Well, they may not know anything you don't know, in fact they probably don't. You crank out high quality, interesting, and fairly "directed" work (i.e. you are able to create a specific thing you envisioned in your mind) quite quickly.
If there is a big difference between the average (or even expert) TG-ers here and the folks doing environment work and general VFX work professionally, it's this (and you might not like it
): they are after results and results only and they will use any means to get them. They have no loyalty to particular tools or methods (or, if they do, it is a potential handicap, though they may turn it to their advantage by becoming experts at it). If TG isn't doing what they need, or isn't doing it exactly as they need it, they may not use it, or they may simply use it to the point that it works, and adjust it the rest of the way with other methods of tools. Whether that's exporting terrain geometry to sculpt in Zbrush and doing final render in Maya or Renderman or something, or re-importing into TG for base render, and compositing or painting over extra detail, etc, etc., the reality is that TG is seldom expected to solely carry an image, whereas with most imagery here the opposite is true. So in fact the demands on TG artists here are higher where pure Terragen knowledge and capability are concerned. If a VFX artist can't quickly figure out how to add tracks in a muddy road in TG, or can't position them exactly right, they'll add them in compositing or something. You as a commercial artist actually take a similar approach I think, but you lean more toward the person who has a genuine like of a particular tool and so has chosen to become an expert at it. But you have strong traditional painting skills that you know can make up for anything you aren't able to do in TG. Still sometimes you struggle to get something working in TG when it may well be faster to paint it, so that's interesting.
Ultimately there is no hidden trove of knowledge, no magic bullet. Most VFX work done with TG is frankly no better than the stuff you guys do here, some of it not even that good. That's not a knock on Terragen, it's more a comment on the fast-paced, high-pressure VFX industry, where results have to be fast first, and good second, and most of all they have to meet the desires of the director/designer/etc. who may have little or no interest in realism or the beauty of landscapes and just wants a mountain background that doesn't interfere with the 3D car model they're driving through it. But still Terragen serves its purpose and contributes to the end product in a meaningful and useful way. It is a tool, often part of a whole. You guys working here have the luxury of focusing on environments for their own sake and the sheer pleasure of it (at least sometimes), and that's a great thing, it produces work that has true personal inspiration, even love behind it.
The only other things *some* VFX people have, that I think are much less unique to them and so I did not focus on them, are familiarity with node-based interfaces and workflows, and an existing understanding of computer graphics and some of the math that goes into going from numbers to images. But there are many people here who are quite proficient in both those areas too, and in many cases I think the fancy node trickery that goes on here is well beyond what most TG professionals are using on a daily basis.
Speaking of TG pros working in the VFX industry, a couple other regulars I forgot to mention. Richard Fraser and Jon West (Hetzen) are both active here, and Jon in particular contributes to technique threads regularly (thanks Jon!).
- Oshyan
