As computers get faster and faster at rendering, they should add an automatic scene feature to TG. In other words, hit go, and the program builds a random terrain, with random surface layers and objects, atmosphere, water, camera angle, etc., based on predefined parameters, and then just sits idly drawing scenery. Call me weird, but I find it relaxing watching these things render. If it went a little faster, I'd sit there all day, just watching scenes being built.
I used to watch AARON paint all day when http://www.kurzweilcyberart.com/ was first launched. If terragen was that quick, I'd be loving life.
That's the beauty of procederal landscapes. You set up a series of laws, say weather systems, climates, erosion, water level, the amount of methane in the atmosphere. Then fly around, land and take a picture.
But yeah, I get what you're saying. Sometimes pressing the 'random seed' is like feeding the slots in a casino.
Even if it could get a scene done in half an hour, it would be the equivalent of watching a Bob Ross episode, minus the on-going patter about happy little trees. :D
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3UZyqPvApXM/SZ0aBJyU4NI/AAAAAAAADxk/buCOlHKQkhE/s400/bob_ross_1.jpg)
LOL
The guy is a legend and an inspiration. Don't knock the pop shield.
I am utterly amazed by Bob Ross. Everything he does is just so simple looking but, the effects are incredible.
Paraphrase: Ooohh, lookit this lil' guy down here, lil' shadows licking his feet. And, what's this? A lil' tree up on the big Daddy mountain, wid just the teeny-tiniest bit of highlight speckling the tips.
It's a mixture of awe, sedative and comedy, although, the latter isn't intended. A real inspiration.
Yes. I used to watch him every Saturday afternoon as a kid. Later in the age of the internet, I found all his episodes on youtube. Then I sat there for like two days straight, just watching him work. I learned a lot about art, landscapes, even my photography got better.
Which is why I think it would be cool if TG2 had a "screensaver" mode that you could watch as passive entertainment.
Anybody with that hairdo is automatically amazing.