Recent posts

#41

User-contributed Tutorials / Re: Please use the wiki for al...

Last post by Kevin Kipper - July 21, 2025, 02:42:15 PM

Hi ShelLuser, welcome to Terragen.  We're glad you're enjoying the software.

The wiki page online documentation has gone through major updates in terms of feature and parameter descriptions and examples since the 2013 post just before your observations and questions above.

In the past couple of years several users have posted fairly in-depth guides regarding their discoveries and workflow in Terragen right here on the forums.  I would encourage you to do the same.  If you develop a good workflow between Daz Studio and Terragen and write something up, please feel free to share it here.

#42

User-contributed Tutorials / Re: Please use the wiki for al...

Last post by ShelLuser - July 21, 2025, 12:16:01 PM

I am well aware that this is an old thread, but ... being a vivid guide writer myself I couldn't resist..

Is this still something you guys prefer or have you changed the rules in the mean time?  I mean, there's also a certain risk if you give newly registered users full access "just like that". For the record: I just tried to log onto the wiki out of curiosity, which didn't work (no complaints here, IMO that's a good thing!).

But that also brings me to... are there still sections you guys need / want working on?  At the time of writing I'm using the free edition of TerraGen in anticipation to nab a full license within the upcoming month(s), so if there's something I can help with in regards to documentation... I'd be more than happy to.

Meanwhile I already have a few plans of my own... including a "getting started guide" which will be more geared towards Daz Studio users; right now my plan is to post that on Reddit; but I'd be more than happy to share with you guys as well if you think this could be useful.

[really]

#43

Terragen Discussion / Re: Things you may not know : ...

Last post by ShelLuser - July 21, 2025, 11:59:54 AM

I'm well aware of the age of this thread (IMO pretty awesome that this forum has such a rich history!); it's not my intention to "necro" posts, only to add something relevant (and maybe a little more up to date?).

Anyway... I think there's also something to say for becoming more familiar with the default ("Universal") preset, especially if you plan on 'expanding' your workflow. Because these controls aren't called "Universal" without reason...

See, it's my experience that you'll more than often get more out of your setup by combining workflows. I love working with TerraGen to create environments (terrain, sky/clouds (!)) but I also think it's fair to say that it's more geared towards world rather than a terrain building. So what if I want to set up a specific looking mountain? For that I rely on "a 3rd party terrain builder" and guess what? It uses the exact same Universal controls, which means that it doesn't matter what environment I'm working in: navigating through my 3D viewport is done in the exact same way.

It really helps if you don't have to stop and think about all that, but just get things done.

Just my 2 cents here obviously.

#44

Terragen Support / Re: TG4 uses the wrong URL to ...

Last post by Matt - July 20, 2025, 04:35:03 PM

Thanks for reporting this (and thanks for the compliments too!)

We should have a forward in place, but apparently it's not working at the moment, so we'll need to fix this.

#45

Terragen Support / TG4 uses the wrong URL to acce...

Last post by ShelLuser - July 19, 2025, 04:01:36 AM

Hi gang!

First, slightly offtopic (sorry!) => But I can't help compliment you guys with what I consider to be one heck of a terrain / world designer. I still have a lot to learn, but nevertheless I'm actually having fun with all this; which is a very important detail for me.

Anyway, there seems to be a small issue with this menu option: "Help => Visit Planetside Forums on the Web"; the URL it points us to does lead to this forum, but it doesn't work for some reason. My assumption is that your forum backend doesn't recognize the URL as valid and therefor some functions become unavailable.

If you click the above option it takes you here: https://forums.planetside.co.uk/

...however, when I follow that link it tells me that I'm no longer logged in, icons don't show up, trying to log on gives me an error, etc.

So if I go to the right link then everything behaves as normal (so, this one: https://planetside.co.uk/forums/ ).

This isn't "permanent", for example you can easily resolve the above by clicking on the Planetside logo, in my case this immediately recognizes my current session and I'm logged on again. But I still figured I'd better report this because I can easily imagine that this could confuse some new(er) users.

Thanks for reading, I hope this could help!

#46

Open Discussion / Re: Photoshop vs. TheGIMP vs. ...

Last post by ShelLuser - July 19, 2025, 01:33:49 AM

So, first: I am well aware that this is an old thread, but because it got somewhat revived before I don't think that I'm doing anything wrong here, also because I actually have some information of my own to add.

In the mean time another solid candidate has began to emerge... ever looked into Corel PaintShop Pro (2023)?

Anyway, some context... I've used Gimp for quite a long time myself but eventually became a little frustrated with several of its design choices. I mean, some things are pretty counter productive for a new(er) user. Like how you can't draw simple shapes but instead need to make a selection, and then get that filled in somehow. It works, sure, but if you're not used to such things then it can become seriously counter productive. Especially if you haven't used the option in a while and then "only need to add a small shape, wth can't it do that?!!".

Anyway, I discovered Photoshop Elements and that really helped me to get things going, been using it for quite a few years.  ...but then Adobe wanted to squeeze even more out of it so now you can no longer get a perpetual license (only one that lasts 3 years).

Well, that's when I figured I needed something else.

I discovered PaintShop Pro a few months ago and that really helped me to get stuff going again; the software has become a lot more capable than it used to be.

Now, in all fairness (!) it's not Photoshop. I've had a few situations where I wanted to grab a figure from an image (or render) and yah, Photoshop definitely is a bit more advanced with their selection tools and smart selections. Fact. But that doesn't mean all that much either, at most that some things will take me a little more time. But who cares, I mean... I don't have to worry about my software suddenly stopping on me after 3 years!  

But function wise it easily matches capabilities, and sometimes manages to do more too. For example: Photoshop Elements relies on a separate program ("Navigator") to help you sort out your photo collections. Fun, but also causes extra loading times. Paintshop has the whole thing build in as a separate "Manage" tab.

Another thing I like a lot more are the heavy customization options. Language, keyboard shortcuts, pane positions even up to file filter selections (I don't want to bother with PDF files in my Manage tab).

One thing is for sure: in direct comparison PaintShop Pro 2023 is a lot better for generic image enhancements than Photoshop Elements 2022 was. Maybe a bit of an unfair comparison, but still....

Anyway, thanks for reading. As always: just my 2 cents here. Not saying one is (always) better than the other, just that you might want to give Paintshop a bit of a thought as well.

(edit: fixed some typoes).

[major]

#47

Open Discussion / I'm new, got my mind blown awa...

Last post by ShelLuser - July 19, 2025, 01:07:58 AM

Hi gang!

So... I'm a 3D hobbyist who sometimes takes his hobby 'a little bit' too far.  Like so many others I started with Daz Studio (which is still my main modeller), but because I knew I wanted more I also grabbed Hexagon so I could make edits, and Bryce 7 for landscaping also seemed like a good idea.

Now, I've had a lot of fun with this and it was very well worth the purchase (yes, I'm talking about a time where Hexagon wasn't free). But at the same time ... at some point I knew I wanted a more advanced "3D editor" and I ended up with ZBrush (fortunately for me back in the Pixologic days). That sure was a (major) gamechanger! And so, over the years, I learned and discovered more and more. This also led up to me discovering & nabbing Substance Painter & Designer on Steam, which also changed some things quite dramatically for me. I'm still not an expert, but I no longer bother myself with texture sets anymore; and I even got my hands behind MDL development (= making your own Iray material presets), courtesy of Designer.

Well...  after I had to reinstall my graphics setup because of a b0rk PC (PSU blew up on me) I also started re-evaluating some things and began to realize that Bryce 7 had become a bit of an issue. Don't get me wrong: it's (still) very nice software, but also severely dated. "Bridges" no longer worked, I discovered that I had to reimplement all my customizations to counter for the scale differences, and well...  the controls also began to annoy me  little.

I wanted something different, yet here was the issue: I'm pretty much a n00bie when it comes to terrain & sky generation.

TerraGen blew me away!

I'm not 100% sure how I discovered you guys; but my browser history tells me that I have done quite a few searches for "terrain generator" and "world generation" and "3D landscaping". Eventually I landed on the main page (shared for any random readers out there) and that sure set some things in motion. Didn't took me long before I discovered the awesome TerraTuts channel and well... that made up my mind! 

So, the reason for my little outburst is simple.. at the time of writing I'm budgeting and the idea was simple: calculate TerraGen into this and nab my (perpetual!) license next month, or the next after at most. This is still the plan by the way.

The thing is... I discovered the free edition in the mean time and after making 100% sure that this is ok to use for a hobbyist I did just that. Sure, there are quite a few limitations (obviously!) but the cool part of all this is that these do not hinder you in any way (that I can tell!) with following the amazing TerraTuts tutorials.

Meaning?  By the time I'll get my license (this is gonna happen, that's a given...), but by that time I'll have gained plenty of experience that will help me to immediately get fully started.

The main idea is to use TerraGen as 'backup' to help me create and/or enhance sceneries for my Daz Studio renders. Fun fact: even the free edition already managed to get me some very promising results. Very newbie'ish stuff, sure, but still promising!

Anyway... only picked up on this yesterday, but couldn't help to share my admiration for all this. So here ya go!

Thanks for reading!

#48

Image Sharing / ANAGLYPHES "Afrika" (for Red/C...

Last post by Uwe Kronemann - July 13, 2025, 11:51:09 AM

ANAGLYPHES "Afrika" (for Red/Cyan-Glasses)

#49

Image Sharing / Desert Landscapes 2025

Last post by Uwe Kronemann - July 13, 2025, 11:44:06 AM

Terragen4 Grafic. Desert and Halfdesert Landscapes (2025)
Australia and Afrika Pictures. 
OBJ-Models prepareted with Poser13 (Scale, Mtl, Textures)

#50

Open Discussion / Re: Discord?

Last post by Dune - July 11, 2025, 01:03:10 AM

It's there agian for me too now. Thanks. Probably the update I had had just before grazed it.