Hi question 2 I have been told on many occasions that in order to print an image it needs to be in the highest res possible (my missus produces promo posters/leaflets for the Train company printing and artwork) anyway how do I get bryce to produce a higher res. I know that you get the option to chance the resolution if you print from bryce itself. However how do you get the resolution of the file itself higher so that you dont need to alter too much in photoshop/psp. do I render a bigger image an then make its size smaller in PS/PSP? I usually take the pic into ps to check/fix the colour settings. Any help appreciated Dave

I suggest using the "File>Render to Disk" function, with that you can more readily set pixel dimensions, dpi, etc.

Also depends on what size you want your print. An 8 x 11 (standard paper) at 300 dpi would be 2400 X 3300 render.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/index.ez?viewStory=2852

Nice, I hadn't seen that page, thanks Rod. AS

My roommate has worked at a print shop for years. If you are using Bryce 4 or ealier, then you need to render on the highest setting. He also recommends 300dpi and making it a tiff. Then when you send it off to print, make sure the file goes to the printing press in CMYK mode. The printing machine has built into it's program to convert it to RGB, but if you do it this way the colors come out closer to the CMYK and aren't washed out. If you are using Bryce 5, you only need to render on Super and not Premium. The reason for this is that the commercial machines, like a Xerox Docutech's, aren't able to discern the difference in the resolution you are trying to have it output (does this make sense?). Therefore, the only thing you will end up doing by using the Premium setting is increase you rendering time and the amount of time it takes for the printing press to process the file. The output between Super and Premium will basically be the same. However, if you are doing an animation and rendering to say a MOV file. This would be a different story altogether. In this case the video needs to be higher quality and this is where the Premium setting becomes handy. The Super setting can sometimes appear fuzzy after rendering, so use Premium for animations. Well, at least I learned something from hanging around in a print shop and down at the Xerox offices for a while :) Now if I can just get my renders up to snuff I'll be all set.

Premium animation. I could as well start a cryo-sleep for 10 years if I do that. LOL

Actually, I wouldn't use Premium unless: 1) I was creating an animation and... 2) I was using Bryce Lightning Lord knows I want to be done sometime this century.

DAVE: I do quite a bit of this professionally and so I think I'll be able to help.. FIRST. It depends on the file size you want to print. Do you want to do something 8.5 by 11 inches? Bigger? When you render out your image in Bryce, you can do the Imax resolution but no matter what res you render out, you will a larger image size by increasing the DPI. For instance, a good print graphic is about 1200 DPI CKMY. You can do that from a clean source render in Photoshop. If you have any other questions, just drop me a line and I want you through it.

So Dave (TheWanderer), I guess you would have to find out some of the specs of the machine you are having the material printed on. If it is large data printers or layout type printers, you could go with Dave's 1200 dpi, but most print shops don't produce enough work on these types pf machines to waarant them so your best bet would be 300 dpi for the rendering. It all depends upon what you are outputting too (my rommate does this professionally as well, and used to be on the Xerox design team - he's not a graphic designer, he designs printing presses and then works on/with them). You also need to take into consideration: how long do you want to wait for your computer to render your image. Increasing the image soze by adjusting the DPI in PS after rendering will only add to the DPI on the screen, not necessarily the image upon printing (this is why you need to know something about the machine being utilized - and also why TIF's are used insted of JPG's). Just remember, the image on your screen is an RGB image. The one you want to print is CMYK. On the new printing presses it converts everything to RGB for printing though, and this is where the image can become washed out. Again, find out what the specs are on the machine being utilized and that will make things a hell of a lot easier.

Hi to be honest I'm only printing on my HP930 at home but if I talk nicely to her she can print on her Hp ?design jets? but what I have noticed is that straight premium renders printed on photopaper 297x210 mm still at times look a bit grainy I solved this when printing from poser by rendering with a higher res setting i.e. 250-300 dpi as opposed to 72dpi now what I was wondering was is there a way to set this in Bryce 5? I will admit the last time I tried to render to disk something happend and I couldn't access the final image (corrupt) so i'm a bit wary of this. Thanks for your help though folks I'm always interested in learning more Dave

Oh yeah, first set the quality of your render. That would "Control Render Options" button. Then go to File>Render To Disk. A box pops up and in it you can set the size and the DPI. Just in case I do want to print, because I don't like to go back to re-render. My roommate got me in this habit of rendering everything at 3300x2200 pixels (I don't knw what the formula is, but basically, this is an 11x8.5). When you put in the 3300 for the bigger size though, Bryce automatially fills in the other boxes (except for the DPI). Then I put in 300 DPI. and click the check mark. Bryce will then ask you the file name you ant to use, where to save it, and the file type. I know it is a pain but if you think you're ever going to print it, just make it a TIF. I know you can convert a JPG to a TIF in PS afterwards, but from what I understand this degrades the image (kind of like when you make a copy of a copy of a video tape). Hope this helps. Happy rendering!!! Peace.

The size resolution formula is not too difficult, literally size x dpi = res. so 11 (inches) x 300 (dpi) = 3300

Aye, and 300 DPI is usually enough to produce clarity, and goood printing results. Bulldawg's right, too, about switiching color modes to CMYK. Photoshop does this easily and usually with great results. As for Premium Render Mode, it is very useful, and actually has NO effect on the resolution. Use it if the image calls for it. It doesn't take THAT long! No longer than Bryce 4 did, on FULL AA, on the machines we used to use! Effects are great, and it's good to be able to take advantage of this ridiculous new hardware...

Attached Link: http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=7536

I saw the same thing somewhere else. It's just about crazy enough to buy, yet I'm afraid of what happens if it starts leaking :) I'd rather make normal window in my comp one day.

Hah hah ha! Fishtank PC's! I love it, thanks for lightening my day Gog, Rayraz...!