Get it while it's hot.....Terragen

aquafire · October 14, 2003 8:12PM

I am sure the bright ones in Ai are already onto to it..but I am completely bowled over by the photorealistic landscapes it generates in just a matter of seconds.

( go to the gallery section )

If you haven't already downloaded the program called " Terragen" I strongly recommend that you do....for I suspect it wont be long before you have to pay BIG BUCKS for the package.

Check out an example here....

http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen...ind=23&group=1

So get it while it's hot & free......

http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen

I am sure it has a very bright future

timo · October 14, 2003 8:26PM

woah. cool.

wrong robot · October 14, 2003 9:07PM

Yeah, terragen is awesome, it's like Bryce on steroids....or crack.

While the landscapes are good, I think it's the water and sky which are the true triumphs in terragen, They help to make the land look even better, by not only giving it more life, but also by distracting the eyes from noticing that it's not as stunning as it first looks.

wjmoore · October 15, 2003 2:15AM

Wow that is impressive. Has anyone had a play with it yet? How much work it required to get a reasonable looking terrain out of it?

luca · October 15, 2003 2:56AM

I played around with it and within about ten minutes I had something. It sucked though. It's going to take quite a bit of trial and error to get anything decent. It has a confusing interface but it is a very cool program with excellent potential. Awesome that it's free!

aquafire · October 15, 2003 4:14AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Luca Rescigno

I played around with it and within about ten minutes I had something. It sucked though. It's going to take quite a bit of trial and error to get anything decent. It has a confusing interface but it is a very cool program with excellent potential. Awesome that it's free!

The fact that you make Mpegs at a pinch has got me spinning..I downloaded some examples last night...

plus the fact that you can import and export stuff at this early stage of its development is pretty cool...

It makes Photoshop / Bryce look crappy by comparison.

I've been fooling around with Megapov and Povray and while their results can be pretty good, I have to admit is it time consuming writing out the code parameters..( even if I am a glutton for punishment )...

But in the mean time check this image out.....I am stunned....

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/bianco/3D/Ter155.jpg

ast3r3x · October 15, 2003 5:45AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Aquafire

It makes Photoshop / Bryce look crappy by comparison.

You use photoshop to landscapes?

barto · October 15, 2003 7:40AM

This program is awesome!

aquafire · October 15, 2003 8:11AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ast3r3x

You use photoshop to landscapes?

Yes ( with the aid of 3ds Max 5 ) & another OS that I won't mention in these hallowed halls....

akumulator · October 15, 2003 11:57AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Aquafire

The fact that you make Mpegs at a pinch has got me spinning..I downloaded some examples last night...

plus the fact that you can import and export stuff at this early stage of its development is pretty cool...

It makes Photoshop / Bryce look crappy by comparison.

I've been fooling around with Megapov and Povray and while their results can be pretty good, I have to admit is it time consuming writing out the code parameters..( even if I am a glutton for punishment )...

But in the mean time check this image out.....I am stunned....

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/bianco/3D/Ter155.jpg

It looks like he used the WaterWorks plug-in for the white water along the beach... from what I could find, the WaterWorks plug-in isn't available for mac (yet?).

leonis · October 15, 2003 12:08PM

Quote:

Originally posted by WJMoore

Wow that is impressive. Has anyone had a play with it yet? How much work it required to get a reasonable looking terrain out of it?

Look at this......I am still working on it. I have to admit. This app is quite tricky to use...but Bryce is no better anyway...

amorya · October 15, 2003 6:05PM

Methinks I need practice

How do you get it to render at better quality?

Amorya

ast3r3x · October 15, 2003 6:28PM

haha...I'd suggest reading the manual it definitely helped me make mine look ALOT better. The texture, surface mapping or whatever it's called is the most important thing to make the land look not computer created, and for that you NEED to download the pdf in the manual and read it. It is very important (I think) that you do that to create lifelike images.

I need to understand how to properly import things and create scripts (my biggest problem now) because I want to create fly by movies but don't know how to write apple scripts

\

aquafire · October 15, 2003 8:37PM

Originally posted by Amorya

How do you get it to render at better quality ?

EASY...

The very first panel that opens up is for rendering control.

Underneath image preview ( black box ) you will see a toggle going left to right..with the word "Detail" next to it.

Moving the toggle to the right increases detail.

But I suggest you only use it for detailed rendering after you have checked your image composition in the preview box.

It only took me a couple of minutes to figure out what is what...& I still haven't read the manual.....& I am no smarty pants...

ast3r3x · October 15, 2003 8:48PM

Reading the manual...or just skimming through it gives you a lot of information in minutes that would take longer to figure out just guessing and testing. Mine doesn't look as real because I chose to go with a orange/yellow sky, but if you saw my hi-res one the mountains look real.

aquafire · October 15, 2003 9:12PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ast3r3x

Reading the manual...or just skimming through it gives you a lot of information in minutes that would take longer to figure out just guessing and testing. Mine doesn't look as real because I chose to go with a orange/yellow sky, but if you saw my hi-res one the mountains look real.

Your image reminded me of Venus...In fact Terragen has already been tested to see how it would go in rendering actual Venusian landscapes....

http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/terrain/terragen/

In the meantime I'll pack the skis & the thermos...

placebo · October 16, 2003 9:38AM

Can anyone give me some help animating? I have no clue how, and it looks complicated. (Scripting?)

Anyone?

curiousuburb · October 16, 2003 2:05PM

first attempt - peaked cove

original 640 x 480 - max quality - 2:14:00 render time

second attempt - tangerine sunset

original 800 x 600 - max quality - 6:21:00 render time

nice tool (even without cracking the manual)

ibook 500MHz - 384Mb RAM (with several other processes running)

ast3r3x · October 16, 2003 6:51PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Placebo

Can anyone give me some help animating? I have no clue how, and it looks complicated. (Scripting?)

Anyone?

I'd like some help too, as I would love to start my rendering at night and wake up...or at least get home from school to a good quality fly through of one of my worlds!

Quote:

Originally posted by curiousuburb

first attempt - peaked cove

original 640 x 480 - max quality - 2:14:00 render time

second attempt - tangerine sunset

original 800 x 600 - max quality - 6:21:00 render time

nice tool (even without cracking the manual)

ibook 500MHz - 384Mb RAM (with several other processes running)

Wow and I was thinking my 15-60min times for 1280x960 times were bad! Is this optimized for the G4, also should I be happy with the times I am getting? I will love to do stuff like this more next year when I get my G5. I'm torn between getting good at this and other 3d apps like it or learning Reason

\

aquafire · October 16, 2003 7:33PM

The program is apparently optimised for OS-X.

It is slower in classic or carbonite modes.

But hells bells..this is still a work in progress .... i am really knocked out..

Just imagine using this stuff with photoshop, etc

ghost_user_name · October 16, 2003 7:45PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ast3r3x

Is this optimized for the G4, also should I be happy with the times I am getting?

I doubt it is altivec optimized, but I can say that it is slightly threaded for multiple CPUs. While rendering, it peaked at about 114% CPU usage. This is a far cry from how well apps like Cinema 4D utilize multiple CPUs.

Get it while it's hot.....Terragen

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