Cumulus

Posted on October 2, 1999

I’ll admit it. I’m a closet software geek and I get a little bit giddy every time Metacreations decides to release a “Point 1” patch for Bryce. I have no idea what bugs this one fixes (or adds) but I do know that it comes with this cool new “volumetric rendering” mode. An object, like a sphere, is “volumetric” if the texture assigned to it goes all the way through in 3D instead of just being mapped to the exterior. It’s a great effect but it takes forever to render.

Luckily I have a pretty fast computer. “Cumulus” is new today in the Night Scenery Gallery and the WIP. I put this one together just to test out the Bryce patch, but I thought it looked kind of interesting in the end. I could see adding a dragon or two, maybe some lightning… In grand Brycean tradition, the image is composed entirely of spheres (10 of them). Quick tip if you’re want to try it at home: whenever possible, try not to place any one volumetric object in front of the another. Overlapping them in front of the camera has an exponential effect on render time