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LW²TG Documentation |
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Index |
LW²TG
Tutorials
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Basic Setup & Camera Matching |
Adding LightWave Objects to the Scene | |
Casting Shadows from LightWave Objects onto the Terrain | |
Animating with Motion Blur | |
Matching a Terragen Scene in Layout | |
Terragen
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Start up Terragen and create the landscape and sky you'd like to use in your animation or still. I won't go into details of how Terragen works here, there are already some very good tutorials on the web, a couple are listed on the links page. |
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When you have a scene that you are happy with save both the world and terrain files (*.tgw and *.ter). | |
Importing
the Terrain
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Start LightWave Modeler. Choose the LW²TG_ImportTER plugin from the 'Additional' menu and select the terrain file (*.ter) that was saved from Terragen. A requester will appear asking you to make a note of the base height and height scale. Jot these numbers down as you will need them if you want to export the terrain. |
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Modeler will then construct the model for the terrain in the current layer. | |
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Give the model a surface name (q) and triple the polygons(T). Save the object. TIP : A lot of the time you will find that your animations only take part in a small area of the terrain. If you cut out and save just this localised area then the screen redraws in Layout will be much faster and renders will be quicker. You only need areas of the terrain that will mask LightWave objects or that will receive shadows. |
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Setting
up the Scene
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Tip : It's a good idea when starting a new project to create a new content directory containing all the standard subdirectories (scenes, objects, images, motions, envelopes etc). For a project which uses Terragen I also add a 'scripts' directory and a 'terragen' directory for all the Terragen files. Set this as the current content directory in the Options panel. Start Layout and load the terrain objects you saved from Modeler (leave them in their default positions). Rename the default distant light to 'terragen_sun' or something similar. Make sure that trace shadows is on for this light. |
Testing
the Camera Matching
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Move the camera to a suitable location on the terrain and create a keyframe at frame 0. Open LW²TG_ScriptExport. Select Single/Test Image and set the frame number to 1. Enter the filename for the Terragen script file and the name and location for the image that Terragen will render. Select the light that you are using as the Terragen sun from the Sun drop down list. IMPORTANT : Enter the point spacing of your terrain file in the Point Spacing field, this must be the same as the value entered in the Landscape Settings in Terragen. Select Ok and the plugin will generate the script. Go back to Terragen and set the image size and detail level for the render in the 'Rendering Control' dialog. IMPORTANT : Before running the script make sure you uncheck the Fixed Height above Surface check boxes for both the Camera and Target Positions (located on the Rendering Control dialog). Select 'Execute Script' from the 'Terragen' menu and choose the script you just exported. Once Terragen has rendered and saved the image, go back to Layout and load it through the 'Image Editor' as a sequence. Even though there is only one image at the moment LightWave will reload it every time it renders, which saves having to use Replace Image every time you update the view or render a different test frame. Go to the 'Compositing' tab in the 'Effects' Panel and set the background image to the sequence you've just loaded. All that's left to do now is set up the surfaces on the terrain objects. Go to the 'Surface Editor' and select the terrain surface. Set the Luminosity to 100% and Diffuse to 0%. Add a colour texture for the terrain and select 'Front' from the 'Projection' list, select your image sequence in the 'Image' list, and 'Use Texture' to close the panel. To see the Terragen image as a backdrop in Layout open the 'Display Options' panel and in the Camera View tab at the bottom of the panel select 'Background Image' from the 'Camera View Background' list. The Camera view should now show the landscape matching up with the Terragen rendered image in the background (make sure you are on frame 1). |
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It is now a simple process to animate the camera in Layout and generate the matching image from Terragen, try this...
You are now able to create animated fly throughs of the Terragen scene using all of LightWave's animation features. The camera can be parented to other objects, aligned to its path and can use camera targeting and animated zooms. |
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Index |
LightWave
3D is a registered trademark of NewTek, Inc.
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Terragen
is Copyright © 2000 M.P.Fairclough, Planetside Software.
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Site
& contents © 2001 M.Brown
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