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Bryce 4 by Susan A. Kitchens and Victor Gavenda reviewed by special correspondent: Virgil Mandanici In their 3rd edition of Real World Bryce 4, authors Susan A. Kitchens and Victor Gavenda give a deep insight to Corel’s Bryce 4 3D terrain software. With 977 pages, this hefty book can actually be used as a weapon as well. ___ This guide will bring you from Bryce’s inception, all the way to advanced motion techniques. It has extensive coverage of working in the Bryce 4 space, including little-known shortcuts, tips & tricks. I found this to be an excellent resource for anyone just starting in Bryce 4 who may be looking for more in-depth explanations of all the functions that are available. ___ One section in particular that caught my attention was in chapter 3: “Camera & Scene”, which gives the reader a true insight of looking at your Bryce scenes through a photographer’s perspective, which is of utmost importance and can really make or break your final rendering. It is actually making me reconsider some of my previous works! ___ You will also find step-by-step tutorials, with most of the examples (including inspiring animations) on the accompanying CD-rom. This book was carefully broken down into separate sections of Bryce 4’s major functions including working in the Bryce world, cameras, objects, Booleans, materials, terrains, skies, lighting, rendering, animation and more. The book and CD-rom had promised an accompanying web site that is supposedly offering the readers updates, corrections and printing tips, but at the time of writing this review, they only had a placeholder for a web site. ___ The book is chock-full of black and white illustrations & graphics, and if there is a need for a full-color example, the corresponding graphic is referenced to the color plate section in the middle of the book. At the back of the color plates section you will find some dazzling renderings from various artists, I just wished they had been a bit larger for my viewing pleasure. I was a little disappointed that the authors did not dissect any of the renderings by these artists like they had dissected everything else in the book. They do however reference some techniques covered in the book that the artists used. ___ If anyone was disappointed with the lack of detail in the Bryce 4 User's manual, Real World Bryce 4 may be your answer. After looking through this monstrous manual a few times, it came clear to me: "Where has all of this information been hiding?” This guide definitely picks up where the user's manual left off. ___ Real World Bryce 4 will definitely give you enough ammo to become fairly dangerous in your new Bryce world. I was never really bored with too much technical jargon, but where I wanted more info on a particular topic, they never failed to deliver. This is an excellent book for first-time Brycer’s as well as the pro’s out there.
Computer Graphics & Design Specialist Virgil Mandanici is a professional computer and graphics design specialist, and does everything from corporate logos, presentations and web site design to music productions, 3D animations, cartooning and more. He can be reached at: virgil@dogtrax.net |
