Hello everyone, my name is Gabriel Perez, and I am interested buying Terragen. I have downloaded the trial version and I am enjoying it so far! I am a concept artist and a matte painter so my use for it would be for backgrounds and full CG scenes with custom model assets.
1st Question: Where do you guys download/buy your vegetation assets? I am looking around the library in Terragen and I can't seem to find any form of trees or grass assets. Any help with this would be highly appreciated!
2nd Question: Are there any users here that use Terragen for Matte paintings and or concept art?
3rd Question: In what way did you learn Terragen? I find Terragen quite complex at the moment. I am ready to start looking for some tutorials online! My best bet would be to start looking for some on Youtube.
I can't think of any more questions but any help would be appreciated!
Gabriel
Welcome to the Forums!
1) Vegetation assets vary. Often purchased from Speedtree or xfrog (which has some freebies you can use) and some of us use various programs (eg Blender) to create our own vegetation
2) Nope
3) Learn by trial and error, youtube videos. But mainly lots of folks frequent these forums for advice, tips and to display our work
Quote from: masonspappy on July 03, 2017, 08:05:03 PM
Welcome to the Forums!
1) Vegetation assets vary. Often purchased from Speedtree or xfrog (which has some freebies you can use) and some of us use various programs (eg Blender) to create our own vegetation
2) Nope
3) Learn by trial and error, youtube videos. But mainly lots of folks frequent these forums for advice, tips and to display our work
Thank you, Masonspappy! Speedtree looks like the best contender to creating trees in my opinion. I will look into that.
BTW, can Terragen create sophisticated erosions and terraces like World Machine? I haven't really spent a lot of time to experiment further but that would be ideal for some of the scenes I need to create soon.
Welcome to the forum.
About question number 2:
There are some users who work for movies who don't post all the time.
Hmmm..., Kadri's response made me realize that my answer to #2 was quite correct. I'm sure there are other folks around here who use Terragen for Matte paintings and concept art. I'm just not one of there.
Apologies for being somewhat misleading
Quote from: Artofgp on July 03, 2017, 08:50:43 PM
Quote from: masonspappy on July 03, 2017, 08:05:03 PM
BTW, can Terragen create sophisticated erosions and terraces like World Machine? I haven't really spent a lot of time to experiment further but that would be ideal for some of the scenes I need to create soon.
If you use a pc there's a free plugin that does some pretty spectacular erosion stuff. I think it's pinned on the File Sharing section. No mac version at this time.
http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,20752.0.html
Welcome Gabriel. You'll find most answers in this forum. The search function is your best friend. If you look for tutorials there, you'll be able to discover quite a bit.
Like this: http://www.cgscenery.com/basic/ (http://www.cgscenery.com/basic/)
Or this (older): http://planetside.co.uk/docs/tg2/first-scene.pdf (http://planetside.co.uk/docs/tg2/first-scene.pdf)
Here: http://planetside.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page (http://planetside.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page)
This: http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,7733.msg82586.html#msg82586 (http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,7733.msg82586.html#msg82586)
Or this for a tower: http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,12630.msg125740.html#msg125740 (http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,12630.msg125740.html#msg125740)
Any questions will undoubtedly be tackled on this forum.
Hi Gabriel
Hi and welcome to the forum. You're in the right place. Most questions about Terragen and resources can be answered here, it's a great friendly and helpful community. There are tutorials (search function and google) and they are always being added to.
I can certainly recommend Xfrog (more for back-ground and mid-ground vegetation) and Speedtree (more for hero foreground veg) There are plenty of other options. Terragen imports obj, lwo and it's own tgo formats.
Terragen is widely used in TV, Video and film and many artists on this forum work in these industries. One issue is that a lot of our work is heavily covered by NDA's (Non Disclosure Agreements) so we are not allowed to talk about it (in some cases not even that it exists!!!).
Oh and Terragen "can" create erosion and terracing like WM although it can also import directly from WM so if you already have that you may get easier better results using WM.
Good luck and do ask any questions.
Quote from: Kadri on July 03, 2017, 09:04:49 PM
Welcome to the forum.
About question number 2:
There are some users who work for movies who don't post all the time.
Oh sweet, that is good to know. I'm always excited to see professional's work :)
Quote from: masonspappy on July 03, 2017, 10:54:36 PM
Hmmm..., Kadri's response made me realize that my answer to #2 was quite correct. I'm sure there are other folks around here who use Terragen for Matte paintings and concept art. I'm just not one of there.
Apologies for being somewhat misleading
It's no problem, Masonspappy! No sweat at all.
Quote from: bobbystahr on July 03, 2017, 10:57:59 PM
Quote from: Artofgp on July 03, 2017, 08:50:43 PM
Quote from: masonspappy on July 03, 2017, 08:05:03 PM
BTW, can Terragen create sophisticated erosions and terraces like World Machine? I haven't really spent a lot of time to experiment further but that would be ideal for some of the scenes I need to create soon.
If you use a pc there's a free plugin that does some pretty spectacular erosion stuff. I think it's pinned on the File Sharing section. No mac version at this time.
http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,20752.0.html
Awesome, thanks for this! I will have to try it out.
Quote from: Dune on July 04, 2017, 01:58:28 AM
Welcome Gabriel. You'll find most answers in this forum. The search function is your best friend. If you look for tutorials there, you'll be able to discover quite a bit.
Like this: http://www.cgscenery.com/basic/ (http://www.cgscenery.com/basic/)
Or this (older): http://planetside.co.uk/docs/tg2/first-scene.pdf (http://planetside.co.uk/docs/tg2/first-scene.pdf)
Here: http://planetside.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page (http://planetside.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page)
This: http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,7733.msg82586.html#msg82586 (http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,7733.msg82586.html#msg82586)
Or this for a tower: http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,12630.msg125740.html#msg125740 (http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,12630.msg125740.html#msg125740)
Any questions will undoubtedly be tackled on this forum.
This is awesome of you, Dune! I appreciate the links! I will definitely look into those.
Quote from: cyphyr on July 04, 2017, 03:26:23 AM
Hi Gabriel
Hi and welcome to the forum. You're in the right place. Most questions about Terragen and resources can be answered here, it's a great friendly and helpful community. There are tutorials (search function and google) and they are always being added to.
I can certainly recommend Xfrog (more for back-ground and mid-ground vegetation) and Speedtree (more for hero foreground veg) There are plenty of other options. Terragen imports obj, lwo and it's own tgo formats.
Terragen is widely used in TV, Video and film and many artists on this forum work in these industries. One issue is that a lot of our work is heavily covered by NDA's (Non Disclosure Agreements) so we are not allowed to talk about it (in some cases not even that it exists!!!).
Oh and Terragen "can" create erosion and terracing like WM although it can also import directly from WM so if you already have that you may get easier better results using WM.
Good luck and do ask any questions.
Very helpful information Cyphyr! I just noticed that Xfrog has a spring sale going on WITH lots of free plants to download... sweet deal I would say!
I do have world machine so if I have to, I'll mock up something there and export it to Terragen.
Thanks everyone! I feel very welcomed and that is important for my decision as well. I am sure I will have more questions soon.
Welcome! We always love to see more pro users. There are actually quite a few matte painters and other VFX industry folks around here.
There are also the GeekAtPlay tutorials. The Terragen 3 ones still largely apply to Terragen 4, and there are some updated new ones specific to TG4 features as well:
http://geekatplay.com/terragen-tutorials.php
- Oshyan
Quote from: Oshyan on July 04, 2017, 05:01:27 PM
Welcome! We always love to see more pro users. There are actually quite a few matte painters and other VFX industry folks around here.
There are also the GeekAtPlay tutorials. The Terragen 3 ones still largely apply to Terragen 4, and there are some updated new ones specific to TG4 features as well:
http://geekatplay.com/terragen-tutorials.php
- Oshyan
Thanks, Oshyan! Yeah, I am pumped :)
I went through Geekatplay's tutorials yesterday and also some of the ones Dune linked. Quite a lot to learn still and well informative.
Is there a way to carve out or shape a certain area? (ex:create canyons and rivers, or shape mountains in a certain formation)
Quote from: Artofgp on July 05, 2017, 06:38:10 PM
Is there a way to carve out or shape a certain area? (ex:create canyons and rivers, or shape mountains in a certain formation)
Search create canyon
There are several ways to do that; either make your own (Photoshop) 16-bit greyscale heightmaps, imported as image map shader, and used for displacement or mapping. Or kneed a mountain in another software and make a vector displacement map, import and vector displace it. Or use the painted shader (or warped simple shapes) to shape certain parts in TG itself (warped simple shapes are good for rivers, e.g.). And after adding a compute terrain, you can laterally displace the terrain by internal power fractal masks, or painted masks, or imported greyscale maps.
But TG doesn't work like ZBrush.
Or have a little patience (can't say more).
Quote from: Dune on July 06, 2017, 02:13:04 AM
There are several ways to do that; either make your own (Photoshop) 16-bit greyscale heightmaps, imported as image map shader, and used for displacement or mapping. Or kneed a mountain in another software and make a vector displacement map, import and vector displace it. Or use the painted shader (or warped simple shapes) to shape certain parts in TG itself (warped simple shapes are good for rivers, e.g.). And after adding a compute terrain, you can laterally displace the terrain by internal power fractal masks, or painted masks, or imported greyscale maps.
But TG doesn't work like ZBrush.
Or have a little patience (can't say more).
That 'bout sums it up in a nutshell, heh heh
For vegetation, the most accessible is the file sharing section here. My longstanding gripe is that the forum is not really suitable to present this very well, it's not easy to search and sometimes you can't tell the quality of the models until you've played with them, but there is a lot of stuff there now, the bulk of it for free for personal use. Oh and don't forget NWDA (www.nwdastore.com), some well priced models and entire project files and there are even free assets on offer.
And welcome, this is a friendly place you'll find... ;)
Quote from: Dune on July 06, 2017, 02:13:04 AM
There are several ways to do that; either make your own (Photoshop) 16-bit greyscale heightmaps, imported as image map shader, and used for displacement or mapping. Or kneed a mountain in another software and make a vector displacement map, import and vector displace it. Or use the painted shader (or warped simple shapes) to shape certain parts in TG itself (warped simple shapes are good for rivers, e.g.). And after adding a compute terrain, you can laterally displace the terrain by internal power fractal masks, or painted masks, or imported greyscale maps.
But TG doesn't work like ZBrush.
Or have a little patience (can't say more).
Interesting, I didn't know that was the way! Complete opposite to World Machine. BTW, Dune... your terragen pieces are amazing :) Very inspirational!
Quote from: bobbystahr on July 06, 2017, 12:55:42 AM
Quote from: Artofgp on July 05, 2017, 06:38:10 PM
Is there a way to carve out or shape a certain area? (ex:create canyons and rivers, or shape mountains in a certain formation)
Search create canyon
I don't actually ever hang in a forum so sorry for my lack of understanding how a forum functions! I will search more often for answers to my next questions! :)
Quote from: otakar on July 06, 2017, 12:54:30 PM
For vegetation, the most accessible is the file sharing section here. My longstanding gripe is that the forum is not really suitable to present this very well, it's not easy to search and sometimes you can't tell the quality of the models until you've played with them, but there is a lot of stuff there now, the bulk of it for free for personal use. Oh and don't forget NWDA (www.nwdastore.com), some well priced models and entire project files and there are even free assets on offer.
And welcome, this is a friendly place you'll find... ;)
Thank you, Otakar! I haven't gone searching around yet but I will from now on and see what I can get out of it. Vegetation seems to be the nitty gritty to making some of the scenes on the site realistically amazing!
I did end up getting Speedtree. I need to mess around with it to come up with some unique alien vegetation assets soon.
You guys have been awesome! Thanks everyone
Hello,
Nice going! I'm a new arrival to terragen as well; I'm using the free version of Terragen Four. I believe you can download free versions here: https://planetside.co.uk/free-downloads/
I have some other newbie questions.
1. How to use the free terragen presets pack? I tried uploading them as an object and nothing happened. And when I try to open any of the files my computer says there isn't any application set to open them. Shouldn't terragen do that?
2. I have attempted to use the objects function; I downloaded some free plants from xfrog and populate my world. The "nodes" (?) show up, but nothing happens when I render. I cannot seem to find any tips from youtube about this.
Anyway, I know that I can do so much more with terragen than bare mountains, clouds, the sun, and lakes.
Anyway, thank you!
Attached[attachimg=1] is a sample of what I can eke out of terragen with my current knowledge of this.
Quote from: Confused Dabbler on May 14, 2019, 08:50:12 AM
Hello,
Nice going! I'm a new arrival to terragen as well; I'm using the free version of Terragen Four. I believe you can download free versions here: https://planetside.co.uk/free-downloads/
I have some other newbie questions.
1. How to use the free terragen presets pack? I tried uploading them as an object and nothing happened. And when I try to open any of the files my computer says there isn't any application set to open them. Shouldn't terragen do that?
2. I have attempted to use the objects function; I downloaded some free plants from xfrog and populate my world. The "nodes" (?) show up, but nothing happens when I render. I cannot seem to find any tips from youtube about this.
Anyway, I know that I can do so much more with terragen than bare mountains, clouds, the sun, and lakes.
Anyway, thank you!
Attached[attachimg=1] is a sample of what I can eke out of terragen with my current knowledge of this.
0. Welcome to Terragen world first off
1. the presets are clip files(collections of nodes to do stuff) and have a .tgc(terragen clip file)extension and the need to be connected to a Surface layer to perform their function. see pic below. So you add the .tgc with an insert clip file from either a
Right click in the nodes area or from the
File->insert clip file. For problems like the object issue and many others it's often helpful to upload a .tgd file here so we can inspect what you've done...there are many ways to do it wrong....
So I'd advise using the Search feature under loading .obj or .tgo files and get back to us if you are still confused.
Hope this was helpful.
Welcome from another noob! This forum is a great source of advice, and they are very tolerant of our blundering about. I recommend the video series by Vlad Chopine, known on the forum as Geekatplay. Even though they were made when Terragen was at v3, they are very useful and project-based.
XFrog has a whole page of free samples, but some of them are a bit blocky; I use Blender to smooth out some details, since I use the models in that app as well. I have also learned from this community to use PoseRay (free) to iron out problems with OBJ files before importing them into TG.
This is a fabulous piece of software, and it will reward your persistence. The bruises on your forehead will fade, and you won't even remember banging your head on the desk.
Quote from: Asterlil on May 14, 2019, 01:22:26 PM
Welcome from another noob! This forum is a great source of advice, and they are very tolerant of our blundering about. I recommend the video series by Vlad Chopine, known on the forum as Geekatplay. Even though they were made when Terragen was at v3, they are very useful and project-based.
XFrog has a whole page of free samples, but some of them are a bit blocky; I use Blender to smooth out some details, since I use the models in that app as well. I have also learned from this community to use PoseRay (free) to iron out problems with OBJ files before importing them into TG.
This is a fabulous piece of software, and it will reward your persistence. The bruises on your forehead will fade, and you won't even remember banging your head on the desk.
well said Asterlil
I'd also point you toward the excellent beginner-oriented tutorial series from TerraTuts:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk_FvdzzZy-i5NvYoiNlcRBW6I2DCP7E
They don't cover everything yet (by far), but they are already a great introduction to many things, including using populations.
- Oshyan
[attachimg=1]I use Terragen on the job quite a lot.
Sometimes in Previz for backgrounds (such as huge 16K sphericals) or even for full enviro shots, space shots on finals.
I did quite a few spherical maps for film we've been previzzing for awhile, plus Matt kicked us down some Terragen VDB files last year. We tossed all of it in LightWave with Octane, and the previz looks fabulous.
In fact, I'm using it on a freelance gig AS I TYPE THIS.
Terragen is used all the time. Autodesk just has the press agent.
Fabulous image mate and I totally love "Terragen is used all the time. Autodesk just has the press agent." ha ha ha ha ha...good one as well