Am I missing the presets?

[elipsis1]

Hello,

I'm an old Bryce user who just bought Terragen 2.  (still waiting on key though)

I don't really notice a lot of presets or example scenes. Does the "commercial" Terragen 2 have any of these?

With Bryce (which is very different) there were a lot of materials to choose from.

I have gone through the first scene tutorial and saw what you can do with shaders.  So is everything pretty much shader based?

Any tips for someone starting out? 

I am also looking at GeoControl, but do I even need that?  I like to make sci-fi scenes with planets, etc.  So doing some bizzare landscapes would be cool too.

I will have so many questions 

Anyway, thanks in advance for any help.  This seems to be an active community, and that is a good thing.

Thanks!

[rcallicotte]

Check the file section for examples and free TGD (base) and TGC (clip) files.  Loads of good (even great) ideas and special helps is here, too.  Just ask away, if you don't find anything already on the subject you are interested to learn.

[TheBadger]

Welcome,

There are no preset terrains other than the flat planet everyone starts with. TG2 is entirely node based and you will do most everything with shaders. Calico's advice is good. Just follow a few project tuts and post your questions, after trying your luck with the forum search. You will find a ton of stuff. People are very helpful here, you wont have to much trouble finding answers.
You can also post intermediate and final images in image sharing for feedback.

Here are a few Tuts I found helpful, in case you haven't already seen them.
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=7733.0
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=12630.0
http://ladyofspira.deviantart.com/journal/Terragen-The-tutorials-214154377
http://www.motionmagnetic.com/a_terragen2/atmosphere_examples/atmosphere_examples.html

[Cyber-Angel]

I am a former Bryce user my self (Bryce 5.5) the thing with Terragen 2 and its node based approach to doing things is that you the artist have greater control over the look of your terrain than in Bryce. With that control, admittedly is a stepper learning curve, and thus slower progress but in the end you have a better result (With Time, Patience and Practice).

With Bryce with its presets which maybe more friendly to beginners (No place in production) you end up with canned results that can end up looking the same, that may have been OK in the 90's but not now.

The reason I stopped using Bryce in the first place was that I'd see all these great landscapes on Renderosity and they where done with Terragen Classic, which up until then I'd only toyed with; whilst waiting for internet files to download: then one day whilst over at Renderosity I decided to get real about using Terragen and with help form members of the community over at what is now Terragen.org and then here on these forums thats what I did.

My first introduction to the world of digital landscapes was using an early demo version of Vista (Now Vista Pro) off the cover disk of Amiga Format Magazine which had a vary similar camera placement system to Terragen Classic: This was back in the Amiga 500 days.

Once you get use to Terragen you may not want to go back, and remember what Yoda said to Luke No, Try Not...Do or Do Not, There is no Try.

Regards to you.

Cyber-Angel          

[elipsis1]

Thanks for those links!  Guess I just need to scour this forum for tutorials and perhaps deviant art.  If anyone else has great tutorial links, fire away!  

[elipsis1]

With Bryce with its presets which maybe more friendly to beginners (No place in production) you end up with canned results that can end up looking the same, that may have been OK in the 90's but not now.
       

Canned for sure... and trying to get a realistic planet that sat outside the atmosphere, forget about it! LOL

Well I hope to get my key soon it has been more than 24 hours, but until then I guess I just render small, and learn learn learn!

Any sci-fi terragen tutorials?

[TheBadger]

Thanks for those links!  Guess I just need to scour this forum for tutorials and perhaps deviant art.  If anyone else has great tutorial links, fire away!  

Cyber-Angel mentioned http://www.terragen.org/ you will want to make sure and check that site out!
Also, http://www.nwdanet.com/ and http://www.silva3d.com/

I would post some more tut links for you, but really the ones you have are going to take you a long ways, and a long time to master.

Good luck.

[Oshyan]

I would guess you have your key file by now, but if not, do let us know.

Regarding presets, this is something we hope to include more of in the future, to some degree. But our aim is going to be providing basic building blocks rather than complex materials or pieces you can throw together to create a "typical" scene quickly.

- Oshyan