The base images were created using the demo version of KPT Bryce on December's CD-ROM. After getting roughly what I wanted the images were saved as screen dumps (cmd-shift-3) and taken into Photoshop 3.0 for further manipulation. I can say, hand on heart, that the demo of Bryce is the only try-out that's actually inspired me to purchase the full product. I find it more addictive than any game I've ever played and, although it's quite intuitive, a manual should help me discover the finer points that bit sooner.
Taken together with ColourIt, also on the ROM, you have enough to get any budding Mac artist well on the road to fame. End of plug. All donations from MacFormat's advertising budget gratefully received.
THE PICTURES
HOMECOMING - This was a very early attempt and is almost pure Bryce, apart from the yellow spheres. They remind me of the characters from the Smash adverts. The distant glow was a graduated fill applied to a selection feathered to 20 pixels.
FOGGY MOUNTAIN BREAKDOWN - Title from a tune by Lester Flat and Earl Scruggs, perhaps better known for their work with the Beveley Hillbillies. The original Bryce landscape was a little lacking in detail so I cloned in some rock texture from a CD-ROM image. The mist was applied using Photoshop's dodge tool with exposure set very low.
The spheres (not again) were generated in another shareware gem "Knot" Any program that allows you to make a space craft out of old inner tubes is a must. The effect of distance on the spheres was achieved by varying the brightness/contrast and , of course the size.
EIFEL POWER - This was a little strange. I was idly playing about in the edit pallette of Bryce with no particular image in mind. My thoughts wandered to a wonderful holiday we had on the Lleyn Penninsula in North Wales. I set the machine away rendering, went for a cup of coffee and came back to find an image that was very reminiscent of the welsh coastal landscape, particularly the mountain Eir Eifel which dramatically overlooks the sea at Trefor. Spooky or what. After touching up in Photoshop a blue omni lighting effect was applied et voila.
