Quick Start

Quick Start

For those pressed for time here is a quick step-by-step run-down of how to get a basic scene in the Terragen 2 Technology Preview. You can find details on how to create a nice, basic scene in "Creating Your First Scene". These are essentially the same steps that we go over in that section, however no explanation or detail is provided here. It is simply a series of steps to arrive at a basic scene for those who want a very quick overview and who prefer to experiment on their own from there. Feel free to explore and experiment but if you get lost don't forget that "Creating Your First Scene" offers a lot more detailed help and instruction.

1. Start TG2 Technology Preview
2. Switch to the Terrain layout if necessary by pressing the Terrain button at the top of the TG2 interface
3. Press the Add Terrain button and select Power Fractal from the drop-down list
4. Switch to the Shaders layout
5. Click on Base colours
6. Click on the Color tab
7. Change each color to a shade of brown by clicking on the colored square on the far right and selecting your color, then clicking OK
8. Now click Add Layer above the node list and select Surface Layer
9. Click on the newly created surface layer
10. Using the instructions above, change the default white colour to a greenish-yellow to represent grass
11. Click on the Altitude constraints tab
12. Turn on Limit maximum altitude using the check box, then set Maximum altitude to about 600 or until you start to see brown mountain tops in the preview
13. Click on the Slope constraints tab
14. Turn on Limit maximum slope and set the Maximum slope angle to about 25 with the Max slope fuzzy zone at about 10
15. Click on the Coverage and breakup tab
16. Set Coverage to 0.7
17. Set Fractal breakup to 1.0
18. You may want to do a test render to see how things look; press F3 (Windows) or Command-1 (Mac) to bring up the Render window then press the Render button
19. Add a Snow-like surface layer using what you have learned from adding the grass layer above
20. Switch to the Lighting layout
21. Click on the Sunlight 01 node to adjust the sunlight settings
22. Use the Heading and Elevation controls to find a lighting angle that you like – specifics will vary depending on the camera angle you have chosen and your particular random terrain
23. Switch to the Atmosphere layout
24. Click on the Atmosphere 01 node
25. Reduce Haze density to 3
26. Click on the Add Cloud Layer button above the node list and select Mid-level: Altocumulus (3D/Volumetric)
27. Do a render test to see how your scene is progressing
28. Click on the newly created cloud layer
29. Increase Cloud depth to 500
30. Reduce Coverage adjust to about -.25
31. Render your scene again to see how the clouds look and if you are satisfied, move on
32. Go to the Renderers layout
33. Click on Full Render in the node list
34. Set Image width to 800 and Image height to 600
35. Click on the Quality tab
36. Set Detail to 0.75
37. Click the Crop Region tab
38. Check the Do crop region box to turn the crop function on
39. Go to the Atmosphere layout
40. Click on the cloud layer you created earlier
41. Click the Quality tab
42. Increase Number of samples to 12
43. Do a final render
44. Save your image with the Save button