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Temple Earth is my first attempt at temple construction, it's not exactly what I had in mind as the following images in this study will show.  The construction form (the temple itself) underwent some dramatic changes.  Nevertheless, as I learned new techniques, the whole composition changed.

Basically I began with a preset desert terrain  which appears in the library pretty much as you see it.  Eventually I ended up with ten different images, anyone of which could tell the story.  Six of them are presented here.  Each image represents an evolution in itself, requiring numerous renderings to get to this point.
 

It's no surprise that I really wasn't happy with this one either.  I spent hours developing this sky.  No, its not a preset.  The terrain is the same as in no. 1.  It's the same sandy rocky desert stuff.   It took on that very ruddy appearance as a result of the sky colors.  Hmmm.....  Brutal lesson, ditch the colors.
 

Still thinking that my problem was the setting I decided to try a different sky in hopes of finding a remedy.  Also, in terms of overall composition, I didn't like the flow of the vision.  My eye kept traveling from left to right:  from the temple to the sunset.  Since the temple is the focal point, I wanted the eye to come to rest there.  My solution, just swap the temple for the sun (or moon in this example).

Okay what's this one's problem?    Here I adjusted the positioning of the temple within the frame.  The eye comes in at the temple moves up to the moon, searches for stars, finds some clouds and comes back to rest at the temple.  Not a bad composition.  Still, I'm not satisfied.  The temple seems to have lost it's mystery.  (That could be a personal problem, by this time I was 12 hours into this.....probably nothing would satisfy me now.)
 

Actually, this image was saved as a precaution.  It's a good example of a work in progress.  Save each stage of your work.  You can edit and delete out later.  Also, you never know when an image you consider merely a stage to a final composition, may actually be a takeoff point to an entirely new work.  So Save 'Em!!
 

This sports one helluva mystery too.  You can't see it.  But inside the glass egg that is inside the temple is an entire world.  It's complete with a sun, yes a real one, and a moon.  It's real too.  It even has an atmosphere, with clouds that encircle a mountaintop.  I kid you not.  But can you see it???  Of course not, it's a mystery.

So what's the point?  All that detail means very little in a 2d format.  Illusion is still the artist's best friend.  This doesn't work, in spite of all the work that went into the detail, because the detail does not add to the overall composition.  There is little depth of field, no action, nothing going on here.  Even tho the temple is more anatomically correct, so to speak, it lacks the appeal of the very first composition.

In a 3d format and with animation this becomes a more suitable subject.  If I could show you what's here you would be amazed.  But I can't.  The lesson is basic and simple:  always consider your medium and your audience.  You heard this in art 101 right?  But it's very easy to lose sight of this in a 3d program like Bryce.  It's just too much fun!

In a VRML world I could fly you around the temple, up the steps and into the chamber that holds a beautiful cosmic egg.  And inside that egg is a tiny little world that is as totally complete as any Bryce landscape could be.  Some day, I'll take you there to see it.