Why are there "no" video tutorials on Terragen, for many years?

Started by lookdev, December 10, 2018, 12:38:43 AM

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lookdev

Hannes, we look up to you guys.
Please, put yourself in our shoes, it's 2019ish, plenty of software in the pipeline, and it is the only one, this is the main point = it is the only one with no video tutorials.

Imagine you buy production equipment and set up your factory. All machines have user manuals except one.
Wouldn't you be surprised today (December 2018) if you were asked to put the factory on hold, and start experimenting and discovering with trial and error without user manual how this machine works, while all other machines are readily usable.


It's about the factory, not the machine. The objective is not to learn Terragen, the objective is to make Visual Effects for our own films . We were told Terragen was good at what it does, but this machine is put on the side in the factory, collecting dust.

I only mentioned Houdini because it is the furthest from Terrains, and the most complicated. It's meant to be an extreme comparison. So we're saying we could use a completely unrelated machine (Houdini) to do that job, because the unrelated machine (Houdini) has extensive references while the dust-collecting-machine (Terragen) doesn't have any, and there is no indication it will ever have.
Again we look up to you guys but those times are long gone.


P.S. We're not a vfx studio that makes vfx for others, we're a film production company building an in house VFX.

archonforest

Perhaps you can ask your money back from Planetside and buy another application that makes your pipeline work. We can keep talking about the missing Docs but does it change anything? No.

Most probably the reason of the missing user tuts are time. Everybody running to get their life under control and I guess the little extra free time they want to use for something else.

We all know here what you feel lookdev. Me personally went through the same frustration but did not give up. After some years I am still just scratching the surface but I decided to stick with TG since I love it. But I am not making a living out of it like you. Your case is a bit harder.
But as someone pointed out earlier you are wasting your time with TG in this moment.
Anyways wish you luck in your 3D carrier. It is a very tough business.
Dell T5500 with Dual Hexa Xeon CPU 3Ghz, 32Gb ram, GTX 1080
Amiga 1200 8Mb ram, 8Gb ssd

lookdev

Quote from: archonforest on December 10, 2018, 01:46:34 PM
Perhaps you can ask your money back from Planetside and buy another application that makes your pipeline work. We can keep talking about the missing Docs but does it change anything? No.

Most probably the reason of the missing user tuts are time. Everybody running to get their life under control and I guess the little extra free time they want to use for something else.

We all know here what you feel lookdev. Me personally went through the same frustration but did not give up. After some years I am still just scratching the surface but I decided to stick with TG since I love it. But I am not making a living out of it like you. Your case is a bit harder.
But as someone pointed out earlier you are wasting your time with TG in this moment.
Anyways wish you luck in your 3D carrier. It is a very tough business.


I have a film production company and trying to build inhouse VFX (cheaper cost and better films) but not make VFX for others.

I'm being that loud about this because I love it as well. If I didn't care I would have dropped it quietly.

zaxxon

Well, I agree with Lookdev. There are not enough quality step-by-step tutorials for TG's myriad capabilities. And I believe that this issue sits squarely with we, the TG user base. NWDA provides some outstanding complete scene examples: Ulco Glimmerveen's (Dune) river layout scene is a masterclass in advanced TG techniques, but deciphering the node-network takes some serious reverse-engineering logic (at least for me). But, for an advanced user the scene should reveal many key facets of the program with some study. I'm also in the process of following the terrain tutorials for Houdini, and the availability and quality of the information is tremendously useful. From Sidefx to Patreon members the selection of topics is broad and informative, and while you can't master the abilities strictly by watching the videos, they certainly reduce the learning time (a big deal!). The example you posted is well within TG's ability, and TG IS used successfully in movies, games and commercials. From my perspective, Houdini's terrain tools are developed with the idea of "Art Directability", both Houdini and TG are extremely procedural, but the layout capabilities and inter-operability with other pipeline apps gives Houdini a distinct advantage. However, I have yet to see a Houdini terrain image that equals TG's output (or Vue's either). While this forum contains the archived knowledge of countless TG user's experiments and insights it can be a chore to effectively utilize that information. A question back to you as a working professional: what specific TG tutorials would you like to see? This could be a sort of challenge to the advanced users here who might be able to share some of that knowledge and help promote a greater use of this very powerful application.

archonforest


I'm being that loud about this because I love it as well. If I didn't care I would have dropped it quietly.
[/quote]

Ohh..I see...this definitely makes it way harder.
Not sure what to say in this case. If you want to use TG in film production then you need a pro level user. I think the only way u got now is to hire someone and train yourself or another staff in the same time.
Dell T5500 with Dual Hexa Xeon CPU 3Ghz, 32Gb ram, GTX 1080
Amiga 1200 8Mb ram, 8Gb ssd

lookdev

Quote from: zaxxon on December 10, 2018, 02:18:56 PM
A question back to you as a working professional: what specific TG tutorials would you like to see?

Cliffs, any.

bobbystahr

Quote from: lookdev on December 10, 2018, 10:09:19 AM
Isn't this frustrating? see for yourself, 0 tutorials:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cliffs+terragen
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=terrains+terragen
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=clouds+terragen


I've just closed a 2 week learning period of Terragen with roughly 0 progress. Will I have to parked for the third time?
The subscription pricing option is interesting but what's the point if I can't use it.

I'm absolutely sure Terragen can do this:
https://artofvfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/ShannaraChronicles_FirstLook.jpg

We'll be filming in a few months adding CG environments similar to this, will we be able to make it in Terragen? (this is one of many we need)


Well if that's your image you seem to be making nice progress...hang in there, for me Terragen inspiration comes in spurts of inspiration from something I did by accident as I as many here have no ability with the Blue Nodes.
something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist

digitalguru

QuoteI've just closed a 2 week learning period of Terragen with roughly 0 progress. Will I have to parked for the third time?

Two weeks is not nearly enough to even scratch the surface of Terragen. I've been using it since version 0.9 (somebody will tell me how long that was ago  :) ) and still feel like a rube compared to the likes of Dune and Hannes (and many others).

Yes, there is a lack of documentation and tutorials, but I think Matt and Oshyan are very aware of that, and it sounds like they are taking steps to rectify that. In the meantime, this community is very receptive if you ask the right questions and eager to share their methods if they feel they have accomplished something significant.

QuoteWouldn't you be surprised today (December 2018) if you were asked to put the factory on hold, and start experimenting and discovering with trial and error without user manual how this machine works, while all other machines are readily usable.

I have to say that's pretty much how VFX works.

Creating and art directing terrains in Terragen is very tricky, something again that Matt is aware of, and it looks like there will be something in the future to make this much easier.
I don't have the knowledge of users like Dune or Hannes to make terrains from scratch (at least not art directed terrains)

I use World Machine to create and sculpt the broad strokes of the terrain and use Terragen as the landscape renderer - I think the new version of World Creator might be even more accessible.