who will put time into helping people especially skiwillgee going to the trouble of mocking up the scene for me.

Thanks again guys.

Quote - Well My immediate impression was that those pebbles must be boulders...  otherwise, the building is a miniature...  you see what I mean...? 

Doh.  Good point, I'll have a play with that and Sackrat I'll definitely go and search for the lighting resources.  Thanks.

It works, thanks again.  Not only does it work but I understand why.