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I just got Bryce 5. And I gotta say. It really, really sucks. The interface is almost entirely the same as 3, there are very few new presets and objects, the help system is absolutely atrocious, and the Disc 2 is not at all self-explanatory, it has no installer, etc... I'm incredibly disappointed with Corel and the former Metacreations team.
I'd like to continue work on my plug-in with this...so how can I get this to work? i.e. adding textures, presets, objects, et cetera. Generally I don't like spending lots of money on a professional graphics program and having it render VERY slow, be slow in general, and very awful.
:frown: -Lequis, a very annoyed and depressed Lequis
------------------ Computers are simply not toys, they are for those who know how to use them.
Errrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Ok, well, I'm sort of getting the hang of it, but I can't figure out why the hell there is no appropriate help system, and why the extra textures are totally... ...um...random and not installer-based.
sigh I'm going to let someone else handle the majority of this but...
Bryce 5 is a newer version of 4, which is a newer version of 3. The interface is almost the same except for the graphics. Most of the presets are the same. The new stuff is in abilities: trees, metaballs, soft shadows, and an enhanced terrain editor, to name the most useful things (there are other, less useful things as well).
Why would the 2nd CD have an installer? It's content, like scene files, texture archives, sky archives...stuff like that doesn't need an installer. Stuff that the user is supposed to look at, try, and do with as they like.
No help system? Tried looking at the manual? If you don't have a printed one (at least my educational-discount copy didn't have one) it's on the CD.
Before you come complaining about a program, please learn more about it first.
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and somthing that weepul didnt mention... bryce 5 is NOT a professional graphics program. it never was, it never will be. if you want to see what a professional graphics program can do, find somewhere to try Lightwave, Maya, Softimage, Electric Image, Cinema 4D, or 3DS Max. bryce is more of an entry-level 3D program.
------------------ DeAdBoY- (url="http://"http://www.grybs.com/harzius")Harzius Productions(/url) (url="http://"http://www.IcedEarth.com")Iced Earth(/url) George Harrison, 1943-2001
Quote
Originally posted by DeAdBoY: **and somthing that weepul didnt mention... bryce 5 is NOT a professional graphics program. it never was, it never will be. if you want to see what a professional graphics program can do, find somewhere to try Lightwave, Maya, Softimage, Electric Image, Cinema 4D, or 3DS Max. bryce is more of an entry-level 3D program.
**
It is a professional level landscape program, the primitives, metaballs, and such are there to supplement it and make buildings in the landscapes. If you're wanting to make really detailed and realistic ships, Bryce isn't for you. I'd consider it something of a bargain, especially at the academic discount price.
------------------ Get a life, a cyberspace life.
Mojoworld is a professional level landscape designer. I bet bryce hasnt been used in a movie =P (nor mojoworld, but it's landscapes look many times better)
------------------ --sitharus (url="http://"http://www.damnsw.net/~triplet/forums/")Carracho Help - Updated, upgraded and better!(/url) EV Development IRC channel: #evdev on irc.ambrosia.net Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
and somthing that weepul didnt mention... bryce 5 is NOT a professional graphics program. it never was, it never will be
Entry level graphics program this! :throws something at DeAdBoY: I can't afford Lightwave or anything like that, and even if I got it I'd bet anything that it would be impossible to use. Bryce is entirely satisfactory for my current needs, and I'd only think about buying an expensive pro one if I could use it or if I had like a DP 800mhz G3. Plus, I've made stuff in Bryce that is comparable to pro-stuff. EV landing graphics count, right?
Ok. I got most of the stuff to work that I wanted to... and have compiled a list of things that are bugs or such...
Bugs/Inconveniences: 1. For changing the color of things, i.e. fog and haze, the color palette doesn't disappear after it is used. 2. The render mode is basically locked-down, that is, you can't easily stop it. 3. Render is very slow and lags. 4. The sky lab is very limited cloud-wise; you still cannot make cirrus clouds, or distant and realistic stratus or cumulus. 5. Animating still does not support complicated material movement. 6. Object modeling still doesn't support anything complicated. 7. There is no manual. No damn manual for us Academic users.
Primary major Advantages to 3 and or 4: 1. Objects stay in their correct position 2. Object libraries can be duplicated successfully; you can make new ones by duplicating existing ones... 3. Skies do NOT revert to the previous sky upon any changes/circumstances 4. The sky lab can be used to create skies ten times better than in 3. 5. The Spray-Render is very useful. Very, very, very useful. 6. Extra AA modes. 'Premium', which is basically like comparing 64-bit graphics to 128-bit, you can't quite tell a difference in most circumstances. 7. B5 comes with a LOT of objects. Like 'Industrial Breaker Switch,' et cetera.
I still have a lot of questions about this. And then there are questions unanswered, of course. How does one make realistic clouds? How does one make neat camera/render view effects? How does one make complicated non-boolean objects? And finally, what ARE metaballs?
-Lequis
What are you trying to render? Ships? I'd recommend something like Strata 3D or Carrara for ships.
------------------ P L A T Y P U S
Originally posted by Lequis MX:
Bryce is entirely satisfactory for my current needs, and I'd only think about buying an expensive pro one if I could use it or if I had like a DP 800mhz G3. Plus, I've made stuff in Bryce that is comparable to pro-stuff. EV landing graphics count, right?
Then what were you complaining about?
Bugs/Inconveniences: 1. For changing the color of things, i.e. fog and haze, the color palette doesn't disappear after it is used.
Huh. It does for me. You click and hold, drag over your color, and let up, and it goes away. Of course, I usually option-click on the color sample to bring up the other, IMO better color pickers.
2. The render mode is basically locked-down, that is, you can't easily stop it.
Yes, it's sticky, but I can stop it without too much trouble. Try clicking on something, such as one of the sections (create, edit, sky & fog) at the top.
3. Render is very slow and lags.
Eh.
4. The sky lab is very limited cloud-wise; you still cannot make cirrus clouds, or distant and realistic stratus or cumulus.
Yep, but you never could. Annoying, though.
5. Animating still does not support complicated material movement.
I wouldn't know about that by experience, but you can do texture movement, morphing, blending, etc.
6. Object modeling still doesn't support anything complicated.
True, but there are booleans. Booleans can do a lot of stuff people wouldn't think they could. ((url="http://"http://www.2xtreme.net/btaenzer/brycemodelling.jpg")sample(/url), wings - (url="http://"http://www.2xtreme.net/btaenzer/defcannon.jpg")sample(/url), panels)
7. There is no manual. No damn manual for us Academic users.
No printed manual. Did you look on the CD? It's there in .pdf format.
Primary major Advantages to 3 and or 4: 3. Skies do NOT revert to the previous sky upon any changes/circumstances
However, if you select an "old" sky preset, then enable sun soft shadows, that setting won't be saved. When you reopen it, sun soft shadows will be disabled.
5. The Spray-Render is very useful. Very, very, very useful.
Really? I've found it utterly useless. How do you use it? For location rendering, I just do an area render - drag a box out in the render-view-mode (whatever that's called) and hit the render control that appears next to that area...so what do you use it for?
6. Extra AA modes. 'Premium', which is basically like comparing 64-bit graphics to 128 bit, you can't quite tell a difference in most circumstances.
Most of the new rendering abilities require "premium" mode, such as depth of field, "true ambience" (a sort of poorly implemented radiosity), soft reflections/transmissions (diffuse metal and frosted glass), to name what I remember. Unfortunately, those appear grainy unless the rays-per-pixel is put to the max (256 - changing the rays-per-pixel is another ability of premium AA), and when it is, it's dead-slow.
I still have a lot of questions about this. And then there are questions unanswered, of course. How does one make realistic clouds?
You can use volumetric textures and position them by hand, but that renders a bit slowly.
How does one make neat camera/render view effects?
Such as...? Using Photoshop comes to mind as a solution.
How does one make complicated non-boolean objects?
You don't, or you import objects. Booleans are remarkably useful and not actually that hard to use.
And finally, what ARE metaballs?
They're liquid-like blobs that are spherical droplets that will flow together (as with surface tension) when near. They can be used to make lots of different things, but that's the best way to describe them.
Originally posted by Lequis MX: **
I'm glad you mentioned some of the bugs/wanted features; Corel is as forthcoming as most software companies about them (even the beta-testers were forced into an NDA).
However, most of the bugs you mention were addressed in the 3.1 patch. I have never lost a file since installing it.
BTW, to all; the "Is so-and-so-software A Professional Application" is rather too much like the Mac vs. Windows diatribes. If upon honest and informed evaluation of your current and projected needs a certain application fulfils them adequately, what is the shame?
Very few applications truly answer all the needs of a functional 3D studio, and conversely, the complete studio can make occaisional use of a large number of more-specialized applications. Max and the other high-ends, with their expandable architecture and the massive number of existing plugs, come closer than most to being all things to all people. Those of us on a lesser budget are perhaps best guided to own a small, select group of low to mid-range appliations, each chosen for specific needs and tasks.
------------------ everywhere else, it's -- "Nomuse"
Originally posted by Commander Arashi: **BTW, to all; the "Is so-and-so-software A Professional Application" is rather too much like the Mac vs. Windows diatribes. If upon honest and informed evaluation of your current and projected needs a certain application fulfils them adequately, what is the shame?
i never said bryce was necessarily bad... but its like saying a ford pinto is a race car
Originally posted by DeAdBoY: **i never said bryce was necessarily bad... but its like saying a ford pinto is a race car:p
I'm not getting into a flame war here...but who claimed it was a race car? I claim it is a Ford Pinto (actually, my site used to call it a Honda Civic). Did you perhaps fail to get the point? A fourteen-year old on this board wants to make a few ships. You wish to tell him to get off the Mechanisto bicycle and put aside all hopes of creating until he can afford the Lightwave Lambourghini?
By the way, I generally render in Bryce. It doesn't happen to be all I use, not by any means, but I do like to render in it.
Thanks for the help, Weepul.
I need this aforementioned patch you speak of. As well, that's one hell of a (boolean) object scene!!!!!!! The best thing I ever made was... er... well, I dunno, I've made quite a bit. As in like 500MB quite a bit.
Oh well. I suppose I can cope. Thanks for all the help. Except I'm annoyed that Metaballs render so slow and can't be applied to squares and stuff. oh well.
You can learn a lot from the tutorials which you can find at (url="http://"http://www.brycetech.com")http://www.brycetech.com(/url) Especially they may be usefull for you while you learn to texture your stuff.And if you post more specific questions here, somebody will definetely answer them.
And, Weep. Spray render can be very usefull,I think. Try and have a look on the one of the latest tutorials about that at 3d commune.com.I haven`t tried the stuff the guy wrote about in this tutorial, but the idea is very interesting.
Spray render is indeed useful. Fun, too, you can make neat stuff.