Real World Bryce 4. The Art of the Digital Landscape. [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Real World Bryce 2 became something of a phenomenon among Bryce users. Consequently the follow-up volume, which has been in gestation for over three years, has been eagerly anticipated as Bryce itself moved up through three to version four and changed owners from MetaCreations to Corel. Now the wait is over and thanks to meticulous work by authors Susan A. Kitchens and Victor Gavenda Real World Bryce 4 is bigger and better than ever.

Just short of a 1,000 pages, Real World Bryce 4 is stuffed with intimate details and authoritative advice on the inner workings of Bryce 4 showing power users how to rip off the hood and tweak the engine. Beginners aren't left out either as there's a short chapter offering a gentle introduction to Bryce's tools and techniques. From building 3-D landscapes through to 3-D animation, Real World Bryce 4 covers lighting, Boolean operations, model building, scene building, materials, sky lab, the deep texture editor and rendering. The text is straightforward and informative and illustrated throughout in black and white. There's a 64-page colour section of reference charts and inspirational artwork as well as a CD-ROM with images and sample files to help you work through the chapters along with bonus tips, portfolios and extra goodies such as graduations, materials and pre-set libraries. If Bryce 4 is your god, then Real World Bryce 4 is the 10 commandments. You'll not only live by it but by the end you'll be able to create and animate your own Mount Sinai! --John Cranmer

Bryce, thanks mostly to its unique user interface, always elicits a powerful reaction from users--sometimes positive, sometimes negative, but rarely indifferent. What can't be denied, though, is the amazing quality and variety of images that Bryce can produce in the hands of an experienced user. The problem, then, is acquiring that experience.

Real World Bryce 4 is a massive and insightful tome that manages to pierce through that obscure and uncommon interface and reveal the power of the underlying tool. Written by a pair of veteran Bryce users and seasoned writers, this book is the source of that sought-after experience--a virtual fountain of information from which to drink deeply.

Bryce 4 is a rich and varied program, with options and controls over just about everything, and the 17 chapters and nearly 1,000 pages of text reflect this. Starting with a brief history of 3-D graphics, and a history of Bryce, the authors take us step by step through the program, from interface basics through modeling, texturing, and rendering.

There is much more to Bryce than meets the eye (if you can believe that). Chapter 5 is dedicated to streamlining and optimizing the interface and the workflow, from display controls to batch management to setting up your default scene. Complex modeling using Booleans, multiple objects, terrains, and lattices is covered in chapters 7 and 8.

The heart of Bryce is procedural materials, and chapters 9 through 11 are devoted to using materials and the materials lab. This portion of the book spans nearly 200 pages and covers everything from the water and rocks below to the skies and clouds above. These are arguably the most valuable chapters in the book.

Bryce isn't often thought of as an application worthy of a book, especially a book of this size. Considered a consumer application by many professionals, it's nice to see a top-notch publisher like Peachpit give it the attention it deserves. A solid application, and a terrific book. --Mike Caputo

For any beginner to advanced level course in Computer Graphics, Web Graphics, Graphic Design, Digital Imaging, or Visual Communications. Get industrial-strength production techniques from these comprehensive, "under-the-hood" reference guides. Written by nationally recognized leaders in digital graphics, Web, and new media, these books offer students professional techniques and timesaving tips for using their software every day. Covering basic through advanced skill levels, these books are a great addition to any print or Web graphics library. This version of the book is expanded to include a detailed tour for Bryce beginners as well as the most complete exploration of Bryce's animation features. Its tutorials, step-by-step explanations, informative diagrams and amazing full-color illustrations serve to initiate Bryce beginners, instruct Bryce devotees, and inspire everyone in between.

For any beginner to advanced level course in Computer Graphics, Web Graphics, Graphic Design, Digital Imaging, or Visual Communications. Get industrial-strength production techniques from these comprehensive, "under-the-hood" reference guides. Written by nationally recognized leaders in digital graphics, Web, and new media, these books offer students professional techniques and timesaving tips for using their software every day. Covering basic through advanced skill levels, these books are a great addition to any print or Web graphics library. This version of the book is expanded to include a detailed tour for Bryce beginners as well as the most complete exploration of Bryce's animation features. Its tutorials, step-by-step explanations, informative diagrams and amazing full-color illustrations serve to initiate Bryce beginners, instruct Bryce devotees, and inspire everyone in between.

Corel Bryce 4 is unique among digital graphics applications for its special focus on landscape generation and atmospheric effects combined with an intuitive interface. With this latest version, digital artists can produce ever more realistic (and surrealistic) scenes–all that users need is the definitive documentation. This third edition of the award-winning guide to Bryce covers all the improvements in versions 3 and 4, including animation, new volume materials, Sky Lab, and substantially upgraded import and export capabilities. Packed with detailed tutorials, instructive and beautiful illustrations, and comprehensive practical advice, Real World Bryce 4 also includes a CD-ROM offering QuickTime movies and step-by-step explorations of the book’s gorgeous images. Readers can also find additional information and Bryce updates on the book’s companion Web site: www.auntialias.com/rwb4.

• Start from the absolute beginning with a thorough tour of Bryce, and move through its most powerful and complex features.

• Follow step-by-step instructions for constructing scenes, objects, materials, movies, and more.

• Create natural-looking landscapes, including mountains, hoodoos, waterfalls, canyons, and whole planets.

• Explore the elements of the Bryce interface, all its Palettes, Labs, and Editors.

• Use the new Sky Lab to add realism to clouds, shadows, fog, rainbows, and comets.

• Master the intricacies of Bryce 4’s animation features to bring your world to life.

"Real World Bryce 4 is a must-have book for anyone who uses Bryce or wants to see how computer manuals should be written."

–Charles Fleischer, Entertainment Technologist

"During development of Bryce 3D and 4, there was only one source for determining how Bryce ‘should’ work! You guessed it–we used Real World Bryce 2!"

–Brian Wagner, Bryce 4 Lead Engineer

Susan Kitchens has worked with Bryce since before version 1.0 shipped, and has more recently created and animated Bryce worlds for the home video production, "Planetary Traveler." In addition to writing, Susan is a 2D and 3D pixel-pushing illustrator, graphic designer, and computer graphic training consultant. She lives at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in Monrovia, California. Not just another author, this native of Austin, Texas is an editor and producer at Peachpit, where he compiles and tests most of the CD-ROMs you'll find in the back of our books (as well as the DVD-ROM in Making iMovies) and checks manuscripts for technical accuracy. He also shares his knowledge of Mac lore in more general ways, alerting his colleagues to future directions in personal computer technology and helping them when their Macs are Sad. In a previous life, Victor Gavenda was a geologist, spending his days searching for geothermal energy beneath the Gulf Coast. When he realized that this bored him silly, he began a second career, in music, earning a master's in musicology from the University of California, Berkeley. These days, he balances his duties at Peachpit with choral conducting, harpsichord tuning, and being a dad to Emma.