Brycetech: Inside Bryce Part 3

I did not show this technique early in the tutorial because you should get used to the conventional way of merging a file. Once you have gone through the usual steps of positioning, scaling, and rotating a merged file you will find this little trick invaluable in reducing all the extra work required by the traditional method.
To eliminate a large portion of the resizing, rotating, and repositioning steps required for large merged objects you can create a cube that occupies the exact same space that you want to apply the new object. For instance, I want to put a tub and shower in this corner of the room.
So create a cube that is exactly the same size as this corner. Henceforth, this type of cube will be referred to as a "reference cube".
Cut the reference cube from the scene. Save the file and open a new scene in Bryce. Paste the cube into the new scene. This reference cube occupies the same coordinates and is the same size as in the other scene. Now you can use it as a reference for where to place your new object. Simply build your object inside of this reference cube (in this instance I will build the shower inside of the cube). You may want to duplicate this first reference cube before you cut it from the original scene and resize the duplicate to the front of the first cube. This will let you know which side is the front and what you will be viewing when you paste them to a new file.
Set its attributes to hidden so that it will not render in your previews. Also set it to locked so that you won't accidentally move it. You also may want to change the family color so you can see it better while you are working in the file.

With the cube as a reference, you can now begin building the shower enclosure. Just be sure that all of the walls are INSIDE the cube.
Once you have built the new object within the reference cube, group all of the objects and name them.
Re-open the room file and merge the shower. Tada! It's in the correct position, correct rotation and correct size! Creating a reference cube will save you tons of work when making any object in any scene that you intend to use the merge function with. I personally use merge quite often to allow for greater detail. This is also one of the BEST ways to manage large files...i.e. those scenes that have zillions of objects in the final image.	Gotta love an object that merges where it's supposed to!

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Following the steps above, create individual cubes (in the desired locations) to represent other objects that will be in the bathroom. Create new files and paste the cubes individually into the new scenes. Build the object. Then merge the files together.
A toilet.... Totally modeled in Bryce using boolean operations.
Cabinets... To make the second cabinet, this terrain was duplicated and placed on top of another terrain. Then these were grouped and the group was squashed down to a smaller size.	The grayscale for the cabinets

When you make your room, you will want to make the objects as detailed as possible before you merge the file to the full scene.
In the final image, I had only a group of files that I merged together to create the whole image. The file was never saved in its entirety in one file for my personal use. It was only saved as an illustration of the time it takes to save a large file versus the saving and merging of small files. See the Site Notes.
Also as you build your scene, you may find it necessary to change the details and textures of your scene's objects. Notice here that the vanity and mirror are now different than they were to begin with, also the shower texture has also changed from the original. First Final Scene
In the final image, the texture of the mirror frame and upper walls were changed to make it more uniform. Though these are small changes in textures, they added to the realism of the image. Compare the two images to see the improvements. Completed Final Scene	Click the image above to see the full size gallery image.

Site Note:

By using a reference cube in the exact location and the exact size of the objects in your scene, you can merge your objects into the correct place easily. This is an excellent way to manage the large scenes that have a large number of objects. This scene has 10004 objects, ~24 million polygons, and is around 101 megs saved in a complete file. (To save the file took 2.5 hours in its complete form) I only saved it once in complete form for this tutorial to help me illustrate how merging files can save you a lot of time and effort in the BIG scenes. (Saving the five individual files took from 3-10 minutes each)

Don't forget to abuse detail in your interior scenes! If you see an error or visual oddity, don't leave it! FIX IT!

When making any terrain models that you decide to use in your scene, it is best to use the largest resolution grayscale possible (1024 x 1024). This reduces the "taper" in a model. It also allows for better detail. If the vanity and cabinets had been made from primitives, the file size would have increased significantly. So, using terrains in any of your scenes to represent models is always a plus.

Don't forget the "object not found"error! If you see it and you haven't backed up your file or saved it to a different name...IT IS LOST FOREVER!!!

This appears to be fixed in Bryce 4.0.1.

Using a grayscale for the walls is fast to create but it is memory intensive. For instance, compare the size of the file when two terrains are used versus when 12 cubes are used. The difference in file size and render time is something to consider if you have limited RAM to work with. In that case you will want to use elongated cubes instead of a grayscale basis for the walls of your building.

File with 2 wall terrains	File with 12 cubes
4.48 megabytes	2.15 kilobytes
2:19 minutes to render walls	1:15 minutes to render walls
4194304 polygons	72 polygons
2 objects	12 objects

A grayscale may indeed not be practical for building simple walls if you have a slow computer or limited RAM. But if you are modeling an object (such as the shelves, vanity, or vanity top) with many details, a terrain is the best way to go because of its ease to create. The whole idea that is trying to be conveyed here is to show that the terrain editor is not just a "mountain maker".

This is not meant to be an all inclusive instruction on every possible way to have made the final image or produce the desired results. Bryce offers zillions of wonderful ways to replicate, multireplicate, reposition, etc. in its powerful interface. Experiment!

Brycetech: Inside Bryce Part 3

Be lazy when merging files.

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