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General => Terragen Discussion => Topic started by: EdBardet on December 30, 2006, 12:04:10 PM

Title: Save / Export ter file
Post by: EdBardet on December 30, 2006, 12:04:10 PM
I've either misread or missed it. How do you save or export a .ter file in TG2?
Thanx
Knotian
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: Oshyan on December 31, 2006, 02:20:35 AM
Simply right-click a Terrain node in the Node Network view and choose Save File As. Be sure to append the .ter file extension as I believe it does not do so automatically. And of course for Heightfield Generators the heightfield must be Generated first before saving.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: katisss on December 31, 2006, 05:22:01 AM
Is there obj export of terrains?
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: Oshyan on December 31, 2006, 05:38:57 AM
Not yet, no. You can export to LWO though, which most programs should also support. Just use a Heightfield Export LWO node. This will export a fairly dense tiled mesh as a series of LWO files with an LWS you can load that has them all correctly positioned together.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: EdBardet on December 31, 2006, 12:47:22 PM
 ;D ;D Thankz and a Happy New Year!
Knotian
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: Keichan on January 01, 2007, 05:02:45 AM
 I Cannot export multi blended terrain which contains
three Heightfield shader  as one ter or lwo file.How
can I get them?

Thanx
keichan
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: Oshyan on January 03, 2007, 11:24:26 PM
I would think you could use a Heightfield From Shader to handle this by connecting it further down in the terrain list, but it doesn't seem to be working. My assumption may not be correct and there are a number of reasons it might not be working. The alternative is to export separately and use a 3rd party tool to blend them, or use the LWO "micro exporter" which can export virtually anything into LWO but is more difficult to work with. You'd probably do it with a camera in a top-down view and it would be hard to get the precise area or detail you want, but it's possible.

Use of the LWO micro-exporter is a bit tricky. The short version is you create one, specify the output file name, specify it in the Sequence/Output tab of your renderer, then specify the camera which the exporter is tied to. When you render an LWO will be saved. Detail (geometry density) will depend on the detail you use to render. You can turn off stuff like atmospherics as they won't be exported and will just slow down the render. The geometry will be visibility culled so for example if you use a regular camera position you would not get geometry for mountains that are behind others in your view. The best result for a heightfield (without overhangs) would thus be obtained from a top-down perspective.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: EdBardet on January 04, 2007, 06:23:04 AM
Thanks
???You can see how this conflicts with previous advise about using the sculpt from .9 in combination with TG2.
Knotian
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: JimB on January 04, 2007, 07:59:40 AM
Quote from: JavaJones on January 03, 2007, 11:24:26 PMUse of the LWO micro-exporter is a bit tricky. The short version is you create one, specify the output file name, specify it in the Sequence/Output tab of your renderer, then specify the camera which the exporter is tied to. When you render an LWO will be saved. Detail (geometry density) will depend on the detail you use to render. You can turn off stuff like atmospherics as they won't be exported and will just slow down the render. The geometry will be visibility culled so for example if you use a regular camera position you would not get geometry for mountains that are behind others in your view. The best result for a heightfield (without overhangs) would thus be obtained from a top-down perspective.

WHOAA!  ;D That's brilliant, I'd completely missed it before! The ability to export a mesh without having zillions of redundant polys, and refining the areas you're interested in for higher res interaction in the other 3D app by moving the camera and changing the render settings. Genius!

Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: Oshyan on January 04, 2007, 08:42:36 PM
Quote from: knotian on January 04, 2007, 06:23:04 AM
Thanks
???You can see how this conflicts with previous advise about using the sculpt from .9 in combination with TG2.
Knotian

No, I don't actually. Can you explain what you mean?

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: EdBardet on January 05, 2007, 06:58:27 AM
Woops- I think the subject changed from ter export to blended terrains. On 12/31 you answered my question about saving the ter file. When I read your 1/3 reply I assumed that you were referring to my question when you said 'doesn't seem to be working', rather than the 'multi blended terrains' question.

One of the problems when a thread gets 'redirected'. ;)

Thanx
Knotian
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: Oshyan on January 05, 2007, 09:33:21 PM
Ah yes, "thread drift" rears its ugly head. :D

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: samsamysam on January 19, 2007, 08:54:15 AM
Is it possible to export the entiere Earth Object?
If, it is possible with the LWOexporter where did I've to plug it? I've tried to plug it in, and in place of, the Heightfield gernerator and pressing 'the export to file' button but he just generate an 'export.lwd' wich is a Lightwave file but zero objects files and no .LWO.
I although try to render a frame but no result.

I just want to export the earth very simply, just to locate the sphere in MAYA and animate my camera around it to import this animation in Terragen. So I'll be able to mix Maya and Terragen renders.


(please excuse me for my very aproximativ english... )
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: Oshyan on January 19, 2007, 05:25:37 PM
It is not currently possible to (easily) export an entire planet. The only way I can think of to do it would be to setup an animation to render 6 sides of the planet from a camera attached to an LWO micro-exporter, and then try to merge those exports in Maya. It sounds pretty problematic though.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: fragalles on January 24, 2007, 03:39:38 AM
Quote from: Oshyan on January 03, 2007, 11:24:26 PM
Use of the LWO micro-exporter is a bit tricky. The short version is you create one, specify the output file name, specify it in the Sequence/Output tab of your renderer, then specify the camera which the exporter is tied to. When you render an LWO will be saved. Detail (geometry density) will depend on the detail you use to render. You can turn off stuff like atmospherics as they won't be exported and will just slow down the render. The geometry will be visibility culled so for example if you use a regular camera position you would not get geometry for mountains that are behind others in your view. The best result for a heightfield (without overhangs) would thus be obtained from a top-down perspective.
- Oshyan

I using the default settings where the Render Camera node is linked to the Full Render node and inside the render node I created LWO micro exporter in the sequence/output properties, when I hit render (640x480) the outputted lwo file has just some random triangles not connected to each other.
What are good render settings for outputting geometry like this http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=231.0 ?
Title: Re: Save / Export ter file
Post by: Oshyan on January 28, 2007, 11:41:53 PM
Exporting those rocks would be difficult or impossible with the current export systems because they're based on camera perspective, so any areas not visible to the camera (for example in overhangs) will not be captured as geometry. Generally speaking the LWO micro exporter is useful for capturing geometry from a specific angle or of non-complex surfaces such as simple heightfields or terrains without complex displacement. We hope to add better export functions for these more complex situations in the future.

- Oshyan