Contemplation

This image was created entirely using Bryce4 with some postproduction work using Photoshop6.

This image took quite a few weeks during the planning and set up stages but just about a dozen or so hours in the postproduction phase.

The first hurdle to be overcome was in designing the slope of the beach. Several attempts were made using customized Terrain forms until I finally achieved the proper slope which I had envisioned.
The stones and boulders placed on the shore were the next obstacle; dozens of randomly generated stones were discarded before the program rewarded me with something which I thought was approprioate.

Once the general layout was completed I worked on customizing the textures for the beach and stones.

An Infinite Water Slab and Infinte Plane were added next, along with some very large, very distant terrain forms to help break up the horizonline. The Plane was given the same material as the shore terrain while the material for the slab was tweaked just a bit to achieve a nice transparency and wave pattern.
A customized terrain form was created to represent a small wave rolling into shore.

The sky features the same settings as my previous work entitled From the Dust.

The free-standing stone on the left was an accident; while experimenting with using some stones as a left side focal point I was making minor adjustments to the angle of the sunlight when a peculiar shadow pattern appeared on the random stone which I had placed there temporarily as a referance. The shadows suggested a seated figure, a suggestion which I found very appropriate for the scene.

The scene itself was rendered twice. Once with the ocean's bump map and once without the ocean's bump map.

Once rendered, both scenes were merged together using Photoshop6. Various touchups were made to the shoreline and the boulders found there.
The freestanding stone on the left received the most attention while i helped it to take on the desired shape I saw in its random pattern of shadows.
Once the figure was completed I made the necessary adjustments to it's reflection in the water.

The last step was the watermarking of the image. (You get a cookie if you can name the three identifing factors.)

I'm pretty staisfied with the results.

Comments and suggestions are welcomed.