Terragen 2.2 isn't what I was hoping

[MrHooper]

Not to be ungrateful, but I'm a bit unhappy with the progress on this program.  I've waited a year for an update, and got none of what I'd hoped.

1.  Multithreaded preview
2.  Spherical Camera - (really, how hard is it to do this?)
3.  more output formats (exr AND hdr would be nice)
4.  more output GEO formats.  LWO is not useful.  OBJ, fbx, or anything that plays nice with the major apps like Maya and Max, and XSI
5.  render passes, matte objects and a dedicated zdepth pass that is automated

I don't like jumping through hoops to convert this thing to that.  Many man hours could be saved by inclusion of some simple stuff.  Sorry if I sound angry...  I am doing a project in TG again, after some time off, and am finding it to be very painful to deal with in a pipeline.

Andrew

[cyphyr]

exr is already there, why have hdr too ?

Richard

[dhavalmistry]

by spherical camera you mean fish eye?

[MrHooper]

Because converting 6 90degree fov's is only done (for free) through tools that use hdr.  Why not include more formats?  That's sort of the point.  Stop making users jump through hoops to convert one thing to another.

Why use obj when you have lwo?  Because it makes life more livable;)


By spherical camera, I mean a camera that can output a 360 panorama in one shot.  Other camera types would be nice though... fisheye, distortion controls... but I'd love to have an easier time exporting panos.

Andrew

[dhavalmistry]

Well you also have to take into account that size of staff working on the program. If you are comparing to vue or something you should know that Planetside dont have as much resources as e-on might have. Hence the price is much cheaper then vue. I think you are getting a lot more then what you paid with TG2.....

no offence but if you think that jumping through hoops to get what you want is something you dont like to do then I should say WAKE UP!!....

[cyphyr]

Because converting 6 90degree fov's is only done (for free) through tools that use hdr.  

Sorry but that's what "action script" was invented for ...

fbx would be good I agree

Render passes, hmm I see where your coming from, but leaving it open like this dose allow you to make other more exotic passes if you require, and adding a z-depth pass is pretty easy really ...

Richard

[FrankB]

why, I mean Andrew does have some valid points and wishes. Trouble is the wishlist is extremely long, and while for some, the few new featurs of 2.2 are *just* what they have been waiting for all year long, they might be less relevant features for Andrew and his priorities.

There was a "name your top 5 feature wishes" or so thread recently. I think it got a million replies and everyone was adding 5 more feature wishes. That's quite an intimidating expectation on the Planetside folks. To be realistic, it will only ever be a handful or two new features that get implemented. But how to decide what's both urgent and important at the same time, and should get a higher priority than the other thousand features on the wishlist? Everyone will give you a different answer.

I can well imagine that if one future update would focus on animation features, for me it would be an irrelevant update, personally, because I don't make animations, .... while others would be super happy.

On the upside, the application is constantly improving and I'm sure we will continue to see new, ingenious and revolutionary features added from time to time, that make TG2 so unique in the industry - despite, or maybe because of it's sharp focus on making awesome procedural landscapes. Well, if you'd ask me :-)

Cheers,
Frank

[Tangled-Universe]

What Andrew would like with z-depth passes is that it is generated along with the final render, but I figure you already understood that, Richard.
It's pretty easy to do in a second render, but it takes a lot more time and the result isn't flawless.

It's probably a matter of strategy and Oshyan explained this before here.
First 64-bit and proper animation tools are of high priority.

What happens after that I can't tell, no idea.
A logical step, in my eyes, would be to work on FBX like features.
After that we would have a stable (already is), powerful (64-bit), well animate-able program with good exchange possibilities.
I think from that point on things like spherical cameras, renderpasses etc. should have priority.
This is strictly only my idea of how it could go though. Luckily I don't have to decide, too many things I'd like to have

Like dhaval said it's difficult for PS to develop as fast paced as Vue, as their resources are tiny compared to E-on's.

[Tangled-Universe]

Frank approaches this from another perspective, but I think he's right as well.
Fact for me too is that it is improving, especially if you look where we started initially.
Vue evolves faster because of aforementioned reasons, but the fact that they "borrow" ideas from TG2 says enough about how unique it is

[MrHooper]

Perhaps before I gripe, I should say that I do love this addicting program.  I gripe because I love.  I mean, there are shots I do with it where people (like to president of the company) walk by my desk and say "WOW".  Yes, I like the program;)

So, I don't mean to make people defensive.  sorry if I'm a bit aggressive.

I had wrongly assumed that my list was among the top requests.  I know I made them some time ago.  Most of them are actually pretty simple.  Additional image formats, and spherical camera "seem" like easy ones.  An obj or fbx exporter, maybe not quite easy... but not reinventing the wheels like 64-bit or multithreading.  Wait'll you see my "other" list;)

I will pay more for better upgrades!

Andrew

[Cyber-Angel]

Not to be ungrateful, but I'm a bit unhappy with the progress on this program.  I've waited a year for an update, and got none of what I'd hoped.

1.  Multithreaded preview
2.  Spherical Camera - (really, how hard is it to do this?)
3.  more output formats (exr AND hdr would be nice)
4.  more output GEO formats.  LWO is not useful.  OBJ, fbx, or anything that plays nice with the major apps like Maya and Max, and XSI
5.  render passes, matte objects and a dedicated zdepth pass that is automated

I don't like jumping through hoops to convert this thing to that.  Many man hours could be saved by inclusion of some simple stuff.  Sorry if I sound angry...  I am doing a project in TG again, after some time off, and am finding it to be very painful to deal with in a pipeline.

Andrew

To add to what has been said already, and please don't be offend, first up some one is late to the party in fact its over already and everyone's gone home already and second of all to me it sounds like a case of sour grapes to me!

What do I mean by the above its called prioritization meaning that critical things things like 64 bit compatibility and memory efficacy and other core functionality like software stability comes first bells and whistles and fancy doodads like increased interoperability such as FBX come latter.

Planetside are a business, meaning that there is a certain level of information they cannot release, as it is of a commercial and confidential nature, that if it where released before it where "Time to Market" ready: competitors of Planetside would gain commercial advantage from that information; this would not be a commercially or fiscally responsible move for Planetside to do, as would be the case with any other company.

I am sorry that your disappointed with 2.2 but it is the beast it is, this beast is sleeping right now, but it won't always be and that in time it will get teeth and claws then maybe the down voting can stop, but I'm not going hold my breath, all things considered as is 2.2 is a great offering, flawed yes but still I can see where a years worth of work went. Have Faith, and Peace be with you.

Regards to you.

Cyber-Aangel                      

[cyphyr]

What Andrew would like with z-depth passes is that it is generated along with the final render, but I figure you already understood that, Richard.
It's pretty easy to do in a second render, but it takes a lot more time and the result isn't flawless.

Yep I knew that  
Its just not that hard to do and whilst a "ready rolled" solution might suite some people a "roll your own" is much more adaptable to a wider set of circumstances. I've never seen the Alpha build but judging from other apps DoF (that would be one main use of a z-depth render pass) is not an easy thing to achieve 100% realistically, there's always a compromise when effectively looking through blurred detail to see previously occluded detail. For myself one of the joys of Terragen is to be able to push the boundaries, to have a system that is open enough to let me try new solutions yet robust enough not to crash on me half the time rather than straight jacketing me into the manufactures pre-sets.

Richard

[Henry Blewer]

Some of the things may already be in process. I think they (Panetside) released what they were sure was bug free. The wish list is very long...

Terragen 2.2 has been a wonderful release for me, starting with the faster render speed. Thanks!

[reck]

>> Multithreaded preview

This would be great. In fact didn't a multi-threaded preview get added around the time the rest of the programme got multithreaded? I think it got removed because of problems, I guess they never found a way to get it to work.

[cyphyr]

Asside:
When I was a student I lived in two places at difference places at different times, one was a large flat with a studio room and great views, the other was a small (9`x6`) bedroom in a not very shared house. I hated the room, I loved the flat. I got almost nothing done in the flat with its large studio and great views, spent all my time gazing out the window, planning my next great work In the small room (which I hated, did I already mention that) I furiously burned the midnight oil, painting away into the wee small hours of the night and I created some work that I was happy with and some people were happy to give me money for (they were probably just being kind) The point is that restriction is not necessarily a bad thing, its useful, it forces you to find creative solutions to problems which can in turn inspire new creativity.
If Terragen had been the killer do everything landscape app that fulfilled everyone's ideals, it would not only be an impossibly complex tool but it would also lead to some very monotonous and boring work.

Richard