Daz Bryce Tutorial:How to Create a 3D Object from a Flat Image

First off, you will need an image of any sort of symbol. It doesn't matter if it's from a band, some sort of product or whatever you should choose. A great place to get the image is from a Google Images search. Also, the symbol you choose should be of a good resolution over 512 by 512 pixels. The symbol image should also be solid colored or black and white on a single color background. For this I'm using the image of a Triskele that I found on Google Images. Save the image to somewhere you'll remember for use in Daz Bryce.

Now start up Daz Bryce and click File then Document Setup. Set the Document Resolution to 800 by 600 and make sure the Document Aspect Ratio is set to 4:3. Then click the check mark and the document size should change. Now, before you start, save your scene file in a location and with a filename you'll remember.

And on to the creation of the object itself.

First, click the Plane named 'Plane 1' and press delete since we won't be needing a ground in our scene. Now you should see only a cloudy sky and mostly solid blue in the upper-left preview image.

On the toolbar above the main window click the icon that looks a little like a spinning top. It's the one labeled "Symmetrical Lattice" when you roll the mouse pointer over it. After clicking it a shape should appear in the main window.

Make sure the shape is still highlighted and click the 'E' on the small toolbar next to the shape. A new window should pop up with a preview window and a bunch of settings. Off to the left you should see a set of new icons in a toolbar. Right-click the grid icon at the bottom and choose 512 - ultra fine.

Now that you've done that it is time to import the image you saved from the Internet. Under the Editing Tools floater click Pictures and you should see three small thumbnails with small text that says, "Load" above the first two windows. Click the Load text above the first thumbnail and find your image. Once you load it the image should appear in the first and third thumbnails.

Next, press Copy under the first thumbnail and then Paste under the second thumbnail to clear the solid background color from the image. Now press Apply and the symbol should appear in the 3D Preview and Terrain Canvas windows. If you started with an image having a black symbol on a white background, as I did, then you'll have to go to the Elevation tab and press the Invert button to the right of the New Button to invert the symbol.

Now, under the Elevation tab again, there is a button labeled Raise/Lower. Hold down the shift key and click the button, hold and drag left or right to raise or lower the height of the symbol. Use the 3D Preview to see the actual height of the symbol and stop once you think the height is perfect. You may also want to click the Smoothing button four of five times to smooth the symbol's edges also.

Now you're done with this part and you can press the check mark in the lower-right. Then save the scene file.

This next part will take a little tweaking to get the symbol perfectly sized and oriented for your scene. So it is completely up to what you think looks right.

Click the 'A' icon on the small toolbar next to shape and an Object Attributes box should pop up.

My settings were as follows:

Origin:

X: 0

Y: 38.40

Z: 0

Position:

X: 0

Y: 38.40

Z: 0

Rotate:

X: -90.00

Y: -45.00

Z: 0

Size:

X: 50

Y: 50

Z: 50

Then you press the check mark and the symbol should be the correct size and orientation. Now you should save the file.

Setting Up The Symbol's Texture

With the symbol object still selected right-click the little arrowhead icon next to Edit and a dialog texture should pop up. Look under all the categories and choose a texture you like. Press the checkmark and you should see the thumbnail in the upper-left update. If you don't like the look then choose new texture until you find one you do like. I chose Glasses/Red Glass.

Save the file again.

Setting Up The Lighting

Now it's time to set up the light. This is the part that has the most effect on the scene's look. So once you get a feel for Bryce you should definitely think about tweaking these settings also.

Right-click the arrowhead icon next to Sky & Fog and another dialog should pop up. Choose Simple Black Background and click the check mark. The render preview should be completely black by now.

Click on Create and then on the Radial Light icon. It should be the fifth from the left. The light should have appeared in the main window. Click the E and another window with settings should pop up. Under Intensity double-click the 25, type in 75 and press enter on your keyboard.

Now, under Color and off to the right of Uniform, should be a small white icon known as the color chooser. Hold down Control and Alt on your keyboard then click the icon to pop up another dialog to choose the color of your light. I chose 100% Blue in the near center of Basic Colors. Press OK and then the checkmark.

You may or may not see the preview window update but that doesn't matter. There is still one more thing we need to do. Click on the small E and use these settings:

Origin:

X: -122.62

Y: 41.70

Z: 114.94

Position:

X: -122.62

Y: 41.70

Z: 114.94

Rotate:

X: 0

Y: 0

Z: 0

Size:

X: 60.83

Y: 60.83

Z: 60.83

Now, again, click the checkmark and save your file.

Rendering

After saving click File/Render to Disk. Either change the Output Size in Pixels to your screen resolution or keep it at 800 x 600 then click the checkmark. Save it into the same directory as your scene filed and give the BMP file a good name or keep the default name. Press Save and once the render is finished then you're done. Set the image as your desktop wallpaper and congratulate yourself on making a 3D wallpaper in Bryce.

One final note is that you'll find that the more you experiment while creating these scenes, the quicker it'll go next time. Just like everything else it's about practice making perfect. Also, as time goes on, you'll come up with new ideas and your own style to your creations. Not to mention the detail and artistic quality of your scenes will increase.

So get creating and remember, most of all, to have fun and use the full of your artistic imagination while doing so.