Post by Josh on Jan 3, 2005 23:14:59 GMT
Terragen Basics Tutorial
Level: begginers
Requirements: Terragen
First off, what is Terragen? Well Terragen is a very basic but very powerful 3d landscaping program. It is one of my favorites and is very neat.
Here are some links to what it can do:
alyn.deviantart.com
jrsaldana.deviantart.com
swaroop.deviantart.com
jaj43123.deviantart.com
Go through those and check some of the peices out and you will see what it can do. All of the space effects and stuff are done in photoshop.
Alright, first off you need to learn the interface. Unlike most 3D programs, Terragen has a very simple interface.
The interface:
What They Do
Rendering Control- This is where your preveiw image is. You will use this a lot. Hitting the Render Preview button will generate a small preveiw of what your overall image will look like. This will show you the main picture but not the whole thing. All the little details won't be able to be seen at that small of a resolution.
Rendering Control Images:
Under the preveiw, there are checkboxes. These checkboxes will affect the preview. If land is checked, the preview will show the land. And vice-versa. The same goes for sky.
Under the checkboxes there is something called detail. This will affect at what quality both your preview and final render come out as. The farther to the right, the better the quality. Also farther to the right, the larger the file size.
Under there is the Render Settings. These are just some more quality settings and such. I rarely find use for these.
Under the settings is the Image Size. Click this button and change the sizes to what size you want the render to be. I prefer 1024x768, but that is just me
Under that is the Render Image and Animation buttons. The REnder image button will render your image. PRetty self-explainitory, huh? The animation button won't do much unless you have an entire separate program called Terranim that will creat a script for you.
Jumping over to the right of the menu is the camera settings.
The top input boxes will control the camera position. I only mess with the height one. I use the camera positioning window at the bottom of this menu to position my camera. Much easier.
Under that is the fixed height above surface. i usually turn this setting off. easier to mess with height in the above way.
Under that is the target position area. This will change where the camera is pointed. Once again I only mess with the height. The positioning can be done below it.
Another fixed height above surface. Like I said before, I usually turn these setting off.
The setting below this are setting I dont mess with very often. They change the way the camera is turned. For example, in bank type 90 and your terrain will be sideways. Not an effect that is used very often. Of course, there are occasions in which it is used.
Now we come to the best part of this menu. The Camera window. Left clicking your mouse will control the camera position. If you put it on top of a mountain or something, make sure you turn fixed-height off. Right clicking will control where the camera is pointing.
Exposure will change how bright everything is, sorta a contrast setting. Zoom will control how much of the terrain is caught on the camera.
Yay, the most basic menu is done.
Landscape
Now we move onto the fun part. Making the actual terrain. At the top you can open or save a terrain. You can also mess with the size of the terrain here.
The little window is the preview of your terrain. It is a view fromt the top of the terrain. White is the highest part of the terrain and black the lowest. BLue is water.
The First button to the right is the generate terrain button. It will open up the window that will let you generate your terrain. Mess around with these settings to get the effect you wish. I will go further into depth on this in a later tutorial.
The next button is the view/sculpt button. This will allow you to sculpt your terrain to be the way that you like. Again, another tutorial.
The modify button will allow you to modify your terrain with a quick click of a button. The glaciate and cayonise buttons are very helpful.
The combine button will combine one terrain with another. Not a good effect, but it is ok.
Accessories and effects are where your plugins and extensions are loaded and used.
At the bottom of the menu is the Surface map area. This is where you change the colors of your terrain. With the correct plugins, it will also enable you to texture the grass, snow, rock, or whatever you have.
Water
The water menu is very easy to use. First you need to mess witht he height of the water to get it where it is visible. Then there are four sections to it:
Waves: This tab will let you mess with the wave size, the ruoghness of the water,how much the terrain distorts it (in other words, the waves bouncing off the terrain.)
Reflection: Self-explainatory
Sub-Surface: Controls the water color and transparency
Shore: Controls the foam in the water.
Clouds
To generate clouds, hit the generate clouds button. you can mess with the size of the clouds, the holes throughtout the clouds and everything in there.
Under that is the Persistance and density shift. These will affect the texture and type of cloud it is.
The darkening of the cloud will make it look more real. Also, you can hit the 3D checkbox to make it more real.
Atmosphere
This menu controls the colors of your atmosphere.
The simple haze will help control the color of the air around your terrain. This can add a fog effect with the right settings. Density will change how much is seen and you can change the color ect.
The Atmospheric Blue setting is your basic atmosphere color. This is your base. If you want a pink or yellow or purple sky, change the color in here.
The Light Decay/Red setting is the the way your atmosphere's color decays as it gets higher towards the heavens.
Lighting Conditions
This is where you control your sun.
The sun postioning window is very useful. The outside of the line is where the sun is postioned. next to it, you can control the height of the sun. When you get lower suns, try beefing up your exposure setting in the first menu i talked about.
The Direct Sunlight tab controls the suns color and cloudcover. Both are very essential to a peice. The color will affect the color of the entire peice, no matter what other colors are involved. So be careful with your sun color.
Background light will control what color the shadows are that are cast by the terrain. Try and have them be a gray-blue shade. This will give best results.
Suns Appearence will control what size the sun is. Disc Size is the inside part. Dont go much higher than 3 or 4 with this one, it will make the entire surface be covered in your sun. Same goes for corona size, the outside blurred part.
The lighting of atmosphere tab will control how much power the sun has. What kind of shadows are cast in the atmosphere, how much light shines through, how much the atmophere is lighted, ect.
Well, there ya go everyone. My second every tutorial. Due to major request. I hope that Everyone enjoyed it and will further their development in Terragen. I will be making tutorials on how to make basic landscapes and such later on. If you have nay questions, pm me or email me at jaj43123@gmail.com
Level: begginers
Requirements: Terragen
First off, what is Terragen? Well Terragen is a very basic but very powerful 3d landscaping program. It is one of my favorites and is very neat.
Here are some links to what it can do:
alyn.deviantart.com
jrsaldana.deviantart.com
swaroop.deviantart.com
jaj43123.deviantart.com
Go through those and check some of the peices out and you will see what it can do. All of the space effects and stuff are done in photoshop.
Alright, first off you need to learn the interface. Unlike most 3D programs, Terragen has a very simple interface.
The interface:
What They Do
Rendering Control- This is where your preveiw image is. You will use this a lot. Hitting the Render Preview button will generate a small preveiw of what your overall image will look like. This will show you the main picture but not the whole thing. All the little details won't be able to be seen at that small of a resolution.
Rendering Control Images:
Under the preveiw, there are checkboxes. These checkboxes will affect the preview. If land is checked, the preview will show the land. And vice-versa. The same goes for sky.
Under the checkboxes there is something called detail. This will affect at what quality both your preview and final render come out as. The farther to the right, the better the quality. Also farther to the right, the larger the file size.
Under there is the Render Settings. These are just some more quality settings and such. I rarely find use for these.
Under the settings is the Image Size. Click this button and change the sizes to what size you want the render to be. I prefer 1024x768, but that is just me
Under that is the Render Image and Animation buttons. The REnder image button will render your image. PRetty self-explainitory, huh? The animation button won't do much unless you have an entire separate program called Terranim that will creat a script for you.
Jumping over to the right of the menu is the camera settings.
The top input boxes will control the camera position. I only mess with the height one. I use the camera positioning window at the bottom of this menu to position my camera. Much easier.
Under that is the fixed height above surface. i usually turn this setting off. easier to mess with height in the above way.
Under that is the target position area. This will change where the camera is pointed. Once again I only mess with the height. The positioning can be done below it.
Another fixed height above surface. Like I said before, I usually turn these setting off.
The setting below this are setting I dont mess with very often. They change the way the camera is turned. For example, in bank type 90 and your terrain will be sideways. Not an effect that is used very often. Of course, there are occasions in which it is used.
Now we come to the best part of this menu. The Camera window. Left clicking your mouse will control the camera position. If you put it on top of a mountain or something, make sure you turn fixed-height off. Right clicking will control where the camera is pointing.
Exposure will change how bright everything is, sorta a contrast setting. Zoom will control how much of the terrain is caught on the camera.
Yay, the most basic menu is done.
Landscape
Now we move onto the fun part. Making the actual terrain. At the top you can open or save a terrain. You can also mess with the size of the terrain here.
The little window is the preview of your terrain. It is a view fromt the top of the terrain. White is the highest part of the terrain and black the lowest. BLue is water.
The First button to the right is the generate terrain button. It will open up the window that will let you generate your terrain. Mess around with these settings to get the effect you wish. I will go further into depth on this in a later tutorial.
The next button is the view/sculpt button. This will allow you to sculpt your terrain to be the way that you like. Again, another tutorial.
The modify button will allow you to modify your terrain with a quick click of a button. The glaciate and cayonise buttons are very helpful.
The combine button will combine one terrain with another. Not a good effect, but it is ok.
Accessories and effects are where your plugins and extensions are loaded and used.
At the bottom of the menu is the Surface map area. This is where you change the colors of your terrain. With the correct plugins, it will also enable you to texture the grass, snow, rock, or whatever you have.
Water
The water menu is very easy to use. First you need to mess witht he height of the water to get it where it is visible. Then there are four sections to it:
Waves: This tab will let you mess with the wave size, the ruoghness of the water,how much the terrain distorts it (in other words, the waves bouncing off the terrain.)
Reflection: Self-explainatory
Sub-Surface: Controls the water color and transparency
Shore: Controls the foam in the water.
Clouds
To generate clouds, hit the generate clouds button. you can mess with the size of the clouds, the holes throughtout the clouds and everything in there.
Under that is the Persistance and density shift. These will affect the texture and type of cloud it is.
The darkening of the cloud will make it look more real. Also, you can hit the 3D checkbox to make it more real.
Atmosphere
This menu controls the colors of your atmosphere.
The simple haze will help control the color of the air around your terrain. This can add a fog effect with the right settings. Density will change how much is seen and you can change the color ect.
The Atmospheric Blue setting is your basic atmosphere color. This is your base. If you want a pink or yellow or purple sky, change the color in here.
The Light Decay/Red setting is the the way your atmosphere's color decays as it gets higher towards the heavens.
Lighting Conditions
This is where you control your sun.
The sun postioning window is very useful. The outside of the line is where the sun is postioned. next to it, you can control the height of the sun. When you get lower suns, try beefing up your exposure setting in the first menu i talked about.
The Direct Sunlight tab controls the suns color and cloudcover. Both are very essential to a peice. The color will affect the color of the entire peice, no matter what other colors are involved. So be careful with your sun color.
Background light will control what color the shadows are that are cast by the terrain. Try and have them be a gray-blue shade. This will give best results.
Suns Appearence will control what size the sun is. Disc Size is the inside part. Dont go much higher than 3 or 4 with this one, it will make the entire surface be covered in your sun. Same goes for corona size, the outside blurred part.
The lighting of atmosphere tab will control how much power the sun has. What kind of shadows are cast in the atmosphere, how much light shines through, how much the atmophere is lighted, ect.
Well, there ya go everyone. My second every tutorial. Due to major request. I hope that Everyone enjoyed it and will further their development in Terragen. I will be making tutorials on how to make basic landscapes and such later on. If you have nay questions, pm me or email me at jaj43123@gmail.com
