Terragen 3 newbie questions

[mdharrington]

Hi couple of basic questions for you guys

1.I have a planet that I want to parent a camera to, then animate the planets rotation...and have the camera geosync over it. Normally would just parent the camera to the planet. Is this possible in TG3

2. I am using TG3 creative+animation....is there any alpha's in the renders? I know I need pro for render layers, but I would think basic alphas would be included in regular version no?

3. Just playing with a hurricane cloud render....my topmost (altitude) layer of clouds is masked with a simple shape shader for the eye of the storm. However when using the coverage adjust...it seems to override the mask somewhat. Is there any way to have both....increased coverage and a complete mask. (Even as I am typing this I am guessing it is the coverage adjust on the cloud...not the density shader causing the issue)
[attach=1]
[attach=2]

Thanks in advance guys

P.S. Ignore the very bad lowest level bottom cloud layers

[mdharrington]

Also....

I did try a separate elevation adjust function, using a simple shape shader....but the results were buggy. Parts of the high elevation would go totally white like with clipped colors. My clouds are unrealistically deep and high....like 30,000 meters...so the altitude function multiplier of the basic shape was often in the 1000's...so not sure if that is the issue, but in the end I could not work it out...and ended up using a separate higher altitude cloud layer.

[Oshyan]

Hi, and welcome! You've got a good start here.

1: Unfortunately object parenting of any kind is not yet available in Terragen. You'll have to either sync manually, or generate your synced animation in another app and import with FBX or Chan.

2: I believe you should have basic alpha output. On the Sequence/Output tab of the Renderer node, make sure Extra Output Images is checked (enabled). Then use Render All To Disk and you should get a separate alpha image along with your render. When rendering test images, you can explore the automatic output files (if enabled) from the File menu and alphas should be saved automatically there too.

3: The issues you're encountering may all (or mostly) stem from use of the Coverage Adjust in the cloud layers themselves. That setting is a sort of post process on the gamma of the cloud density, so it can for example turn black into gray, meaning areas of no cloud can become areas of thin cloud when you use it, or areas that were previously masked out can now have cloud. So it doesn't necessarily preserve the incoming Density Shader characteristics that well in all cases.

What you may get better results from is using the Coverage Adjust *in the density shader* (fractal noise) itself. This will bias the coverage in the noise function which should have results much more like what you want. Try that and see if it fixes several or even all of your issues. You could also try the Final Density Modulator as a mask input (on the cloud layer) instead of masking the Density function (fractal noise shader), i.e. input your Simple Shape Shader into the Final Density Modulator input.

- Oshyan

[mdharrington]

Thanks Oshyan...

I've just got the creative w/animation edition here so no FBX import AFAIK....I plan to upgrade eventually.

I missed the extra images output....that's great to know.

As far as the final density modulator...I'm having some issues applying it off the same simple shape shader. It seems like it is a complete override?
If it is a white circle....it only shows that circle (no toggle to invert it) and if I apply an invert node (scalar or vector) the results are not what you would expect.

Is the final density modulator on the last cloud in the chain an override for all the entire atmosphere...or just that cloud layer?

[Oshyan]

It should affect just that cloud layer. When I test it here, using a Simple Shape Shader as the Final Density Modulator, I get the shape of my normal Density Fractal-driven cloud, but confined to the area of my Simple Shape. I suggest trying it with a simple default test scene with a single cloud layer and see if it works there. If so, perhaps there is some other setting affecting things. You did reset the Coverage Adjust to 0 in the cloud layer, right? Other than that I'm not sure offhand what would stop this from working, but it's possible I'm forgetting something in how the Final Density Modulation input works.

You could always try my other suggestion which was again setting Coverage Adjust to 0 in the cloud layer(s) and using Coverage Adjust in the individual noise shaders, along with the Simple Shape as a Mask input to each of them. Which is quite close to what you already have.

- Oshyan

[mdharrington]

Oshyan,

I did set the coverage adjust to 0 like you said...and that worked fine

As per your test....that is also exactly what I get, but getting the inverse....a hole punched in the cloud for the eye....seems not so simple.
Just trying to understand why

[Oshyan]

I believe you want the Complement Color node (also under the Inverse type Function nodes). See attached TGD and "cloud deathstar" image.

- Oshyan

[Dune]

You were just ahead of me, Oshyan.

[mdharrington]

Thanks guys....the support on these forums is great

the 'compliment color' name is a little non-intuitive....I would have never guessed that from the name

[Oshyan]

Yes, it's sort of a more technical color theory-math term. The Function Nodes are designed to allow people with more in-depth 3D-related math knowledge to be able to create their own custom shaders, so generally those shaders are named by their more technical terms, rather than potentially more familiar ones for the average person (in cases where there is a difference). I suppose it may be worth considering some kind of more balanced approach, like "Complement/invert colour" as the node name, or something (though that may not be technically correct, but you get the idea).

Anyway, I hope you'll continue to share what you're creating here now that you have your initial questions answered. It looks quite promising!

- Oshyan