particle emitter woes no mo'

mtnmen

I have been trying to do an image in which I have used the particle emitter... I have wanted to use the particle emitter ever since I upgraded to Bryce 7 and I checked out the new things that came with it...
It's a very tricky thing this Particle Emitter... Because in this render I have several volumetric clouds, the render time is very long and I have stopped the render and the next day resumed the render... and it was hours before I noticed that all the particles had disappeared.. so I would yet again reset the time slider for making the particles and start the slow render again... and again I noticed that the particles again disappeared... This had gone on for 4 days now... So being the wise person that I am.... I checked out Horo's tutorial again and saw that ... and I had forgotten this... that the render can be saved... BUT all the settings of the particle emitter cannot...
Horo... I am so thankful to have revisited your tutorial... I was about to pull out my hair on this one...
I am in hopes that in future versions of Bryce... that the particle emitter will be improved upon in a few areas... the saving of settings, and being able to pause and resume a render and retain the particles...
... and perhaps the ability to change the shape of the particles from simple spheres and the ability to size the particles...
However, as frustrated as I was... after seeing the tutorial again, I now understand the limits... and I can deal with it...
Steve

Horo

@mtnmen - oh I'm sorry to hear about your struggle. How frustrating this must have been. The Particle Emitter was developed before Bryce 6 but it was never finished and therefore the code was deactivated. It was found by a programmer when working on 7 and we agreed (DAZ 3D and the Steering Committee) to enable the code as an Easter Egg. Use it if you can, but don't blame anyone when it doesn't work as desired. That was the rationale at the time. I've successfully used it a few times, mostly to add fruit (apples) on a tree but I also got a bit mad at times when I had to re-generate the particles and they came out differently than before. Yeah, use it at your own risk ...

mtnmen

@Horo Thank you for this information ... and what to expect from the particle emitter... Knowing this gives me some boundaries to work within with specific limited results.... My frustrations with this trying-to-make-art with Bryce is in a sick sort of way part of the fun.... being totally lost at one point and then "poof" some understanding comes into play... and I have learned something else... I generally play with Bryce for a couple of hours a day... and think about it the rest of my day... about, perhaps, some new approach I can take the next day...
I really appreciate your obviously tremendous knowledge of Bryce and your willingness to share it...
... Speaking of sharing knowledge.... What did you mean about the particle emitter being added as and "Easter Egg"? the fact that you have to hunt for it... or what?
just curious
Steve

Horo

@Steve - sharing knowledge is what Brycers do. I've learned enormously from others and the only way to make up for this is sharing as well. Bryce has probably the best community in this respect.

An Easter Egg (in our context) is a hidden undocumented function in a program (some folks like to hunt). They are either jokes or functions that are not yet mature. Obviously, the Particle Emitter is not mature but can be fun nevertheless.