umm... yes
have you ever noticed the ball on the left hand side of the UI? click and drag on it to move the camera position.
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One ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them. And One Ring in darkness bind them.
- Sauron
To see the world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
-William Blake
(This message has been edited by maxx (edited 12-28-2001).)
Isometric is the way the image is viewed. Kinda from the upper corner of it. This is the camera angle also. Coldstone will not be viewed isometrically, so an image done isometrically n bryce would look quite strange in coldstone.
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To see the world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
-William Blake
The strict definitiion of "isometric perspective" involves the lack of traditional "vanishing points," i.e. all the lines in one perspective plane are parallel to each other and do not seem to meet at some distant point.
A good example of isometric perspective is Sim City 2000.
You have to specifically turn on "isometric views" in 3D programs, because it is an unnatural method of rendering a 3-D image.
I don't see a problem with doing an isometric view for a Coldstone game, because although the sprites and backgrounds will be rendered as isometric projections, the movement can still be described on a 2-D plane; in fact, the lack of traditional perspective demands that the movement be constrained to two axes.
The only inconsistency you'll encounter is mapping movement to the arrow keys. Since "up" is more like "a 45 degree angle up to and to the right" on an isometric system, you'll get odd feedback from using arrow keys to move. You'd be better off relying on mouse clicks or creating a custom key set for movement (like R,T,F,G) to better simulate the directions the on-screen directions of the character.
That's not to say you couldn't make the character move in the traditional up, down, left, right method; it would just "break" the grid you've established in your isometric world and would leave one wondering why you did it isometrically at all 
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marc siry
century city, usa
Thanks Marcsiry- you knew exactly what I meant - I just wasn't exactly sure how to put it in words. I don't own bryce, and was thinking about purchasing it, but even looking at the graphics in POG, it is evident that there ARE suggested vanishing points for each seperate rendered image. This is not entirely noticable, as they are all rendered from the same vantage point, but the inconsistancy looks odd. By using the technique in sim city (great example) everything matches, even though true perspective doesn't exist- I just wanted to know if there was a feature in bryce to disable traditional perspective.
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A Flute with no holes is
not a flute. A doughnut
with no holes.... is a
danish.
Before doing anything with the camera in Bryce, go to top view and turns it 45 degrees so your ground plane and objects you will make are parallel with your viewing direction, which makes life a lot easier. You can fool around a bit with the zooming option (left of the Bryce workspace) and the enlargement tool (right bottom) to get the perspective that is ideal for a game like POG. Be sure to save the camera position (upper left corner) and save the document as a base to work from, saving each new version under a different name. I would recommend to always drop your created objects to the ground plane (top edit tools).
I make some of my money using Bryce (check my info for my URL) and am looking forward to this coldstone game engine. Too bad no more testers are needed...
If you are thinking of buying Bryce, version 2 was given away for free with the first issue of the magazine 3D world. I use version 3, in the latest version you can make trees.
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"Get back to work, you slacker!" - Duke Nukem
I'm interested in 3D rendering but don't know much about it - I'm looking to take a course. Can you tell me: how much the latest version of Bryce costs? What company makes it? Is there a website I can visit? Thanks for any information!
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Originally posted by MadSciMonkey:
how much the latest version of Bryce costs? What company makes it? Is there a website I can visit?
It was published by (url="http://"http://www.metacreations.com")metacreations(/url) , but is now published by (url="http://"http://www.corel.com")corel(/url)
It costs around $300 for the full version, and $150 for just the upgrade to version 5.
It would be good to note that Bryce is better or rendering terrains than rendering characters or scenery. I'm sure it would do in a pinch, but in the long run thre are better programs, such as (url="http://"http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/Home/homepage.html")maya(/url), (url="http://"http://www.hash.com")animation:master (/url), (url="http://"http://www.curiouslabs.com") poser(/url),and (url="http://"http://www.eovia.com")ray dream studio(/url), all of which are quite expensive, but so are most professional 3d and 2d rendering programs
I hope i was of some help.
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In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti
It's not so bad being trendy, everyone who looks like me is my friend.
•Reel Big Fish
There is also Strata3D(base) from Strata Software, which is free, but of course, it is nothing like the professional 3D rendering tools. It may be worth it to understand how a 3D program actually works.
By the way, the latest MacAddict has a whole section on 3D images.
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I think there is free 3D program coming out soon called Blender (url="http://"http://www.blender3d.com/")http://www.blender3d.com/(/url)
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There is also Strata3D(base) from Strata Software, which is free, but of course, it is nothing like the professional 3D rendering tools. It may be worth it to understand how a 3D program actually works.
That's funny-- five years ago I was making >80% of my income with what is now "Strata 3D." In the world of software, yesterday's essential tool is today's starter kit...
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marc siry
century city, usa
Getting back to what this has to do with Coldstone...
Is it even necessarry to use an outside graphics editor/creator with Coldstone? Only if you want original graphics?(Which I do) Or is it just that people who make graphics would rather use what they're used to?
(This message has been edited by MadSciMonkey (edited 01-06-2002).)
Quote
Originally posted by MadSciMonkey:
**Is it even necessarry to use an outside graphics editor/creator with Coldstone? Only if you want original graphics?(Which I do) Or is it just that people who make graphics would rather use what they're used to?
**
This is what I know thus far, from the bits and peices form various mods and members and topics...
You will have to create your own graphics if you want custom ones, as coldstone will not be able to create graphics from within the engine, but coldstone will come with an included graphics library.
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In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti
It's not so bad being trendy, everyone who looks like me is my friend.
•Reel Big Fish
Thanks for your help, Bean.
What does the Latin in your signature mean? Something about father and son's spirits resting in peace? Sounds religious.
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Macs Rule!
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Dee is my Hero!
Quote
Originally posted by MadSciMonkey:
**
What does the Latin in your signature mean? Something about father and son's spirits resting in peace? Sounds religious.
**
if I remember correctly,
In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti = In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
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In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti = In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
Yup, that's right.
It's the family prayer from Boondock Saints.
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In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti
It's not so bad being trendy, everyone who looks like me is my friend.
•Reel Big Fish
Quote
Originally posted by Bean *:
**It was published by metacreations , but is now published by corel
It costs around $300 for the full version, and $150 for just the upgrade to version 5.
It would be good to note that Bryce is better or rendering terrains than rendering characters or scenery. I'm sure it would do in a pinch, but in the long run thre are better programs, such as maya, animation:master , poser,and ray dream studio, all of which are quite expensive, but so are most professional 3d and 2d rendering programs
I hope i was of some help.
**
Animation:Master is $300, not expensive at all for a 3D program and excellent for character animation, if you have the time to learn it. Unfortunately, my copy is lying unused because I never have the time.
For making top-down terrain views, I think Painter (http://www.procreate.com) is excellent. Once you learn it, it has great texturing features and can be used for making seamless tiles, animations and special effects.
Poser is a good program, but its built-in figures are easily recognizable and using it is like announcing "I can't draw or model in 3D". However, you could make some animations in it, then use Painter to trace over them and make them into your own characters.
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--
Mark
