Resources

Screenshot of Bryce with some explanations

Useful Information

In order to create the candle holder use a variety of primitive objects and join them into one body by using Boolean operations.

You can save many different entities in a 3D program. Here is what you need to know about saving for this assignment.

1 - You can save the file you are working on so you can edit it later, by selecting save from the File menu (save a Bryce file)

2 - You can Save a still image of your 3D world by Rendering it and selecting "Save Image As" from the File menu (Tiff, or jpg)

3 - You can Export the animation to a compressed format (like an .avi, or a .mov file) by selecting "Render Animation" from the File menu.

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Make sure you set the file location to your folder! Otherwise your animation will be lost

Animation take a long time to render, so plan accordingly. It is not unusual for a complex scene to require a day or more to render.

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Use the "create" palette and click on a primitive object to place it on the scene.

In order to manipulate your object use the "Edit" palette and the bounding box that encloses the object when it is selected. You may also alter the Attributes by clicking on the "A" button of a selected object.

Booleans are operations that allow the creation of one complex object by the interaction of two more simple objects.

1 - Create the objects that will be the parts of the Boolean operands and overlap them.

2 - Select each object and press the "A" button to bring up the attributes box.
Set the objects to either "positive", "negative", or "intersect".

3 - Select the next object and do the same (give it a different attribute, like negative).

4 - Select both objects (by shift-clicking, or by drawing a square around them with the mouse), and group them by clicking on the "G" button. The Nano-Preview will show the results you will get when you render.

You can make your objects look like they were made of any material you like, in order to make your scene more realistic.

Assigning materials to objects can be as simple as selecting the material from the library.

You can access the material editor by selecting an object and clicking on the "M" button next to it, or by using the Edit palette.

This will open the Materials Lab. There you can manipulate the current material, or you can choose one from the Material Library.

Once you select the desired material from the library you can manipulate its properties (its bumpiness, transparency, deflection, etc.) in the "Materials Lab".

Before you begin animating, go to File>Animation Setup, and set the duration of your movie to 2 seconds, at 12 FPS (frames per second).

Animating is a simple task of selecting a "Beginning" and an " "End" for a motion. You do this by assigning "Keyframes" in the "Timeline.
The computer creates all the frames between (tween) the keyframes you set.
In Bryce4 move the "Time Locator a few frames on the timeline and move the object to the position you want them to be when the time locator reaches that point.
Push Play to preview the animation.

Here are the steps:

1-Setup the animation
(File>Animation Setup)

2-Assign the first Keyframe

3-Assign the next Keyframe
A keyframe is a moment in time when major changes in the events take place. For example, a falling ball starts at a given height (Keyframe #1) and falls until it hits the ground (Keyframe #2). We assign a keyframe to the time when the ball hits the ground because its trajectory changes; it is a drastic alteration on the path of the ball.

4-Repeat step 3 to the end of the animation.

When you are satisfied with the animation, render it and save it as a Quick Time (for Mac) or AVI (for Windows).

When the animation is rendered, it will appear as a new (quick time) file in your folder. Double clicking the file will open Quick Time and will play the animation.

!!!

Make sure you "set the file location" to your folder! Otherwise your animation will be lost

Animation take a long time to render, so plan accordingly. It is not unusual for a complex scene to require a day or more to render.

!!!

For more info on 3D+ Animation:

• 3D Cafe is a great resource for 3D and animation. It presents tutorials, galleries, freebies, classifieds for 3D jobs, and much more.
• Take a look at the Softimage site
• Autodesk is the author of such products as 3D Studio Max, 3D Studio Vis, AutoCAD, and others.
• Toy Story 1,2, and A Bug's Life are available on videotape if you want to see some applications of 3D rendering and 3D animation.
  Also many feature films make extensive use of 3D animation. Films like Jurassic Park, Mighty Joe Young, Titanic, Star Wars utilized the capabilities of digital 3D worlds to create scenes that were not possible any other way.
  Also, watch the TV program "Reboot"