Significant animation differences between 4.1.25 and 4.5.56?

[masonspappy]

Can anyone tell me if there are any significant enhancements/improvements in animation between  TG 4.1.25 (my current version) and 4.5.56?
Thanks.

[Kevin Kipper]

The main thing that I would point out is that MDD support is available at the object level.  So, you can animate an object in a third party software package and save the animation/deformations as an MDD file.  Then load the object into Terragen and apply the MDD file.

Here's the release notes:
https://planetside.co.uk/change-logs/terragen-4-5-56-change-log/

And here's a direct link to the MDD feature on the OBJ Reader in Terragen:
https://planetside.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=OBJ_Reader#Mesh_Modifiers_Tab

[digitalguru]

is anybody using MDD successfully in Terragen?, it would be great to hear how you use it - what apps you are exporting from etc

[masonspappy]

The main thing that I would point out is that MDD support is available at the object level.  So, you can animate an object in a third party software package and save the animation/deformations as an MDD file.  Then load the object into Terragen and apply the MDD file.

Here's the release notes:
https://planetside.co.uk/change-logs/terragen-4-5-56-change-log/

And here's a direct link to the MDD feature on the OBJ Reader in Terragen:
https://planetside.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=OBJ_Reader#Mesh_Modifiers_Tab

Wow - that was a fast reply. Thank you!  I'm currently animating my trees in Blender and the results are fairly realistic.  Overall, it would be easier to animate trees within Terragen if the animation quality would be equivalent to Blender. Thanks again!

[KlausK]

@digitalguru

I use the Point Oven MDD Exporter in Softimage XSI 2015.
Together with the exported object from XSI it works well.
But I only had simple animations soo far. More as a test.

I can try LightWave as well sometime. Newtek had a MDD exporter like - always been there.

I don`t know if you could use the free Houdini for the channel export.
TG reads that too, it seems.
Maya can export .mov files which can be used too.

CHeers, Klaus

https://planetside.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Importing_Animation_Data_from_.chan/.mov_Files

[digitalguru]

@klaus 
Good to know, looks like the Point Oven plugin is discontinued, but I found you can write a script easily to get that data out of Maya and it works quite well.

Though I only tried it with a simple bendy cylinder