Step 3: Add Interest to the Scene

After scaling up the grouped terrain, and duplicating the group to lengthen the river, I added the roman vessel and castle Dream Models that came wit RDS 5. The textures on these models were created in Bryce.

I also duplicated the water terrain in the front group, thinned it down to 1 in the Y and raised it to the top of the water terrain. Then I added a cloud material with an increased transparency to create the foam along the shoreline.

I finished by using the "storm approaching" Bryce sky and modifying it slightly to give the scene a darker mood than the standard default Bryce sky.

I have provided a second view of the scene to show the water and land interaction. Keep in mind, that I consider this scene a work in progress. I'm not yet satisfied with the results of this particular image but I do still believe this technique has its uses.

When creating water and land scenes, keep in mind that scale makes all the difference. I see a lot of scenes where the imported objects, be they Poser people or props of some sort, appear to be giants on really tiny land masses.

A rule of thumb: if your terrain is 500x100x500, the Poser person should be no more than 20 high. If however, you are dealing with the Zygote dragon fly and want a close in view of life on the swamp, then the dragon fly should be large relative to the terrain.