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Revision as of 06:03, 10 August 2019 by Matt (talk | contribs) (Link directly to Terragen 4 Global Illumination instead of Terragen 2)
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Welcome to the Planetside Software Wiki[edit]

This is the primary source of documentation on Planetside Software's Terragen environment modeling and rendering products, including Terragen 4 and Terragen Classic (deprecated).

Please note: this documentation refers primarily to the latest version of Terragen (currently Terragen 4). Whenever the general term "Terragen" is used, it is referring to this most recent version, unless otherwise specified, e.g. "Terragen Classic".

This wiki contains official information as well as community-written content. Official documentation is clearly delineated from user contributed information by section below. We hope you find this to be a valuable resource and we encourage you to contribute any information you can in the community-generated areas. For help on how to use and contribute to a Wiki system, check the Help section.

If you are a licensed user of Terragen and you need direct support, you can contact us via our contact page.

Terragen 4 Official Documentation[edit]

Guides[edit]

Tutorial 1: Creating Your First Scene
A step-by-step tutorial on how to create a basic Terragen 4 scene.

Tutorial 2: Adding a Lake
A guide to adding a lake to a Terragen scene.

The Default Scene Explained
When you open Terragen the first thing you see is a "default" scene, with basic terrain, planet, and atmosphere. This page explains how the default scene is set up.

Organizing Your Terragen Project
An introduction to Groups, Clip Files and Notes, and other tips for sharing things between projects and keeping them organized.

User Guide Part 1: Fundamental Concepts and User Interface Overview
The User Guide is a series of documents that give an overview of all the major work areas of Terragen 4 and how to construct a basic scene. It is designed to be read through completely over time. Please note: this document is currently being updated for the latest version of Terragen. We apologize for the inconvenience.

User Guide Part 2: Fundamental Rendering and Shader Concepts
This part of the User Guide explains some of the fundamental concepts used for rendering and shaders.

Terrain and Water
Detailed information on creating and controlling terrain and water features.

Surface Mapping and Shading
Detailed information on applying surface maps, i.e. texturing, in Terragen 4. This section is oriented toward surface maps as applied to terrain, but much of the information also applies to object texturing.

Animation Guide
This is a guide to using the Animation functions in Terragen. It has information and tutorials about creating animations using TG4.

The Library
This is a guide to using the Library and Library window in TG4.

Network View Guide
This is a guide to using the Network View in TG4.

Painted Shader Guide
This guide explains how to use and get the most out of the Painted Shader.

Populator Guide
This is a guide to using Populator nodes. Populator nodes help you to quickly and efficiently add many objects, such as trees, to a scene.

Working with Clip Files
This page introduces Clip files, how to create them and how to use them. Clip files let you save nodes or collections of nodes so you can use them again or send them to others.

Working with Objects
This is a guide to working with objects in TG4. It covers topics such as importing objects, creating objects, manipulating them in the 3D Preview and much more.

A Guide to Rendering with Ray Trace Objects and Defer Atmo/Cloud
How and when to use the rendering options "Ray trace objects", "Defer atmo/cloud" and "Ray trace everything".

FAQs and Troubleshooting

Clouds Following Terrain Tutorial
Get an in-depth understanding of the new cloud control functions in Terragen with this tutorial by Martin Huisman

Reference[edit]

Terragen Node Reference
Describes all the Terragen 4 nodes.

Glossary
The Glossary explains terms relevant to Terragen.

Input Settings Reference
Lists all the input settings, such as mouse clicks and hot keys, that can be used in various views.

Menu Reference
Describes the menus in the Terragen 4 menu bar.

Window Reference
Describes the different windows used in Terragen 4.

Animation Module Reference

Gives an overview of the Animation Module as well as a reference for animation related windows and views.

Import-Export Reference

This reference describes Terragen 4's import and export capabilities.

Gathering Projects Reference

Describes the project gathering process, which allows you to gather a project and related assets into a single folder.

Global Illumination

Explains what Global Illumination is and how to use it in Terragen 4.

Render Layers and Render Elements (Terragen 4 Professional)

Explains the Render Layers system in Terragen 4 Professional, including Render Elements.

Preferences

Describes Terragen 4's preferences, which let you customise how the application behaves.

Command Line Reference

How to run Terragen from the command line on Windows, Mac and Linux, and descriptions of all the command line options.

Terragen Resources[edit]

Terragen Resource List

Find Terragen-compatible software, 3D models, content, and other resources.

Terragen Community-Generated Content[edit]

Terragen Tips and Tricks
Some quick tips and tricks for using Terragen, generated and maintained by our user community.

Terragen Tutorials
A list of tutorials, from beginning to advanced, to take you through how to do certain things with Terragen.

Deprecated items are still supported and available to use but their use is not recommended. Such items will be removed at some point in the future. In most cases an alternative is recommended and that should be used instead.