Terragen - photorealistic scenery rendering software

What's New

This is the main Terragen™ news page. There are also news pages with items relating specifically to each version. You can visit the Terragen Windows news page here, and the Terragen Mac news page here.

27/Sep/07 - Update available: Terragen 2 Technology Preview 2
We have released another update to the Terragen 2 Technology Preview. Build 1.9.04.1 contains many new features and bug fixes. If you use the Terragen 2 Technnology Preview then we strongly recommend this update. Get the Free Non-Commercial Edition here. Pre-purchasers of the Deep Edition should have received this update in early September. If you are using the Deep Edition but did not receive an update email, please contact us.

21/Dec/06 - Official Planetside Forums
The official Planetside Forums are now open. To visit the forums click here.

16/Dec/06 - Terragen 2 Technology Preview now available
After a limited rollout yesterday, we can now announce that the Terragen 2 Technology Preview is available for personal non-commercial use or as a 30 day trial (commercial licenses to be announced very soon). More information can be found here.

21/Nov/06 - Terragen 2 Technology Preview to be released December 15th, 2006
The Terragen 2 Technology Preview will be made available December 15th, 2006 for Windows and Mac OS X 10.4.x. You can read more about it here.

7/Jul/06 - New Terragen 2 Gallery
We have a new Terragen 2 gallery, showing images created by TG2 alpha testers. New images will be added periodically, and this is your first stop if you're looking for the latest from Terragen 2. You can view the gallery here.

7/Jul/06 - Updated Terragen 2 Section
The Terragen 2 section of the website has been updated and made more accessible. You can visit it here.

6/Feb/06 - Terragen Mac/Intel Mac Compatibility Information
A information page about Terragen Mac and Intel Mac compatibility is available here.

27/Jan/06 - Update: TG2 Technology Preview
The TG2 Technology Preview will not be released at the end of January as we had estimated. We are close to completion and doing everything we can to make it available as soon as possible. We will not announce any further estimates for the release date until the work has been completed.

8/Dec/05 - Terragen 2 Technology Preview Announcement
Information is now available about the Terragen 2 Technology Preview release, which will be the first public release of Terragen 2. You can read the announcement here.

19/Nov/05 - Terragen Presentation at IMTA (Asia Pacific) Cartography Workshop
Jo Meder, lead Planetside Mac developer, gave a presentation at the IMTA (Asia Pacific) conference Cartography Workshop. Jo talked about Terragen v0.9 and Terragen 2 and how they could be useful to cartographic users. He also gave an introduction to using Terragen v0.9.

15/Nov/05 - Terracon Archives now online
We're pleased to announce that we are now hosting the Terracon Archives. Terracon was a popular monthly Terragen contest which ran up until late 2002. Although the images don't necessarily represent the cutting edge of Terragen anymore, the contest does encompass some watershed moments in Terragen's history and we're very happy to be hosting the Archives. You can visit them here.

7/Sep/05 - Full release of Terragen v0.9.43 for Windows
Fixes some bugs that were introduced in v0.9.41, particularly relating to the installer and the 3D Preview.
Note: Users of v0.9.41 should open the Preferences for the 3D Preview the first time they run v0.9.43, select the "Medium" preset, and press OK. This will fix problems with the preferences file.
Download v0.9.43 here.

2/Sep/05 - Full release of Terragen v0.9.41 for Windows
The most important new feature in Terragen v0.9.41 is the 3D Preview, which allows you to move around the terrain in realtime, making it much easier to find interesting views. The 3D Preview is very configurable and can run well even on older machines without 3D cards. The 3D Preview was previously only available in Terragen for Macintosh.

Terragen v0.9.41 also includes enhancements to the scripting language, a fix for the missing shoreline triangles, and a number of other important features and bug fixes. Download v0.9.41 here

2/Aug/05 - Advance information on next Windows version
There is a new page with advance information on the next Windows version of Terragen, to be released around the third week of August. Most of the information relates to the new 3D Preview, and there are a number of screenshots. You can view the information here.

17/Jun/05 - New Windows version now being tested
The next version of Terragen v0.9 for Windows is currently being privately beta tested. The main new feature of this version is the 3D Preview, which allows you to move around the terrain in realtime, making it much easier to find interesting views. The 3D Preview is very configurable and can run well even on older machines without 3D cards. The 3D Preview was previously only available in Terragen for Macintosh.

The new version also includes several important bug fixes. It will be released once the beta testing phase has completed.

17/Jun/05 - Terragen 2 FAQ updated
The Terragen 2 FAQ has been updated with more information on a variety of topics. You can view it here.

10/Jan/05 - Terragen for Macintosh v0.9 is now available
Terragen for Macintosh v0.9, a major update, is now available for download. You can find more information on the Terragen Mac product page. For an overview of the new features please visit this page. A press release is available here.

24/Dec/04 - Terragen Mac v0.9 release candidate 2 now available
The second release candidate of Terragen Mac v0.9 is now available. If you would like to try the release candidate version, please visit the public beta page for more information. Barring unforeseen problems, the next release of Terragen Mac v0.9 will be the full release.

10/Dec/04 - Terragen Mac v0.9 release candidate 1 now available
Terragen Mac v0.9 has now reached release candidate status and the first release candidate is available. If you would like to try the release candidate version, please visit the public beta page for more information.

28/Nov/04 - Terragen Mac v0.9 public beta 6 now available
The sixth public beta of Terragen Mac v0.9 is now available. The number of changes from the last version were great enough that this release is a beta rather than a release candidate. The next version will be the first v0.9 release candidate.

If you would like to take part in the public beta test please visit the public beta page.

28/Nov/04 - Windows 3D Preview Sneak Peek
You can get a sneak peek of the 3D preview which will be included with the next Windows release of Terragen here.

15/Nov/04 - New information about Terragen's future released
More information about the forthcoming major revision of Terragen, TGD/TG2, has been released. There is now an image gallery and a frequently asked questions page.

13/Nov/04 - Terragen Mac v0.9 public beta 5 now available
The fifth public beta of Terragen Mac v0.9 is now available. Barring any serious problems, the next version will be the first v0.9 release candidate.

If you would like to take part in the public beta test please visit the public beta page.

9/Oct/04 - Terragen Mac v0.9 public beta 4 now available
The fourth public beta of Terragen Mac v0.9 is now available. If you would like to take part in the public beta test please visit the public beta page.

24/Aug/04 - Terragen Mac v0.9 public beta 3 now available
The third public beta of Terragen Mac v0.9 is now available. If you would like to take part in the public beta test please visit the public beta page.

5/Aug/04 - Terragen Mac v0.9 public beta 2 now available
The second public beta of Terragen Mac v0.9 is now available. If you would like to take part in the public beta test please visit the public beta page.

15/Jul/04 - Terragen Mac v0.9 public beta 1 now available
The first public beta of Terragen Mac v0.9 is now available. If you would like to take part in the public beta test please visit the public beta page.

4/Jul/04 - Terragen's registration price will be rising to $99 USD from $79 USD on August 15th (2004). For more information please click here.

2/Jul/04 - We can now accept registrations via Credit Card, rather than solely through PayPal. Please see the Registration page for more information.

23/May/04 - Terragen Mac v0.9 is approaching public beta. Please visit the Mac news page for more information.

6/May/04 - A look at the future of Terragen
Take a sneak peek at "TGD" here, where we show you the capabilities of our new rendering technology and our plans for Terragen 2.

22/Jan/04 - Terragen on the cover of the National Geographic
An image by Dutch Terragen artist Kees Veenenbos features on the cover of the January 2004 edition of National Geographic magazine. The image is a low orbit rendering of Mars, showing the Maraldi Crater. Another image by Kees is also featured on a double page spread inside, in the feature article on Mars. The Dutch edition has some extra information about Kees. Our congratulations to Kees for having his artwork featured in such a prominent magazine.

You can see the images featured in the magazine here. For those with an interest in Mars or just landscape in general ( there are some interesting images in the article ), we definitely recommend picking up a copy of the magazine.

24/Nov/03 - Full release of Terragen v0.9.19 for Windows. This release represents a merging of the public and non-public versions of Terragen and includes significant new functionality. Some of the highlights are a new rendering method using depth based occlusion culling for greater rendering speed, an enhanced detail mode, new capabilities for the water system and a separate zoomable terrain preview for more precise editing and camera positioning. Read more about it here.

31/Oct/03 - Terragen's Surface Map file format demystified.
The .srf file format is now documented in the Developer Section.

15/Oct/03 - Our new gallery has been launched. It's been updated with images created by users, and gives a much better idea of what Terragen can do these days. You can see it here.

10/Oct/03 - Terragen for Macintosh v0.8.1 released
Terragen for Macintosh v0.8.1 has been released. You can download it here. This is a minor update which includes a variety of small enhancements and bug fixes. You can read details in the Change Log.

22/Jul/03 - Testing of new Windows version underway. The latest version of Terragen Windows, v0.9, is now being tested. This release represents a merging of the public and non-public versions of Terragen and includes significant new functionality. Some of the highlights are a new rendering method using depth based occlusion culling for greater rendering speed, an enhanced detail mode, new capabilities for the water system and a separate zoomable terrain preview for more precise editing and camera positioning.

12/Jul/03 - Terragen for Macintosh released ! Visit the Mac version page for more information.

5/Jan/03 - Full release of Terragen v0.8.68 for Windows. Fixes to water reflections and transparency, including reflections of clouds. Reflections and transparency should be faster in many cases. Includes fix for GeForce problem, and some user interface improvements. Read the changes log here.

2/Dec/02 - The first public beta of Terragen for Macintosh has been released. You can find more information here.

16/Oct/02 - Active development of Terragen resumes ! See the full announcement here.

29/Aug/02 - A comprehensive guide to Terragen's surface mapping system is now available here.

31/Mar/02 - Full release of Terragen v0.8.44. Water has ray-traced transparency and improved reflections of the terrain. Atmosphere 'banding' bugs fixed, plus other minor user interface and render fixes. Read the changes log here.

10/May/00 - Announcement made to Terragen Mailing List regarding the future of Terragen. You can read the full announcement here.

3/Feb/00 - Full release of Terragen v0.8.11. Terrains up to 4097x4097 resolution (513x513 for unregistered users), real world scaling (allowing positions to be specified in metres), planet curvature, anti-aliasing, shadows and sunbeams from clouds, improved surface textures, plug-in capabilities (to be expanded).

24/Nov/99 - LightWave 3D integration. Mark Brown's LW2TG is a suite of LightWave plugins and stand-alone motion-blur tool which allows you to painlessly integrate Terragen's scenery into your LightWave scenes and animations, or add trees and other structures to your Terragen scenes. Who needs SkyTracer now, eh? For more information see the Spatial Design website.

13/Sep/99 - Terragen v0.7.28 released, which fixes numerous bugs in the initial v0.7 release and includes surface map and atmosphere sample files.

2/Sep/99 - Full release of Terragen v0.7.22.

7/Aug/99 - Announcing the forthcoming Terragen v0.7, expected late August.

2/Aug/99 - Camera Path Editor, or CamPath, is a superb animation script generator by Sean O'Malley. Version 2.20 is packed full of all sorts of goodies, including a 'Vehicle Cam', cloud and sun movement, handy 'global change' features and a FOV calculator, to name but a few.

11/Jul/99 - Released Terragen v0.6.63. Fixes a rare bug with certain combinations of Regional settings, that was causing the 'Generate Terrain' button to crash Terragen (amongst other problems). No need to update if this does not affect you.

10/Jul/99 - After further tests, Terragen v0.6.6x renders at least 10-15% faster than previous versions - in some cases over twice as fast!

26/May/99 - Terragen v0.6.61 is released, with a major speed optimisation. Test renders indicate that rendering is on average approximately 20% faster than in previous versions.

15/Apr/99 - Released Terragen v0.6.36

1/Apr/99 - Released Terragen v0.6.42

29/Mar/99 - Released Terragen v0.6.28 with simple animation/script capability. Daniel Parnham releases Terranim which generates animation scripts for Terragen.

24/Feb/99 - 3DEM by Richard Horne now exports Terragen terrain files. Leveller by Daylon Graphics has an import/export plugin for Terragen terrain files.

17/Jan/99 - Uploaded sunrise animation, see the movies section. This should soon be possible with the next release of Terragen, via a script file.

13/Jan/99 - An animation utility, Terranim is under development by a friend of mine, Daniel Parnham. Animation is achieved by means of a script file. The first release of Terranim will coincide with the release of a script-capable Terragen and full documentation of script commands.


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