Lesson 8: Creating the Interior of the Lake

Next you will create a third terrain object-Terrain 3 -and apply the same Desert Rock material as you used before. Then you will rotate the terrain object to create an inverted terrain that will eventually form the interior of the lake. Next you will make the inverted terrain a Negative Boolean object. Grouped with the positive terrains created in the last lesson, this negative terrain will 'cut' a hole out of the ground plane.

To create a new terrain object:

1. Click Create.
2. From the Create palette, click the terrain object to add a third terrain.
3. Click Edit.
4. Click the triangle icon next to Edit to display the Material presets selection panel.
5. Click Planes & Terrains.
6. Click Desert Rock.
7. Click the OK icon.
8. This terrain needs to be rotated through 180 degrees about the X or Z axis to create the interior of the lake.

To rotate an object:

1. Click Edit.
2. Locate the Rotation tool. Move the pointer over the X or Z axis rotation ring.
3. Hold down the Shift key (this causes the rotation to be carried out in 45-degree increments), then click and drag horizontally on the rotation ring. You'll see the angle of rotation displayed at the bottom left of your screen.
4. Drag until you see either 180 or -180. The terrain will now be upside down and your screen should look like this.
   
   

To create a Negative Boolean object:

1. With Terrain 3 still selected, click on the Object Attributes button to display the Object Attributes box, then click Negative. It is now a negative Boolean object. This means that Bryce will 'cut' this shape from the ground plane.
2. Exit by clicking the OK icon. You'll notice that the Terrain 3 wireframe is dotted, since it is now Negative.

To create the lake:

1. Ensure that the Wireframe underground button, found on the Advanced Display Palette, is off.
2. Click and drag Terrain 3 until the square base (which is now on top) is just above the ground plane. Watch the Nano Preview window to track your progress. Your scene in wireframe mode should look like this.
   
   

To group the terrains:

1. With Terrain 3 still selected, hold down the Shift key and click one of the other terrains to select Group 1 together with Terrain 3.
2. Click the Group button.
3. Click the Render button to see the hole in the ground plane.
   
   

To make the interior of the lake bigger:

1. Click the Display modes button to return to Wireframe mode.
2. Click the Time/Selection toggle, located in the bottom right corner of the Bryce window, to display the selection palette.
3. Click and hold the Terrain icon on the Selection Palette at the bottom of the screen.
4. From the list, select Terrain 3. Terrain 3 should now be the only selected object. Although it is part of a group this terrain can still be repositioned, resized and rotated on its own.
5. With Terrain 3 selected, use the Resize tool to make it bigger and the Reposition tool to fine- tune the positioning. Watch the Nano Preview window to check the effect you're creating. When you lower the terrain, keep the terrain's square bottom above the ground plane; otherwise, the hole will disappear.
   
   

Copyright © 2005-2007, DAZ Productions