Hey all - been working with Poser for alittle over a year now and up until recently I've been purchasing my environments (ka-ching!) * I've been going back and forth between Bryce and Vue websites and notice that most of the "architectural" settings are futuristic - here's what I'm trying to do.

1. Build a real world environment both interior and exterior (here is an example of the kinds of exterior "real world" env. I'd like to build): http://www.daz3d.com/shop.php?op=itemdetails&item=4627

2. Create atmosphere environments (clouds, sunrays, etc.)

3. Please note that the clouds etc. I'd like to create would be moving... not still images.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have pretty much NO experience with cgi software for environments.

Thanks!

It can be done in either software, Bryce or Vue.  Both will have their $$$ price and their limitations, which are usually relatively consistent with the price.
In the end it does boil down to getting to know how to use the program really well.
Neither program will do it for you.

The environment that you shpwed as an example on DAZ website was built by one of the very good and very experienced artists. Creme of the crop kind of work. There's no program that can that can replace the talent, know how and experience that goes into making a scene like that.

If you look at renderosity galleries, you can sellect bryce only, and pick the most commented or most viewed sort, and you'll see what some of the most talented Renderosity's brycers are able to do in the program. There seems to be a predominance of futuristic themes, but my explanation for that is not the program, it's the user preferences. You give a lot of guys an option for a new toy, you're going to get a lot of swords, starships and nekkid wimminz ;).  You give girls a new toy, you're going to get a lot of hugz and fairies and girly themes...  Programs are able to do ether, and just about anything in between. Most often it's the user that is the biggest limiting factor.

Most commented bryce work:
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/browse.php?most_commented&section_id=2&genre_id=&all_time

Most viewed bryce work:
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/browse.php?most_viewed&section_id=2&genre_id=&all_time

Wow, that 'Rochr' is pretty damn good eh? Of course this is something I could find out for myself but it appears as if Bryce would blend in pretty smoothly with Poser correct? Like, I could take a character in poser and fuse them into a Bryce "scene"? This would be all motion no stills... I have to either ask or do research since I don't own Bryce and by the time I bought it, learned how to use it then attempted to blend the poser character with the Bryce environment it'd be 20 years from now and I would've forgotten why I was using cgi anyways (since we'll all be using holograms or something)

Thanks for the info. I'm a filmmaker, used to using actors and real sets - I don't want to become a master cgi architect.. I just wanna tell stories... so maybe I'll have to continue buying the props  :o)

d

Again, it will blend  'pretty smoothly' if you know what you're doing, and it largely depends on a perspective too.

Here's an example: a texture map not showing up because something is not pointing tio the right directory is hardly a blip on a radar screen, I hop into windoes explorer, spend two minutes running a search to see which directory it ended up in, point the program to the right directory and move on... It's moer or less a non event. So, an import with a few texture redirects for me went pretty smoothly.

For other people, it's a huge deal and a pile of crap, because they may not be at the level where they even understand what a texture map is, and how it functions with other components. So when a littlest thing goes wrong, the whole process stops.

Little bit like this analogy... If you had a car, but didn't know how to fill up gas. Once the gas is out, the car is unusable to you.

By the way, bryce won't take you 20 years to learn, and right now there is a promotion for daz platinum club members to get the version 6 for 6 bucks... plus a hole bunch of props that you can use in bryce or poser.   So, even if junk bryce after a week of use and continue to buy props, you're only out of six bucks.

As for the time investment, if you took the time to buy bryce and cracked it open and started goofing off with it, instead of posting and asking and researching which one is better, you'd already be farther along the learning curve ;)

If you want to tell stories with 3D content there's no way around learning how to use some of the programs. Vue is much more complex, and costs more.

I don't want to become a master cgi architect.. I just wanna tell stories

-Yeah, keep buying (I can build in Bryce and I still buy stuff like that). Stonemasons meshes are probably the best you will see, and a LOT of time, and years of experience goes into creating those meshes. (I think they are constructed with 3DSMax)

DAZ Studio will now import animations into Bryce along with the characters or enviroments like Stonemasons stuff. If you want to absolutely use Poser you may want to check out Vue instead. It's a lot more money but it will import Poser stuff nicely.

Vue does have an ecosystem tool that could be used to generate vast cityscapes. But apart from that both should do. Still, it's mostly skill that will define final quality of the image.

I am creating a film animation at the moment and using Bryce6, Poser5 and DazStudio - either alone or together to create storyboards for the film, where my own pencil sketches need a little help. 

Bryce is easiest for me since I have most experience of using that program but even with almost no experience at all of Poser I can still use it either to pose the little boy character I am using or to pose that same character for import into a Bryce scene.

This story also involves a dragon, and since my idea of a dragon isn't the same as Daz's Millenium Dragon's shape I'm just using that dragon for positioning in the Bryce scene, with the intention of doing my own artwork for the final dragon in the actual animated film.

Once I had a few positions/poses for the Daz dragon in Daz Studio (which by the way, is a free program, it's the content you buy) I could draw more of my own dragon in similar positions and in other positions.

I was actually amazed at how quickly I got used to drawing a dragon, even in positions I hadn't used in Studio.

It's all been very helpful.

Mind you, I can't afford Vue, so I've never used it - thus I can't really comment on how useful that would be to an animator, either in the actual animation or just for the storyboards like I'm using Bryce6, Poser5 and DazStudio right now.

Best of luck..

Attached Link: Wings 3d

There are a gazillion (10 to the excessive) number of modelers out there, both free and spendy.

I use one called Wings 3d, which is free, and can  be found here. It's surprisingly handy, doing something called box modeling, and you can create buildings, props, etc, with very little effort. Joe Bob sez check it out.

Another program is called Blender. I use it as a 'plugin' for wings (so sue me..;), but it has something called Discombobulator, which is an effect that creates random blocks out of primitive objects. Real good for distance and background cities. You can try learning the whole thing (it does things Wings won't do, which is why it's in the toolkit..;) but lawsy, if you figure the interface out,  explain it to me..;)

There's other handy little freebie programs; Knotplot,  Topmod,  Anim8tor, etc., that will  be userful from time to time, to create or add flourishes to modeling .  Teach a man to fish, and all that..;)