Is it time for Daz to rethink Bryce?
Several year ago Daz explained to the community why Bryce wasn't changing to a 64 bit system. I remember reading the statement by Daz, but my memory is a little short on all of the reasons. What I do remember is that the render couldn't be something, something to 64 bit and the mac was a for sure no go ;)
After looking at the three most popular terrain modeling programs I've been wondering if Daz shouldn't take the time to re-evaluate if the Bryce render couldn't be removed from the program and the Iray render incorporated into the program. I know Newtek did just that with lightwave layout several years ago and gave it a new life. the reason I'm asking this question is because I've looked at e-ons vue ple (which is no better for speed then its 32 bit verison) In fact its worst then it use to be. I say this because I'm running an 8 core amd 8370 at 4 Ghz with 32 megs of memory and 2 quadro 5000 units on an ASRock 990FX Extreme6 mb. Vue is Sad, just Sad on windows 7 64 bit. As for the other two terrain programs, The learning curve is involved for the little use I'll have for it.
So there you have it. Vue is the most disappointing and the other two are overloaded with the learning curve. Bryce was always easy to use and as stated because Daz is putting resources into the Iray render for studio why not spread that over 2 programs if it is possible.
Comments
I am not a studio user, so my questions on this subject: Is there a bridge to bring a Bryce scene or object into studio? If yes, can the Iray render engine recognize and correctly render a Bryce procedural texture created in the DTE? ( not the image map that Bryce can export) But the actual fractal procedural texture with filtering included.
Bryce exports content with procedural materials as images and they can be rendered in Studio with limited success. Likewise, content from Studio coming over to Bryce with image materials (and sometimes with a bump map) but Bryce doesn't do a good job with them, neither with normal maps if they come over at all. I'm not a fan of Iray, it may be good for skin - which Bryce is not (very tricky to get it right). Otherwise, Bryce has two built-in render engines and I think they do an excellent job; also the IBL implementation is still far superior than what Iray can offer at this time. Octane was added to Carrara 8.5, not Iray. The main problem with external render engines is that most of the materials, or shaders, are incompatible between the engines and need adjustement.
I actually see so many people struggling with Iray, especially when it comes to getting skin right, And there is a definite movement amongst the DS communitiy who are quite happy using the older render engine in DS and not bothering with Iray.
thats why i preffer and recomend blender's "cycles" engine! ....so much better than daz studio, light years ahead......but best of all 100% free :)
Video
I actually decided to play with Bryce today
its certainly different to Carrara but actually renders animation at a surprisingly doable pace
Warning----REEEEEEAAAALLYY bad poetry on the way. Cheesy. Sickening. Consume at your own risk.
Girl, your Brycin's mightly fine!
Almost enough to blow my mind.
That great big castle all alone
Those trees on islands raked with stones.
I wonder if you thought of me
While pressing Render on that tree?
'Cuz Girl I'm surely thanking you,
For showing us what Bryce can do.
I know your anime was fast
and like this poem could not last.
Yet lucky do I find my eyes
beholding once again besides.
Carrara, Bryce and all Daz's kids
Could use more such demonstration vids.
So load it up, Darling, frame by frame.
Don't sweat if some two look the same.
'Cause slow and steady's' the way to go
Like coming of Winter on Game of Thrones.
Perhaps some day we'll collaborate.
You build the model, I won't hesitate;
To top it off with textures galore
From angelically sweet to blood and gore
I'll meet you there, be you up or down
And if you desire I'll be your clown
Because you've shown us time and again
That you and Bryce are cozy friends
And since you play that Carrara thing too
I'm sure we'd have so much stuff to do
So shake that boolean, Girl! Shake it once; twice
Be it Carrara, Hexagon, or my baby; Bryce
And don't forget about good Daz Studio
For better or worse, its the future and so;
I imagine you in Gucci playing the piano,
While sipping a glass of Montepulciano.
In your creative bliss, with iclone and widgets
Like my friend Wendy, now known as th3Digit
And so this song must come to an end
Before your turned over stomach ascends
Into your mouth and out your ears
Leaving you writhing and in tears.
Yes, bad poetry is a crime
Offenders should be given time.
But 'til that day we will just carry on
Confused as ever about dual quaternion.
As a user of Bryce's animation, this vid, th3Digit,...is excellent - if using it for the first time (a bit speedy in parts, but that's correctable, controlable that I'm sure in experimenting in you will discover).
As to your poetry, Rashad, WOW..."needs not suit a rhyme theme, hey, more a rap one, quaternion...quaternion...say". .
Jay
th3Digit - very well done animation, particularly considering it's your first one in Bryce. I'm not in animation myself though I did a very few quite a while ago.
Rashad - interesting reading, good job.
not my actual first go at animation even but certainly my second
my first was over 5 years ago I think and very very brief but also a tree on an island, still noob though as basically I never opened it inbetween
Th3Digit - very nice animation.
Rashad - cool poem.
I have rendered a second one now, it took 8 hours while I slept
but sadly convinced me to go back to Carrara
but it was nice visiting for the poetry Rashad
th3Digit: Thanks for this great video and for inspiring Rashad to go all out poetic!
Rashad: You've got talent, that's for sure. We want more, we want more. No, not lice, but our beloved Bryce!
To answer the question:
SOMEBODY needs rethinking, and at this point I don't think DAZ is doing any thinking.
So maybe Bryce, the inanimate software product without a brain, can STILL rise above its creation and rethink DAZ. Maybe THEN we'll get a new version. It sure ain't working the other way. Come on; it's not 64 bit YET? What's the matter with management?
What always makes me sad about all these post, is it shows how much there is a loving dedicated community to bryce. I am far from a 3d artist, but bryce is my main 3d program I use ( even for moddeling ).
Ive tried alot of other programs, and despite bryces learning curve and stipulations when it comes to memory. I still find it superior for all my rendering / 3d needs.
I enjoy being a bryce user, and I cant for the life of me find a better program that I am well equipped with that can handle alot of things I wish to do.
I truly wish there was more support for bryce considering how dedicated this community is. Cause I know I for one, would shell out big bucks just to see a newer version.
I dont know all of daz's reasoning behind it, and I only hear bits and pieces here and there. But I think bryce a gemstone that harbors seriously untapped potential. I do not think they could go wrong for making an investment into it
It seems Daz's primary business model is selling content for the latest Genesis figures.
many bryce user are not interested in genesis so much it seems.
How would a 64 bit Bryce add value to daz's primary business
of selling clothing& Characters for genesis???
agree completely!!
Daz bought out Zygate . They have always been a content providing company. Bryce has always been a user based software. The future of Bryce is in the hands of Users, Brokers & Daz!
SRay - I like your animated signature.
I love bryce and I´m gonna use it till one day my notebook will break down and bryce can´t be used in the windowws ? version.
But i still hope that one day DAZ will develope a new bryce version...so that I can go on using my favorite 3D software.
Goyathlay
Well it hasn't run on MacOS for some time now and that is where it started to begin with, the windows version came much later.
Not much later. a couple of years later. The first commercial version, Bryce 1.0, appeared in 1994 for the Mac. Bryce 2 came along in 1996, with the first stable version of Br2 for PC actually arriving in 1997.
1994----1997 Remember when it was a big deal to make a sphere in Bryce with a silver reflecting surface on it? Astounding .... give em the Tori prize.
20 plus years later, and ...........................
oh yes Reflective Sphere 0ver Water. Bryce equvalent of NVIATWAS
An equivalent of the Tori awards would be nice. One day/night a year the community gathers to share & celebrate our endeavors of the Year.
I had to do a search to find out what NVIATWAS means. I laughed when I read the definition because it is one of my "eye-rolling" peeves when I browse through CG art galleries.
NVIATWASunknown
Naked Vicki in a Temple With a Sword
That would be fun to have a new yearly Tori Award Day.
By the way, my Avatar identity picture is a screen shot of the actor Peter Lorre from one of his best films, "Mad Love", a close tie to his "over the top" role in the classic film, "The Beast with Five Fingers," which I watched over and over again as a kid and as a result developed a phobia about crawling hands.
Actually I rarely use Bryce content in my renders anymore, I import entire scenes with people from Daz|Studio, then tweak the lighting, atmosphere and textures to get photorealistic renders. Daz's main failing is that they are so concentrated on promoting the latest, they leave behind everything previous as if it doesn't exist anymore. Sadly, that includes Bryce. But there is interest for Genesis figures in Bryce, mine like going to the beach...
Brycescaper- Those are fantastic renders! So are you saying that
bryce has enough overhead in availble ram to sustain not only 3 to 4 Genesis figures wearing different skins (I assume) and also the full environment of palm trees and everything? That's very impressive. The only thing I might wish for in a perfect world was for softer shadpws, though not too soft mind you, but a little bit of less intensity at the edges of the shadows. But this is me nitpicking, I love the brightness and overall feel of the renders. Great job!
64 bits and not having render outputs limited artificially might get me to try Bryce more seriously.
As it is I mainly use it as a terrain generator (which is loads of fun)
Having spent years running a Virtual Snow Leopard Server solely for Brycing ( because PC Bryce still doesn't feel natural to me ), I would kill for a Bryce that could run on the current Mac OS. MacOS seems tailor made for a vastly improved experience, even if they can't add a single feature. Like many great software applications that outlive the very platforms that spawned them, it seems destined to languish in limbo. I would love to see the original CodeWarrior code open-sourced, but that's never going to happen.
What intrigues me most about it all is that Bryce's Mac interface seems more than halfway compatible with iOS application interface styles. I used to run Bryce on a Quadra650 - Bryce on a modern iPad would kick serious butt.
I remember those days..I started with Bryce 2