hi

i need to crop  terrain..not happening. i'm in the terrain editor..opened up the terrain canvas thinggybob with the cropping slider..move it upwards.. it turns the cropped area white..not red.. then when i clivk the tick button..it hasnt been cropped. 

help!

ah,,i worked it out..ought to have grabbed the bracket thinggy..not the square. whilst we at it..what then..is that square thinggybob for then? 

Rosie? Could you post screengrab, please?

I dragged the gradient slider up till I had an acceptable island and then used the bracket to crop the white away by dragging it up, also made it into a mesa by sliding the bracket down from the top as well...Oh I made it solid after as well

aha....thanks Bobby, Understood

if you drag the top down it makes the whitest part of your terrain top flat(yellow), drag from the bottom it crops around the base(red)

Rosie, I think your question is only being partially understood and answered.  You figured out to grab the bracket to crop top and bottom but you asked what is happening when you drag the gradient itself. Correct?   

I don't know either.  It changes some things weirdly in the terrain preview but seems to have done nothing when  backing out of the terrain editor to view the real results.  Can someone tell us what is happening or not happening.  

The rainbow thing will select pretty colors on the resulting terrain but why and how would that ever be used unless you were just doing crazy color for giggles.  Is there a legit purpose for that feature?

Its for height mapping reference if I remember right, so you can see what are the highest to lowest parts on your terrain, the rainbow ones etc etc. if you have the realworld bryce 4 book it explains in there, its been so long its hard to remember.

I've got the book.  I'll consult it. tks

yup willie. 

@Clay..me in london..my bryce bible in india. :-( 

Ahh the travel to exotic locations Bryce book hehe

Hi Rosie!  Wouldn't it be great if that book was in Pdf format on your computer?  I cannot remember if one is on the cd that came with it .

I have it all on CD and pdf:-P I helped Susan make it heheh...<--runs off snickering.

Hey, Clay

Since it is no longer being published and I assume royalties have stopped, could you convince her to release .pdf file?   I prefer the hardcopy but so many new users have no idea what a gem that book was.

I haven't talked to susan in years, so probably not, I think its still for sale on amazon.com though. Not sure.

I just checked.   As I had remembered, new books are actually in the hands of resellers and prices are approaching $100 a copy because of its rarity now.  Used ones can be found in varing conditions.

Okay, in a nutshell, according to the book:

Gradient sliding- Example 1)  by sliding the greyscale gadient up or down will limit the altitude that any subsequent filters or effects will be applied to the terrain (erode, ridges, etc..,)  Say you wanted to only erode the lower altitudes of a terrain to make it look more like realistic sediment.

Rainbow colors- Example 2)  all this does is apply colors to the canvas and preview to make it easier to identify altitudes or areas you may be wanting to do manual brush or filter work on.

I can't seem to get the first example to work like I understood the book to explain but I did discover by cropping the top and bottom to a small band you can selectively apply some features like erode then move the crop brackets to their original position.This will result in the filter having been applied to the small altitude section of the terrain only. The rest of the terrain will be in its original condition.  If I discover more, I will let you know. 

you got it, yellow will flatten out high altitudes, red will clip, keep in mind to make your terrain solid becuase if you use the yellow clipping you will have a hole in your mesh. you can use the other erosion etc features then move the bracket back and forth, just sculpting in 2d from above basically.

My quote from above 

Okay, in a nutshell, according to the book:

"Gradient sliding- Example 1)  by sliding the greyscale gadient up or down will limit the altitude that any subsequent filters or effects will be applied to the terrain (erode, ridges, etc..,)  Say you wanted to only erode the lower altitudes of a terrain to make it look more like realistic sediment.

Rainbow colors- Example 2)  all this does is apply colors to the canvas and preview to make it easier to identify altitudes or areas you may be wanting to do manual brush or filter work on.

I can't seem to get the first example to work like I understood the book to explain but I did discover by cropping the top and bottom to a small band you can selectively apply some features like erode then move the crop brackets to their original position.This will result in the filter having been applied to the small altitude section of the terrain only. The rest of the terrain will be in its original condition.  If I discover more, I will let you know."

*I need to correct myself Example 1.  moving the gradient itself only moves the colors on the canvas and preview.  You can use this feature by selecting one of those narrow bands of rainbow colors then "gadient slide" the color to the altitude you wish to do you detailed editing.  It does nothing but move colors for more easy identification.

"Bracket cropping" up and down to to a specific altitude of your terrain, then appling certain filters will effect only that section of the terrain.  You can then move the brackets back to their original position and the rest of the terrain is unchanged.  

Sorry for the confuse information I posted earlier.

it works sorta, but its a bit confusing, out of all these years I've never used anything but the red and black gradient clipping bracket. Basically a useless function that looked fun at the time metacreations made it and kai and eric wenger were apparently smoking somethin funny LMAO!