Atmosphere Packs, and now, Sunset Pack

[domdib]

A question for you Frank, re the licenses for your packs, which I am strongly tempted to purchase. I'm posting it here in case it's relevant to anyone else.

I work for a charity, and I also dabble in TG2. It may be that at some future date, the charity might want to use an image I've generated via TG2. The image might be used in advertising or promotional materials, but would in no case be charged for. That image might hypothetically include something from your Atmosphere or Sunset Packs. Which license would you advise me to purchase?

Thanks,

Dominic

[FrankB]

Well in this case, you are fine with the private use license. If your charity organisation wants to use one of your images in print, and you're not getting any money from it, I can hardly be regard this as a commercial act.

Let me clarify at this point, that the commercial option really is meant for companies (no matter the company size) with a commercial purpose for the images created from the packs.

Does that help clarify?

Thanks for the good question.
Frank

A question for you Frank, re the licenses for your packs, which I am strongly tempted to purchase. I'm posting it here in case it's relevant to anyone else.

I work for a charity, and I also dabble in TG2. It may be that at some future date, the charity might want to use an image I've generated via TG2. The image might be used in advertising or promotional materials, but would in no case be charged for. That image might hypothetically include something from your Atmosphere or Sunset Packs. Which license would you advise me to purchase?

Thanks,

Dominic

[domdib]

Thanks Frank, perfectly clear. I just bought both of them 

[FrankB]

Thanks Frank, perfectly clear. I just bought both of them 

Thank you very much - have plenty of fun with them :-)

Frank

[Mr_Lamppost]

The idea of these packs is a good one and the sample images look spot on.  I think I am fairly proficient at tg2 clouds and would prefer to develop solutions in my own style rather than use someone else's work.  Please don't think that by saying tat I am being cheap, I seldom download and use other peoples clip files so probably wouldn't download your packs even if they were free.  I find I learn more working from the ground up even if I am re-inventing the wheel.

That said good luck with selling your work, it looks excellent and is certainly good value at the prices you are asking.  I can certainly see a market for high quality preserts for terragen.  A lot of us here and on other forums have  two years experience but I doubt than many people new to the product would be prepared to put in that much time learning the finer points if they know they can buy quality presets that will give them professional quality results  right away. 

While it is probably not for me I will keep an eye on your progress and wish you the best of luck.

[RArcher]

Very cool stuff Frank.  I think these are worth the few dollars just to learn some alternate techniques.

-ryan

[choronr]

Agree with RAcher. These files are not only an asset to the program; but also excellent learning tools to help some of us without the technical savvy to understand all the intricacies of the program. Yes, being a purist is a good thing; however, is it suggested that maybe we should write our own terrain generating program? I don't think so.

I late in ordering the files but will soon do so and sneak the buy by my penny pinching partner.

[FrankB]

Thanks again, reading this is very encouraging for me. And it's true - Terragen 2 has become a very complex application, compared to Terragen 0.9, which has attracted countless hobby artists. In my opinion, a big part of TG0.9's success has been the simplicity of use. Most of the maths that worked behind the scenes have been hidden from the user. Still it was complicated enough to have a considerable learning curve. Just look at all the tutorials that are everywhere around the web!
Now, in order to make TG2 more accessible not only to beginners, but also to less maths savvy individuals, I really believe that the "presets" that I make can provide good value to the aforementioned group of people. Some will study and learn the presets, and eventually make their own skies, terrains, function etc.., while others will be content assembling nice images using various pre-configured aspects of TG2. All of that is a viable approach for art.

I am looking forward to the day when TG2(3) has a facility to create macros of some sort, so that e.g. a given set of cloud layers can be packages into just one node with just one custom dialog, so that these presets become very easy to use. I will be the first one to create some of those custom macros :-)

Best regards,
Frank

[domdib]

I'd just like to agree with Mr_Lampost and Frank, that there is indeed a target market for these. I have come relatively late to TG2 (am still saving up for the license), and have neither the time nor the computing resources to explore the program as deeply as I'd like - but I still aspire to make images approaching the quality of those that appear regularly on this forum. So packs like these at a reasonable price hit the sweet spot for me.

I would guess once TG2 comes out of beta there may be a growing audience like me. The question for Frank and others who could contribute such packs is, how to give them sufficient visibility, as this is just an ordinary thread, not 'stickied', and the more part-time users might not be inclined to trawl the forums for gems? Would Planetside consider allowing Frank and other members of the community in good standing ( I stress that in the light of the recent incident with Floraworks) to engage in some kind of limited advertising, either via the web site or the forums? Just a thought.

[choronr]

Hi Frank,

I just purchased one of your 'Sunset' files and tried making a clip file of the 'Winter cold sunset - cirrus' clouds and applying them to a scene I am working on. After attempting to work with trying different node connections (using my own and/or your atmosphere), I just continue to get a 'black' sky. I think what I will do is study all of your node settings and see if I can replicate the same granular cirrus clouds in my scene. These are the best cirrus clouds I have seen.

Bob

[FrankB]

Hi Bob,

I would be glad to help troubleshoot the problem. However, I'm on a trip at the moment and will return tomorrow evening. If in the meantime you'd send me the project that has the described issue, I'll have a look immediately upon my return.

Thanks,
Frank

Hi Frank,

I just purchased one of your 'Sunset' files and tried making a clip file of the 'Winter cold sunset - cirrus' clouds and applying them to a scene I am working on. After attempting to work with trying different node connections (using my own and/or your atmosphere), I just continue to get a 'black' sky. I think what I will do is study all of your node settings and see if I can replicate the same granular cirrus clouds in my scene. These are the best cirrus clouds I have seen.

Bob

[plugsnpixels]

domdib, I've added a page for the atmosphere and sunset packs to my website in the hopes of giving Frank's work (as well as Terragen) more exposure. I will also include a page in my next ezine for the packs.

If anyone else has similar productivity or educational products (for TG or other 2D/3D digital imaging apps), please let me know. I don't charge for the exposure.

[FrankB]

Hi Frank,

I just purchased one of your 'Sunset' files and tried making a clip file of the 'Winter cold sunset - cirrus' clouds and applying them to a scene I am working on. After attempting to work with trying different node connections (using my own and/or your atmosphere), I just continue to get a 'black' sky. I think what I will do is study all of your node settings and see if I can replicate the same granular cirrus clouds in my scene. These are the best cirrus clouds I have seen.

Bob

Bob, I have fixed your tgd. You forgot to include a blendshader with your custom scene, but "blend by shader" was still selected in the cloud's density fractal. Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Frank

[choronr]

Thanks Frank; I'll work further with with the file you adjusted; appreciate it very much. Hopefully I'll have a rendered image in a few days.

Bob

[domdib]

Thanks to plugsnpixels. Let's hope that there are other sites out there that can publicise these and other packs, and TG2.