Bryce 3D Artworks

The artworks featured below were created in 2024 and were made with, or inspired by, renders made in the software Bryce. Bryce 3D, released in 1997, made 3D rendering much more user-friendly than many other programs of its time. Bryce is known for its aesthetic, often depicting vast landscapes and oceanic scenes. This aesthetic gained popularity in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, even appearing on Trapper Keeper binders.

Exploring this nostalgic software, Ruggiero first created several renders in a 1997 copy of Bryce 3D, running on a Windows XP machine. Later, she recreated that look in a 2010 copy of Bryce 7 and went on to create additional works either in Bryce or inspired by its style.

1997 Bryce 3D Renders

Each of these artworks was created in 2024 using a 1997 copy of Bryce 3D on an emulated Windows XP OS, with minor color adjustments made in Photoshop. Special attention was given to color, form, and shape, with the intent of exploring the intricacies of primitive 3D software and its tools. Shoutout to LGR on YouTube for inspiring this exploration.

Fortify was created in 2024 as an attempt to recreate some of the Bryce 3D (1997) aesthetic in a newer version of the software, Bryce 7 (2010). Many of the render settings were adjusted to achieve this look. The chess depiction was inspired by one of the original Windows 3.1 wallpapers, which featured floating chess pieces (pictured below). A dithered effect was then applied to the final render to better mirror the original wallpaper.

MetaChess 3000, created in 2024, was inspired by the Windows 3.1 Chess Wallpaper, Trapper Keeper binders, and ChessMaster 3000 (one of Ruggiero's first computer games). Although this artwork was created using Cinema 4D, Redshift, and Adobe Photoshop, it was influenced by her earlier works created in Bryce3D. This artwork blends together early '90s, Y2K, & modern-day aesthetic sensibilities, while also introducing a meta layer by exposing some 2D and 3D tools used during its creation.

The Bryce 3D artworks below, entitled East and West, were created in 2024, inspired by a recent move from the East Coast to the West Coast. This piece, alongside its sister piece, West, helped Ruggiero process a very stressful string of events and reflect on her recent past, as well as what felt like an overwhelming future. These artworks helped her find beauty in what she was going through.

Created with a 2010 copy of Bryce 7, with post adjustments done in Photoshop.

pondering the past was created in 2024 as a digital representation of reflecting on one’s past. The artwork was created in a legacy copy of Bryce 7 as a way to experiment with past 3D software. The artwork depicts a sphere, rendered in Bryce 7 (2010), looking into a mirror created in Cinema 4D (2025), with a dithering effect reminiscent of early ‘90s computer graphics.