11 Creating Skies

A Bryce sky defines the virtual environment of your scene. Unlike many other 3D applications, the Bryce virtual environment is not merely a backdrop; it is an infinite 3D representation of natural environmental phenomena.

All of the elements in your sky interact with each other just as they would in the real world. Colors in your environment interact with everything in your scene just as they would in nature. For example, red sunlight is invisible until it strikes an object; then the object exhibits red highlights. If it's a blue object, it takes on a purple cast and so on.

The colors in the sky change depending on the position of the sun, and how much moisture (Haze, Fog) is present in the atmosphere. All this, plus natural reflection, refraction, and more make the Bryce Sky & Fog palette responsible for a great deal of the natural, or supernatural, look and feel of Bryce images.

You can add even more realism to a sky by enabling one of the many environmental effects available for skies. Using these effects you can create night skies full of stars, or have a bright rainbow streaking across the roof of your world. One of the most spectacular effects is the Volumetric World effect. When this effect is enabled all the light in your scene appears as visible rays. This is similar to the effects of light shining through clouds on a hazy day.

Like any other scene setting, skies can be animated. Any property of a sky can be changed at different points along the animation timeline. When the animation plays, the sky property will appear to change over time. Using this technique, you can create a scene that changes from day to night, or from clear to cloudy. Refer to "Animating Skies" for more on animating skies.

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