Confusion about Terragen 4 Animation Availability

[DMitch]

Hi Everyone,

I've decided to try getting into Terragen again (I tried it once for one week in a GIS course in 2002) and I noticed something confusing (to me at least) in the "What's New in Terragen 4" on Planetside's website. Under Animation it states animation capabilities are included at all licensed versions. But the comparison between the different versions on the Product Comparison Page indicates the free version does not include animation capabilities. What am I missing?

I plan to just use it for personal recreational use (I like making and playing with 3D/2D art and graphics).

Thanks for any help.
DMitch

[Matt]

Welcome to the forum!

The Free edition does not include animation. When we say "all licensed versions" we mean all of the editions that require a license key, i.e. Terragen Creative and Terragen Professional.

Matt

[DMitch]

Thank you Matt.

I haven't installed the recent version yet, so I didn't realize you don't need a license key. BTW...I have other software that has a free version and can be upgraded to a paid version. It uses a license key that controls whether it is the free version or the paid version.

I will go with the free version for now, at least until I learn to use it. Then I can decide whether I want to "upgrade" to a paid version.

Cheers.

[WAS]

Animation has been a gray area for me. I did some basic keying like 7 years ago, but I don't even remember what I did, or how TG's animation works. Especially for shaders and displacement and all that. I'd be cool if it could be implemented into the free version with a smaller resolution limit when animated. Like a 360p (480×360) or 480p (640×480). Would at least be able to sample out animations but wouldn't really be usable for anything but learning, especially with quality limits.