The DoGA L2 / Bryce 4 Tutorial

Note: This tutorial assumes that you have a general working knowledge of both DoGA, and
Bryce 4, and that you have in your possession both of these programs. :)

"<FIG X>" Refers to a picture

By. Don Gaiser / Xzarno

Ok, so you've got Doga, and you've made a few ships, now what?

      The very nature of DoGA is one of simplicity, it was designed to make it easy for beginners to learn 3D model making. But that same simplicity also means that the pictures rendered with DoGA are not quite as stunning as one would hope.

Enter, Metacreation's Bryce 4.

      Bryce 4 is a 3D digital art program with the ability to render beautiful realistic looking 3D landscapes. It also has the ability to import DXF mesh files, which is what this tutorial will cover.

-Step 1 Exporting from DoGA

Open DoGA, then click Design An Object, then click Modify Existing Object.

Next, pick out a one of your models that you would like to import into Bryce.

Open it :)

Next, click File, then, Export, then,
Export 3DFACE DXF File. <FIG 1>
(Important: Do not use POLYLINE DXF File, it will not work in Bryce)

Now, give your new DXF file a name, and save it, and don't forget WHERE you are saving it to !

That's it for DoGA, you can now close it up.

-Step 2 Importing to Bryce

Open Bryce, then click File, then Import Object. <FIG 2>

Next, find where you saved the DXF file of your DoGA ship, and open it.

Your DoGA ship is now in Bryce.  TA DA !

-Step 3 Smoothing

Ok, now if you look at the preview window or even do a quick render of your new ship you will find it to be gray in color and kind of blocky looking. The first thing we are going to do is to "Smooth" it out.

First make sure the ship is selected, (it should be red), then click the E <FIG 3> in the Part Info Column. A window will pop up, this is the Smooth window. <FIG 4> You simply click on the smooth looking ball to smooth the ship. To undo this, click on the blocky looking ball. The gage to the left adjusts the amount of smoothing, usually the default setting is fine, but feel free to experiment. 

Click the check mark when you are done.

-Step 4 Texturing

Now the fun part.

I'm not sure of the mechanics of how this works, but when the DXF file is brought into Bryce, it is divided up into separate objects. The number of objects varies with the size and complexity of the ship. These objects are then grouped together. If you were to apply a texture to your ship at this point, it might look "ok" but, it wouldn't look very realistic.  For a more realistic appearance, we are going to ungroup the ship and apply different textures to different parts of the ship.

First. ungroup the ship by clicking the U in the part info column.

It should be noted, that from this point on, you should be VERY careful not to accidentally move any of the parts, because once you have moved it out of it's original position, it becomes VERY difficult to get it back to where it belongs. If this should happen, it's usually easier to just delete the whole ship and start over. Avoid this problem by using the "Tab" key, and not the cursor to select parts.

Next, using the tab key, you can cycle through the various parts of the ship.
Pick a part, apply a texture, then repeat until you have applied textures to all the parts. <FIG 5, 6 & 7>

I'm not going to tell you what textures to apply to your ship parts, that's up to you. After you get tired of using the textures that came with Bryce I would suggest downloading some from the internet or, if you have a good graphics program, make some of your own.

Once you have all the parts textured, select them all by backing away from the ship and dragging a box around it. <FIG 8>

Now, re-group the parts by clicking the G in the part info column.

-Step 5 Finishing Up

All that's left is to set up the background for your ship, this can be just about anything you can imagine, outer space, under water, over the sea, over a mountain, even on the ground.

Oh yea, one more thing left to do, save your ship.

With your ship selected, click on the small arrow next to the word "Create" at the top of the screen. <FIG 9>

Next click user then click add.

A window will pop up, give your ship a name and a description, then click the check mark. <FIG 10>

That's it, now next time you want to use that ship in a picture, just click the small arrow next to Create. Then click the ship you want, then click the check mark. That ship will now load to your picture.

Once all that's done, render your picture, than sit back to admire your work. <FIG 11>

The End :)

Note: Lens-Flair Glint Off Of Windshield Done With KPT-6

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3             Figure 4             
          

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 11

To see more examples of this tutorial in action, or to download
this model, please visit my web-site.
 Bryce 4 Impact

If you have any questions or comments about this tutorial, please feel free to email me.
Xzarno Email
Copyright 2000 - Don Gaiser, All rights reserved.