What I would like to see in the future of Terragen

[PredatorPF]

And perhaps I just don't know that it does excist...

• Object grouping with lights, then I would be able to for example copy the group and move it around (a car for example) and the headlights would move accordingly
• When selecting an object or light source in the node or tree on the left side, It would also select it in the 3D preview, this would enhance locating objects, etc.
• Populate grouped objects, so also lights are populated
• Population with spline, so all the objects are placed on the spline
• Rectangle light sources
• Export ground as obj or fbx, boundaries with for example painted shader, so it only exports what is painted.
• Editable shape lights, so you start with a rectangle for example and then can move the vertices to change the shape.
• The same as above but then for simple shape shaders
• Simple shape shader with a direction, I want to create a plateau out of a mountain, but instead of just cutting out a rectangle from the rectangle location to top (example) it also "adds" ground at the bottom to make a perfect rectangle flat surface...

(I would like to see an edge at the wobbly red line (not the cross of course))

[Dune]

 

[j meyer]

Export ground as obj or fbx......

That should be possible by making anything invisible that is
outside of the desired area.You would do that by setting the
opacity to black for the outside.
Just a thought,though,never tried it.

[WAS]

Export ground as obj or fbx......

That should be possible by making anything invisible that is
outside of the desired area.You would do that by setting the
opacity to black for the outside.
Just a thought,though,never tried it.

I'm pretty sure it needs to be a object to export it as a object? I see no options to save anything as a object without it being one.

These are a lot of good points, but a lot of them are from a modelers perspective, which should be done outside TG from the get go.

[PredatorPF]

It would just be very handy to do this inside Terragen. I don't know how the terrain actually is, so when I want to add some streetlantern on the ground, I don't want to have to add them 1 by 1, instead a spline could tell Terragen where to put those.

Most of my points are doable outside Terragen of course, but how am I going to import a square shaped light? or cut a piece out of the mountain with Maya?
Grouping a model with a light source is something really usefull... doing that outside of Terragen is possible... but how do I import that?

[WAS]

It would just be very handy to do this inside Terragen. I don't know how the terrain actually is, so when I want to add some streetlantern on the ground, I don't want to have to add them 1 by 1, instead a spline could tell Terragen where to put those.

Most of my points are doable outside Terragen of course, but how am I going to import a square shaped light? or cut a piece out of the mountain with Maya?
Grouping a model with a light source is something really usefull... doing that outside of Terragen is possible... but how do I import that?

I'm pretty sure you can use arrays for a spline like layout effect. How you would achieve this, I do not know. I would imagine a population with a Distribution Shader masked by an array of SSS.

[Kadri]

...
I'm pretty sure it needs to be a object to export it as a object? I see no options to save anything as a object without it being one.
...

It depends on the version of Terragen you have but you can export any ground and imported objects from Terragen. Except clouds basically.
http://planetside.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Terragen_Import-Export_Reference

...
These are a lot of good points, but a lot of them are from a modelers perspective, which should be done outside TG from the get go.

Depends on who you ask or what you want to do. There is no strict rule for this kind of thing.
Especially ground work is much easier for me to do in Terragen. Your mileage may vary.

[WAS]

It depends on the version of Terragen you have but you can export any ground and imported objects from Terragen. Except clouds basically.

This I was not aware of.

Depends on who you ask or what you want to do. There is no strict rule for this kind of thing.
Especially ground work is much easier for me to do in Terragen. Your mileage may vary.

That is true, though, as I've found out. Everyone will suggest another program. Now, I have 7 new programs, all for dealing with models since it's apparently not so easy or native to do in TG.

Though it makes sense for ground work, though I do not call TG modeling for ground work. As it is fractalization and, masks, displacement, etc which isn't exactly modeling in that sense.

[N-drju]

If you brought this up...

Here's a list of my suggestions. I did not play with TG3 that much, so if something's already there, just scratch it:

- Always align objects and the camera with the planet's "center of gravity" or make this option selectable - come on guys, it can't be that hard... I find myself in a killer mood each time I venture off from zero coordinates as camera movement gets really, really wacky. I would also like to see trees at equator and south pole to grow normally instead of growing upside-down, and people standing on their feet instead on their heads... Yes, I know what you're going to say - "Align to ground normal". Well, to be honest, that works only if you have a relatively flat land ahead. If you have, say, a mountain chain near the equator and would like to put some trees there, the placement gets crazy whether you use alignment or not. I'm surprised this was not brought up before...

- Improve heightfield control away from zero coordinates - somewhat similar to the previous point. Each time I place a heightfield away from zero coordinates I can see that the mountains are leaning towards the top of the planet, as if they were falling down. While it may give you some interesting results, this is awkward in other situations.

- Step-by-step measurements - It would be nice to have a measuring tool with which you could measure distances between multiple points or a whole path if you wish.

- More cloud types - That would really speed up preparation of many renders! How about storm clouds, cirrocumulus, stratus layers?

That's it I guess (for now.) Maybe I'll add something later.

[PredatorPF]

Those are some very good points!

[N-drju]

How could I forget about these:

- Add waterfall object - though it is still relatively easy to do with clouds or just a water shader, it would actually be nice to have an in-built waterfall object that you could tailor to your needs (texture probably?) A nice addition would also be to have a curve editor, so that you could tailor the shape and curves of this object so that it follows the terrain in exactly the way you want.

- Do away with pre-rendering in the 3d preview window upon adding new object or a population - honestly? Pre-rendering the whole work-view each time I add any object is just senseless because height, sky, ground colors etc. remain exactly the same. Adding objects does not influence any of these. Of course you can pause the 3d preview, but sometimes it's just not a good solution.

Don't get me wrong Planetside team - I'm not writing all this, because I'm an insensitive looser who likes to criticize. It's all in goodwill - I just think about how you could make a good software even better. It's good that PredatorPF brought this topic up!

[Matt]

If you brought this up...
- Improve heightfield control away from zero coordinates - somewhat similar to the previous point. Each time I place a heightfield away from zero coordinates I can see that the mountains are leaning towards the top of the planet, as if they were falling down. While it may give you some interesting results, this is awkward in other situations.

In 3.1 we added an option to control the heightfield's displacement direction, including planet normal.

Matt