Render in Terragen 2 or in another app?

[Thejazzshadow]

I saw this video as an advertisement for the terragen 2 3ds Max plugin. I know they used both programs but does anyone know in what program did they render or is it a combination of both to render the final scene? Thanks

Here's the website and video.
http://deadline.emecstudios.be/index.php/plugins/planetside-software-terragen-2.html
http://deadline.emecstudios.be/terragen2/terragen2_scenes_unexpected.mov

[old_blaggard]

I think the scenery was rendered in Terragen 2, and the objects animated and rendered in Max, and then the two comped together.

[PG]

I'm not really at all familiar with 3DS Max other than making lots of brightly coloured and not at all gay cubes, but it seems as though the plugin can add types of 3ds Max entities like models and lights and then chuck them back at TG2 for rendering. Unfortunately I'm only assuming that by looking at this image, and while I'd love to confirm it for you guys I find that I am actually less talented in 3ds Max than I touted before and have only really created on grey cube that for all intents and purposes looks decidedly lop-sided.

[Henry Blewer]

It's great that this plug in has been made. It gives Planetside very good exposure/press to a wider community. Hopefully the trickle down theory will occur, and there will be a Blender plug in.

[Thejazzshadow]

Can objects be animated in terragen 2 within themselves? I mean like the car's shocks? Also if they rendered in terragen 2, wouldn't that take a long time? I am rendering 1 picture and it is on 28 hours and not quite done! It is trying to render a star destroyer flying through some rocky mountains.

[Henry Blewer]

Blender's Wavefront object exporter has the ability to output multiple objects for key frame animation. Haven't tried it.
If the Star Destroyer is like the one I downloaded once, it may take days to get a good image. I rendered it using Blender, and it took eighteen hours. There are too many details in the model. There are other models out there which use less vertices and smaller image maps.

[goldfarb]

if FBX support is planned for Terragen's future then plug-ins like this wont be needed...

[Oshyan]

The objects and effects (smoke, explosions, particles) are rendered in Max, the environment/terrain in TG2. The plugin helps with import/export, camera matching, etc.

- Oshyan

[rcallicotte]

So what about a plug-in for Modo or Messiah Studio?  Z-brush?

[Henry Blewer]

The 3D Max plug in may cause a demand from other apps. Which will help with T2 sales. Which will make integration in other programs more likely. It's a cycle that will benefit everyone. (I hope, this happens. I'm addicted to Terragen 2. I want my supply to be here a long time!)

[Thejazzshadow]

Is there a plugin for lightwave?

[CCC]

I'd love to import Terragen terrains and color maps into Modo sense Modo renders so bloody fast.

[goldfarb]

@CCC - why? the modo renderer might be fast but it doesn't do what the Terragen renderer does...

the idea of a plug-in is a bad one IMO, simply having a better interchange file format is all you need...

[rcallicotte]

That and then it brings other functionality not in TG2.  I'd love this.

I'd love to import Terragen terrains and color maps into Modo sense Modo renders so bloody fast.

[CCC]

@CCC - why? the modo renderer might be fast but it doesn't do what the Terragen renderer does...

the idea of a plug-in is a bad one IMO, simply having a better interchange file format is all you need...

For example, Vue Extreme communicates with external renderers that allows one to add every component in Vue with what ever external renderer is being used. I can imagine Terragen 2 being capable of something similar.