Giving out help and critisim for TERRAGEN LANDSCAPES

[Nadril]

Well... i'd love to see some more little terragener's around here that actualy can use the program :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, if you have a landscape that you want some serrious C&C on and some good pointers on how to get better, post it here. I will than layout the good, the bad, and what can be changed and HOW it can be changed. Hopefully this will alow for the boards to get some more experianced terragen artists than just a few people poking around with the program :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Also, 1525 may be giving advice in adition to mine. Go ahead and listen to him as well, he knows what he's talking about :P

[jak722]

honestly... im confused by the program. :?

[Stoked]

stupidest topic ever? if ppl want stuff rated shouldn't they make their own topic? :roll:

[Chounin]

i tried making my first one yesterday, turned out okay except the atmosphere was pretty plain, there was no grass on the land, and the sun's rays didn't really fit in. Well i guess that's just about the whole thing :lol: But that's what i get for trying it without reading the user guide, i didn't even know how to save. Anyway, that pic had a pointed mountain, like a peak. Are we allowed to ask for advice without a pic of our work? Because then my question would be... what settings would you change to achieve a pointed-mountain landscape. I don't really remember what I did, played around with some numbers and got it. Thanks alot

[Chounin]

stupidest topic ever? if ppl want stuff rated shouldn't they make their own topic? :roll:

In his post, he had the word "how" in caps, obviously that was for emphasis. It isn't just for rating, he's also telling people how to make those changes. Advice is good for directing people in the right path, that is people that do know how to use the program.

[flames9090]

how do u make things move in photoshop

[Mcqueen]

i used to be pretty good with terragan. Then i didnt do it for a while and i lost my touch. i didnt save any of my good work. but heres some of my lesser work:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second one was going to be used for a desktop background but it didnt turn out very well :?

[dark_ice]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

heres one of my firsts...i have a pretty good idea on how things work but i still need lots of advice til i get really good

[Nadril]

Whee, here we go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stoked: If you could read, i'm giving advice that probaly wouldn't be given in a rate my sig post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chouin I'm not realy sure exactly what your trying to ask, but if you want to get a mountain peak, I recomend downloading world machine at http://www.worldmachine.com :) Its alot better to use :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, if you want it veiwing just the peak, than on your camera controls set your hight up a bunch :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mcqueen:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The good:

 

 

 

- the terrains arn't bad, there isn't any real messy looking mountains.

 

 

 

- The surface maps for the most part are Semi-decent.

 

 

 

-the atmosphere on the sunset version is preaty nice :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bad:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- however, the terrains still lack realisim. Also, the just plain water scapes arn't to my liking.

 

 

 

- The surface maps, although better than some, still need more than just grass. Will tell more in a second.

 

 

 

- Some of the atmospheres could still use work, they are just plain, default ones.

 

 

 

- Sometimes your landscapes look like it just cuts off, giving a kind of unrealistic feel, instead of having a landscape that realy goes far back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Changes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Work on your surface maps. For example, on the surface map thing atm you probaly have something simular to (and if not than follow these guidelines)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Main surface: Green grass

 

 

 

>Child layer, Grass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Than either keep giving Child's of the main surface a few diferent greens or make childs of the first Child layer. A good way to improve on this would be:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Main surface: A browish rock/dirt color.

 

 

 

>Child layer of Main: main grass color. Than mess with the fractural noise on it. Make it a bit higher, and make sure that it covers like half-75% of the area (with the whole coverage control) Than change the Max slope, and probaly leave at its deffault (just check max slope)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

>>Child layer of the grass Child: Make a slightly different color green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

>>> Repeat for about 3-4 child layers of the main grass layer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This should get you a simple, yet very affective landscape terrain. Incase you didn't know , child/parrent layers work like this basicly:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

in the surface map, the main surface would be the parent. Than its child basicly only can apear where the parrent is, like in real life. So than, you have the child layer of the first, main child layer thing, and that can only apear where the other one is. If that confuses you sorry :oops: Anyways, back onto the topic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Work on your terrains to become more realistic. I strongly recomend downloading world machine at http://www.worldmachine.com it can create terrains for terragen, and is alot more powerful than the main tool for it. Basicly i recomend just making it look so the terragen stretches out, other than just ends into nothingness :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dark_ice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Good:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- The water seems to be nice and calm :)

 

 

 

- The surface map for a first isn't bad at all.

 

 

 

- The atmosphere also gives off a nice calm look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bad:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- The terrain still could use a little work. Do what i adviced in the first help thing, and download world machine (http://www.worldmachine.com) I cant' stress how much better it is to use!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- The surface map still could use some tweaking. Seeing you got the basics down, lemme add on to this a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

like above, try and add a dirt layer :) With the terrain you have i can't realy help out much on the surface map, mostly because it doesn't give alot of room for different things. If you haven't already, make sure that the grass layers can not go on big slopes. Just check the "max slope" option on your grass layer thing :) And should solve the problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Again like above, a problem i see alot is people having their landscapes just sort of 2d almost. This one has a bit of depth, but there is nothing in the distance, and just water, which sometimes seems a bit odd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, hope that helped "phew"

[Guest]

Nad pretty much got everything without being too technical.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mcqueen Just to add on to Nad's little 'waterscapes aren't really to my liking comment,' it isn't just that not many people like them as they are rather plain, a lot of people judge artwork heavily on effort. Most people are just going to see water and a few pretty colors and shrug it off as 'easy-to-do', even if you spent a lot of time on the atmosphere. It also goes furthur than just creating/generating the terrain, because when that is done you have to set the right camera angles, heights, adjust the sun angle and elevation, size/glow if needed, adapt atmosphereical things such as haze, shadows, highlights, then most importantly as far as terrain is concerned, put a surface map on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dark, I think Nad got everything on yours.

[jfp221]

This is the first one I have ever tried to make. I don't really know what to do with the atmosphere or the clouds. I also don't understand all the water and land things yet. I might try to make another one later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[brammy7]

jfp221

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first one I have ever tried to make. I don't really know what to do with the atmosphere or the clouds. I also don't understand all the water and land things yet. I might try to make another one later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

u wish mate, i for one know that you ripped that image from somewhere else, lol first one u ever made, u honestly think people will believe you.....*sigh*

[J_Rod_The_Ti]

I believe him, he must have just spent alot of time on it and read alot of tuts.

[jfp221]

it really was the first one i made. and as you can tell the water is just plain reflective so it is sorta boring. Also I didn't touch the atmosphere. I am not good with creating landscape from scratch and that is what I need help on. I messed arond with most of the sliding things until i got the basic jist of what they did and I red a little online.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I don't like about my picture is how the mountains go straight down into the water. I wanted them to slope more but I tried to do that and it didn't look right at all.

[Danabis]

 

jfp221

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first one I have ever tried to make. I don't really know what to do with the atmosphere or the clouds. I also don't understand all the water and land things yet. I might try to make another one later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

u wish mate, i for one know that you ripped that image from somewhere else, lol first one u ever made, u honestly think people will believe you.....*sigh*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's actually unbelievably easy to do that in Terragen.

[Guest]

 

jfp221

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first one I have ever tried to make. I don't really know what to do with the atmosphere or the clouds. I also don't understand all the water and land things yet. I might try to make another one later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

u wish mate, i for one know that you ripped that image from somewhere else, lol first one u ever made, u honestly think people will believe you.....*sigh*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brammy, odd's are he probably did make that. It looks nice but not really advanced, which was just how my first landscape was so I know it can be done. Nothing on that render is incredibly hard to figure out by just playing with settings. And if he were to rip something, wouldn't he rip something... better?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd actually comment on the render, but I've got to take a shower. Maybe when I get back//later.

[dark_ice]

thanks for the advice!!! im gonna dl world machine and make new new landscape maybe...ill post it when im done and see how it looks...thx again!

[Nadril]

thanks for the advice!!! im gonna dl world machine and make new new landscape maybe...ill post it when im done and see how it looks...thx again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awsome :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And np :P :)

[jfp221]

pssst could someone give me some advice on what to do with the atmosphere or something? Please

[Keiphus]

Landscape creation is all about composition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sure, maybe one of these guys can teach you how to apply a better surface map, but an eye for a design is a must, and so is knowledge as to what you want to accomplish before you make it. Having said that, I have yet to find a good terragen image that doesn't bore me. Mountain + Valley + Sun + Bright Highlights = terragen. Most every terragen image has those elements, and quite frankly they are getting old... I think one thing that would impress me is for people to start making their own land formations. Different types of rocks and mountains, distinct land formations... Come up with something new please...

[J_Rod_The_Ti]

First try at terragen, no tuts, and I spent a little time on it, then did just a few tiny things in PSP.

 

 

 

[Nadril]

Landscape creation is all about composition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sure, maybe one of these guys can teach you how to apply a better surface map, but an eye for a design is a must, and so is knowledge as to what you want to accomplish before you make it. Having said that, I have yet to find a good terragen image that doesn't bore me. Mountain + Valley + Sun + Bright Highlights = terragen. Most every terragen image has those elements, and quite frankly they are getting old... I think one thing that would impress me is for people to start making their own land formations. Different types of rocks and mountains, distinct land formations... Come up with something new please...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, a lot of landscapes to tend to get old. I've been trying different ideas in landscapes, just kind of "messing around" with what the program has to offer. Yeah, i find my self guilty of doing some mountain vallys (although now I'm realy into terraces, meh gotta get out of that :oops: ) And a sun. However, i do have peices that kind of fade into obscurity with terragen , like my one almost minimalistic terragen peice :P Another, end of the world one, except this one took it quite literaly that it was, and was just into plain white.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm continualy trying to find some better ways to do landscapes, something different and cool (although realisim looks nice, i can't help but say the good 'ole end of the world picture or something of those lines isn't fun to do, and thats what i do graphics arts for anyways)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, When Terragen 2 comes out, it should alow for a lot more freedom and choices in creating landscapes :) Caves, and all of that will be able to be made, in which i even now may try to create terrains using photoshop and importing into Terragen (doing a grey-scale basicly) And again, messing around with the atmosphere and the likes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And for the distinct land formations, i've been thinking of doing something for a while, but using photoshop create a very distinct rock formation type of archecture :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

jfp221: Yeah i can help out with the atmosphere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

at the moment it actualy is a nice atmosphere for a first. I can see that you messed with it some, and created something that seems like a dusk sort of image. If you can tell me what kind of atmosphere you want to acheive (for example, is it a bright happy scene, or something a bit more scenic?) :) I could help out a lot more :P

[J_Rod_The_Ti]

So no CC for me? I really would like to get familiar with the program and telling me how to fix this terragen would be a great start.

[Nadril]

First try at terragen, no tuts, and I spent a little time on it, then did just a few tiny things in PSP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mmm.... Nice job for a first J Rod. i'm a bit tired from finals so i'm gunna do a "condensed" help version :lol:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First off i like the atmosphere. It has a mysterious, almost unearthly apearance to it. The photoshop stuff you did to it helped alot, i always find my self making my landscapes better in photoshop anyways :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The surface map is preaty good for a first. However, i realy dislike the grey rock's that are showing. Try and make some mixe's of what you would see in real life, for example some greys, and than some shades of dirt and stuff, to make it more life like :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, you could fix up the surface map like i said :P And you can always improve on just the overall mood of the image, although for a first i think you hit it preaty good. Fix up the surface map, and maybe do some other kind of angles, as well as downloading worldmachine, and it should do you a world of good :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Theres your c&c i was posting while you were, and you did before me lol.

[J_Rod_The_Ti]

Okay :). Any hints on how I could go about fixing that surface map? I know the gist of how it works, but remember, this is my frist time using the program.