Bryce 5 abstracts with procedural light gels

Getting started
We will be putting the camera inside a metallic cube that contains 2 lights with procedural gels applied. There are some advanced suggestions at the end of the tutorial.

Select atmosphere and delete ground plane. (optional)

Click the triangle next to Sky and Fog to bring up the sky library, and select simple black background. Next, select the ground plane and delete it.
Create a cube and turn it into gold.

From the Create tab select a cube. Increase the size of the cube by clicking a corner dot and dragging it, or using the edit tab. Not a huge cube… just big enough for 2 radial lights, the camera and a little open space.

Click the M next to your cube to go to the materials lab. Then click the triangle next to the preview window to choose a material from the material library. Go to the Metals section and select Brushed Gold. Click the check marks to confirm the selections and return to the main window.
Camera and lights.

Click the triangle for view options and change to a top view. Then move the camera into one corner of the cube.

While you are in the top view, go to the create tab and create 2 radial lights. Move both lights into the corner of the cube opposite the camera.

Now change to a right or left view and position one light about halfway up the cube, and the other light near the floor of the cube. Use the tab key to select the light if you are not able to click on it (or ctrl-click and select it).
Adding procedural gels to lights.

Change to camera view. The preview should show a fairly bright image. Select one of the lights and click the E next to it to enter the lights lab. Select the Use Gel option and click the Procedural button.

Now you are in the materials lab. Click the triangle next to the preview window to enter the material library. Choose anything you want… some materials work better than others as gels. I chose Harsh Bedrock from the Planes and Terrains section. Click the check marks to confirm and exit the material and light labs.

Select the second light, click the E, and choose a different procedural material. I chose Vermont Autumn from the Planes and Terrains section. Click the check marks to return to the main window. Take a look at the preview window and it should look somewhat abstract :}.
Render.

Go ahead and render. I would recommend turning off any premium effects like soft shadows or true ambience. Abstracts can take a long time to render, but the results can be well worth the wait.
Advanced tips.
I may expand on these tips later, or just create an advanced abstract tutorial using these options…
- change the camera position and fov… wide angle is fun.
- change render resolution. try anything… 400×800, 600×600, etc… you can create any width to height ratio you want. it's amazing what a different render resolution can do for an image.
- reshape the cube… lower the ceiling or bring walls closer together to create a rectangular cube. the closer the sides of the cube are together, the greater the amount of reflections.
- use a bump map on the cube material
- try a glass material on the cube and put it inside a larger metallic cube.
- try objects other than cubes… pyramids, cylinders, cones, etc…
- change the position or number of lights.
- try negative lights (with or without procedural gels)… just type in a negative number for the intensity setting in the light lab.
- try unique procedural materials… alter presets with different noise functions or create your own materials.
- try different texture mapping modes… not just world space.
- new tip from Fredzz NL… try a 360 degree panoramic projection render