I am brand new to Bryce 4 - and want to know if someone could help me to achieve a close-up view of the terrain. Actually, I need to know what steps you take to get there. A couple of pictures below show exactly what i'm aiming for. Close enough to see grass, footprints, sand particles, etc. I'd really appreciate a little help. Thank you!

I think you may be thinking of it in the wrong way. Don't think of it as getting closer, think of making features at the scale you want to see them at. A terrain large and in the background can be a mountain. One small and up close (or with a tin can next to it) can be a molehill :-) The rest of what you are talking about, grass, sand, etc. is just a matter of textures. Also, it is a common trap to think that all the terrains produced by Bryce are just the default mountain shape. Play around with the other Fractals, and you'll probably find a piece of ground like what you are looking for. Does that make any sense?

I understand scale... I have the bryce 4 handbook - and maybe it's about camera views. I think i'm asking about zoom. I'm not sure I know enough to ask an intelligent question! I want to get as close as possible to the ground - I've tried to lower the elevation but that won't change what I see. I guess I want a molehill. I'll start with scale and see where I can go from there. Thanks for answering me - do you know where I might find a tutorials for Bryce 4? Most are Bryce3d and I can't make the 'conversion' to bryce 4 as i'm so lame.

On the left side of bryce, where you have all the controls, there should be a square with primitives around the outside (not at a system to make a screen shot, sorry). Next to that, just to the right, is the Views Selection. Directors, camera, top, bottom, etc. Try switching to a side view and top view. You should be able to move the camera around to get it next to the ground level by doing this. Then switch to Camera view to see if you're getting the effect you want. NOTE. Try scale first, as 'zooming' in like this can really show any errors or flaws in the textures. Another little note, I've noticed if you 'paint' a texture on something, then scale it up.. it scales the texture up as well. So create what you want.. size it larger then what you need.. then paint it.. and resize it back down to help hide any 'problems' with the textures. (also see the thread.. Size Does Matter for more along this line).

Thanks for the tip - I'll try your suggestions. And thanks for pointing me towards the thread.

Also go to Brycetech.com, there is a bryce interface tutorial which is the best I've seen. It'll guide you through the basics of the whole program. it's fun too. :) Boni