How do you organize your files and folders for Terragen 2??

[kasalin]

Is it better to organise the files like this:        


Or how do you manage your folders and files

In Terragen old version it was more easier (worldfiles, atmos, surfaces, terrains, ......).


My problem:

If I have a folder with plants  ( tgo and jpeg or bmp files), do I store these picture files in the same folder or in a separate folder: .bmp picture


If there are tgc and tgd and picture files in one folder for one project (road map), how do you save that folder and where... do you split the separate files or in one folder

thanks a lot

[Tangled-Universe]

Hi Karin,

I have a main folder called "TG-2-Files".
Further I keep world-machine terrains and xfrog models apart from the TG2-stuff. I did that because of file-path lengths.
Inside the tg-2-files folder I have folders for:

free models
clip files
files from other people (by name)
forum questions/images
project files
tgd's

The tgd's folder contains all my work and contains a folder for each month.
All in all a huge library I see now...almost 13000 files spanning almost 20GB...perhaps I should clean up some time

[Henry Blewer]

I have a small partition on my hard drive for Terragen only things. Um, I need to organize this better...

[neuspadrin]

Basically:

/Projects/
/Clips/
/Models/(Model type 'Trees', 'Grass', etc)/(Model name)/(model files)

I try to keep all files of models together, along with whatever readme they have.  If they don't have anything I try to remember to put a file stating who i got it from.

Also, often I will put my project in its own folder, then copy all resources I use to be under that folder, such that I can easily zip up the project and have all models/etc I used on it put easily into backup.  That way when I unzip I can have everything open up just fine.

[dandelO]

Same here, really. I have a Terragen folder that contains; .tgd projects, a folder inside that for clipfiles and another for terrains.(also, other folders that I'd like to keep together like certain projects that need many different files that are easily lost in clutter).

My 3D models folder is separate, should I need to use models in another program. This is arranged by type; Plants, structures, lifeforms, etc. I keep all my file types of same models in the same folder, labelled according to author etc. I always keep images/textures, alternate clipfiles and such relating to that particular model in the folder the model itself is in. This makes it easy to load a model and textures without browsing multiple different locations when they could easily be stored with the model they belong to, the last opened folder in TG is what will open when you hunt for textures and things like that.

[kasalin]

Are the 3d models all the objects you can load in as plants, houses and son on

how do you handle .obj and .mtl files what are these files ?? how do I load these ??

[neuspadrin]

how do you handle .obj and .mtl files what are these files ?? how do I load these ??

On the objects tab, Add Object-> Object (or population if you want to make a population) -> OBJ Reader.  If it is from xfrog hit the "yes" on the dialog, otherwise click no.  Then it works like any other model.  OBJ  is a 3d file format, and .mtl is the material file for the .obj file.  You don't need to load the .mtl, it will automatically get called when imported by .obj loading.

[kasalin]

thanks here all...

now I have managed it that way:



pls look:

[jaf]

I have a folder called "GRAPHICS".  Off it I have "terragen", "world machine", "lightwave", "photoshop", etc.  Then I have sub-folders off those but not specific format. 

Lightwave has a default content directory that works fine so I stick with it. For Terragen, I simply add a folder with a project name and feed everything used in that project into that one folder (Poseray can feed obj's and copies of texture images it gets (usually from Lightwave.)   World Machine gets a "content" folder and in it will be "7may10a.tmd, 7may10b.tmd, etc" and the resultant output, like "7may10b.ter".

For programming I have a "PROGRAMMING" folder with all different languages I use, like "c#", "cpp", "python", etc.  Again, I arrange the subfolders to these depending on how the compiler "likes" to output results.

So basically, a main category in all caps and actual apps. in lower case.

Oh, and backups.  A simple second drive with the main categories (GRAPHICS, etc.) and zipped archives so I can replicate back to my main or replacement drive.

Whatever works for you and make an effort to stick to it (and clean it up every once in a while.)

[kasalin]

Yes, certainly backups are very important !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do this on an external harddisc !!!!

[neuspadrin]

I do this on an external harddisc !!!!

I do it on an external HDD and a flash drive now.  My two past BACKUP drives were the only ones that have failed me before.  Once I lost a ton of stuff as I had reinstalled OS's but hadn't gotten around to putting everything back on my computer from the backup drive.  

So I've started using a 16 gig flash drive to double backup everything important to me. Flash memory is a lot better at staying alive I've found.  Not to mention you can drop it no problems, etc etc.  I once had a friend who left his in his pants and it got washed... He just let it dry out and still worked 100% nothing lost.

Oh I also forgot, I have a
/Renders/
folder.  It is split into two other folders, "Orig" and "Post work".

Orig will store the output in EXR format (as thats what I save as to get the most possibilities from the image).
Then in post I will save the post worked image as a psd (incase i want to tweak further), as a high quality jpg for use, and usually a smaller resolution/lower quality version that is postable within the 512 KB limit on the forum.  And the full version usually goes onto deviantart.

[jaf]

Another thing pertaining to 3D graphics: organize your content.  For me, it's a folder called "CONTENT" and then different categories, such as texture images, images, icons, photoshop actions, brushes, and styles, fonts, and more.  Of course you should subdivide your textures to metals, tiles, wood, etc, and maybe a "seamless" sub-folder for each type that has those. 

Makes setting up a project much easier when you can find your content.

Another thing that can help and it's quite simple.  A careful choice of a filename can really be helpful.  Say you have two sizes of a seamless metal texture: 224x224 and 1024x1024.  You could name them "silver_small.jpg" and "silver_large.jpg." "Small" is relative: 224x224 is small compared to 1024x1024, but not when other images are 48x48.  However if you used "silver_S_224x224.jpg" the name itself would tell you it's seamless ("_S")  and the size is easy to see.  I do that at the time I receive or make the file because I can't trust my memory a few months down the road.