Bryce moves!
   Yes it does. With some stunning animation controls. If our earlier review of Bryce 2 did not move you to buy this program, which is quite unlike anything else you have ever seen, this one should!
   This is the main Bryce 3D screen and if we're using some of your bandwidth to show it to you, it is simply because this is one of the most beautiful interfaces we have ever seen. In fact, it is a shame the software publisher's association, or someone like them, doesn't give out awards for designing interfaces. If they did, Bryce 3D would win hands down. It is an absolute pleasure to work with this program. And if the interface is this neat, imagine what you can do with the program.
   Well, unbelievable things. For instance, the animation will allow you to make changes in virtually any property of any object or scene. No kidding. You can spin balls, make clouds move, erode mountains, have water shimmer and move "regular" objects across the scene. Bird fly. The sun sets. Wow.
   If all they did to Bryce 3D was to make it move, that would really be enough. But there is, indeed, more, including a very handly addition which lets you define the property of an object's entire volume, both inside and out. This is, obviously, different than surface-only volume, which is also available.
   The best way to describe volume material is to ask you to imagine a colored sphere, If you set the volume color of the sphere to blue, light passing through the sphere becomes tinted bluw. But the light which enters and exits the sphere is not tinted. Can you imagine the possibilities.
   Color is but one of a large number of properties which can be assigned to the volume of an object. In fact, you can play with one of them all day just to see the results, which can be spectacular.
   Bryce 3D also features a new texture editor, called a "deep texture editor," which means you can control almost any aspect of a texture. The texture coontrols in Bryce 2 were great: these are wonderful!
   Also available are new environmental controls, some of them obviously necessary to the animation portions of the program, but others just plain old enhancements. Want rainbows, star fields, rings around the sun? These are yours for the click of a mouse.
   Much like the volume materials, Bryce 3D also adds visible light effects and infinite slabs. Both give depth to the objects they create. If the idea of a light having volume is strange to you, let's just say with this feature, a light can be affected by other sources of light. With the infinite slabs, objects such as water can take on depth. Drop something into a lake and it will change color with the depth!
   We were super impressed with Bryce 2 and Bryce 3D only enhances our opinion of this outstanding program. Its abilities are seemingly without constraint and the output is lovely, realistic and useful in a wide variety of areas.
   Connect to the Bryce 3D web site.