Always in Deep Water

[RichTwo]

I am going to try to put this into words that, without my offending anyone, I hope will express both my gratitude to this community and my outright frustration with myself.

First of all, within the year since I became interested again in Terragen, I have repeatedly sought advice and help via this forum, and have gotten it.  For that I am most grateful.  I also want to personally thank each and every one of you who have freely shared your vast knowledge of this application.  I would have been much further behind had it not been for you all.

Yet still within the past year I know I have made little progress in the direction I want to proceed.  For me, Terragen is first what its name implies - "Terra-": "Land" or "Earth" and "-gen" : "create".  It's what my ultimate goal is by using it – to virtually create "natural" and / or unusual landforms.  But I also know it is much more than that.  And when it does, I become lost.

Imagine if you will that you jump into a swimming pool and you cannot swim very well.  Immediately you are submerged and are struggling to come up and stay afloat.  You jumped into the deep end, you are sure.  And then you look around and see everyone around you is waist high in water easily wading around and for them there is no "deep" end.
 
That's how it is for me.  Everyone makes it look easy, and I just do not get most of it.  That by no means is any of your faults, or that of the Terragen application, or its developers.  It is mine alone.  As hard as I may try, even with help I make little or no progress.  Maybe it's because I'm not much if any good at mathematics or logic.  Both are almost mandatory for one to be able to successfully achieve a "predictable" result which is something I can rarely do.

It's not that I feel like giving up (again).  I do find some enjoyment and I somehow know that little by little I will eventually move a millimeter or so along while others easily cover distances of light-years.  Again my thanks go out to all who make this forum a valuable source, not just for me but for others who may share my position.

[bobbystahr]

I deal with the same math deficiencies you have and I approach it as a :click this and see what happens: scenario...iffy but often unexpectedly good shit happens...keep on keepin' on man.

[Dune]

I just hope you're not giving up. Keep it simple and slowly grow, with the help from this forum. But don't give up!

[bobbystahr]

I just hope you're not giving up. Keep it simple and slowly grow, with the help from this forum. But don't give up!

more good advice

[raymoh]

My approach to Terragen 5 years ago was purely "trial and error". I took an example-.tgd from the free downloads and changed some  settings: "What does this button or slider do..." was always my question to me. So in the last 5 years I learned step by step to achieve my present "level". If some mathematical background interested me or was needed for some reasons , I read about it, but not extremely ...
My "problem" is another: Since english is not my mother tongue, I have to translate much technical terms related to Terragen, to understand the meaning.
But like a (chinese?) philosopher said: "The way is the goal".

[cyphyr]

Keep plugging away.
The more you do the more you learn.
One question ... do you use a mouse?
Running Terragen on a laptop (even a powerful one) with only a touchpad for input, although possible, would be a serious handicap. IMO
Good luck.

[DannyG]

Rich I have know you for many many years through Terragen, your work may be experimental to you, but they have always been topshelf work IMHO. Keep pluggin away Big Guy

[RichTwo]

Well thanks for all your encouragement.  And I ain't quittin'!

@ Bobby - yeah, I kind of guessed you were somewhat in my shoes.
@ Richard - I do use a laptop, but also a mouse, so my only issue sometimes are render times.
@ Danny - Thanks, my good man.  And my apologies again.
@ raymoh - Language usually doesn't seem to be a roadblock for many of our non-English speaking users (sometimes I need to use the translator!)

I guess my issue is that when I am offered an explanation or critique, the terminology is often lost on me.  For example - and again I mean not to offend - a critical reply to a obj population in one of my image postings suggested something about "saturation".  Okay, but what does that mean?  Color?  The number of objects?  You are basically talking to a two year old here when it comes to objects.  I need to be led by the hand, sat down and explained to one word at a time.  That's what frustrates me.  You can tell me how to do something, and I may think I get it.  But it turns out that when I try it, I do not.  Then sometimes someone has to do it for me.  Agh!

That's enough for now.  Thanks again, all!!! 

[mhaze]

It's always a struggle - I'm going through a dry patch at the moment and constantly running into new problems - I guess that's what creativity is - finding solutions.

[N-drju]

Imagine if you will that you jump into a swimming pool and you cannot swim very well.  Immediately you are submerged and are struggling to come up and stay afloat.  You jumped into the deep end, you are sure.  And then you look around and see everyone around you is waist high in water easily wading around and for them there is no "deep" end.

That's funny Rich, because each time I look on your work, I get exactly the same feeling! Your trials and images look quite professional if you ask me. You have nothing to be ashamed of.

As far as the difference between skill levels is concerned, there are, and unfortunately will be, three classes of users around here which I like to call; journeyman, professionals, function gurus. The latter being the highest level of transcendence proficiency.

Many options and settings in TG require skills in maths and trigonometry that hobbyist users simply can't learn or handle by themselves. It usually takes specialized courses to achieve this level. It's not something that you could "soak up" with. Or at least this is how I see it.

I made my peace with that. I just know that all I will ever be able to do, would be using clip files (choosing the ones that generate the closest effect I want to achieve) and modyfing the product that someone else has graciously shared on this page.

This does not discourage me however - in my portfolio I already have lots of little gems that could easily compete on equal terms with your pictures.

Anyway, the point is that despite one's knowledge (or lack thereof) there is a multitude of ways in which you can achieve stunning imagery, without necessarily being a trigonometry PhD.

And you know what? Creating a beautiful, well-balanced image without using any functions or web-spider node networks? Now, that's what I call a skill!

[bobbystahr]

It's always a struggle - I'm going through a dry patch at the moment and constantly running into new problems - I guess that's what creativity is - finding solutions.

true dat

[jaf]

I always do better (emotionally) by learning how things work instead of "making it work."  Unfortunately, with Terragen, many things aren't fully explained (fully documented) so we get something like "here's a TDC that will make scattered xxx's" but no explanation of why it works the way it does (because the author tried values until it got the correct results.) 

When I see phrases like "you can break down the TGD to see how it works", I usually find yes, I can change some values and see the results, but it's only working the way it did because of the state of other values and (not understanding "why" it worked that way.)  So when I want to use the technique in a later scene, I find the method very difficult (or seemingly impossible) to fit to the new scene.  If I knew why that technique worked, I would likely have a better chance of implementing it.

I know I'm being really "general" with this and probably confusing things.  I like the flexibility TG has that allows creative ability to make some fantastic scenes.  It's just difficult for some of us to learn when we are orientated to "I see the results, why does it work that way?"

[SILENCER]

Evolution happens in fits.
Dry spells occur.
Some days the lights don't go on. Other days they explode.


Roll with it and emerge the better for it.
It applies to guitar, painting, photography, Terragen, handgun, culinary, whatever.