Matching 3ds max camera/terrain to Terragen 4

[wubba]

Very handy info to know!!!.. can't totally recall as exported a few .raw's with varied settings during this saga but unlikely its the same ... I don't have Nuke unfortunately as I've heard nothing but positive things about the program.. More an After Effects guy & having said that, would not import the .raw16 & only the .exr.. The Curves tool in AE appears to only adjust curves & not display any data for the file imported!? ..
Would be greatly appreciated if you could please get me the equation though .. 

Here's an updated 2k & 4k .raw16.. I could not export the .obj 'Heightmap Resolution' at 4096 as the vert count was crazy like 14 million when 'attempting' to import into Max so had no choice but to export at 2048. My head is a little muddled with all the specs, I figured I'd give you both just to be safe

http://www.mediafire.com/file/zkbt5py1kkyjn8g/heightmap2K_unityWC2_%28RAW16%29_new.rar/file

http://www.mediafire.com/file/f8kh66407rubh7x/heightmap4K_unityWC2_%28RAW16%29_new.rar/file

[digitalguru]

The Curves tool in AE appears to only adjust curves

Not the same thing, the curve tool in Nuke finds the darkest and brightest pixel to match flickering light sources but is very useful for getting these values from heightfields. It's a shame that programs like Photoshop or After Effects (especially) don't have anything similar.

The brightest and hence the highest point in your raw file is 0.729185 (pretty close to your original value) and was the same for both 2K and 4K files.

So if the height of your terrain is 248.773 (from the obj) then your multiplier should be
248.773 / 0.729185 = 341.1658221164725

with the setup mentioned in the previous post
[attachimg=1]

[wubba]

This worked for me - but bear in mind I'm using a different program to generate the raw file, it might work for you.
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So if the height of your terrain is 248.773 (from the obj) then your multiplier should be
248.773 / 0.729185 = 341.1658221164725

You've been great digitalguru.. thankyou seriously but I don't know if this can be overcome (unless I just do it all in Max!? which I'm trying to avoid) ...
If you're out of ideas, I'll understand as this is ridiculously difficult to overcome!!!

The first terragen screenshot is the closest I've got it synced with Max!, though I had to use the 2k .exr as the 4k was out of X,Y position.. I also had to 'Add Height' on top of the multiplier but as you can tell its still out of whack looking at it in After Effects!?...

[attachimg=1]
[attachimg=2]
[attachimg=3]
[attachimg=4]

I've checked the camera settings as they all seem to be match!?.. Max has few extra specs which doesn't seem to be in Terragen, though I'm fairly confident camera is not the issue..
If I raise/lower the multiplier or height value, the peaks misalign even worse so maybe its the source?.. that dreaded .raw file!? :/

[digitalguru]

I sympathize, I went thru all this with Terragen/Maya -and eventually wrote my own scripts once I'd worked it all out - but it took a while to figure out.

I've checked the camera settings as they all seem to be match!?

Did you check the Use Horizontal/vertical Fov on the Terragen camera? As Matt mentioned this can sometimes be set to the wrong value.

I also had to 'Add Height' on top of the multiplier

You shouldn't have to do that - just experiment to find the right multiplier.

If you think the problem is the wrong multiplier for the terrain generated from the raw file in Terragen - if you have the pro version of Terragen, export the terrain via the Micro exporter.
Bring this into Maya and you should have a terrain that matches your Terragen scene. The height might be different, so you might have to tweak your camera animation to compensate.

Or go entirely Terragen, just bring in your trees and plant them manually or use the populations to put them in the scene. You can use the painted shader to paint a map of where you want the trees to appear.

Here's a link to some tutorials I've made that might help give you some ideas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTKfAeEPDhY&t=912s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALbWYn_YHMI

[wubba]

I've checked the camera settings as they all seem to be match!?

Did you check the Use Horizontal/vertical Fov on the Terragen camera? As Matt mentioned this can sometimes be set to the wrong value.

There is no setting for this as I'm using a 'Target Camera' in Max with basic presets, which I applied. I wonder if I should be using a 'Physical Camera'?, though I can't find anything on Hori/Vert FOV.. perhaps it has differered terminology?
Thanks for all the help... Gonna tinker a few approaches of attack!

[digitalguru]

though I can't find anything on Hori/Vert FOV

that's the setting on the Terragen camera - sometimes you need to switch between horizontal or vertical.

I wonder if I should be using a 'Physical Camera

shouldn't make any difference

[wubba]

It's been awhile but I thought I'd show you guys the finished scene.. I ended up doing it mostly in 3ds Max & After Effects...

Hope you all like!!! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ULlB8cLzQE