Bryce 7 Pro and Daz3d Studio 4 Pro = Free

Thanks for the heads up on this.

I know it's a bit of a weird one to flag up but Daz is great for making up panels and lighting them up to render graphic for knobs, switches and meters and such.

I've owned earlier versions of these but I haven't tried them for the last 5 years or so, it might be time to give them another look.

Awesome. I just downloaded Bryce 7 stuff. For free. Hopefully there are no gimmicks. Thanks SongCraft! 

@ Jon, same here I haven't used this sort of software in years then later came back and started with Bryce 5.5. Daz3d Studio is a little different and I don't use it that much. 

@ Kreative yeah adding the items to a shopping cart did freak me out a little lol I thought huh is this free?, yeah hard to believe because Bryce alone was selling for about $249.

Anyway, ages ago I got Bryce 5.5 for free when before it was selling at I guess $249 (full RRP) and there are no gimmicks, no limitations and you can add objects from Photoshop and drop them into Bryce.

@ Anubis, once you get your head around the basics of Bryce it becomes fairly easy and fun to use; 

. Starting with Create = water, land, terrain, objects, sky and then 

. Edit = (E) select materials using the drop-down arrow next to the Edit button on the menu. 

. The (M) = Here you can change the look of the material, darker, lighter, add layers of other materials, change the texture from smooth to rough and bumpy. The possibilities are endless.


. Edit = [E] but the the tiny [E] button attached to the object/terrain = Editing The Currently Selected Object/Terrain for example you can shape/design the terrain using the paint tools directly on the canvas (terrain-canvas).....

.... Several other Tools such as; [A] [Color of WireFrame] [M] [E] [G] these options are attached to the objects, terrains, ground and water.

Terrain Editor - Tools/Tips: 
You access this mode by clicking on the tiny [E] button

... ALT key erases and 

... Space-Bar selects elevation (eye-dropper tool) that you use to click anywhere on the canvas (gray-artwork/terrain); always remember that white is the highest level whereas black is the lowest (or zero) and of course all the grays in-between those levels/elevation. * The same principle applies when creating in Photoshop for Bryce you use gray scale like I said; White is the highest elevation whereas Black is the lowest possible elevation - this is important to know!

... then you have several other tools on the left in the Paint-Canvas mode starting with...

>  Brush Size. 

> Below that is brush edge from soft to hard. 

> Next is the Gray Scale density. 

> Next is the Gray Scale value (button looks like a LED Meter lol) this adjusts from light to darker grays. * White is the highest level thereby it's highest on the that level meter/slider control. Yes you just click/drag to make adjustments on all these controls/tools.

> Next tool at the very bottom and what looks like a [grid] allows you to select resolution from 16 to 4096 when creating/sculpting the terrain (Terrain Editor).  128 is the default and OK but 4096 is way large and would slow the rendering times to a crawl. 

Back to the main window (default) workspace; 

Attributes (A) again it's the tiny button attached to the objects/terrains. (A) = precise X,Y,Z adjustments such as; size and position.

Group (G) again it's the tiny button = you can group two or more object together (lock them together) this is what I use after I have created objects and such, (G) locks all the parts together and when done I save as (add); as custom Object which can be quickly called up in other projects. 

... Oh and (U) = Ungroup. 

In the main window (workspace) on the left are position tools and that button way at the bottom = render, the one next to it on the left selects quick render mode. You'll figure all this out fairly quickly.

Man there's a lot you can do in Bryce, I've only covered the bare basics. 

The manual that comes with Bryce is easy enough to follow. 

i used to use Bryce long ago. I rate it second to only Blender as far as 3d apps that are free goes.

Anubis


Hey thanks for the tips! What kind of hardware do you need to run these programs. I'm running an i5 with 8GB RAM.

I would think you'd have more than enough to do the simple things. I don't know how much the newer version requires, but creating and rendering full motion video is the most demanding task and files can be saved as AVI. Creating still images with models is not very demanding at all, by comparison. The learning curve is moderate, I would say. Its a very basic 3D program as far as the level of animation complexity goes. With a quad core, you'll be well on your way to functionality.

keith


Hexagon 2.5 is free too(!)... a pretty good modeler, if you need one...

Thanks for pointing that out as I totally forgot to mention it but I did suggest looking around the site (Daz3d) because they have lots of free stuff (legit)!  


Haven't installed Hexagon 2.5 yet but will do soon.  
. Video Overview of Hexagon

Thanks for the tip. I used to see Bryce in stores and wonder if I would pay that much.

DAZ Studio 4(64_bit) installed just fine. But Bryce 7 (32_bit) gave me this error. Any clues?

No I haven't installed 'yet' - been busy and in the process of updating my PC. I did come across this topic on the DAZ3d Forums: http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=183786 not sure if this will help but I hope so.

Glad that's sorted out :) 

I've got a couple of scenes I've been working on in Bryce. Still have more work to do on them; 





I created all the panels; Astrometrics (left), Main Control Panel/Strip (Front), Communications Panel (right), all these were done in Photoshop then loaded in Bryce and saved as materials presets that can be quickly called up for other scenes in Bryce. They are all very clear and detailed when viewed at full-resolution/size. 

Those chairs were solely created in Bryce and saved as Objects, the materials for the chairs and carpet was created in Photoshop and then loaded and saved in Bryce as presets. 

The blank Green area (Main Front View Monitor) is where an outside image of space or something else such as my ugly face will be positioned. 

Here's how to create your own materials, load in Bryce and then save as Material Preset; Instructions : you need to follow these instructions very carefully step-by-step. 

Here's another scene I did solely in Bryce; transparent Hanger/Building, Mirror/Glass Dome and I created the SpaceCrafts in Bryce using a combination of cones and sphere shapes then saved as Object. * Tip: Make sure to Group [G] all the parts together before saving as an Object.  * Tip: I usually group parts together earlier on because by holding down CTRL/Shift I can select or deselect any part(s) of the Object to make whatever modifications.

When creating Objects it's best to work in Directors View with default Gray materials (renders faster) and always switch between Front, Sides, Top and Bottom views to make sure all parts are perfectly aligned with each other. 

Tip: Holding down the ALT key whilst re-sizing will adjust both X or Y or Z sides equally, whereas holding down CTRL key will tilt the object.