documentation

[FG19]

Having played with Terregen for a few days now it's fairly easy to follow what few tutorials I can find and generate a basic landscape and sky. What seems to be missing is some in depth description of what all the different shaders do and the uses to which they can be put. Does this information exist anywhere, am I missing something? The MacDuff tutorial is good as far as it goes if you follow it blindly, but it would be nice to have some broader explanation of what one is doing, rather than just inputting numbers by rote. I'm feeling a little frustrated as the potential of the application is clear but how do you find out how to exploit the advanced settings?
Also, exporting hightfields as .exr. I read that it can be done but I can't find a description of how to do it.

[domdib]

 See http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=7223.0 for .exr output, and also another solution for .ter output

[Hetzen]

In terms of documentation, I'm afraid it's a matter of going through the TG wiki http://www.planetside.co.uk/docs/tg2/noderef/application.html and any gaps you find, use the forum search function, that failing just ask a question here. Most things have been covered at some stage, as most people (including the developers) are constantly discovering the open potential of the program. It will take quite a while to get to grips with the complicated side of things, but if you get a good idea on how the Power Fractals work, understand the concept of black = 0 or less and white = 1 or more (just 0 or 1 if clamped) as a basis of how masking works. Understand how to blend with those masks through the Blend input of a node like a Surface Layer, then you'll have a pretty good base knowledge in doing quite advanced effects.

[FG19]

Thanks for that info, I can see it's going to a long raod

[domdib]

Don't despair though, people in these forums are very helpful. TG2 is extremely versatile in what it can do, and a diligent trawling of the forum will turn up all sorts of tips.

[Henry Blewer]

I am about three weeks from the first chapter of a manual I am trying to write. The Terrain section should be done then.

[FG19]

I'll look forward to it. I'm a bit of a manuel and tutorial junkie so I've feel a bit deprived with Terragen

[Henry Blewer]

It depends on where other things take me. Work sometimes has really long hours. Then there is the occasions I actually go somewhere, this does not happen often. Sleep comes in clusters of about 2 days out of 10. When I try to write when I am tired I end up with gibberish.
Maybe I will do a quick tutorial like Schmeerlap's Ben MacDuff landscape. It will probably concentrate on using objects, since this may be my best area of knowledge using Terragen 2.

[Oshyan]

Although official documentation is not yet complete, I think the existing documentation resources from Planetside are the best place to start:
http://www.planetside.co.uk/content/view/31/47/

I'm not sure why they seem to be hard to find, but that does seem to be the case. If you missed them the first time around it would be helpful to know where you did look so we can try to improve access to the information.

We are also of course working on finishing the documentation, including a complete node reference, and more complete descriptions of general process for working with all elements - terrain, shaders, lighting, etc.

- Oshyan

[FG19]

Thanks Oshyan, I did find that documentation.

Creating your first scene is fine as far as it goes, the other stuff I'm sure explains the functions but, for me anyway, is in a very dry, hard to absorb way. A bit like reading a technical treatise. I'm beginning to get the hang of how things are structured in Terragen but it would be nice ( in an ideal world ) to have some tutorials explaining how if you create this layer, then choose this or that shader you will get this or that effect. So if I want to create sand dunes for example, there is an explanation of which shader applied in this or that way will create that effect, followed by an explanation in context of what all the myriad of other settings do, seed, lead in scale, small scale etc.

Video tutorials would be best but even a pdf with settings on one side and an image on the other showing the result would be helpful.

However, it's clear that Terragen 2 gives an awful lot for free or for a very low price and that the kind of resource I'm suggesting takes time and money to develop so maybe I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth and should stop whining and just get on with it

[Henry Blewer]

I'll hold off on what I am writing then. I don't want to write poor docs which may have incorrect or incomplete information. I may be able to do some tutorials of various aspects.

[Oshyan]

Thanks Oshyan, I did find that documentation.

Creating your first scene is fine as far as it goes, the other stuff I'm sure explains the functions but, for me anyway, is in a very dry, hard to absorb way. A bit like reading a technical treatise. I'm beginning to get the hang of how things are structured in Terragen but it would be nice ( in an ideal world ) to have some tutorials explaining how if you create this layer, then choose this or that shader you will get this or that effect. So if I want to create sand dunes for example, there is an explanation of which shader applied in this or that way will create that effect, followed by an explanation in context of what all the myriad of other settings do, seed, lead in scale, small scale etc.

Video tutorials would be best but even a pdf with settings on one side and an image on the other showing the result would be helpful.

However, it's clear that Terragen 2 gives an awful lot for free or for a very low price and that the kind of resource I'm suggesting takes time and money to develop so maybe I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth and should stop whining and just get on with it

While I totally understand what you are hoping to find, the reality is it's very difficult to actually produce anything anywhere near complete in that way, because there are so many techniques and effects, and even many different ways to accomplish just one thing (see recent discussions about shore foam, snow sparkle, and many more). So doing tutorials on how to produce a specific effect or feature in a scene may be better suited to individual authors documenting techniques they have discovered. What we intend to do is focus on laying a foundation for deeper understanding of the tools and systems involved and how they function and interact, so that people can experiment with a reasonable knowledge the tools they're using and how they might combine to achieve an end result. The Node Reference, combined with general tutorials on how to e.g. create and modify terrain, add and edit populations, etc. should create a good reference and starting point.

- Oshyan

[TheBlackHole]

... So if I want to create sand dunes for example, there is an explanation of which shader applied in this or that way will create that effect, followed by an explanation in context of what all the myriad of other settings do, seed, lead in scale, small scale etc.

We need a dune shader. We have strata and even layers of stones already usable with a single click, but it takes weeks to build dunes!

[CCC]

A dedicated Dune Shader is not needed. This was built in five minutes so have at it.   

[FG19]

@ Oshyan, that sounds great and is what I am looking for. If you took the Macduff tutorial for example but actually explained what all the numbers being typed in were doing, something like that would be very useful.

@ ccc, a quick explanation on how you did that would be great