First terragen sig

[pryomancer]

 

 

 

I quite like it, I wanted it to be dark and atmospheric.

 

 

 

Any criticism and constructive help is greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

Also if any Terragen aficionados can give me useful tips and techniques it would be great.

 

 

 

Nadril, I'm looking in your direction, correct me if I'm wrong but I remember you being pretty handy with Terragen.

[pandaownage]

I like it, not crazy about it though. I always thought terragen was hard to use and never really understood it, guess you can.

 

7/10

[elmo_killer6]

It's okay but the water looks a little wierd and the sky in the background doesn't really seem to fit. It seems like it should be darkened abit.

[Nadril]

- Mountains don't enter water like that often. Even if they do its not common and looks poor. They enter it through a slope, I.E a beach.

 

 

 

- Water seems too choppy for such a small reserve (what it looks like at least.), I don't think that wind could get there very well past the mountains.

 

 

 

- Atmosphere is a bit poor. The blue glow on the mountains is unrealistic IMO, especially with how the sky is.

 

 

 

- Sky looks pretty default, but nothing to really comment on that.

 

 

 

- Surface map wise, its very poor. The rocks look simply unrealistic and the single color isn't right. Look up what a 'strata' is, they are very great for mountains. A good example of what a strata looks like is Here as you can see on the steep cliff.

 

 

 

Here Is a pretty good example of a surface map on mountain. The problem with yours is the cliffs are just simply too steep to be of any use and turns out unrealistic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- On the topic of an atmosphere, Here is an ok example of what you can achieve with the atmosphere settings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, composition wise. The mountains take up most of the image and you can only see a bit of water and a little bit of atmosphere. Its not terribly balanced well and just looks poor. It also is difficult to really apprehend the size of the mountains because there is nothing to compare it too.

 

 

 

 

 

Another thing you want to watch out for is the case of where your world just looks like it ends suddenly. It doesn't get a chance really to 'end' here, as you have it mostly covered up by mountain, but because of all the mountains around it would suggest that it is probably part of some sort of mountain range. For it just to be atmosphere behind it, while not entirely 'wrong' per say, just looks kind of bad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, what can help? First of all download world machine. This is a brilliant terragen terrain creation program and its where I make the majority of my terrains. The default terrain editor is, IMO, poor and really too random.

 

 

 

 

 

Also try and get a good understanding of the parent/child relationship. Simply put its like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The child layer must be wherever the parent is, like one would expect in real life. So for example lets look at your surface map. The base layer is simply the parent for every other layer you have. Its what is under every texture.

 

 

 

 

 

You then have layers after that. Lets say you start with a rocky texture for the base. You then create a new parent layer (a child of the base) and make it a dirt like texture. You could then add some child layers to the dirt so you could have more than one texture. So for example various colors to add to the dirt.

 

 

 

You could then make a new parent layer to the base which is grass. It would behave on its own, since it has different properties than dirt obviously. (grows different places, ect.). You can then make some child layers for the grass for different colors, ect...

 

 

 

 

 

I think you're getting the idea. Here's a good example of a surface map:

 

 

 

 

 

Base

 

Dirt

 

-Dirt 1

 

-Dirt 2

 

Grass

 

-Grass 1

 

-Grass 2

 

 

 

 

 

Just very basic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think thats about all I can remember for some beginner tips.

[Rainy_Day]

It's really rather plain in my opinion. It hasn't any 'wow' factor to it. :|

 

 

 

5/10.

[pryomancer]

Thanks Nadril and others, you've been a great help. :D