Customer Reviews

Real World Bryce 2

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We purchased this book out of desperation, as we had a project demanding instant "alien" backgrounds. As the program's documentation was so incomplete and erroneous as to be virtually worthless, we eagerly ordered Ms. Kitchens' book after reading rave reviews. And, it is almost everything expected. While Bryce can be "played" with to achieve spectacular results with no documentation at all, this book has allowed us to use the program in depth, which is required by our commercial graphics demands. Unfortunately, it is not perfect, and these flaws make me wish Ms. Kitchens would find a better publisher for her work. First of all, the promised CD for the Windows platform is not included, but must be ordered by means of an included postcard, with a promised "3-4 week delivery time". We feel this is deceptive, and only refrained from returning the book due to our pressing needs. Secondly, after getting through a somewhat fuzzy-headed and arrogant foreward, we found that the (numerous) excellent illustrations were poorly placed in reference to the text, resulting in constant page turning. For a technical manual, it is incumbent on the publisher to better coordinate the placement of text and illustrations. I'd say this publisher needs to show the same concern and dedication in their efforts as Susan Kitchens has shown in hers.

This book is the 'definitive manual' of Bryce. Susan Kitchens is absolutely fanatical in her assault on the hidden and deep features of Bryce 2. She will show you things that may have taken you years (if not forever) to figure out on your own. If you wanna go deep, and I mean DEEP into Bryce 2, this is for you. Bryce artists are making a living producing 3D images right now. This book can help you to reach the professional level of 'Bryce Master' in a shorter time than you thought possible. So, if you're tired of doing the same old scenes, now you have a mentor to guide you. After all, experimentation is fine, but life is too short to keep reinventing the wheel.

Although this is about Bryce 2, the book is essential for Bryce 3D also. It is one of the best books on any computer software I have ever seen. It is particularly good for beginners since it covers the basics you need to know before you can accomplish much with the program. It explains the underlying concepts in a way that turns you quickly into an expert.

This book is absolutely incredible. After going through the manual, this Bryce 2 neophyte was not actually comfortable with his knowledge. But no sooner did I pick up this book and start reading, did things just start making sense to me. There's so many cool things you can do with this program, that this book is a MUST to have. It's clear explanations have really enhanced my knowledge.

I have purchased every book written by Susan Kitchens. I need the information, I need the insights and I appreciate the amount of work she puts into every title. If you use Bryce - any version - you need her books.

Even if you've upgraded to Bryce 5, Real World Bryce 2 can be the Brycer's best friend. Many of the techniques are still applicable! In fact, some of the "problems" noted in the text with the windows version of Bryce 2 no longer apply, they've worked since Bryce 3D!

Susan is an excellent author and graphics artist. This woman is the Salvador Dali of the computer graphics world! Her books are indispensible!

If you've ever wanted to really understand Bryce and how it works, this is the book for you. It really helped me streamline the process of making cool worlds in Bryce. The color examples & awesome artwork are a nice bonus.

Every feature in covered in great detail, far beyond the scope of the original Bryce manual. The author presents advanced features, showing how to make undersea worlds, rivers, & waterfalls using Bryce & Photoshop.

She devotes over 100 pages to working with texture. Other chapters cover working with other software, rendering and realistic nature imagery. There is even a chapter on making alien world scenes.

The CD also has some great examples including rendering tests & tutorial Bryce files to play with. There are also 100's of spectacular images of different worlds created by over 80 different artists.

If you've ever wanted to really understand Bryce and how it works, this is the book for you. It really helped me streamline the process of making cool worlds in Bryce. The color examples & awesome artwork are a nice bonus. Every feature in covered in great detail, far beyond the scope of the original Bryce manual. The author presents advanced features, showing how to make undersea worlds, rivers, & waterfalls using Bryce & Photoshop. She then devotes over 100 pages to working with texture. Other chapters cover working with other software, rendering and realistic nature imagery. There is even a chapter on making alien world scenes. The CD also has some great examples including rendering tests & tutorial Bryce files to play with. There are also 100's of spectacular images of different worlds created by over 80 different artists.

After reading only part of this book I was creating all kinds of images. It is an excellent way to get started or use it as a ref. book. Also the illustrations included are wonderful. As an illustrator just starting to experiment with 3d graphics I found this book to be a great source of ideas.

This book is a wonderful companion to a novice like me! The many insights are simply inspiring! The CD-ROM have lots of scenes from over 80 artists that speak volume. Just like the Beatles, for example, when they are producing on those primitives 4-track machine...they don't know that ahead in the future will be 24-100tracks console. They just produce with what they have and have great results. The author even prelude each chapter with stories like Alice in Wonderland! To me Bryce2 is a more philosophy than anything. Here you can create with manipulation of controls but whether the rendered scene speaks the truth is another thing. I don't want to sound to be glorifying this book or the author...but the book has both a soft and hard aspect that I find attractive.