A professional musician using Bryce...

Harley Van Kirk is a professional musician who was the vocalist for Surgical Steel and played with bands such as Judas Priest, Queensryche, and Iron Maiden in the 80's. He has been following along with the Bryce video tutorials to create a music video for one of his songs [see below]. He's been updating me on the progress as he works through the process. This is what he told me today:

"Hi Robert! I finished one of the short videos... came out OK. It was your tutorials that helped me! I got some radio interviews due to it. Some people stumbled upon it and contacted me about my music. Robert, your tutorials are worth a lot of money to people, if they just apply themselves. I still have just a few very small edits to do but it's pretty much done! It was your tutorials that helped me realize this in Bryce 3D... great and intuitive application!!!! I'm still looking for things to go along with this album theme... It would have to deal with "Myths and Legends" of our history in the world like "Lord of the Rings" or something like that. The album is theme based -- it's one of those things like Stonehenge and the pyramids etc. that are part of our world but we haven't really figured them out... heavy concept! Hence the dark ages look."

Harley is still working on videos for this project and expressed an interest in having help with models for them.  If anybody is interested in building models relating to myths and legends (i.e. Stonehenge kind of stuff) let me know and I can put you in contact with him.  It might be cool to have one of your own creations be in a music video.

Bryce Project #9: Animation 2

Today we will begin working with the camera in our 3D animation work. It's a little more complicated because we'll be having the camera follow an object that is moving, but it's still definitely doable. :)

I am once again including a video tutorial below should you need it.

Bryce Project #8: Basic Animation

Today and tomorrow we are going to explore basic 3D animation.  Obviously you can tell by the picture on the right, we aren't going to be doing very complex animations, but it will help you understand the concepts of 3D Animation.

Again, I am including a video tutorial below.

Bryce Project #7: 3D Logo

Today we're going to experiment with using Bryce Symmetrical Lattice to make a 3D logo.  On the right you can see the finished YouTube logo in 3D, while on the left (below) you can see the original.  I applied the logo to the Symmetrical Lattice.

I am also attaching a tutorial video for those who would like to try this at home.

Bryce Project #6: Outer Space

Todays project is really the absence of terrain... and sky... and haze.  It's space.  In this instance we will be creating a moon, stars, a comet or two, and [if you want] some sort of space craft.

I am also including a video tutorial below if you need the extra help.

Bryce Project #5: The City

Today we are going to be using both PhotoShop and Bryce.  We will create a grayscale image in PhotoShop (size 512 x 512 pixels) with several shapes (mostly rectangles) which we will use to apply to our mountain (terrain editor).  This will effectively allow us to create a city in Bryce using a single mountain.

An example of the grayscale image is seen on the left.  The brightest (white) colors will be the tallest points and the darkest (black) colors will be the lowest points.  Obviously the different shades of gray will be mid-size buildings.

I am also including a video tutorial below if you shoud want to watch this tutorial again. [Or if your family or friends would like to create something like this.]

Bryce Project #4: The Desert

Today we are going to use our Terrain Editor, the sky editor, and some haze to make a scene that appears to be a desert.

I will also be including a video tutorial below for those who need to review the in-class lesson [or those who are absent during the demonstration]. 

Bryce Project #3: The Forest

Today we will be using the Bryce Terrain Editor to think a little bit out of the box.  We will be creating a forest.  We will be using a terrain for the ground, a terrain for the trees, some fog, and [of course] an effective sky.

I am also including a "video tutorial" below if you need to go over this again in the future.

Bryce Project #2: The River Valley

Today we will use the Terrain Editor to build a river valley / canyon.  It will be similar in setup to the Island project from yesterday -- you will have a mountain (terrain), water, and a good sky texture.  Remember to start out with FILE > NEW DOCUMENT > STANDARD > 800x600.

Beginning Bryce / Bryce Project #1: Island

Today we begin using the Bryce 5.5 program which is designed to allow users to create virtual landscapes (both realistic and fantastic).  In November of 2009 Daz Productions released Bryce 5.5 as a free program.  You can now download and install it on your home computer.  (Get it here)

We will be creating several projects in Bryce using a variety of techniques. 

We will be using Bryce to create some landscapes as backdrops for our upcoming multimedia projects using Adobe Flash, Movie Maker, etc. 

I am also including a tutorial video below (if you can view YouTube) to help get you started: