As Dave was mentioning the other day, we got Bryce 7 Pro in one of DAZ's rolling sales, and this has been my first opportunity to play with it. If you're following the soap opera of this blog, you know I haven't been feeling well for some time ... can't seem to concentrate on anything much, so don't want to tackle major job like editing (ye gods, am supposed to be "doing" the first segment of Mel Keegan's new Hellgate novel, as well as Sara Lansing's The Haunted Coast, and also a tale from a new voice who'll be heard in m/m romance very soon, Linda Hines.
But my editor's eyes have blindfolds taped over them right now! If you know anything about editing, you know it's all about the most microscopic details ... and I can't focus. I apologise to Mel, Sara, Linda, and any others who're waiting for me to catch up with myself.
All I have the focus for is digital doodling. It might look complex, but since at the moment it's all a big guessing game, hit and miss, these landscape were actually all about sitting back with a blanket and a cup of tea, while the computer rendered something! I learn by doing. Which, in Bryce, means pushing numbers and values this way and that way, and seeing what happens...
Bryce 7 Pro is fantastic. They haven't changed the interface, but there's just more of everything, and you can push everything further. I'm impressed. I never did get my teeth very deeply into Bryce 5.5, because I didn't have enough time to learn it properly (there is so much to learn!) but I'm coming to Bryce 7 Pro with the basis of having done a bit in 5.5, and it makes a difference. I think I've learned about 5% of what you need to learn, to do this well.
And what about Vue? I love it ... and when I can rationalize paying the money to get a version called Vue Esprit, I'll be in there with both feet. In the meantime, for making backgrounds and exporting foreground objects, the new Bryce is fantastic, and then you combine the two with figures and props in DAZ. I can play happily for hours ...or fall asleep waiting for a new shot to render --!
Jade, 11 September (911 ... and all due condolences to my American friends)
