Hi, I recently upgraded to a computer that can handle a few graphics, and I'm learning Bryce 3D, Poser 4 and Painter 5 all at once. I'm having a little trouble with Bryce 3D, specifically with sky junk. No matter where I position the sun or moon, they never actually appear in the picture. There are also other sky effects (sun rings, rainbows, comets etc) which also never appear. I managed to get a starfield once by going through various Mickey-Mouse maneuvers which I haven't been able to duplicate since. Am I doing something wrong? The manual sounds as if this stuff should just appear with no fiddling around...

To position the sun and the moon, double click on the sun sphere and then holding ctrl and alt, click in the sky where you want the sun or moon positioned. To do the sky effects you have to edit everything in the sky lab, and then mess with your various settings in the sky and fog toolbar. The best person to ask for specifics would be Hawkfyr. He's the Bryce expert on understanding all the tricks and hidden settings

Talent is God's gift to you. Using it is your gift to God.

Hi Inkwolf , I don't know about expert but thanks boney, the best way to place the sun/moon in the scene is the way boney descibed above. as far as rianbows, you need to place the sun as if it were behind you. using the trackball drag the sun towards the bottom of the ball. rainbows react much like they do in real world situations so the direction from which the light hits the rainbow determines whether it reflects back to your eye.Thats why you would place the sun behind you. for stars just select a dark sky an then turn off stratus cumulus clouds and try turning off haze and fog to get a clear night sky then add add the starfield you can then add clouds and haze to your liking. Bryce is an endless learning adventure,try not to get frustrated and be sure to play alot. your first smart move was coming here for help because no matter who helps you here, you can be sure that you will be getting help from some of the best and most experienced Brycers anywhere on the net. Keep us posted on your progress and post some Art for us to see, hope this helps Hawkfyr

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”

Thanks! That really helped! :o) Sure, I'll post some stuff. I'm just beginning, of course, but I've already done a couple of things I like. I'm just about to get into the section on applying textures (so far I've only used the preset textures or hit "randomize" until I saw something I liked. :P ) Yeah, I'll keep checking back here! Thanks again!