Help! I've just read the comments posted in this thread,
and I was wondering, what did I do wrong. Was it wrong of me
to think that the Bryce community would be HAPPY to read
about a new product. OK, I posted a link to what WILL soon be
the official homepage for PRO-RENDER, perhaps a bad idea, but I
have explained why I did this, and again I apologise. I am a
NEW member, and I obviously have a lot to learn, when it comes
down to how to conduct myself in a forum like this, so please
bear with me, I never make the same mistake twice!

It seems to be getting pretty heated in this thread, and I think
I know why, so I will make this a lengthy post. First of all I
will try to cool things down a little by explaining my plans,
then I will answer the questions.

Now then, you're probably wondering WHO? HOW? WHY?

So here it goes...

WHO?

My name is Len, a shy 30 year old SINGLE male ( hello girls! )
I love 3D, and have a passion for Bryce. I am NOT a Real-Estate setup
as suggested by Slakker, nor have I copied tutorials by others,
why on earth would I want to do that? To prove this, Slakker,
it would be great if you could post the URL's of the tutorials you
know of. If you do, I would be only too pleased to check them out.
And if, in the VERY unlikely event I should find a tutorial that uses
the same method as PRO-RENDER, I will make sure that everyone reading
this thread gets the chance to see it, and I'll release PRO-RENDER
into the "FREE STUFF" pages of Renderosity, how`s that!

HOW?

A lot of frustration, 100's of rendering hours, and an extreme
amount of perseverence. I wanted GI from Bryce 5, and refused
to give up until I got it. That's just as well, because believe me,
when PRO-RENDER is released, Bryce 5 users worldwide, WILL be
creating images with PRO-RENDER, no matter what the non-believers
may say, do, or think.

WHY

I gave up self-employment as a computer technician, so that I can
develop products for the 3D community, and hopefully earn just enough
money to enable me to do what I love. So, PRO-RENDER will be my
first product.
I hope that gives everyone a better idea of who I am, why I set up
pumeco, and what my intentions are. I am new here, and the last thing
I want to do is upset, or alienate anyone. I want to be liked,
not disliked. I might be new to forums, but I'm not new to 3D,
so believe me when I say, PRO-RENDER might not sound like the most
exciting product for Bryce 5, but without a doubt, it's THE most
important product release for Bryce 5 ever! It's just a shame that
some people will never realise just HOW important GI can be in a
render, and therefore how important PRO-RENDER actually is.

Now that we have that out of the way, I'll answere the questions.

No then, the best way to do this I think, is to elaborate on what
PRO-RENDER consists of and how it works. I think that should answer
the questions put forward so far.

PRO-RENDER should work on PC or MAC, I see no reason why not.

PRO-RENDER is NOT a Plug-In renderer, or a seperate application.
Nor, did I write a Bryce 5 renderer recoding routine into a .br5
file to add a new solution.

PRO-RENDER compatible materials can be made by simply modifying
any standard material preset, which means that all of your current
material preset's will work with PRO-RENDER, no problem!

PRO-RENDER does not have it's own interface. It does not need one
because as I said in an earlier post, PRO-RENDER consists of .br5
files, material presets, and documentation. None of which would
require it's own interface.

PRO-RENDER images will be more accurate than the use of light domes.
There are two reasons for this. The first reason is that light domes
do not allow the surfaces in the scene to reflect INDIRECT light.
For example, Imagine a room with pure white walls and ceiling.
Add to this, a bright red carpet. Now, in a real life situation,
what would happen is that the white parts of the room would look
ever so slightly pinkish, because of the ambient red light being
given off by the carpet. Well, PRO-RENDER will simulate that
very effect. The second reason for PRO-RENDER being more accurate
is that when you use a light dome, shadow bands appear around the
objects in the scene. The less lights you use, the more apparent
the shadow bands become. There is no such problem when you are using
PRO-RENDER, because with TRUE Global Illumination, light is supplied
from all directions. So you can simply drop objects into your scene
and they will be illuminated naturally by their surroundings, objects
themselves, become a source of light when INDIRECT light bounces off
them, and incredibly natural shadows are created automatically by
this effect.

Keep the questions coming!

Ok let's see now, how best to explain... well first of all
I would like to clarify that when I said undocumented abilities, it was supposed to mean undocumented (until the release of PRO-RENDER), abilities. As far as the Bryce 5 render engine question goes, as I said earlier, Bryce 5 does'nt allow for a plugin renderer, so yes, it does use the Bryce 5 renderer. PRO-RENDER consists of .br5 setup files, compatible material presets, and documentation needed to describe the PRO-RENDER method of rendering.

In answer to the final question "why would we need PRO-RENDER?" There is really only one answer to that one, so here it goes...

Can you do this without PRO-RENDER!

I hope this has helped answer your questions. I can understand it being difficult to realise how this works, after all, until now, merchant stores for Bryce 5 products generally consist of sky, material, and scene presets.

There's a little more depth to this product than a mere preset, if you get my meaning. PRO-RENDER really does provide you with the abilities stated in my original post,
and the standard of lighting that can be achieved is far superior to the standard generally obtainable, I hope you`ll agree when I post some example renders.

The link was included so that it's ready for when the official PRO-RENDER homepage is completed. Sorry you had a wasted trip, keep an eye on that link though, I promise it will spring to life soon enough.

First of all, I apologise for putting the link up so early. The idea was to get the link into my original announcement, so that it would be there for when the official PRO-RENDER homepage is completed. Believe me, the link will spring to life soon enough. In answer to the questions regarding .br5 files, the render engine, and intergration. I can tell you that because Bryce 5 does'nt allow for a plugin renderer, you're right in assuming it uses a .br5 file to set up the renderer. However the .br5 file alone is not enough to be able to use PRO-RENDER correctly. This is because PRO-RENDER uses a method that requires not only a VERY specific scene preset, but also modification of all rendered materials. The final element of PRO-RENDER is the documentation, which describes the undocumented abilities and methods to be learnt in order to allow the Bryce 5 render engine to perform PRO-RENDER abilities. The abilities of PRO-RENDER are already inherent in the Bryce 5 render engine, so in so many words, PRO-RENDER unlocks them. As far as intergration goes, it has perfect intergration with Bryce 5, because it is Bryce 5! I am working on some example renders, and will post them here as soon as possible. Thank's to everyone so far, and keep the questions and comments coming thick and fast!