Terragen™ Script Files
file specification

File Structure
The Commands

File Structure

A script file is simply a text file containing a sequence of commands that Terragen executes sequentially. However, one special initialisation command (InitAnim) is necessary to begin the file.

Commands are not case-sensitive.

You must use a period (.) as a decimal separator, instead of a comma, as commas are used to separate parts of a command.

A script command can either be in the form Command arg1, arg2 (...) or Command,arg1,arg2. However, the former is recommended for compatibility with third-party tools and ease of use.

Please note : At this time Terragen Windows only works correctly with script files that have Windows/DOS line endings. Terragen Mac (as of v0.8.1) works with files with any line endings (Mac, Windows/DOS, Unix). If you only intend to use script files on the platform they were generated on there shouldn't be any problems but, for example, if you want to use script files generated on the Mac on Windows you may find that Terragen Windows does not read them correctly. We will be correcting Terragen Windows in the future.

The Commands

Setup Commands - must be used at the start of an animation

• InitAnim BaseName, StartFrame - This command must be included. This tells Terragen what to use for the filenames of rendered images. BaseName should be enclosed in quotes (") if it is a long filename. StartFrame denotes the first frame to be rendered, and controls the numbering of files, and also the initial position of clouds if CloudVel is used.
  
  InitAnim "c:\anims\anim", 1 would render images c:\anims\anim0001.bmp, c:\anims\anim0002.bmp, etc.
  

  Note : The InitAnim command is currently ignored in Terragen Mac. You set the relevant parameters in the Script Setup window instead. The InitAnim command will be respected in future versions.

• CloudPos x, y - This tells Terragen what to use for the initial position of the clouds at frame 1.

• CloudVel Speed, Heading - This tells Terragen to move the clouds in direction heading at speed speed every frame. If the InitAnim's StartFrame parameter is greater than 1, the initial position of the clouds is moved to compensate. This allows you to resume rendering at a specific point by removing per-frame commands and changing the InitAnim command accordingly.

Per-frame commands - optionally used every frame. If a command is not used for a frame, the previous value is used. They have exactly the same effect as if the values were entered manually in the appropriate windows.

A note about positional units
Positional units for commands such as CamPos or TarPos ( described below ) are interpreted either as Terrain Units or Metres, depending on whether the "Interpret positions as Metres" checkbox in the Animation/Script Settings dialog (Windows) or Script Setup window (Mac) is checked. If you are unsure to the units used in a script leave it unchecked, which is the default value.

• CamPos x, y, z - sets the camera's position.
• TarPos x, y, z - sets the target's position.
• CamH head - sets the camera's heading in degrees. This automatically modifies the target's position.
• CamP pitch - sets the camera's pitch in degrees. This automatically modifies the target's position.
• CamB bank - sets the camera's bank (angle relative to the horizon) in degrees.
• CamOri head, pitch, bank - sets the camera's complete orientation in one command. Uses degrees.
• CamState camera x, camera y, camera z, head, pitch, bank, zoom, exposure - sets all camera values in one command. Camera x, camera y and camera z describe the position of the camera. Head, pitch and bank describe the orientation of the camera, in degrees. Zoom and exposure set the corresponding values.
• Zoom z - sets the Zoom value.
• Exp e - sets the Exposure value.
• SunDir head, alt - sets the heading and altitude of the sun (both in degrees) as on the Lighting Conditions dialog.
• ShadowLight value - sets the value of the shadow lightness as on the Background Lighting tab in the Lighting Conditions dialog.
• WaterLevel level - sets the water level value as in the Water dialog.

Finally, FRend renders a frame and saves it to disk with the appropriate filename. You do not need to use per-frame commands between FRend commands, as changes caused by CloudVel will still take place.

2004.08.17 Jo Meder