Issue in attempting to export a terrain object, or even a height-field.

[dirkmittler]

Hello.

I've used Terragen Classic for some time, but now that I've downloaded Terragen 3 Free, I can see that there have been some major changes indeed.

Right now I'd just like to find out, how I could either export a generated terrain object, or a height-field. The WiKi states that there should be a micro-exporter check-box within the render node. There is none.

The WiKi states that it should be possible to right-click on the Nodes panel, and then in the menu to find Create Other -> Lwo exporter. There is no such entry.

What am I doing wrong, and how do I export a terrain?

Dirk

(Edit)  By the way: If there is a minimum, paid version needed, to be able to add a Micro Exporter, I'll need to know which version to buy. And, if there is a minimum version required for simple height-field export, again I'll need to know which version. I can't find this information anywhere on your Web site.

[bobbystahr]

Here's a quote from cypher which I found using the search. Admittedly a bit of  teaser but the issue has been discussed a fair bit in the forum should this not be helpful enough. I, also on the Free version, also see no micro exporter of any kind but I've never needed to export out of Terragen, better for me bringing stuff into it to take advantage of it's stellar atmosphere and water. Maybe await more comments if this doesn't help. I've linked the thread at the bottom. Merry Christmas.

Not really sure what your trying to do here but when needing to export a terrain for use in nother app I place a camera above my point of interest and render that in orthographic projection (set in the camera properties), then I hook up a "lwo micro exporter" node to the render>sequance output tab. Set up your detail level (not too high) and you should be done. You have to set a file location and set a name with .lwo extension in the "lwo micro exporter" node.
Should work
richard


http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,6346.msg66929.html#msg66929

[Kadri]

...
(Edit)  By the way: If there is a minimum, paid version needed, to be able to add a Micro Exporter, I'll need to know which version to buy. And, if there is a minimum version required for simple height-field export, again I'll need to know which version. I can't find this information anywhere on your Web site.

I think it is the  "Terrain geometry export" here for the Micro Exporter.
I am not sure but it might be the "EXR output (renders, heightfields)" for hightfields:

http://www.planetside.co.uk/products/tg3-product-comparison

[dirkmittler]

Thanks for the quick replies. Yes, one key interest of mine would be, to export terrain noises for use with other engines, although if I see great results with TG renderings, I might decide to do it the other way around - i.e. your way .   

(Edited)

I just seem to be learning, that the Lwo Exporter and the Micro Exporter are supposed to be two different things. But in the Free version, in the Output/Sequence tab of the renderer, I don't see that 3rd entry, below 'Additional Output Files' ,  where I should be able to check a Micro Exporter. I only see an indented 'Create Subfolders' check-box, which is checked by default.

What I did find helpful though, was an idea from the forum:

Position the camera above the point of interest and facing down, and switch it to Ortho View.

Add a layer to the shader, which the terrain object already has. Make that layer a Distance Shader, and reverse the maximum distance and minimum distance color values, so that max distance is black. And set its mode to Z-planar, as opposed to spherical distance calculations.

Navigate to the one renderer, and either enjoy the height-map, or fiddle with the settings until the height-map is acceptable.

Now my only fear is that somebody might change the way the Free Version works, so that we'll need to pay for a higher version anyway.    

What I do find though, is that if all I'm doing is to render the fractal pattern as a height-map, it can actually be a fairly boring one, and, this method gives me no obvious way to change the output pixel format rendered to. Even if I .TIF it, it stays an 8+8+8 bit pixel. The real advantage with some other formats, is that 16-bit monochrome format. Hence, there might be better solutions out there just to do that, and which might not be as expensive as a paid version of TG.

What I might dig in to though, is what sort of amazing results I might be able to extract from TG as my rendering platform after all. It seems that the exporters are the only really interesting feature blocked, with Free.

Thanks again, and Merry Christmas.

Dirk

(Edited Again)  I seem to have found a solution of sorts. Edit -> Preferences -> File Saving -> Render save format ...

Yay!   

[Oshyan]

Hello Dirk, and welcome. If you haven't yet, please do take a look at the Product Comparison linked above. I think it should answer the majority of your questions. Specifically, the Micro Exporter is only available in licensed versions of Terragen ("Terrain geometry export"). In fact you'll notice a majority of import/export functions are restricted in that way.

For standard terrain saving, you can right-click a Heightfield Shader and Save As, which can save you TER (Terragen terrain format) or EXR. This only works with heightfields because it's exporting heightfield data, but you can convert procedurals to heightfields, keeping in mind that in doing so you lose any non-planar features (e.g. overhangs), and you also lose significant amounts of detail since heightfields have a finite resolution.

The question really is: what are you hoping to do with the resulting terrain data? You mention other "engines", but are you referring to rendering engines, or *game* engines? If the latter, it might make sense, but if the former, you're all but guaranteed to get better results in Terragen due to the capabilities of the procedural shaders which can only be fully utilized in Terragen's renderer. A large part of Terragen's value is in its renderer and what it is capable of (though its specific focus also comes with some drawbacks which you may see mentione here, things like lacking caustics, subsurface scattering, that sort of thing). So basically if you *can* render your scene in Terragen, at least in large part if not in whole, we strongly recommend doing so. Licensed versions have render element/pass/AOV output, and with FBX import/export you can match lighting and camera data and animation, and really get tight integration with anything you do need to render outside of TG. It's a workflow worth consideration.

Anyway, it sounds like you would need Terragen 3 Professional at a minimum to do what you appear to be aiming for. If you can provide some more info about your specific goals and intended workflow we can give you more relevant and specific advice.

- Oshyan