Bryce has always been a popular program to create 3D terrain models. It has a lot of followers who have created websites filled with tutorials and art work. Thus, there are a lot of tutorials and "how to" articles for newcomers and experienced users. In more detail, Bryce is a program based on wireframe construction for building both stationary and moving worlds. These worlds can be naturalistic consisting of mountains and lakes or fantasy worlds. Objects can be imported from other MetaCreations's programs such as Canoma or Poser or exported to MetaCreations's RayDreams.

The Windows requirements for Bryce 4 are: A Pentium processor or compatible with win 95 or above or NT 4 with at least service pack 3, 32 MB of free RAM with 64 MB recommended, 75 MB free hard disk space for installation, 16-24 bit video, and a CD-Rom. The Mac requirements are: A Power Mac with OS 7.5.5 or above, 32 MB of free RAM with 64 MB recommended, 75 MB free hard disk space for installation, 16-24 bit video, and a CD-Rom.

The price for a new user is about $198 and for an owner of an earlier version of Bryce 4, the price is about $50.00 less with either a direct or mail-in manufacturer rebate.

There are two CD-Roms that come with Bryce 4, of which one is a tutorial. The application CD contains both Windows and Mac versions. The over 450 page manual is full of information. Also included is a shortcut card.

MetaCreations' has on its website a five page document describing Bryce 4 and its new features. It can be found at: http://www.metacreations.com/products/bryce4/about/feature.cfm. In addition, as of 8/17/99, a demo version of Bryce 4 was made available for downloading.

Bryce is advertized as a product for both novice and advanced users. For those just starting, Bryce comes with many presets in their various libraries. A novice can create their own scene just using the presets, experiment with changing the presets, and eventually, as they become more experienced, create their own. For those who want to use the scene in a 2D program, Bryce 4 has the capability of producing a BMP file at the same time that it renders the scene in its native format. One can also export the scene in many 2D and 3D formats.

For those users of previous versions of Bryce, the following is a list of new features: Streamlining of certain features such as creation of skies, clouds, etc; more rendering options such as gamma correction and 48 bit dithering; increased number of terrain models with fully adjustable terrain mesh density; enhanced screen resolution; light editor enhancement; new material lab features such as tiling and mirroring; picture editor enhancements with the ability to use Photoshop plug-ins on 2D image map textures, and new import/export features. For a more detailed account of the new features, refer to the MetaCreations' web site as listed above.

To see how easy it would be to learn the rudiments of the program, I decided to follow the Manual's Tutorials contained on the application CD. There are, also, 3rd party tutorials on the content CD. The first set of instructions were to set the size of the working screen. This I found particularly useful because on the setting I chose, Photo, the size of the screen was larger than minimum but smaller than maximum. For my 19 inch monitor it was perfect.

I decided to approach this review from the perspective of ease of learning using the tutorials as my main method and then by ease of creating my own scenes.

Since I was not adept at the concept of moving an object or a part of a scene along an axis, it took me a number of hours to become familiar with that concept. Once it clicked, the idea was not difficult at all. The tutorial was easy to follow except when it gave the user the option of using a completed file from the CD or their own newly created identical file. The file's name was "Basic Tutorial Finished Terrain." I could not find it anywhere. For the other tutorials, I completed each one and then matched it to the one on the CD.

The tutorials were a great way to begin (and I stress begin) to learn about Bryce 4. While I had seen compositions created in Bryce, I was never aware of the power and potential of this program. As a Bryce novice, I have been able not only to create scenes in Bryce, but I have been able to export those scenes in a resolution of my choice to use in Photoshop.

One item of importance for me is whether I can save or export a file whose combination of resolution and size make it possible to use in either Adobe Photoshop or MetaCreations Painter without having to change the file resolution by interpolation. This can be done easily in Bryce 4 at the time of final rendering.

A word of advice. If one has not used or manipulated an object in a wireframe type of 3D program, the learning curve will be steeper, obviously, than for one who has. However, the result is worth it. I suggest to new users that they do the tutorials until their image matches the one in the book. The directions are very good. Once initial understanding dawns, I believe that the program will be one that the user will constantly use and wonder why he or she hadn't purchased it earlier. This, in my opinion, holds true for people who want to render and print directly from it, use the created scenery in another 3D program, or use it in a 2D program.

I like Bryce 4 so much that my next project will be to increase my knowledge of Bryce 4 to take me to the intermediate level. As I work with Bryce, I hope but do not promise, to create tutorials for beginners even more rudimentary in scope than those found in the book. I was very satisfied, however, with the tutorials found on the Bryce 4 CD's.

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