Bryce is a fun, feature-packed 3D environmental modeling and animation package. The entire program is designed to allow new users to quickly draw and render stunning landscapes, scenes, and 3D artwork. You can literally create a world of your own within this unique 3D program.

So what exactly IS Bryce? I look at it as a really big Photo Studio. In fact it is an infinite photo studio, complete with sun/moon, stars, clouds. Just like any other studio, you can add lights to enhance your final product, the render. And just like any photo studio you have several cameras available. You can bring in or create objects add lights and move your camera to get the best camera angle to "shoot" your motives. However, unlike other photo studios you will be able to create whole worlds with Bryce. Large mountains, oceans, lakes, you can grow trees, and you can even add haze and fog.

We will walk you through ways to create landscapes, objects and indoor scenes. You will also learan how to import objects that are not native to bryce, to create realistic scenes.



The course material was written for Bryce 5/5.5, but Bryce 6 information has been added for the new version which has just been released.

The latest incarnation, Bryce 6, will give those artists along with the new generation of creators the ability to work faster and create more realistic environments than ever before. Whether you are a professional designer, or a 3D graphics enthusiast, Bryce 6 provides you with the tools to literally create a world of your own. Animation Import is new in Bryce 6: This class is for those of you who just have installed Bryce for the first time, and would like to get a jumpstart to learn the program. Or, if you have used Bryce for a while, but feel you lack the overview of this big and exciting program, this class is for you.

Visit the Bryce Gallery.

LESSON 1
Bryce workflow

Before we start looking at the Bryce interface, it might be useful to have a look at the workflow that most people use when working with Bryce.

1. Planning your image. Some uses sketches, while others start to experiment by setting up a scene in Bryce. In this phase it is also smart to think through if your image is going to use a lot of system resources, and if so, how you can help Bryce work as efficiently as possible.
   
   
2. Setting up the scene in Bryce, checking different camera angles, etc.
   
   
3. Save often! If your scene demands a lot of Bryce recourses, it might cause Bryce to crash. I often use "Save as" and have at least one backup of the scene I'm working on.
   
   
4. Before the final render, it is a good idea to test render.
   
   
5. Render your final scene, - and save
   
   
6. Postwork. There is rarely a scene coming out of Bryce that does not need some sort of post work. Color correction is the minimum you might want to do
   
   
7. Admire your work :)
   
   

Bryce Interface

The Bryce interface might seem intimidating at first glance. However, when you get used to it, you will find it a very efficient work space.

You might want to open this figure in a new window, and have it next to the text as you read further.

1. The Menu appears miraculously when you roll the mouse up out of the Bryce window. Some of the selections you do in the menu, will cause the toolbar to change.
   
   
2. The Toolbar will have different content depending on the selections you have made on the menu. Default it shows the contents on what's under the "Create" selection on the menu, or have clicked the Create on the top of the toolbar.
   
   
3. Interface max/min lets you choose a smaller or larger workspace.
   
   
4. The Nano window will show you a thumbnail of your image. This thumbnail can either be the full image, or show a wire frame of your image.
   
   
5. You switch between the different kinds of views by clicking on the little white triangle right under the nano window, and select your view type from the roll down menu that becomes available to you. Bryce operates a lot faster if you set the nano view to wire frame.
   
   
6. Your Work space shows you full view of your image. You will work in wire frame view. When you first open bryce, there isn't much there. You can see a thin line (the horizon) and a blue box (your camera) and a grid (the ground plane). You can select objects in your work space by clicking on them. Click on the camera and notice that the blue camera turns red to tell you that you have now selected it. Click anywhere else in your work space to deselect the camera

Continued...