The Universe According to Bryce 5- Sun

The best way to understand the Bryce 5 Sun is to play with it and see what it does. If you're like me, you may have spent years allowing Bryce 5 to set up the Sun, and done nothing with it. But when you understand how to use it, you can easily and dramatically light both exterior and interior scenes! The Bryce 5 Sun light is applied to any scene unless it is turned OFF. By default, it is turned ON.

The FIRST thing to understand about the Bryce 5 Sun is what it actually is.

It's a type of "ambient light". This is the light of the Bryce 5 Universe that is all around you. Other 3-D programs use ambient light and they have their own way of dealing with it. The ambient light of the Bryce 5 Sun has directional characteristics, that is, it will cast shadows, and it changes the environment, especially sky color, depending on the Sun's altitude. And there are many ways to change this-- Bryce 5 is incredibly flexible. The Bryce 5 Sun light will affect a scene even when you are INSIDE a completely closed object! If the Bryce Sun goes below the horizon (the ground plane), its light does NOT shine up through the ground, instead, the ambient light source becomes that of the Bryce Moon.

I have always had two big questions about the Bryce 5 Sun (and Moon):

• What is meant by the "Azimuth" in the Sky Lab?
• What is meant by the "Altitude" in the Sky Lab?

To find out, we need a little model, so let's set things up and then play with the Sun. The scene is just so we can look at Sun effects, and we'll do most of the work in the Sky Lab, using the NANO preview.

Note: We'll do a LOT by the numbers. I always indicate negative numbers in RED INK.

Make a Scene 1- Camera

We'll make a simple scene with three objects that the camera will "see" so we can watch what happens when the Bryce 5 Sun changes position.

1. Start Bryce 5 and select the Camera. Your document size doesn't matter as long as you can see everything in the TOP view. I used 320 x 240 (half the "standard") size.

2. In the Camera attributes, set the following:

Position: X = 0, Y = 48, Z = -100 (minus 100)
Rotate: X = 0, Y = 0, Z = 0
FOV = 60
Scale = 100%

As you view from the TOP view, you should see your camera at the bottom of the workspace facing UP. I positioned the camera a little up on the Y axis so we can see some of the top of the objects. I've set the camera up like this to help understand the Sun Controls.

Make a Scene 2 - Cube Object

Let's make a cube object to light. Stay in the TOP view.

1. Create a cube object from the Create palette. Select it. Open its Attributes box.

2. In the Cube 1 attributes, set the following:

Position: X = 0, Y = 10, Z = 100
Rotate: X = 0, Y = 0, Z = 0
Size:X = 20.48, Y = 20.48, Z = 20.48
Note: The size is the Bryce 5 default

3. Give the cube a simple color in the Materials lab. I chose simple red.

You should see your cube at the top of the workspace in front of the camera. I positioned it at 10 on the Y axis to "bury" some of it in the ground plane. That will help us understand Sun shadows.

Make a Scene 3 - Sphere Object

Let's make a sphere object to light. Stay in the TOP view.

1. Create a sphere object from the Create palette. Select it. Open its Attributes box.

2. In the Sphere 1 attributes, set the following:

Position: X = -45 (minus 45), Y = 38, Z = 78
Rotate: X = 0, Y = 0, Z = 0
Size:X = 20.48, Y = 20.48, Z = 20.48
Note: The size is the Bryce 5 default

3. Give the sphere a simple color in the Materials lab. I chose simple blue.

You should see your sphere at the top left of the workspace in front of the camera. I positioned it at 38 on the Y axis to "float" it above the ground plane. That will help us understand Sun shadows.

Make a Scene 4 - Pyramid Object

Let's make a pyramid object to light. Stay in the TOP view.

1. Create a pyramid object from the Create palette. Select it. Open its Attributes box.

2. In the Pyramid 1 attributes, set the following:

Position: X = 52, Y = 20, Z = 78
Rotate: X = 0, Y = 0, Z = 0
Size:X = 20.48, Y = 20.48, Z = 20.48
Note: The size is the Bryce 5 default

3. Give the pyramid a simple color in the Materials lab. I chose green.

4. While we're at it, select the ground plane (the grid) and give it a color. I chose the simple teal (green-blue) color.

You should see your pyramid at the top right of the workspace in front of the camera. I positioned it at 20 on the Y axis to "float" is slightly above the ground plane. That will help us understand Sun shadows.

A Piece of Sky

Everything we do now will be done in the Sky Lab! We don't need to render anything except for clarity! So let's set up the Sky Lab.

1. In your workspace, change to the Camera View.

2. Open the Sky Lab (click on the cloud in the top menu bar).

3. Click on the RIGHT arrow next to the NANO preview to select a sky.

4. Bryce has a default sky, but I have no idea what it is. So I chose a sky I could work with. I chose the one called "Low Ceiling". You can use any sky you like, but I suggest you use one that is a blue sky with a few clouds, like the "Low Ceiling" sky.

SAVE the model you made, we'll be using it in other tutorials!

NANO Preview: Render in Scene

1. Choose the Atmosphere tab in the Sky Lab and turn everything OFF (especially the Fog and Haze). This makes things clearer for our experiments. You can leave the Cloud Cover to what Bryce decides for now.

2. Choose the Sun & Moon tab in the Sky Lab.

3. Click the downward triangle under the NANO preview and select "Render in Scene" and "Fast Preview."

Here's a breakdown of the controls and what they do.

4. Turn on Sun/Moon Visible and set them.

• Disk Intensity = 50
• Glow Intensity = 50

When Sun/Moon are visible, they always show in a scene, even if "Disable Sunlight" is turned ON.

5. Turn on Sun/Moon Size and set them.

• Disk Size= 50
• Horizon Illusion = 1

6. Turn on Sun/Moon Shadows and set it to 50.

The level of the Sun/Moon shadows will darken or lighten your shadows, and if they fall on objects (i.e. one object shadows another) that will affect the recipient object's brightness, depending on the amount of shadow. I find a level of 50 a good place to start, and if I want more intensity, I increase the level.

Sun/Moon shadows MUST be turned on and have a value for artificial light shadows to work. If Sun/Moon shadows is OFF, turning ON artificial light shadows will have no effect.

7. Turn OFF Soft Shadows.

Soft Shadows puts a fuzzy edge on the shadows in a scene and DRAMATICALLY INCREASES rendering time. I usually don't use Soft Shadows.

8. Turn OFF Link Sun to View.

Link Sun to View forces the Sun to follow the camera. When you turn this ON, no matter where you point the camera, the Sun will have the same relationship to it that it did when you turned it on. This can cause some issues in animations because the Sun moves with the camera. I usually turn this feature OFF, but you may find it useful at times.

9. Turn OFF Disable Sun Light.

Disable Sunlight turns OFF the ambient light of the Sun or Moon, but it will still allow artificial lights to cast shadows. And it does NOT turn off the Sun or Moon image, only the light from these two sources.

10. Click on the number next to "Azimuth" and set it to zero (0)

11. Click on the number next to "Altitude" and set it to one (1)

The Sun Controls is actually a sphere. You can change the Azimuth and Altitude settings of the Sun by clicking and dragging in the Sun Controls, but it alters both settings at the same time. The numbers make it easier to control.

You'll see a little Sun under the C in "Sun Controls". As long as the Altitude is greater than zero (0), Bryce is in daytime. When the Altitude is zero or less (up to minus 90), Bryce is in nighttime and is working with the Moon instead of the Sun. You'll see a little Sun or Moon image to indicate this!

Your NANO preview should look something like the image at the upper left. It's very dark because the light of the Sun on the horizon is shooting horizontally through the scene and straight at the camera.

Dawn and the Secret of the Azimuth!

Stay in the Sky Lab and keep the Sun's Azimuth at 0 but change the Altitude to 10. The Sun is still facing the camera.

Remember when we looked at our scene from the TOP view? The camera was at the BOTTOM, facing UP (that's why we made the camera's Y rotation = 0). In the Sky Lab, the Sun indicator (in Sun Controls) is at the TOP, which is OPPOSITE the location of the camera. So now we know something about the Sun Controls Azimuth. It indicates where the Sun is from the TOP view.

Think of the Azimuth as a kind of "longitude" control, a circle you see from the TOP view of a scene. It is on the same plane as the ground plane. When you change the Azimuth, the Sun will move around the circumference of this circle. Essentially, the Azimuth is like the equator of the Earth. A scene, no matter how large it is, is always located inside this circle (which is actually a sphere, but I'll get to that). The Bryce Universe is a fractal infinite, so it expands or contracts as needed.

TIP: If you set the Sun's Azimuth to the same number of degrees as the camera's Y rotation, the Sun will be directly in front of the camera. If you want the Sun directly behind the camera, set its Azimuth to the camera's Y rotation plus 180 (i.e. camera Y rotation = 0, Sun Azimuth = 180)

Didn't we pick a blue day scene? Why is it pinky purple?

This is the Bryce "rosey fingers of dawn". As the Sun orbits our Bryce Earth, the ambient color of the sky will change, just as it does in the real world. This is one of the remarkable powers of Bryce 5. It imitates real world atmospheric effects!

Notice our objects. They don't have much color. That's because the light is passing across them coming towards the camera. They aren't being illuminated from an angle that the allows the camera, in its current position, to see their colors illuminated. If you ever took a real world picture with a camera, and the light was behind of your subject but in front of the camera (shooting into the light), you've probably seen the same effect. Your subject would appear dark.

Why is the face of the objects facing the camera black? The camera is behind the objects, opposite where the light is hitting them, so it is looking at their "dark side".

Wasn't the ground a greenish blue? It looks black with some white glow. Why? The ambient light is shooting across the top surface. The glow we see is the ground plane's specularity. Since the ground plane is a fractal infinite, we see a spot of specularity not a huge wash of it as we do on the finite objects, There's not enough light directed at the top of the ground plane for the color to show-- yet.

The objects all cast a shadow. We can only see it on the cube object because it is on the ground. There IS a shadow for the sphere and pyramid, but the shadows are not in the camera's field of view, yet. The shadows are behind this field of view because they are cast farther away along the ground plane, in direct proportion to their height above it.

A shadow is always opposite the source of light, in this case, the Sun. As the Sun rises, the objects and ground plane will show their true colors, and shadows will shorten.

TIP: When composing a scene, in Bryce or the real world, you'll get your longest shadows at dawn and dusk, and your shortest, around noon. Shadows give a scene life and interest. That's why photographers are so concerned with the time of day when they take a picture!

Let's start our new Bryce day and learn the secret of the Altitude.

Early Morning and the Secret of the Altitude!

Stay in the Sky Lab and keep the Sun's Azimuth at 0 but change the Altitude to 30.

The pinky purple sky color is changing, just as it does in the real world, and we see a bit of color in our ground plane and objects.

We can see shadows for all the objects (the sphere object, being the highest, has the shadow closest to the camera, so it's not fully in view yet) and they are getting shorter.

It's hard to see, but the Sun Control shows the Sun indicator staying at the TOP of the Azimuth circle but it's moving DOWN towards the center. This is the secret of the Altitude.

As the value of the Altitude of the Sun increases, the Sun indicator moves towards the center of the circle. The Sun Controls are actually a sphere. What is happening is that the Sun is rising in the sky along the circumference of an imaginary circle that is perpendicular to the Azimuth circle. So, if the Azimuth circle is like the equator, then the Altitude circle must be like going from pole to pole.

Think of Altitude as a type of latitude control. When the Sun is on the horizon, it's at the equator, and when it is at "noon", maximum altitude, it will be at the "pole".

Mid Morning

Stay in the Sky Lab and keep the Sun's Azimuth at 0 but change the Altitude to 60.

We are getting more color in the scene!

Notice that the objects are casting shorter shadows. The cube shadow looks like it is a part of the cube, and the sphere and pyramid shadows are much closer to being below them.

The Sun indicator in the Sun Control is moving towards the center of the imaginary sphere.

High Noon

Stay in the Sky Lab and keep the Sun's Azimuth at 0 but change the Altitude to 90

We now have full color on our scene! It is High Noon!

Notice that the cube object is casting a no shadow. That's because the light is directly overhead but the object is on (or in) the ground. The shadow is below it but so is the ground!

The pyramid and sphere are floating in the air, so we can see their shadows. The size of the shadow of the object will not change, however, no matter how high it is in the sky. Its relation to the Sun is so vast, that the change is too small to produce. This is not the case with artificial lighting.

The Sun indicator in the Sun Control is at the center of the imaginary sphere.

90 is the largest value you can set for the Sun's Altitude.

So how do we get the Sun to move down to the bottom of the Sun Control?

We change the Azimuth setting and then Altitude to end our Bryce day.

Still High Noon

Stay in the Sky Lab and change the Sun's Azimuth to 180 but keep the Altitude at 90.

It's still high noon, but Bryce is thinking, Afternoon.

No matter what the Azimuth setting, when the Altitude is 90, the Sun indicator will always be in the center of at the center of the imaginary sphere.

The Sun is aligned to the center of the Bryce world and its light shines directly down on all objects, regardless of where they are in the scene.

Now let's move to the afternoon. We're going to see opposite light effects from the morning.

The Sun in Afternoon

Stay in the Sky Lab and keep the Sun's Azimuth at 180 but change the Altitude to 60. We are now lowering the Altitude to make the Sun set.

The Sun is now behind the camera, so we see the objects being lit and their colors. We can't see shadow for the cube because it is on the ground and the shadow is slightly behind it. We can see a shadow for the pyramid and sphere because they are floating above the ground plane. If you look closely though, the shadows are leaning away from the camera.

The Sun Control in the Sky lab is showing the Sun indicator moving down towards the bottom of the imaginary sphere.

Let's see what happens as time goes by!

Early Evening

Stay in the Sky Lab and keep the Sun's Azimuth at 180 but change the Altitude to 30.

The Sun is still behind the camera, so we see the objects being lit and their colors and receding shadows.

The ground is losing the benefit of the light.

The Sun Control in the Sky lab is showing the Sun indicator very near the bottom of the imaginary sphere.

It's getting late, what do you think will happen to the objects? Will they get even lighter or darker? And how about the ground plane?

Let's see.

Dusk

Stay in the Sky Lab and keep the Sun's Azimuth at 180 but change the Altitude to 1.

The Sun is still behind the camera, so we see the objects being lit and their colors are very bright because the light is hitting them straight on from behind us. The ground plane is not showing its color because the light is shooting across its surface, not reflecting from it.

The Sun Control in the Sky lab is showing the Sun indicator at the bottom of the imaginary sphere.

Always think of the Sun, Moon and Camera in their relationships to each other, and you'll always know what the light is doing, where it is coming from and why.

Let's try a little experiment with this. What if we were facing in one direction, but the Sun was on our right, or left or anywhere in between? When we see what happens when it is on the right, we can figure out the rest!

The Sun Rises on the Right

Stay in the Sky Lab and change the Sun's Azimuth to 90 and the Altitude to 1.

You'll see the Sun Control indicates that the Sun's Azimuth is now on the right side of the imaginary sphere.

The spherical object in our scene is reflecting some light and we can see it because it has a curved surface ( we can see phases of the moon for the same reason). But the pyramid and cube, having flat surfaces don't reflect light as well.

Dawn on the Right

Stay in the Sky Lab and keep the Sun's Azimuth at 90 but change the Altitude to 10.

You'll see the Sun Control indicates that the Sun's Azimuth is now on the right side of the imaginary sphere, moving towards the center. The Sun is rising again. But it's directional source is still the right side.

The objects are picking up some of the light from the right. There isn't enough overhead light to see much shadow yet.

Early Morning on the Right

Stay in the Sky Lab and keep the Sun's Azimuth at 90 but change the Altitude to 30.

The Sun Control indicates that the Sun's Azimuth is now on the right side of the imaginary sphere, still moving towards the center.

The objects are picking up some of the light from the right. There is enough overhead light to see some shadows. The sphere's shadow is just on the border of the camera's field of view.

If these objects had been aligned on the Z axis, they would have cast shadows upon each other. We offset them to prevent that for clarity.

Late Morning on the Right

Stay in the Sky Lab and keep the Sun's Azimuth at 90 but change the Altitude to 60.

The Sun Control indicates that the Sun's Azimuth is on the right side of the imaginary sphere, still moving towards the center.

The shadows of the objects are getting closer to their source.

High Noon on the Right

Stay in the Sky Lab and keep the Sun's Azimuth at 90 but change the Altitude to 90.

The Sun Control indicates sun indicator in the center of the imaginary sphere

This scene is identical to the ones we saw in: "High Noon" and "Still High Noon". No matter what the Azimuth, when the Sun's altitude in 90 it illuminates the scene from directly overhead.

To continue the Bryce day with the Sun on the right, just change the Azimuth from 90 to 270 and reduce the Altitude controls. The Sun will set on the left.

In Conclusion...

This part of the tutorial has shown you step by step how the Sun Controls, Azimuth, and Altitude work.

• The Sun/Moon Controls always shows your Bryce Universe from the TOP view.
• Azimuth moves the Sun longitudinally, as if it were moving around on the equator.
• Altitude moves the Sun latitudinally, as it it were going from pole to pole.

It may seem confusing at first. Play with it. Try different settings and see what happens. Eventually, you'll get that "great AHA!" Just remember that the Sun Controls always shows the position of the Sun from the TOP of a scene, and the Sun's Altitude can never be greater than 90.

Whenever you work with a scene, look at the camera from the TOP view so you know what direction it is facing from that perspective. Then you can easily position the SUN to for your lighting. Examples:

If the camera is facing the top of the Bryce Workspace in TOP view, and the Sun Controls shows the Sun at the TOP, the Sun is in front of the camera.

If the camera is facing the top of the Bryce Workspace in TOP view, and the Sun Controls shows the Sun at the BOTTOM, the Sun is behind the camera.

If the camera is facing the right of the Bryce Workspace in TOP view, and the Sun Controls shows the Sun on the RIGHT, the Sun is facing the camera.

It's the relationship between these two you have to keep in mind!

The Sun in Bryce is a powerful lighting element, and we'll use it, even in enclosed scenes to add depth and interest.

But now, let's look at the Moon! It works just like the Sun, only the numbers are different, and there are some extra effects we can pick up-- like comets and stars and even a moon face and moon phases! Great for atmospheric night scenes!