Intimidated but Determined Newbie

[IrregularHonour]

Hi Everyone! 

My new ambition is to get my head around this amazing program. So far I'm completely flummoxed by it. All meaningless numbers and algebraic equations so far.

I'm in the process of trying out a couple of tutorials, but I must admit I'm no closer to actually understanding the program. My question is this: Just how hard IS Terragen to master? I'm determined, but definitely not some university computer whiz or anything. Will there be a moment when things just go 'click' and I can actually start to work independently from a manual giving me a whole list of various numbers and 'parameters' to put in?

Please tell me my new ambition isn't some kind of Mt Everest for me to climb.   

Thanks everyone!

*Bows Out*

[Dune]

Welcome to the forum and be sure to have a go at TG2. It's amazing, and (unless you're virtually brainless) not too hard to get to grips with. Just start by using some tutorials and try making simple landscapes. If you encounter a problem, ask, or use the search function. There is tons of useful information about on this forum. Try to get to know how the node system works from simple setups by others. That works best, IMO.

So, it's not a Mt. Everest, but a good Alpine hillock, you'd have to climb.

[Henry Blewer]

You'll get a feel for her about the 5th try. That's when my first 'ah ha' moment occurred. Learn about surface shaders and power fractals. The basic terrain generator, fractal terrain works well to experiment with.

[dandelO]

My 'A-ha!' moment came from reading Volker Bruhn's fantastic thread, 'power fractal lessons' here.

In it, he explained many things relating to numbers and settings that will take you way beyond just understanding power fractal shaders.

Volker's thread; http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=2287.0 Pay attention!

[Henry Blewer]

I had completely forgotten that thread. I must be a Numptie. (from Richard Fraser. Great word!)

[IrregularHonour]

Wow! Thanks so much for your input everyone! 

I'm just beginning to get the hang of it I think- but it still seems extremely technical and convoluted- so I'll be definitely be watching for tutorials etc. when I can find them. I like the full walkthrough/create-a-scene ones- in that way I always end up with something just by following directions.

I googled a few though- only to discover they were badly outdated. Guess that means I'll have to stick with what I can find on the official site.  Appreciate the thread suggestion by the way- I'll definitely be checking that out.

MAJOR learning processes going on here!

[Henry Blewer]

Here are some on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKoAv3BABt4

[Oshyan]

The Wiki is a good resource, with both listings of tutorials, and the ever-expanding Node Reference: http://www.planetside.co.uk/wiki/

- Oshyan

[PeanutMocha]

Hi and welcome,

I went through the same experience when I started, so started documenting my learning experiences in a blog http://terragen2.wordpress.com/

I hope that helps you.

[otakar]

Depending on your background and interest, I would not necessarily start by studying all the possible nodes and functions as a newbie. That would be a great way to quickly get lost and discouraged for someone like me. Rather, try generating simple landcapes (the terraforming part), then try some texturing, add a few objects and later populations. Take it slowly and bag some successes along the way. Another approach would be to follow a complete tutorial. That way you get an idea what numbers to plug in where (there's way too many options at first and you won't know which values to leave at default and which ones to change and their impact). I was going to suggest the Wilderness tutorial by Franck originally at http://www.nwdanet.com/terragen-tutorials/11-wilderness.html but it appears to be down.

[Seth]

http://www.nwdanet.com/terragen-tutorials/11-wilderness

strange it is working from here ^^

[jbest]

I've been using TG2 for about a year and I'm no master at it. It takes practice, like anything. Sure, I'm able to make decent terrain and stuff but I'm troubled by node stuff and objects Although I'm sure once you know how to use TG2 well it's all pretty simple (just saying that from my Blender experience, don't know if it applies to Terragen ). For a start I'd probably just experiment with the terrains, atmosphere, and shaders. Outside of nodes they're pretty simple .. 

Oh yeah, I did make a tutorial on the Terragen 2 Basics but I did miss out on some stuff and I had a crappy microphone. Just in case you want to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqytZb9PYSU It's got slow framerate and not so great sound quality but I hope you can get something out of it. (It does have 2.5 thousand views. )

[gregsandor]

http://www.nwdanet.com/terragen-tutorials/11-wilderness

strange it is working from here ^^

That site apparently still doesn't work with Internet Explorer.  The page doesn't load for me, either.

[Kadri]

http://www.nwdanet.com/terragen-tutorials/11-wilderness

Works on Firefox 5 ,Chrome 12 and Explorer 9 here.
But when i tried to paste the link in to Explorer at first it did put  ".html " at the end and that link doesn't work ( otakar asked that one ) .
I have no idea what the problem is !