Terragen

[armored cow]

Basically, my friend showed me this program a few days ago and I am totally hooked! It's amazing what it can accomplish, and I wanted to show the 411 community this nifty little thing called Terragen :P

It is a terrain generating program that can create some amazingly realistic renders if done correctly (or you can make alien-like scenes).

I currently have the unregistered version, which limits your renders to 1280 x 960 resolution :( But it is free, so it's only fair. Registering allows you to enable better antialiasing, as well as increase the resolution (I am not sure how much it costs to register).

Terragen 2 takes things to a whole new level, and I assume it is very expensive (I didn't look at the price), since it allows trees and structures that are more complicated than hills.

Anyway, here is the link to the *WINDOWS* download page:
http://www.planetside.co.uk/content/view/19/31/

The program even has plugins that you can install (kind of like Garry's Mod, Paint.net, or Gimp addons), that give you new/better tools. I am not sure if you must be registered to do this though.

I'm not too amazing at it, although I have gotten better over the few days I've had it. Here are the "good" ones I have made:

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/9566/firsto.jpg

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/545/rockrsx.jpg

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/420/spires.jpg

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/5453/oceangnp.jpg


If you want to see some pictures that better showcase what this program is capable of, see the gallery of pictures submitted by Terragen users
http://www.planetside.co.uk/gallery/f/tg09/

[Easton Dark]

Holy mother of the mole king.

Those are amazing.

[Slochk]

it only makes pictures?
i was hoping it would make maps for gmod D:

[killaspree]

it only makes pictures?
i was hoping it would make maps for gmod D:

LMAO! Yea, but you have to admit, those pics do look awesome.

[armored cow]

It can also make fly-by movies of the scene you make, although, again, I don't know if you have to be registered to do that. I think even unregistered users can.

[one of them]

I have no idea how to use this.

[armored cow]

I have no idea how to use this.

I would look up a Terragen tutorial, although I just kinda fudged around for an hour or so until I understood the basics.

Just get the landscape black square out, and start drawing on it. Then you can use the little render window for a preview (turn up the detail bar).

Also, when fully rendering make sure to put up the highest resolution and detail settings, etc.

Also also, mess with atmosphere; it can make or break a render.

[blah]

I see a new Team Fortress 2 Map creator :)

[Platypus]

I see a new Team Fortress 2 Map creator :)
Moar like TF2 3D Skybox creator.

[hunterhunter]

once I figure this out....this will be my third hobby

[armored cow]

Ok guys I got Terragen 2 and let me tell you that although it can be a bit more frustrating to find all the features, it's end quality far surpasses Terragen 1!

Case in point: http://www.planetside.co.uk/gallery/f/tg2/

[one of them]

My latest creation.
http://www.planetside.co.uk/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=506&g2_serialNumber=2

[BlackCat]

One, that is awesome!

I tried to figure it out, but I think my brain just fried like 5 circuits! xD Maybe later.

[one of them]

I wish.
My ACTUAL latest creation.
http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i299/Darksagejl/woah.jpg


I suck at this.

[Fernsy]

Is that a giant boob I see on that mountain One? (the one from about an hour ago)

[BlackCat]

I wish.
My ACTUAL latest creation.


I suck at this.

Still better than what I could accomplish! lol

[SlainPwner666]

Won't support Vista?

Fuck.

[hunterhunter]

download link for #2 pleaz

[Tyr]

I remember playing with that back in 2003. It was back when I didn't have a good enough computer to play any games so I did random shit like that instead.

[hunterhunter]

this is mine....yay :)

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx217/hunterhunter20022/sundown.jpg?t=1250217627

[hunterhunter]

HEY I want some attention dammit

/double post

[Fernsy]

HEY I want some attention dammit

/double post

It sux donkey anus :p Nah only joking, its very nice, well done *claps*

[hunterhunter]

woot (now I'm showing off...shame on me :()

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx217/hunterhunter20022/snowmountains.jpg?t=1250265873

[armored cow]

That 2nd one is cool. I would raise the transparency level on the water so you can see the rocks underneath; makes it look nicer. But I really like it :D

My current desktop background using Terra2:

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/6776/valleylake.jpg

[darkmessiah]

Anyone ever see the Far Cry 2 Map Editor or the CryTek Sandbox?

Beautiful as well.

And playable.

[SlainPwner666]

Anyone ever see the Far Cry 2 Map Editor or the CryTek Sandbox?

Beautiful as well.

And playable.

Here, here!

[Obama Yo Momma]

Terragen was used for most of the sufrace tension skyboxes in Black mesa sauce.

[hunterhunter]

gettin better at this

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx217/hunterhunter20022/wetplains.jpg?t=1250303064

[InstantDeath]

Holy crap that looks so boring.

[ZombieSlayer909]

Far Cry 2 FTW

[hunterhunter]

sooo addicted cant stop O.O

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx217/hunterhunter20022/artic.jpg?t=1250318482

[Nuttz]

Anyone ever see the Far Cry 2 Map Editor or the CryTek Sandbox?

Beautiful as well.

And playable.

CryEngine is moreso, mainly because you can do alot more shit. And it looks better :D

[one of them]

I'll be honest... this program confuses the hell out of me.
Why can't it be simpler? The first one was a lot simpler.
:(

[hunterhunter]

that is the first....the second made me blow a circuit

[armored cow]

Took twelve hours to render this bad boy.

Also, holy shit it's been a long time for this thread.

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/9770/snowlake.jpg

[lawlhat]

Twelve hours? Damn. Still, it's pretty.

[Elite]

Whoa.

[Stuffinator]

the clouds are ugly

[Zombie Hunter]

Looks like it messed up a bit near the bottom right at the shore line. Its really pretty.

[armored cow]

the clouds are ugly
Yeah the ones on the left have some weird lines in them.
Looks like it messed up a bit near the bottom right at the shore line.

Unfortunately.

[hunterhunter]

gewd tiems

[Elite]

Realistic.

[Deadly]

So I did this in about 15-20 minutes just as a first time using it and trying to learn how it works and junk and stuff. Sucks but whatevs.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll235/Chris1192/Firsttimeterrain.jpg

I have no idea how to raise the camera, or to get detail on the mountains, or anything really.

[armored cow]

And you're using the easymode program. The 2nd one is much more confusing, although it produces better looking scenery, just graphics-wise. So it's easy to make anything look nice.

[Deadly]

Oh there's another one? Had no idea.

[Tyr]

I used to use Terragen... don't quite remember why. Everything I made ended up looking like the Milford Sounds.

[Deadly]

I suck at it, but here's the last one I did in terragen 1:
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll235/Chris1192/Secondterraingloom.jpg

And I started tinkering with terragen 2 just messing around, and the render failed but here's what I've got so far:
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll235/Chris1192/renderfail.jpg

[Blade]

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee480/PhotobucketSuxReallyHard/Terragen1.jpg?t=1295041260
First attempt.
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee480/PhotobucketSuxReallyHard/Terragen2.jpg?t=1295041317
Second attempt.
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee480/PhotobucketSuxReallyHard/Terragen21.jpg?t=1295041343
Same as last picture but with water.

This program is awesome.

[Deadly]

Followed a tutorial to make this. I think it came out pretty well, I just had an issue getting that grass to look the right type of green. So just pretend this is a mountain on the other side.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll235/Chris1192/mountaingrasstut.jpg

[hunterhunter]

that the first or second one....

[armored cow]

I've seen that tutorial and I dislike it. It doesn't even tell you how to do anything; he just throws numbers at you and tells you to plug them in (although the end result isn't bad).

Here's a good database of info:
Terragen 2 Node Reference (http://www.planetside.co.uk/docs/tg2/noderef/application.html?MenuState=HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEAAAABcVVVBAEAAAAEAAAAAAAAAAAA AA)

[Deadly]

Yeah I was a bit upset he didn't explain WHY you were using those numbers, but at least I somewhat know my way around it now.

[shadowstreak]

When I start making my game... I am totally using this for skyboxes... And the 300 dollar price isn't too bad for completely customizable and easy to make worlds. I can see a lot of use for this in my future...

[Jesus123]

When I start making my game... I am totally using this for skyboxes... And the 300 dollar price isn't too bad for completely customizable and easy to make worlds. I can see a lot of use for this in my future...

If it's not a zombie mmo, no thanks bru

[shadowstreak]

If it's not a zombie mmo, no thanks bru

My friends and I had been brainstorming that for almost a year now. We were just about to draw up concept art when that one zombie mmo went public for xbox like 4 or 5 months back. It was exactly what we wanted to do. Let me tell you, our artist flipped since he was planning it for a year. So we moved on. We have another project we're thinking about, and I like it a lot more. Just sucks everyone basically stopped talking to each other after that. But who knows? Maybe one day.

[armored cow]

Not too great but I hadn't actually rendered anything since the last one I posted and wanted to get one out.
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/7700/snowdune.jpg

[Deadly]

Thank you One of Them. Mmm, dem better colors.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll235/Chris1192/terranrecolor.png

[one of them]

Thank you One of Them. Mmm, dem better colors.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll235/Chris1192/terranrecolor.png

It still looks a little meh tbh, here is a final readjustment.
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/3091/terragenrecolor2finalfi.png

EDIT:
Not too great but I hadn't actually rendered anything since the last one I posted and wanted to get one out.
picture
I really like that picture. In-fact I was GOING to use it as a wallpaper, that is until I noticed you saved it as a JPG. While I was resizing it to fit my monitor's native resolution, I noticed something VERY INTERESTING INDEED.
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/6176/jpeeeg.png
NOW I CAN'T LOOK AT IT WITHOUT BARFING

this message brought to you by the jpeg artifact resistance foundation

[Elite]

Looks real.

[Jesus123]

My friends and I had been brainstorming that for almost a year now. We were just about to draw up concept art when that one zombie mmo went public for xbox like 4 or 5 months back. It was exactly what we wanted to do. Let me tell you, our artist flipped since he was planning it for a year. So we moved on. We have another project we're thinking about, and I like it a lot more. Just sucks everyone basically stopped talking to each other after that. But who knows? Maybe one day.

That's absolutely stupid not to make something because someone else announced they were gonna do it. They're making it for just the 360, you could focus on the PC bru.

[armored cow]

I really like that picture. In-fact I was GOING to use it as a wallpaper, that is until I noticed you saved it as a JPG. While I was resizing it to fit my monitor's native resolution, I noticed something VERY INTERESTING INDEED.
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/6176/jpeeeg.png
NOW I CAN'T LOOK AT IT WITHOUT BARFING


Just thought you might want to know that it is, in fact, not the JPG's fault. That would be the render. The original 5MB BMP looks exactly the same.

[one of them]

Probably, but it still stretches HORRIBLY in photoshop. Imagine that + more rainbow + more blocky. Also, bmp does the same thing.

[armored cow]

Stretching images is usually a bad idea always. Although I assume you were using Content-Aware Scaling.

[one of them]

I was, but it's not usually a problem with png. It's why I've always hated jpg, you can't adjust it or re-save it without losing quality every time you do.

[armored cow]

A rough version of a scene I'm working on:

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/1991/canyon.png

[one of them]

So are you able to understand most of the settings and stuff in Terragen 2 or are you just taking bits from various tutorials and kind of combining them to make your own thing?
also, ty for png

[armored cow]

I actually saved it as a .tiff but Imageshack magically changed it into .png lol.

As for understanding Terragen 2, I've looked through many tutorials to get my knowledge. I wouldn't say I understand most of it, but I understand a large chunk, and that link I posted earlier (Terragen 2 Node Reference (http://www.planetside.co.uk/docs/tg2/noderef/application.html?MenuState=HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEAAAABcVVVBAEAAAAEAAAAAAAAAAAA AA)) is very helpful.

This scene started off as a ripoff of this tutorial (http://www.terragen.org/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=item342) but doesn't much resemble it anymore.

The landscape is mostly composed of a painted shader tied to a displacement shader to create a canyon depression, then a few power fractals rough up the terrain. I then have a twist and shear shader to make the rock sort of spike out as you can see, and then a strata and outcrops shader causes it to be somewhat tiered or plateau-y.

[one of them]

I really need to learn those shader definitions.
Also, .tiff is what valve uses for sprays and stuff right? Because I think it's virtually the same code as .png and is easy to convert. I use it sometimes to, although .png is much more common I think.

[one of them]

Yeah, just pulled up ol' Terragen 2 and threw this together real quick.
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/4558/quickrenderpro.png

No biggy.

[armored cow]

Making waterfalls in Terragen is way too hard. They need to add a waterfall shader or something.

[one of them]

Not if you're pro like me.