Crescent Moons & Planets

Crescent Moons & Planets These operations were carried out on the PC Windows version of Bryce 3D Rev 3.1
	IMPORTANT This procedure requires the 3.1 upgrade/patch which allows negative brightness values for lights. Create a sphere, move it up off the groundplane and enlarge it (the example is about 50 units in size). Select the groundplane and delete it. Click on Sky & Fog and in Sky Mode select Custom Sky. Set the centre sky colour to black and the haze to zero. If you render now you should see something like the image to the left.
	Apply a texture to the sphere, here I've used Global Glow Ball #2 from the Miscellaneous group. Double click on the sun track ball and check Starfield. If you render now you should see something like the image to the left.
	Create a Radial Light. Raise it to the same height as the planet's centre. Move the light towards you along the Z axis. I have also reduced the size for clarity. The size of the radial light is irrelevant to its light output. With the light selected, click the [E] button to edit it. Alter the brightness to -50 - yes a negative light. Select No Falloff.
	Here is the render at this point. You should move the light around to get the crescent size you want.
	Here I've duplicated (Ctrl D) the planet and moved the duplicate further away along the Z axis - see the strange shadow on its surface.
	With the second planet selected, click the [M] button and in the Materials Editor deselect Receive Shadows.
	This will remove the strange shadow and the second planet is a crescent similar to the first. The one light is causing this effect on both of the planets.
	You can soften the edge of the crescent by choosing a mid grey for the light colour instead of white. This is shown here. If you go all the way to black then the part now in shadow will be illuminated due to the negative light. It is also interesting to try different colours for the light - the effect will not be what you expect. The image Twin Moons was created using this method. Have fun .....