Wow! I can't believe it! Twice in a row is a major fluke! Thanks so much to all who voted, and thanks even more to those who submitted renders on the Food and Drink theme. Thanks to Rendo for conducting this contest in the first place. It really does help to drum up interest in Bryce software.

Congrats to all the other winners!!!!

Just got to say, Starbeef, you are a real sicko dude! Love it!

Moving on quickly.

With all the craziness of the sad current events in the news, I think we could all use some positive energy to spread to our fellow man.

New theme for July 2009 if approved by theBryster:

Sporting / Teamwork

Anything at all that relates in any way to the basic concept of "sports and sporting" or to the basic concept of "teamwork" in a very general sense. This is a very open theme so take it into whatever direction you feel inspired to follow. Humans are not necessarily required here. Use your imagination.

All genres are encouraged.

There are no restrictions on the modeling or texturing tools that can be used so long as an explanation is provided for reference and the final renders are performed in Bryce.

Post work is to be used to enhance an image or to correct issues if necessary, but the image should not rely entirely on postwork to be effective. Only you can decide where to draw such a line. Layering or compositing are naturally allowed and encouraged if a particular scene demands it.

Again, much thanks to all members of Rendo and good luck to all next month. Have a happy 4th everyone and try not to eat and drink too much!

Rashad

p.s. Remember that the final theme must first be approved by theBryster so please wait until he posts an offical thread with the final theme and complete rules before you get too deep into the scene preparation. Thanks

Fun and hard work, that is the name of the game.

DanWhiteside = 3  Too awesome to even begin to comment on really. Is there no limit to your skills? Very original and technically flawless. This looks like it could be a clip from a kids movie by pixar. Those textures are out of this world...literally!

Vncnt9663 = 2  This is one of the best liquid effects I have ever seen from Bryce. Metaballs never cooperate for me like they have for you in this installment. You really captured the feeling of kinetic energy and fluid dynamics! That must have taken a lot of work.

Skiwillgee = 1  Very impressive. Almost sickening. When this is over, I'd like to know more on how you accomplished such an amazing liquid. Very clever use of Bryce tools. it almost looks like absorption or SSS. Please confess at the proper time.

Zorzim, Vangough, Starbeef, very noteworthy entries indeed! I would love to offer more specific feedback, but I will do so at a later time.

To all of the contestants, i must say how much I apprecaite that people put alot of work into their scenes.

Seems this theme was a bit of a bust compared to other themes, Thanks to all of you who hung in there and participated in this challenge.

Best luck to everyone!!!!

So sorry to hear of your loss! I agree that after a period of proper mourning you might gain benefit from adopting a new pet. I for one need to have an animal around me, helps me to feel more human and connected with the natural world. Best wishes!

This is an amazinbg model. extremely cool. Love the wings.

Hang in there and good luck getting well soon!

You know, this is the reason Bryce needs displacement. With displacement even a scan of bread would be fully 3d. I agree with what others have said, volumetrics do not like complex geometry, not that a slice of bread is complex, but volumetrics are very sensitive. I learned this when I tried to model a tornado and then add volumetric mats to it for a storm scene, the funnel model was too complex for the volumetrics.

If I was going to use the scanned image, I would use it with very little if any bump, the shading of the bread itself will probably be the best you can do.

I would say that voluemtrics are well suited for bread so when you get the files reinstalled it will likely be fine. I also think the problem is your install of Byyce, not just the voluemtric folder. you might need to reinstall Bryce. Just make sure yousave all of your user presets for objects, materials, skies, and DTE textures to a safe place so the new isntall does not copy over those files with blank versions. I have lost alot of info during reinstalls for this reason.

Volumetrics only work on expanded geometry like cubes and the like. They do not work woth planes. Not that you mentioned planes, but that is the only reason I can think of for it to not work as usual. Good luck.

Very very cool!!!

Quote - Rashad- Two other things to determine (if I understand the new rules):
Are imports and post work allowed.

If it is up to me, yes both imports and postwork are allowed. I feel that it is important to site all imports with proper acknowledgments and in the case of postwork, specific steps taken should be listed. I think it goes without saying that the less postwork, the better. A scene should not rely entirely on postwork in order to be effective.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!!!!!!!!

Quote - Thanks. I do own a scanner. Haven't used it in a while. I'll have to give it a try.
Do you think I can scan ground beef with it as well?

Honestly, yes I do. In fact, I think that the home scanner is the best friend of the cg artists. Ideal beyond a digital camera for the evenness of the lighting one can achieve with a scanner. I have even scanned concrete (with great care not to scratch the glass or fracture it). I do not regret any scans and all of the wood textures in the Open House scene including the floor are compiled from home scans made of various wood plancks over time. You never know how handy a good wood or cement texture can be for a myriad of situations. Best of all you own it, you can distribute it and sell it.

Best wishes!

Well, a good texture is hard to find often. If you have a scanner at home, I suggest you scan a slice of bread. This gives you the resolution you choose and it gives you a more or less shadow bias free texture sample. I scan everything from stones to leaves from the nearby park to human skin all for the purpose of CG renders.

I wonder if volumetrics could be used to produce bread? Seems possible.

This is an interesting point developing over the last several comments. The public declaration of the point allocations might be the problem. If the votes were kept as secret ballot regarding who voted for whomever, then an artist would not feel bad for voting for themselves, an option that should be available in any open ballot competition. But I assume that with the current public declaration system that no artist would vote for themselves for fear it would make them look tacky. Another way to think of it; if you submitted a scene and that of another artist and yours are only 2 or 3 points apart, you might be tempted not to vote at all rather than to give points to your competitors who might then overtake your own total. Voting would become somewhat counter-productive if one wants to win.

So there are two options. Either we keep the voting public and accept that artists may vote for themselves without judging them. Or, we establish some sort of secret ballot system. I am new around here so there is alot of history I am not clear on. Maybe secret ballots were already attempted and failed. I think that with secret ballots, all who enter are indeed encouraged to vote early, if for no other reason than to vote for themselves without any fear of being observed or judged. It might also ensure that votes are truly content driven and not popularity driven.

All I can say is thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks and more thanks!!! I know a few people around here from other forums but most of you are new friends and I so greatly value your continued friendhsip and support. You can expect the same from me.

It feels nice to have been amoung the top 3 this month. Wanda or C-Ram could easily have won it ahead of me, congrats to the fellow winners!

A question; now that the voting is done are we now allowed to post our entries to different forums as we would any other image? I want to talk about the lighting used in that scene in a Daz3d forum thread but I do not want to break any rules. I also would like to upload it to my gallery here at rendo, is that now allowed?

Lastly, I have been thinking alot about FOOD. Cakes, pies, burgers, fries, soup, salad, crackers, fruits, fried chicken, wedding cake, martinis, and bloody mary's, you name it if it looks good I will eat it, or drink it!

Theme: Food & Drink
Genre: All

If this theme has already been used recently let me know and I will chose something else. Hope this theme is as inspiring as the theme of interiors.

I do not know if this is proper, but I think we should make it a requirement that all who enter must promise to return on the proper day for voting. There are exceptions like storms which make voting impossible. If someone misses the voting deadline it should not be the end of the world provided most others have voted. I really makes a big difference when winners are within a few points of one another.

Thanks again to each of you who participated in this theme both in terms of entries and votes, and good luck next month!!!!!!

C-Ram -Excellent realism overall, including detail and Bryce modeling. Excellent light and reflections.  Your wisely chosen low saturation color palette adds greatly to the realism. Excellent posing, though not essential to this challenge, it is still a noteworhty job! 3pt

Orbital- Excellent application of light to tell the story of the scene! Fantastic Bryce modeling. Gorgoeus mood. Arresting energy.  Powerful result. 2pt

Dan Whiteside- Simply brilliant implementation of IBL for an indoor situation! You never fail to inspire me. I would expect nothing less. Modeling and all other details are absolutely superb! 1pt

So much excellent work! I'm hardly content with the ordering of my choices, as I find myself extremely torn and my opinions seem to change based upon the whim of my mood.  With the same enthusiasm I would love to have also acknowledged the craft demonstrated by Dhama, Wanda, vncnt9663, Grafikeer, Bobbystar, Quest, rj001, and others.  All of the various genres represented here make voting with any confidence essentially impossible.

Thanks again to Lown for choosing this theme! You brought out alot of different ideas and exposed alot of potential for Bryce as a software!