for an absolute newbie?
And why did Planetside change Terragen to a node system?
Yes, there is a good tutorial for first-timers. Check out the First Scene tutorial here:
http://planetside.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Tutorial_1:_Creating_Your_First_Scene
Terragen has been a node system for more than 10 years now, since the release of Terragen 2 in 2007. We moved to a node-based system because it was felt that this would be the most powerful and capable way of controlling and developing realistic scenes. We still have a list-style system in place (on the left side) that works alongside the node network, and is similar to Terragen Classic. It all may look intimidating at first, but it can be easier than it first appears. That being said we're also working to add some more direct and easy interaction methods inside Terragen and with related tools we are developing. We're also adding additional documentation, video tutorials, etc. soon.
- Oshyan