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Procedures
(How I do this stuff)People often ask me how I do this stuff. I know, at least before I started, I was always curious how these types of images where made. On this page, I'll briefly try and describe the steps I take to create an image.
The first thing, of course, is an idea. When I first started, I though this would likely be the hardest part, though I've found that I have way more ideas than I have time to create them. While this is a little frustrating, it does give me an opportunity to pick what I think are the best ideas and work on them. I get them from all over, and they usually form in my head fairly quickly. I usually carry around a miniature tape recorder so I can record the ideas I have, and play them back later. I find this easier than making notes, and it's also more accurate because I can 'talk out' the idea while I'm recording.
Once I have an idea, it's time to decide how to create it. At this point in time, I'm mostly using Bryce to create my images, but there are several other programs I use outside of Bryce depending on what I need. If I need some background mountains, hills, or canyons, for example, I'll first create the image outside of Bryce in Terragen. Terragen is an excellent terrain creation tool... but that's ALL it does. It creates and renders terrain. It does this so well though, that I find it hard to reproduce an effect so well in Bryce alone.
Another program I use outside of Bryce is called Poser. I use Poser strictly to pose and texture models for import into Bryce. This is, of course, what Poser is good at... hence the name Poser. If you ever see a person, horse, dragon, or other animal in any of my images, chances are it started out in Poser. Once I have the figure posed the way I like it, I import it into Bryce and begin working around it.
Working in Bryce is a fairly simple process, though it does take practice. There is a lot of trial and error working with different textures and objects to get them to mesh just right. I find, however, that if I plan my image properly and get everything I need ready beforehand, I really don't spend as much time in Bryce tinkering around trying to find the best textures or objects. Once I have an image I'm happy with, it's time to render.
Rendering is the process of taking the 3d data you've supplied to the program, and turning it into a 3d graphic world. Each render engine is a little different, depending on the program, but they all work in very much the same way. A 3d object takes up space in the world, and is only visible because there is light shining off of it, just like in the real world. What you see when you render the scene is the light bouncing off the object and coming into the camera. In order for the program to determine what you should see, the scene must be rendered. During this process, 'rays' are mathematically bounced off of objects in the scene, and the program records what those rays do in relation to the camera. Once the render is complete, you have a 2d image of a 3d world. This is a very simple explanation.
I usually do a test render before I do a full one. A test render takes anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes depending on the scene, and it's just a preview to make sure I like what the image is doing. Once I'm happy, I'll do a full render with all the advanced options on (things like anti-aliasing, soft shadows, reflections, etc) at 1600 x 1200 resolution. This can take anywhere from an hour to a couple of days! If there are a lot of objects in a big world, with lots of things to bounce rays off of, a render can take a good long time. I find that using different programs, such as terragen, to take the load off of Bryce will speed up render time considerably.
Once the render is complete, I'll save it as a Photoshop file and load it into Adobe Photoshop. This is called post-processing, and it's usually just for little image tweaks, inserting layers and images not possible in Bryce, or adding my tagline. Once I'm happy with my final image, I put my tagline on it, and save three versions - 1600 x 1200, 1024 x 768, and 800 x 600. Those are the three most common resolutions used on computer desktops, and if someone uses a different resolution they can always take an image one resolution higher then theirs and scale it down. Learn more about resolution.
When all three resolutions are made, I save them, upload them, write up a little summary, and they're available for you to download.
There is a little more to the whole process than that, finding the right models, getting the terrains or the lighting just right, texturing, working with atmospheres, ambience, and a host of other techniques, but that's it in a nutshell. I hope you enjoy the images I've made, and I'll see you in the gallery!
