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Step 4: Lighting

Lighting is the part of the technique that makes this successful. Simply using reflection in a glass isn't enough to create the desired effect. Lighting comes in three parts.

First go to Sky Lab and disable the sun (or make it black if there is no disable). You do not want any ambient lighting making reflections. Because of the way Bryce handles internal lighting, it is not possible to have this work if you surround the scene in a box. This may be due to the normals not filtering out the light. Not sure, but after experimentation, I found that a completely surrounding box does not work.

For solid objects, any light source can be used from radial to spotlight, keeping in mind however, that radial shines in all directions and thus may shine on the glass. Use the light settings to make sure that the light only illuminates what it's supposed to. The goal is to be sure that the glass cannot be seen. Places too tight for a radial light, may use the various spotlights to light an object, again making sure that the spotlight points away from the glass. While Pepper's glass will work in well lit scenes, it is most effective in dark environments. After all, ghosts are just frightfully sensitive to bright lights (grin)...

Lighting the ghosted images should only be done with spotlights, since radials would reflect and possibly reveal the glass. The intensity of the light is what determines the transparency. The more powerful the light, the more solid the object will seem. You can use this to your advantage by making some areas of the ghost more transparent than others to give it a more surreal effect. Creating a light that casts shadows (in Bryce 5) can also effect how the ghost is reflected. My settings in Bryce 5 (by clicking E on the buttons for the light) were as follows:

Intensity: 89
Edge Softness: 89
Cast Shadows: Off
Visible Objects: Off
Infinite Light: Off
Color: Uniform (Grey light)
Use Gel: Off
Falloff: Linear

The setting should be adjusted to work in your scene. These are only a reference and honestly probably would only look good in a very limited number of scenes. Best thing to do is experiment with different light settings to see what works best. For instance, maybe a more bluish color for creepier ghosts, etc... The whole point is that the light should be only as intense as you need the reflection to be.

Another note about ghost lighting to keep in mind is the lighting in your scene on the solid side of the glass. If you have a bright light from one side of the screen shining on the solid objects, you'll want a similar, though less intense light, on the ghost, so that the ghost appears to be lit by the same light as the solids. This too is a matter of preference depending on the scene since ghosts may or may not be affected by external lighting for your purposes.

Step 5: The backdrop

You may notice by now that the reflection is starting to look pretty good, but you keep getting double images or reflections of the sky in the glass that shouldn't be there. This is because you do not have a non-reflective backdrop that offsets the ghost. In other words, there should be nothing else reflecting except the ghost.

Like the cube for the glass, you need to make a similar cube with the same dimensions and put it behind the ghost(s). In the material lab, set all dials to 0 and make sure it's black. This will keep rogue reflections from making their way onto the glass. You may have to do this on the side as well if the camera is at an extreme angle that it can still see the sky reflect in the glass.

Step 6: And finally the render...

There is nothing special to do, except to use the camera that is facing through the glass as your render point. You may move the camera to suit your scene, but the glass must remain between it and the solid objects. It is usually best to place it as close to the glass as possible and right in front of the ghost. However, such pictures would get pretty boring, so if you do plan to set the camera at an angle, you may have to adjust the position of some of the ghost objects so that they are still interacting with their environment. Camera placement again would depend on the scene, but don't place the camera so far back that you see something besides the glass (the sky, etc)...

Additional:

Sometimes it would be cool to have a ghost standing partially behind something like a counter. This is handled by placing a black object (with all sliders to 0 in Material lab) in front of the ghost that covers the area that would have been covered by the solid object so that the glass doesn't pick up that part of the reflection. Usually a small rectangle will suffice, but it would depend on the scene.

Also, if you'd like to make your ghosts more eerie or whispery, maybe set the entire Poser figure's material to white...

Here is a basic layout for the setup of Pepper's Ghost in the Bryce world view:

NOTE: Camera in above picture may seem to be on the wrong side of the glass, but if you'll notice the little V of the view that is outlined is still on the ghost side of the glass.

And that's it, a quick and dirty tutorial on how to make Pepper's ghost. Hope you found it informative and look forward to seeing your own creations. And keep in mind that this isn't the only way, but just a basis for your own experimentation.

ShadowWind