Adding a lake to my scene

spmwc

I would like to add a lake to my scene but can't figure out how to add the water to just the lake. Every time I add a water plane it covers the whole scene. I am adding just a plain lake form to my scene from the content in Bryce and want to fill it with water. Thanx for any help!!!! :P

Oroboros

Ah. You confusion arises because you think the 'water plane' is the only way you can add water.

The water plane is just an infinite plane, the same as the infinite ground plane and the infinite cloud plane. All three do exactly the same thing: add an infinite plane to your scene.

The main difference is the MATERIAL. The ground plane gets a randomly selected ground material, the water plane gets a randomly selected water material, and the sky plane gets a randomly selected cloud material (oh, and the cloud plane is added at a 'high' height).

The key is the material. You can add a material to any object in Bryce.

There are a couple of ways to make a lake/pond/shore that doesn't go on forever.

I. THE FLAT LAKE

a) Create a 2D plane (I prefer circular), not an infinite plane.
b) Orient the 2D plane so that it's horizontal. Re-size and re-position the plane so that it neatly fills the area of your lake.
c) Add your water texture.

You could use a cylinder, a cube, even another flat terrain equally well... So long as you're just after surface appearance.

The example below shows my 2D circle incompletely covering my terrain cavity. The grey patches of the 'lake' is the grey infinite plane intersecting the terrain.

2. THE COMFY LAKE

a) Select your terrain, then cntl/cmd-c (copy), then cntl/cmd-v (paste). You will get an identical terrain super-imposed exactly on top of your original terrain.
b) Click the floating "A" icon of your new, selected terrain. The Edit (A)ttributes dialog box will appear.
c) Under the General tab, click "Negative" if it isn't already selected.
d) Do everything in THE FLAT LAKE scenario, but instead of a 2D plane, use either a cylinder or a cube. This will be your volume of water.
e) Select this cylinder (or cube) and click the "A" icon. This time, click "Positive".
f) Shift-select the Negative terrain. Now, both the cylinder and the terrain should be selected.
g) In the floating menu, click the "G" button. These two objects will now be grouped together as a Boolean object. Essentially, you've created an object the exact same size as the volume of water your lake will be.

Ok, so method two seems a little elaborate... Why bother?

Because sometimes you want to be able to control both the look of the water AND affect the look of the lake bed, independent of the land texture the lake is filling up. Transparent shallow water allows you to see the bottom. The second example below shows a triangular material on my lake floor.

BE ADVISED: You may need to adjust either the height or size of your second terrain so that it can be seen instead of the original lake bottom. If you do adjust terrain 2, check your shorelines so that the two surfaces of the terrains overlap or intersect.

Hope this helps.

mermaid010

I think if you check out this tutorial Bryce 25 minutes on landscape lighting basics - working with legacy skies - by David Brinnen you will be able to make an awesome lake. David inverted the terrain.