Some questions from a very long time user of Bryce...just not very recently...

Old Stuff

im so happy this community is still blazing along. I used to put together pieces with Photoshop, Poser and Bryce years back on Renderocity under daemonknight...Idont even remember using that as my sign-in for here lol. Lots have chanced since then, operating systems, multicores, gigs of ram even multiple owners of our beloved Bryce...

I myself continued into IT professionally, and went more 2D on the side doing graphic design and stuff. Recently, there has been a stir of a craze going on in the Android Development community regarding the release of Google Cardboard, and its open ways of "democratizing" Virtual Reality, myself included. Im first off and mostly curious if anyone here has dabbled in the VR world (Or any type of game creation) with what you have created in Bryce (and exported to Unity or other ways), and if so any helpful hints setting Bryce up to take on such a thing ie; best practices for labeling and materials etc

The Skylab and terrains for me are something I think Bryce excels on, and could bring a lot to the table in the VR creation part of things....also powering up Bryce kinda just feels like that worn in leather glove you've had for years, thats a big plus in my creative process that Id like to not loose by using something else.

If this is something that is possible, and/or other ppl have some interest and/or more knowledge about it than I do, would anyone like to get together to work on something collaboratively?

-Steven

Brycescaper

I too have a warm affection for Bryce, but there is a growing concensus that us old-timers that used Bryce for photorealistic VR scenes are becoming irrelevant and Bryce is becoming abandonware. The HDRI and fill/dome light features added to Bryce 7 (Pro) are the last major improvements, and that was released in 2008 or so. As an article in a noted (but not immediately remembered) publication (i.e.PC World) noted years ao, DAZ was first and foremost a modeling company that used free software as ready-made platforms for people to use 3D models they created... they reasoned that's why DAZ is free, cause the money is in the models, not the software. Umfortunately, they seemed to have kicked Bryce to the curb, not bothering to proportion or accurately scale to Bryce users, but scale up to DAZ. The environment is no longer usable in scenes with DAZ figures imported. I have a post in detail I just posted that explains all this, if you're curious. For both your reasons and mine, there needs to be a Bryce 8- DAZ needs to leave Genesis alone for six months and truly reconcile Bryce with both DAZ and todays emerging technology. I saw the term 'abandonware' in that article, for the first time and that was over two years ago. I just wish DAZ could multitask and properly care and maintain all its products.

CTippetts

Sorry I didn't notice this thread sooner.

I HAVE to say, this is art. Bryce, I mean. Art needs artists. Have you ever heard the phrase, "starving artist"? DAZ allowed starving artists the ability to express themselves without means. If art can only be produced by those with means, so much for art ... true art. Art requires suffering as well. If suffering allows the starving artists to make their way in this world, DAZ should be praised for allowing true artists the tools to let their suffering evolve, through expression, into something those with means can get pleasure from. This principle is one of the most profound reasons art survives at all. Art is one of the reasons those who can turn their suffering into survival should survive. WE, as a species, need art. Art needs more than just suffering. GO DAZ!!!

BTW, someone had to create those models it is said the money is in. They couldn't do it without the tools. Thus, GO DAZ!!!

Differing points of view are welcome.

HAVE FUN!

Horo

brycescaper said:

The HDRI and fill/dome light features added to Bryce 7 (Pro) are the last major improvements, and that was released in 2008 or so.

Just for the records, the current Bryce version is from 15. August 2011, so it's about 3.5 years old. There is more than HDRI and fill/dome lights. The Sky Lab and Light Lab are completely new. We have Curvature filters in the DTE and Mat Lab and Anisotropy; I don't mention Displacement because - though it works - it is not implemented to our satisfaction. We have an Instancing Lab. We have now radiosity called True Ambience in Bryce. I would also very much appreciate if a new development cycle for Bryce would be started, rather sooner than later. But I have to admit in all honesty that I still have not yet explored everything we got with the last dev cycle - and when I look at the renders in the galleries, many haven't even discovered - or are using - any of the new options. For the moment, all we can do for Bryce is to use it and show our artwork.

Bonito Lil

@DaemonKnight -- yeah! Back in the day, I used to use Bryce with other graphics programs like Painter and Mojoworld for book illustrations and the like, and they continue to be part of my art life. Like old tools with timeworn handles that fit easily and comfortably in the hand.

But Horo is absolutely right: there are features of 7.1 Pro that I had no understanding of, like HDRi, until I recently became involved in this forum. You can use Bryce to do art the way you're accustomed to but you can also become immersed in further education and discover new ways of realizing the art in your head. Today, true ambience -- tomorrow, god rays!

It really bites, though, to go to the Daz home page and find no link there to Bryce the product. There are some real shout-out-loud bugs they need to come to grips with, like the screen bitmap corruption problem.

Subtropic Pixel

All due props to Horo, but I must disagree.

Just because we haven't used all the tools, this is not a good reason to justify no new version in the last 3.5 years. The non-development cycle has been inexcusable, and every DAZ customer and PA should be concerned.

Even old tools need to be re-hammered and re-sharpened at times, and this is true most of all for Bryce.

64 bit support should be FIRST on the list, and this is not just some shiny bling I am longing after like a parakeet looking for his favorite mirror or toy. Bryce needs to be able to address more memory so that artists can once again include animals and people in those super scenes, and run them all at HD meshes/resolutions without fear of running out of memory.

I feel strongly that we are being too kind to DAZ for allowing this product, along with Hexagon and Carrara to go flaccid. Yes they have gone flaccid and something needs to change! Or else, please release the source code so that it could be open-source supported by the community that loves it so much and maybe finally give Blender a run for its money. Support the product or give it to us!

Free Bryce from its development purgatory! Free Bryce from its aged decrepidity! (I just made that word up) Free Bryce to once again do great things in this era of MODERN 3D development tools!

Old Stuff

Ahhh seeing responcese here makes me smile :)

CTippetts said:

Sorry I didn't notice this thread sooner.!

Bryce is absolutely an art. Anything you use in detail, in repetition, you tend to hone, and it then becomes expressive. Personally I thank Bryce, and the curators of it, DAZ just happens to be one of them, but not a very big one. A lot of people don't see how companies like these work sometimes though. Marketing for example can have a lot to say in maters of resource management. They might not be the right decisions, but its usually the hand with the projection for sales that holds a devs hand back because that hand would rather use that dev in a venture that has a better (more researched, sometimes biased research) projected increase of revenue, or at least a positive return.

In my opinion industry standards, etc. only become industry standards not because of widespread use, its because of the products (read:profits) they have created.

Horo said:

when I look at the renders in the galleries, many haven't even discovered - or are using - any of the new options. For the moment, all we can do for Bryce is to use it and show our artwork.

You are 100% correct. Bryce is huge. And a lot of people dont know half of what it can do, or even WHY it can do it, which to me is the more important factor, as its what contributes to dev activity etc But seriously, its people like you and David that has kept this boat floating. No one would know about 2/3 of the features in Bryce if it wasnt for the two of you.

I hope my usage of Bryce in the projects Im venturing into can do Bryces name some good. Im making good progress so far, not hit any walls so far that i cant take on.

@DaemonKnight -- yeah! Back in the day, I used to use Bryce with other graphics programs like Painter and Mojoworld for book illustrations and the like, and they continue to be part of my art life. Like old tools with timeworn handles that fit easily and comfortably in the hand.

You basicly read my mind how it felt when i fired it back up. But it wasent jsut the nostalgia, or the familiar feeling. As I stumble myself into the likes of Blender, I'm so saddened by the potential number of artists that will turn away from it because of its unintutitve user interface. As a programmer, its got to feel like you're a god lol But when I use Bryce, it feels like it was made for the artist to create math, where as other 3D apps feels like they were made for the mathematician to make art