first scene

[ewong]

Hi,

I took the default scene and removed everything under Terrain.  That proved to be a mistake since it
apparently needs the Compute Terrain node (which I  had no idea where it was).  So, I created a new
scene and kept the 'compute terrain' node.

I followed the first scene pdf and came up with the following scene.  It's 'not' bad; but, I didn't
like the following:

1) the brown colour of the mountains (well, it looked very weird and martian-like rather than
    earth-like).
2) the vegetation.  Looks less than realistic.
3) the small lake.  It looks bad mainly because of the cloud reflection. (Unless of course, it's supposed
   to look like that.)

I like the clouds though and the snow caps.  While not very professional, it does have a nice effect.
I do appreciate if someone can advise me how I can clean this scene up to make it more 'realistic'.

All in all, I'm floored by TG3.   After upgrading to Win8.1 64bit,  rendering is fantastic!

Thanks!

Ed

PS:  I noticed that if the scene is rendering, and I make a modification to the scene in any way
(even moving a slider a bit), TG3 crashes.

[WAS]

Hi,

I took the default scene and removed everything under Terrain.  That proved to be a mistake since it
apparently needs the Compute Terrain node (which I  had no idea where it was).  So, I created a new
scene and kept the 'compute terrain' node.

I followed the first scene pdf and came up with the following scene.  It's 'not' bad; but, I didn't
like the following:

1) the brown colour of the mountains (well, it looked very weird and martian-like rather than
    earth-like).
2) the vegetation.  Looks less than realistic.
3) the small lake.  It looks bad mainly because of the cloud reflection. (Unless of course, it's supposed
   to look like that.)

I like the clouds though and the snow caps.  While not very professional, it does have a nice effect.
I do appreciate if someone can advise me how I can clean this scene up to make it more 'realistic'.

All in all, I'm floored by TG3.   After upgrading to Win8.1 64bit,  rendering is fantastic!

Thanks!

Ed

PS:  I noticed that if the scene is rendering, and I make a modification to the scene in any way
(even moving a slider a bit), TG3 crashes.

The First Scene tutorial is intended to give you the basics of layering in TG, and other useful base features such as clouds, and lakes.

With the information you've learned. Try to add multiple surface layers for each color you plan on using. Then with the 'copied/modified' layer, add some varying coloring. You can play around with it's intersection/altitude/slope settings to give it variation along with it's scale settings. Usually keeping the "Low" color unchecked will allow you to add more color to the scene (so long as the Surface Layers "Apply Color" is unchecked)

Here is a example of a simple "Desert Planet" terrain setup I have done. It is meant to be seen from very high altitudes.


Example Clip File: [attachurl=1]

With the lake, try playing around with the reflectivity and roughness functions to give it a more natural look for the scale it is at. Wind patches help break up solid reflections.

[Oshyan]

Terragen currently allows you to make changes to the scene while rendering. This can cause problems - even, as you have experienced, crashes - and so it's strongly recommended *not* to change anything once you start rendering, even though it is not explicitly prevented. Even if you managed to change a setting while rendering what you would end up with is a render where part of it shows the result of the setting you had when you started the render, and part shows the setting that you adjusted. Not really very useful most of the time.

Otherwise, good start!

- Oshyan

[ewong]

The First Scene tutorial is intended to give you the basics of layering in TG, and other useful base features such as clouds, and lakes.

With the information you've learned. Try to add multiple surface layers for each color you plan on using. Then with the 'copied/modified' layer, add some varying coloring. You can play around with it's intersection/altitude/slope settings to give it variation along with it's scale settings. Usually keeping the "Low" color unchecked will allow you to add more color to the scene (so long as the Surface Layers "Apply Color" is unchecked)

Here is a example of a simple "Desert Planet" terrain setup I have done. It is meant to be seen from very high altitudes.


Example Clip File: [attachurl=1]

With the lake, try playing around with the reflectivity and roughness functions to give it a more natural look for the scale it is at. Wind patches help break up solid reflections.

I've made some changes to my scene.  I changed the base colour to less 'brown' and I think the effect is a
lot more 'easy ' on the eyes (though, not still not realistic enough). 

Now, I'm attempting to create a small wooded area around the lake, but I can't find any trees in T3. 
Apparently, I need to get it off the free samples part in the site. I'm downloading the free samples right now. 

Thanks!

Ed

[ewong]

While making some modifications to this scene,  I added a tree population.  I then proceeded to use the Painter
Shader to create a 'path' between the trees.  (Apparently, I didn't understand what the Painter shader does, because
clicking on it proceeded to lighten up the terrain.  After clicking on it a couple of times, I pressed the right click
(thinking that it would darken it, but it didn't). TG3 crashed.

When I opened TG3 again,  TG3 warned me that there was no active camera.    So re-adding the camera
back to the renderers,  I'm still trying to figure out how to get the 3D preview.  Clicking on the 3D button on
the toolbar doesn't do anything.

Can someone clarify what happened?

Thanks!

[Dune]

In the painted shader, the first thing you do is set the width of the brush. For a path, make it 1-5 (meters) or so, not leave it at default, or you'll get a path of a kilometer wide.
The you figure out where you want the path and hover the preview above that area, wait until the preview is done, click pause and then click the painted shader. Default is paint mode, for erase mode you have to click erase. Then paint the path. Note that the first stroke often doesn't catch, so make a dot or small stroke, then paint. Keep within the borders of the preview. After painting, turn painted shader off in the top row (where you put it on).
Then attach the painted shader into the mask input of whatever surface shader you use for the path (and/or the grass surface, but the inversely masked), unpause the preview and see what happens.
I found that pausing before painting is better to avoid crashes, but it might depend on your GPU.

It's there again. You have to assign the camera (button under the preview)

[Oshyan]

When you reopened TG, did you open your previous Painted Shader scene, or did you get the "no active camera" warning *with the default scene*?

- Oshyan

[ewong]

When you reopened TG, did you open your previous Painted Shader scene, or did you get the "no active camera" warning *with the default scene*?

- Oshyan

I opened my previous painted Shader scene. 

Ed

[Oshyan]

It sounds like your file got corrupted then. You are working with Terragen 3.1 or 3.2?

- Oshyan

[ewong]

It sounds like your file got corrupted then. You are working with Terragen 3.1 or 3.2?

- Oshyan

I was working in 3.2.

I don't understand why it's corrupted.  Now, even if I fix it and save it, when I reopen it, I still get a
'no active camera' warning and the 3D perspective is empty.  I needed to 'move' the link from Camera->Fast Render
to Camera->Slow Render, and then back again and then close the 3D perspective (via x) and then click the 3D perspective again.

Thanks

[Oshyan]

It's possible that the Painted Shader data itself got corrupted. That's why I asked what version you're using, because there was a new Painted Shader back-end introduced in a previous update and it should be more stable and less susceptible to corruption like this. Did you have a lot of Painted Shader stroke data recorded? How big is your TGD?

- Oshyan

[Dune]

You're welcome.

[bobbystahr]

You're welcome.

heh heh heh....gotcha

[ewong]

In the painted shader, the first thing you do is set the width of the brush. For a path, make it 1-5 (meters) or so, not leave it at default, or you'll get a path of a kilometer wide.

Ah. That explains why the part of the terrain became lighter and lighter...   

The you figure out where you want the path and hover the preview above that area, wait until the preview is done, click pause and then click the painted shader. Default is paint mode, for erase mode you have to click erase. Then paint the path. Note that the first stroke often doesn't catch, so make a dot or small stroke, then paint. Keep within the borders of the preview. After painting, turn painted shader off in the top row (where you put it on).
Then attach the painted shader into the mask input of whatever surface shader you use for the path (and/or the grass surface, but the inversely masked), unpause the preview and see what happens.
I found that pausing before painting is better to avoid crashes, but it might depend on your GPU.

Thanks for the info.  After playing around with the paint shader, I think I'm not using it right.  When I
render the picture,  it looks like as if I spray painted it in MS Paint. 

Thanks for the fixed picture.  I thought I had fixed it but it was just not sticking.

Edmund

[Dune]

Consider using a Photshop painted mask in greyscale, very simple, and easier for small detail than the painted shader. Locate, resize, rotate it by using a transform shader under it.