Greetings from early user and Terragen 0.9 multithreat "hack" question

Started by MDB, July 30, 2019, 08:42:21 AM

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MDB

Back in the early 2000's I was a very active Terragen user. A couple of those renders can be seen here.

I have tried Terragen 2 when it came out, and also made three renders with version 4, but there is something special about 0.9.
The most powerful scenes I've seen are mostly made with 0.9.
Version 2 and up to me always had something 'undifined'. Maybe because of the noise, maybe the clouds, or several signatures of the rewritten render engine.
Or it could be a different user base, due the much higher learning curve. Making Terragen a more technical program, with less space for exploring creativity (I'll probably get slapped in the face for that one, since it might not even be true)... But then, when looking at long-time Terragen artists like Luc Bianco, I have to say in all honesty that I like his 0.9 renders (that are hard to find nowadays) more beautiful. The same counts for other long time Terragen artists.

This doesn't mean however that I haven't richly enjoyed every minute of BBC's The Planets, where I recognized Terragen in many beautiful scenes.
And an engine rewrite was probably the only course for Terragen to become what it is now.
But this unfortunately meant a complete hold on development of version 0.9, that never became 1... And thus never got multi threat support.

A week ago I was attempting to re-render some 0.9 images at 8k resolution at highest quality settings, but even with my i7 6900k 8-core 16 thread CPU this takes more that a day for certain images. This is of course because only 6,25% of the CPU's capacity is used (1 of 16 threats).
I know I could open 16 Terragen instances simultaneously and render 16 scenes at the same time.. And I actually did this with two, but the next morning one instance had vanished and the other I had to cancel because I was going away for a few days...

So my question really is, are there any old-time users here who know of a script or program that can split a render into several Terragen instances... To benefit from multi threat rendering and let the render finish 16 times faster...

engineer

Sorry Michiel, I don't have an answer to your question...

However, I felt very touched by your statement about 0.9 and I remember Luc's  and others images as well as yours very well.
I can only agree... Working with 0.9 was always some sort of adventure with unexpected results from time to time and/or a high degree of freedom for creativity.

Good to see that others are around sharing the love for 0.9

MDB

How nice to hear from an other 'early days' Terragen user.
I remember you too, if you are the Engineer who got his nickname from the fact that he is an engineer, that is..  ;)

DannyG

Whats going on old timers ;) I agree with you in regards to Terragen Classic being something very special at its time as well as present day. The New version v4 is more geared for realism and in the right hands does a great job at it. I enjoy using it. As far as why Classic was completely terminated I never knew the answer, As moderator at Rendo I have asked but never got an answer. That was a PS decision at the time when TG Classic had a massive following. That said I still use it, Love it. I wish there was development but I don't ever see that happening unfortunately. I am still content with what I have with v.9.43 and its associated plugins. Hope all is well guys
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RichTwo

I, too wish I had an answer for your question.  And as well I was an avid Classic user.  When T2 and subsequent versions came out, for me it was overwhelming and still is in a way.  Gone was the simplicity of "point-and-shoot" and I knew what the results would be, mostly.  I'm sure Planetside's intent was to bring in the professional element, and the Classic version, having less realistic results would be a thing of the past (goodbye Button 9...).
They're all wasted!

Luc

Hi

I remember too your great renders with version 0.9  :)

I was sharing same feeling as you for several years (specially on Terragen 2) but no more today because Terragen 4 has become a powerful software to create realistic scenes with more details than 0.9 and to play with objects and populations.. so hopefully new Terragen is really better than 0.9

For nostalgics  : all my pictures done with version 0.9 are available on my website : https://www.lucbianco.fr/terragen-0-9/

luc
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www.lucbianco.fr
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bobbystahr

Quote from: luc BIANCO on August 01, 2019, 09:02:48 AM
Hi

I remember too your great renders with version 0.9  :)

I was sharing same feeling as you for several years (specially on Terragen 2) but no more today because Terragen 4 has become a powerful software to create realistic scenes with more details than 0.9 and to play with objects and populations.. so hopefully new Terragen is really better than 0.9

For nostalgics  : all my pictures done with version 0.9 are available on my website : https://www.lucbianco.fr/terragen-0-9/

luc


I as well loved/love 0.9 but was elated when the new Terragen happened. Still I confess to still using 0.9's sculpting feature as it's way more flexible than TG currently is.
something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist

MDB

Quote from: luc BIANCO on August 01, 2019, 09:02:48 AM
Hi

I remember too your great renders with version 0.9  :)

I was sharing same feeling as you for several years (specially on Terragen 2) but no more today because Terragen 4 has become a powerful software to create realistic scenes with more details than 0.9 and to play with objects and populations.. so hopefully new Terragen is really better than 0.9

For nostalgics  : all my pictures done with version 0.9 are available on my website : https://www.lucbianco.fr/terragen-0-9/

luc
Oh wow, thank yoouuu  ;D Why couldn't I find that...
Do you think it's possible to equal the mood of for example "Ter181" in TG4?
There is something about the 'power' of your classic renders. While I agree of course about the amazing realism of your recent work.
But I'm more a 'mood' kind of guy I guess..

Perhaps I will try TG4 myself again in the coming months. But for now I started making new images in TG Classic for some reason...
(Which I have uploaded on the top of this page or on my still existing old TG site)

René

I agree that those images made with 0.9 have something 'special'. It may be because of the limitations of the software at the time; the Germans have an expression for this: 'In der Beschränkung zeigt sich der Meister', which roughly translates as 'The Master shows himself in the limitations'. Because of the absence of vegetation and signs of human activity, those old renderings have a certain loneliness and pristine nature that is very attractive.
However, I don't think it's that difficult to replicate that quality in Terragen 4; however, you will have to restrain yourself and keep it a little basic.

Oh, and look at the beautiful Mars renders that Kees Veenenbos made with Terragen 0.9. He even made it to the cover of National Geographic magazine.
This is a selection of his work. The images after 2005 were made with a more recent version of Terragen. http://www.space4case.com/mmw/pages/space4case/mars/mars-images-2001-2.php


archonforest

Quote from: René on August 03, 2019, 03:08:31 AM
I agree that those images made with 0.9 have something 'special'. It may be because of the limitations of the software at the time; the Germans have an expression for this: 'In der Beschränkung zeigt sich der Meister', which roughly translates as 'The Master shows himself in the limitations'. Because of the absence of vegetation and signs of human activity, those old renderings have a certain loneliness and pristine nature that is very attractive.
However, I don't think it's that difficult to replicate that quality in Terragen 4; however, you will have to restrain yourself and keep it a little basic.

Oh, and look at the beautiful Mars renders that Kees Veenenbos made with Terragen 0.9. He even made it to the cover of National Geographic magazine.
This is a selection of his work. The images after 2005 were made with a more recent version of Terragen. http://www.space4case.com/mmw/pages/space4case/mars/mars-images-2001-2.php

Wow that Mars render is very very cool!!
Dell T5500 with Dual Hexa Xeon CPU 3Ghz, 32Gb ram, GTX 1080
Amiga 1200 8Mb ram, 8Gb ssd

MDB

Yes, I remember seeing that image on the cover of NG magazine, (and if I remember correctly, also page spread renders in the magazine).
That was really something! I wonder if that was the biggest exposure of Terragen to date at the time.

I was thinking the same thing. The limitations of the program lead to users pushing the program far beyond it's intentions.
Terragen allowed complete freedom of parameters. Resulting in images with a negative sun, for example.
It almost became a form of art on it's own do make things considered impossible with the program.
Some images where an abstract form of art that only other Terragen users really understood.

I wonder what Matt was thinking when he first saw these crazy renderings emerge. I remember Terragen promotion always sticking to earth realism, and not crazy worlds.

You may have noticed by now that I have found a good resource to find back a many of those classic images on Renderosity. Some users seem to have removed their images but there is still much to find.

bobbystahr

Quote from: MDB on August 03, 2019, 07:09:53 AM

You may have noticed by now that I have found a good resource to find back a many of those classic images on Renderosity. Some users seem to have removed their images but there is still much to find.

thanks for that memory walk link...used to be a Mod over there, all be it in Freestuff and Imagine3D but cruised the terragen gallery always...been a while sinceI got back there.
something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist

WAS

Quote from: René on August 03, 2019, 03:08:31 AM
the Germans have an expression for this: 'In der Beschränkung zeigt sich der Meister', which roughly translates as 'The Master shows himself in the limitations'.

I'm pretty sure that's burned into the base of a huuuge wood windmill my great grandmother assembled for Christmas. Grandmother told me about the saying. It was from Germany, just like her. Each piece had to be put together by hand. They're really beautiful. One makes an appearance in National Lampoons Christmas Vacation where Ed touches it and parts of it fall off.

Thanks for bringing back the memories.

DannyG

Quote from: René on August 03, 2019, 03:08:31 AMI agree that those images made with 0.9 have something 'special'. It may be because of the limitations of the software at the time; the Germans have an expression for this: 'In der Beschränkung zeigt sich der Meister', which roughly translates as 'The Master shows himself in the limitations'. Because of the absence of vegetation and signs of human activity, those old renderings have a certain loneliness and pristine nature that is very attractive.
However, I don't think it's that difficult to replicate that quality in Terragen 4; however, you will have to restrain yourself and keep it a little basic.

Oh, and look at the beautiful Mars renders that Kees Veenenbos made with Terragen 0.9. He even made it to the cover of National Geographic magazine.
This is a selection of his work. The images after 2005 were made with a more recent version of Terragen. http://www.space4case.com/mmw/pages/space4case/mars/mars-images-2001-2.php



Nicolas Hoffman's Mars TG Classic Animation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkrfOFhJ1g4
New World Digital Art
NwdaGroup.com
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WAS

I think in this example you can see where TG Classic shines. I see this in almost all TG Classic images, this "splattering" of colours and high contrast which actually looks a lot like how images age on the internet through compression, and on old 360p/480p TVs, would look amazing with interlacing.