Newb needs example file

Started by jt256, March 29, 2009, 07:51:15 PM

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jt256

Hi All. I'm a newb. I've dabbled with the previous version, but recently got a new Intel Core I7 and thought it was time to give TG2 a go.

I hope you'll forgive me for being lazy, but at the mo I just don't have the time to hunt through the forums looking for all the hard to find tutorial stuff. I could easily spend hours and get nowhere, knowing me.

So I'd be really grateful if someone could send me a test TG2 file (heightfile plus proj file) that I can just load up and experiment with. I'm after something that looks like a mountain. I don't care about water or clever stuff. I just want a generic looking mountain with grass and a few rocks. I don't even care about snow. One or two clouds would be nice.

Can anyone send me something like that? It would be mega useful, and I hope you'll understand why I've turned to you experts before trying to figure out everything for myself. If I had time I would have a go, but thought it would be better if an expert could just send me a zip file all ready to load and go. What d'you think? Or if anyone has a link already to a 'generic mountain' then I'd love to see it! Thanks a million


jt256

Thank you for these links, which as far as I can tell are just branches off the main discussion forums page, which I found earlier.

As I suspected I've wasted a couple of hours hunting through them, yes there are some tg2 examples but none seem to be what I'm looking for. Partly this is because the thread titles often don't give much away.

Short of forcing me to look through every post and open every file, I was hoping an experienced user might be able to just send me a .tgd (I know now that's what I'm after) which a generic type mountain that I can just press render and see how it turns out.

Is this possible? Many thanks to anyone willing to help me.

Martians

#3
Hi,


Perhaps you could try out Luc Bianco's Canyon pack?

http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=5659.0


EDIT: Just realized that the link to the actual page where you can get it is down :( Sorry about that...



jt256

Sorry, not into canyons!

In fact, I can already make terrains in 0.9. I just need someone to show how to make shaders to produce a passable surface that looks like a mountain. Thanks anyway though.

rcallicotte

http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=2747.0

You'll just need to learn like everyone else here - practice.  There are multiple files and some very good tutorials all around.
So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

jt256

Thank you. The Barren world tutorial looks great, but I don't need to render a planet. Just a mountain.

Is it really the case that new users can't do anything with this software until they've put in hard graft? Hours of practice etc? Is Terragen a private members' club? Is there no merit in making life a bit easier for new users, or is there some rite of passage into the Terragen User clique?

My feeling is that if they want to sell more copies, they've got to provide some decent files to help get people started. If there is a mountain tutorial please let me know.

I do not believe all new users should waste countless cumulative man hours trying to find the same poorly indexed tutorials. There should be a well organised page on how to get started, inlcuding sample files to mess around with. Most software I've used comes with official tutorial data and getting started guides. Terragen doesn't seem to, which is why I turned to the forums for help. If anyone else feels they can send me a sample file I'd really be ever so grateful. If you do, I guess in future I might be able to help other newbs down the line.


buzzzzz1

If it makes you feel any better, in the next day or so the final release of TG2 is due to come out and it is going to have with it Full Documentation. However you would have had to pre-purchase to get the update. I think you can still pre-purchase at Planetside's website 
http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/tg2/prepurchase_tg2.shtml

There are plenty of sample files in the file sharing section as calico pointed out. If you just take the time to search for things you should find them. If you don't have time to search or to experiment with TG then I don't know what to tell you?   
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rcallicotte

Not sure about your experience with 3D software, but TG2 is not unlike other 3D packages - it takes some learning to be able to create something decent.  This is a pretty common experience.  TG .9 doesn't fit into the same category as TG2 and will require a level of commitment on your part to grasp it and use it in a creative way, just as Buzzzzz pointed out by directing you to purchasing the full version at a dissipating discount price.



Quote from: jt256 on March 30, 2009, 07:55:35 AM
Is it really the case that new users can't do anything with this software until they've put in hard graft? Hours of practice etc?


So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

jt256

OK thanks - good points.

When I need to fine tune creative settings then, sure, I'll need a good understanding of how it works.

But in the meantime I just want to render a mountain to see what can be done. I don't care about sky/rock/shader settings, just as long as it looks vaguely real.

I see on the TG2 gallery loads of examples up my street, but I've yet to find the associated files. Can someone not just send me an example? That's really all I'm after. I don't need fine creative control right now, I just want to get a head start and use someone else's file. Please?

buzzzzz1

Quote from: jt256 on March 30, 2009, 09:21:39 AM
OK thanks - good points.

When I need to fine tune creative settings then, sure, I'll need a good understanding of how it works.

But in the meantime I just want to render a mountain to see what can be done. I don't care about sky/rock/shader settings, just as long as it looks vaguely real.

I see on the TG2 gallery loads of examples up my street, but I've yet to find the associated files. Can someone not just send me an example? That's really all I'm after. I don't need fine creative control right now, I just want to get a head start and use someone else's file. Please?

Here, Oshyan took the time to write this tutorial http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=19 I suggest you read it and when finished you will be able to make a mountain.  Not to be mean or anything, but if you don't want to read then perhaps TG2 is not for you. I would try Bryce or Vue because the learning curve is much easier and Vue comes with sample scenes.  However you may still need to do a little reading?



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jt256

That's a helpful tutorial. But again, I'm really struggling with the attitude that a new user must start at the very beginning before he or she can even begin to think about making decent renders. This attitude suggests that only after a period of weeks/months/years can a user expect to make decent scenes. With so many parameters to choose from, it's inevitable that those of us starting out are going to make crap renders at first. And perhaps if we apply ourselves over the next six months perhaps we'll be able to do better.

What an astonishingly patronising attitude.

I don't want to learn shaders from the ground up. I want someone to say, look, try this file. I've adjusted all the little tweaks that you didn't even know existed, and the result is really good. Try it out for yourself.

Why am I being denied the assistance of other more experienced users? Why can't someone just say "here you go, these are the settings to make decent mountains." I'm not going to exploit someone else's copyright, I'm not going to make money from someone else's hard work. I just totally reject the notion that because I don't know much about TG2 I'm ineligible to receive the help I'm after. I just want to see how an expert would do it.

If you're an expert and you're considering telling me to clear off until I've understood the manual, please stop to consider how patronising that is. It's a bit like Microsoft saying 'no we're not going to show you how to use those really useful features until you've proved that you understand the whole of our product'. Right now I'm in a hurry, I don't want to learn TG2 from ground up, I just want the settings to render some nice mountains. Why can noone help me?

domdib

JT, I think people are a little non-plussed by your request because generating a mountain is so simple - *if you know what to do*,, which is, when you open the default scene, you'll see that  the "Terrain" tab is open, and in the list below, you can see "Heightfield shader 01" with a plus sign beside it. Click on the plus sign, and "Heightfield generate 01" appears indented below. Click on this, and then below you'll see a whole bunch of settings appear. The one you want is "Generate now" (tick "Auto generate" if you want it to reappear every time you re-open the file). Et voila, there is your mountain.

I've attached a basic file with mountains ("Auto generate" is ticked) , grass, snow and fake stones (created in the "Shaders" tab), for you to play with.

rcallicotte

You've been given a lot of help and I'm beginning to wonder how old you are.  You are beginning to sound like you're whining...not a good sign, if you actually want to learn something.



Quote from: jt256 on March 30, 2009, 10:38:06 AM
Why can no one help me?
So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

buzzzzz1

Quote from: domdib on March 30, 2009, 10:43:10 AM
JT, I think people are a little non-plussed by your request because generating a mountain is so simple - *if you know what to do*,, which is, when you open the default scene, you'll see that  the "Terrain" tab is open, and in the list below, you can see "Heightfield shader 01" with a plus sign beside it. Click on the plus sign, and "Heightfield generate 01" appears indented below. Click on this, and then below you'll see a whole bunch of settings appear. The one you want is "Generate now" (tick "Auto generate" if you want it to reappear every time you re-open the file). Et voila, there is your mountain.

I've attached a basic file with mountains ("Auto generate" is ticked) , grass, snow and fake stones (created in the "Shaders" tab), for you to play with.
Well I'll be damned, he grabbed your file, took off and didn't even say "Thank You". 
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