Table of Contents | RWB2

Real World Bryce 2: The Art of Digital Landscapes Table of Contents

1. Introduction
   The history of the software, and general intro to the book
2. Hardware Considerations
   The hardware to run the software.
3. Camera and Scene
   Introduction to 3D, how ray-tracing and the camera work, and the Camera controls. Camera operation exercises.
4. Brycean Objects
   All about each object type, Object Attributes, and all the options for selecting objects (including Solo mode). Selection exercises.
5. Streamline Your Brycing
   How to work efficiently in Bryce in order to reduce render time. Efficiency exercises.
6. Editing and the Internal Bryce Grid
   Bryce’s underlying grid; using the Edit controls to edit single objects; the Object Conversion tool for changing object types; Duplicating, Replicating and Multi-replication to make more objects from one object; the Edit controls for more than one object; Grouping. Exercises throughout to familiarize you with all the concepts.
7. Booleans and Multiple Object Construction
   Now that you’ve got more than one object, what do you do with them? This chapter’s all about creating complex objects in Bryce, especially using boolean operations. Plus advance multi-replication tips and merging scene files. An end-of-chapter tutorial takes you through all concepts from this chapter.
8. Terrains, Symmetrical Lattices, and the Terrain Editor
   All about the Terrain Editor controls, a series of quick recipes for terrain construction, step-by-step construction of a waterfall, text terrains, symmetrical lattices.
9. Material World
   The granddaddy chapter on the heart of Bryce’s natural landscapes–material surfaces. I unfold the Materials Composer step by step, introducing you to everything there, with tons of examples along the way. There’s a thorough analysis of Eric Wenger’s “Whole Mountain” material preset (from the image on the Bryce splashscreen). 3D Textures, 2D Picture textures, ABCD–this chapter covers it all. Then I follow with a discussion of the Deep Texture Editor, the powerful and quirky engine underlying those great materials. I revisit the textures in the “Whole Mountain” preset as well as some others with hints for your own texture explorations and some tutorials at the end of the chapter.
10. Brycean Skies
    Make your Bryce environment just so in the Sky & Fog Palette–this chapter introduces to all of the components and takes the bafflement out of the cloud controls. I provide you with a sample starting scene and explanation and exercises along the way. By the end of this chapter, you’ll have a collection of the same basic scene with an incredible array of environments and moods. More than that, you’ll instinctively know what to tweak here and there in order to have maximum environmental impact.
11. Bryce EnLightenment
    Continuing the environment discussion, this chapter takes up with pseudo (glowing) light forms and Bryce’s light objects. (Hint for Windows users: Check out the Easter Egg page for a lighting surprise!). This chapter discusses different lighting circumstances and methods, as well as the different ways you can use lights to impact your scene. Lots of illustrative figures for this chapter!
12. Render Unto Bryce
    How does the renderer work, anyhow? What are all those different methods and options on the Render menu? What do those numbers mean in the Render Report and what significance is that to me? Why would I want to do a Mask Render or a 360-degree Panorama or a Distance or Altitude Render? This chapter answers it all for you.
13. Bryce and Other Software
    Here I discuss the use of other software for things related to Bryce that you do before working in Bryce. I discuss importing nd working with 3D objects here, as well as software that particularly complements Bryce for both “pre-processing” (before working in Bryce) and “post-processing” (after rendering).
14. Superlative Nature Imagery
    This chapter integrates many of the book’s earlier concepts in a discussion–what makes a great nature image? I also discuss the process of creating the Lighthouse scene that is the default Bryce image (for the Mac at least; Windows users will find this scene on the book’s CD-ROM).
15. Brycing Out of this World
    This chapter is also an integration, covering everything that is non-nature in Bryce–the outer space and the abstract and unusual. There is an outer-space tutorial and lots of examples here to inspire you.
16. Printing Bryce Images
    You made those images. You want to get them from the computer onto paper of some sort. What are the options? What next? After dissing Bryce’s Print command (hey, Bryce is for creating and rendering, not printing!), this chapter introduces you to all the issues involved and all the different options for getting your images printed.
17. Professional Images and Real Bryce Projects
    Eye candy galore! Here is a selection of different images and professional projects made using Bryce. If you aren’t inspired after reading this chapter and looking at the images, well then. . . . ; )