these operations were carried out on Bryce 6 but those who have Bryce 5
and (maybe previous versions too) will be able to achieve similar results.
Keep in mind that this is a tutorial for beginners done by a not-so-long-ago beginner....!
Therefore. we will explore just a few possibilities of the terrain editor for clarity.
As you probably noticed, Bryce's default mountains aspect looks pretty steep
and rigid. Fortunately, there are a few ways to customize their aspect
with the help of the Terrain Editor.
1. Open up Bryce and click on the Terrain Icon.
There you will get the default Bryce mountain.
We will now bring a few modifications to it.
2. Click on the 'E' button in the list to the right of the mountain and enter the Terrain Editor.
3. Once in the Terrain Editor, click on the black triangle at the far end of your 'Terrain Canvas' (1).
In the drop down menu, click 'solid' to make your terrain solid (2).
Otherwise Bryce leaves it looking hollow on the inside!
4. Go to the left side of the Terrain Editor and click on the grid shape at the bottom of the tools bar (1)
Here you can set the resolution of your terrain. I set it to 512 here. (2)
Now we will go to the Fractal Generator which has many options to help you change the aspect of your terrain.
5. Click on the downward pointing triangle to the right of the word 'fractal' in the 'Editing tools' panel.
As you can see, there are many terrain options for you to choose from.
I chose 'Rounded Dunes'.
Just ticking this option does not give you a new terrain yet. *Click once on the button
on the left of the word 'fractal' to accept the change, you will get an entirely new terrain.
*see tips at bottom of the tutorial!
What you will get will be something like a square block with hills in it similar
to the one I have in the the 3D preview panel.
notice that edges might be a little too sharp
6. To improve this, click once on Gaussian edges in the Editing Tools window. You'll see that the terrain canvas is now a lot darker at the edges
(darkness means low land at the edges of the mountain) and you can also see this looking at your 3D preview.
7. Now we can add a bit of erosion to the mountain. (if you don't want erosion skip step 7-8-9 and go to 10)
in order to do this, go to the Tools at the left of theTerrain Canvas, see image below
8. And temporarily switch the resolution down to 128. (see previous screenshot in step 4)
You'll immediately see little lines cutting into your terrain and see how much rougher
the appearance is now in the 3D preview.
9. But it's still a bit jagged so now click once on 'smoothing'
in the Editing tools window and finally, go back to the Tools
at the left of theTerrain Canvas, and reset your resolution to 512.
10. Hit the check mark to leave the terrain editor.
Now it is time to render your mountain and have a look at the results...
11. Click on the big button under the Trackball to render.
Here is what I have...
If you are satisfied with the results, go to File and save your mountain.
I did not like the little sharp lines on the mountains, so I did not save it but went back to the terrain editor
instead and lower the resolution of the terrain to 128 and I hit smooth again!
you are now ready to apply a texture to your mountain.
Texturizing the mountain
12. With your terrain still selected, click on the triangle to the right of the Edit button up on the top toolbar.
This reveals the material editor.
Select 'Terrains' then choose a terrain from the drop-down window.I went to "vegetation" and then "whole mountain"
That's right, I chose "Whole Mountain" at first but I did not like it !!!... so I hit undo (Ctrl +Z) and went back to the
Material Editors again and opted for "Greenage" instead. If you don't have the same terrains in your Bryce version,
simply select another terrain that has a green texture.
13. Click on the ball to render
this is what I got....
And voilą! if you are satisfied with the material you applied, you can save your mountain picture
and keep it for your next landscape projects.
Tip
if you don't like the first mountain preview, click another time on the tiny fractal button
and you will see a new shape showing, you will notice that if you click again, another shape will appear
and this, each time you hit the fractal button. You can try different settings until you are satisfied.
