SKYSEA - First go at Terragen 2

Long time no see!

Got Terragen 2 today as I've been wanting to learn this damn program for years. Well, the first version that is. Terragen 2 is a lot more powerful and is really fun but has a steep learning curve.. So I sat down and completed a tutorial, in which you created a mountain, to get the hang of most of the basic functions. After that I started making my own landscape. I went for something dramatic and I'm pretty much in love with the cloud engine. I set the altitude of a layer of 3D clouds to really low to make it look kinda surreal.

Updated 2!

http://martinwiklund.com/molnbergen3_lo.jpg

Some minor Photoshopping afterwards like adding the birds and some color tweaking.

I think I got a pretty nice composition in this so I'm happy with it. Hope you like. :)

you whore i want terragen and i want this piece of work!!! Amazing piece for a first go i must admit this is quality.

I think you need to show more depth within the mountains on the right, like make the lighting outline the smaller mountain a bit more. Seems a bit too flat for my tastes. I also think the clouds at the bottom were done a tad too much, in some areas like in between the mountain rocks could use better blending. The sky though, and the lighting I like a lot however. Dramatic lighting is something I always drool over and when I see someone pull it off like this, its like an art boner for me xD I do think the sun stands out a bit too much though, perhaps make a broader horizon and make the circular object that is the sun I guess a bit more hazy typish? Sorry if I sound confusing.

IMO overall I thought it was an excellent landscape piece though if you forgive me for saying, a bit basic to an extent. Stick around here more often mate, I want to see more from you! Always adore your photography btw.

BTW, could you tell me what specs your computer have? To run a program like that your comp must be pretty powerful.

This is so awesome :)
glad to see you back :D

Long time no see Martin.

Really nice piece, composition is amazing, and good idea adding in the birds, but the letter box border is bleh.

Yeah, the letter box should go.
inb4furcraze

What's wrong with the letter box? :cool: Haha nah I just wanted a border for it to be viewed properly. The forum's background is way to bright! But maybe you prefer border on the sides as well?

I'm adjusting the far right with some curves, but doing it too much ruins to composition. Actually, doing anything to bring out the mountain in the far right kinda ruins the composition but I'll update with a new version still.

And about the basicness and visible sun disc. It was never my intention to try to create a super detailed and advanced scene here. And most of the detail get lost in the hazy sunlight here anyway. I actually tried to remove the sun disc completely (and also some other versions of it) but that looked weird. After testing pretty much all sizes I decided that this was the best one.

A thick black border around the whole thing would look a lot better.

That was made in a program...dayyum. I thought it was a picture at first, but damnn you made that from scratch. Love the atmosphere and compo mate.
:)

Thanks. :)

Alright so I made a full border instead hehe. Not sure if I like it more myself, I kinda liked that movie feel it gave it with the letterboxing. I also tried to blend the clouds a little more in some places. And last I brought out the far right mountain but only a tad as it fuxxes with the composition.

I like how you blended the cloud some more over the rock. I think the lighting in the far right might be a bit soft (could be my monitor) but other than that I like this version more. Not really diggin' the thick black border though, nor the the previous one you had before XD But thats me nitpicking.

Sweet piece nonetheless.

No I don't like it either. :( Looks stupid. But looks boring without any border.

Friggin' amazing.
I like it all, thick border is just great.
Light, the birds, its all great.
I also thought it was a photograph, but seems like an impossible shot. . .
only thing i think should be changed would be the rock/mountain thing to the right of the clouds seems to stand out too much.
Keep up the amazing work!♥

Damino! Not much to say but the scenery is stunning. Adding a border was a good call since it increases the dark sunset atmosphere even more, and as you said the Voids bg is so bright it would interfer with your piece. Never heard of that program but it sure is an outstanding outcome.

Kalas bra bild :D

Great work, the way you emphasized the lighting is perfect and yet aesthetically appealing.

Good job!

Thanks guys!

Updated it again after some sleep. I actually went with the letterboxing again.. I honestly think it looks a lot better than the full border, which ruined the panoramic effect, so you can complain all you want. :) I also cropped it a bit and removed that little strip of land that were in the lower right corner. It started to annoy me..

Very nice job.
Terragen is an amazing program, isn't it?

Yes it is! It's also extremely technical so when I did this, it was a lot of experimenting.

I know. I have it myself too, and I especially like its sun generator. I did have some trouble trying to make something look close, do you know how to accomplish such an effect?

No I'm too n00bish with TG2 to be able to give any advice, sorry. :( But I want to be good at it so maybe ask again in a few months. :P

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Originally Posted by Takken

BTW, could you tell me what specs your computer have? To run a program like that your comp must be pretty powerful.

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I have an Intel Core2 Quad 2.8GHz with 4GB RAM on Vista 64-bit. So nothing extreme really.

Woot! Then I would be able to run it for sure since my processor is more than twice as fast as yours: Intel Core i7 (might be wrong about the name but it's the fastest Intel you can buy), 4GB ram, Win7 64bit. However I bought a cheap graphics card, 512 mb nvida something. Would my cheap graphics card cause any problems you think? I plan to buy a new one, but I never play any pc games so I don't want to buy it in vain :)

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Originally Posted by RadillacVIII

Woot! Then I would be able to run it for sure since my processor is more than twice as fast as yours: Intel Core i7 (might be wrong about the name but it's the fastest Intel you can buy), 4GB ram, Win7 64bit. However I bought a cheap graphics card, 512 mb nvida something. Would my cheap graphics card cause any problems you think? I plan to buy a new one, but I never play any pc games so I don't wont to buy it in vain :)

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I thought Intel Core i7 was 3Ghz? Or is it the Extreme version (3.33GHz)? I also only have a 512mb graphics card. Terragen 2 isn't heavy on your computer, it's just the rendering process that takes longer if you have a slow processor and little RAM.

I don't have the ghz specifics atm since I'm not at my computer, but I can check later. Aight seems like I'm cool then, and as I suspected the rendering is the most critical part. I think I'll give it a go but it wont be even near your amazing outcome. If you may have any download link feel free to pm me. Your do you own a purchased copy?

I highly doubt your processor is twice as fast, even if it had twice the speed in ghz it wouldn't neccecarely mean it'd perform twice as fast. Also a new nvidia with cuda cores would probably speed up the rendering a bit but I highly doubt you need it with any i7 really, regardless of wich one you have as theyre pretty win. I have 1 question though, I thought all i7's were tripple channel, wouldnt you need 6gb ram then?

It has four cores (Quad Core), and my card has Cuda. So you mean that I'll have to buy 6GB ram to able to receive the processors full capability?

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Originally Posted by RadillacVIII

It has four cores (Quad Core), and my card has Cuda. So you mean that I'll have to buy 6GB ram to able to receive the processors full capability?

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Well, yeah mine's dual channel... the speed difference between single channel and dual channel with the same amount of ram is like 30% for me. Hardware isn't really my thing though so I'm not sure about how big it will be with tripple channel.

Same here, I just built my own first computer a year ago and I friend at another forum helped me pick out the components I needed based on what I use the computer for :)

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Originally Posted by RadillacVIII

Same here, I just built my own first computer a year ago and I friend at another forum helped me pick out the components I needed based on what I use the computer for :)

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I study IT, so technically speaking my knowledge of hardware should be above avarage but I suck at specific shit like dual/tripple channel.

Chatty, are we? :P

maybe...:)

Sry Martin, I may clean the thread if you'd like?

Haha don't worry about it. 30+ comments looks nice. :D

I love this SOOOOOOO much. It looks so realistic to me. I honestly thought it was a photo at first then rad told me it was made from a program, I was like I'm stupid :P.

Anyway, added it to the treasured artwork section. Well deserved, you should stop by to post more art :P. I love your works. And I love you :P. I keed I keed.

w/b and great art work man kiu

Hmmm, it's okay, but with terragen obviously it is hard to get the hang of it, so it's okay for one of your first. Like i said, there is so much more you could have done. Your fg and bg seem too seperate, which is mainly because of the mountains in the back ; there isn't enough, which is hurting the depth. Lighting is good. Clouds aren't good at all, especially the blending around the rock in the foreground. But, like I said, it's one of the first you've done, so you'll get better. :)


EDIT: if you're looking for inspiration, click on the luminarium link in my sig. It's an international art collective that i contribute to, and there is amazing artists there that use terragen in their pieces.

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Originally Posted by Fur

I love this SOOOOOOO much. It looks so realistic to me. I honestly thought it was a photo at first then rad told me it was made from a program, I was like I'm stupid :P.

Anyway, added it to the treasured artwork section. Well deserved, you should stop by to post more art :P. I love your works. And I love you :P. I keed I keed.

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Wow thanks! :)

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Originally Posted by sirenzo

w/b and great art work man kiu

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Thanks man. :)

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Originally Posted by Scrib

Hmmm, it's okay, but with terragen obviously it is hard to get the hang of it, so it's okay for one of your first. Like i said, there is so much more you could have done. Your fg and bg seem too seperate, which is mainly because of the mountains in the back ; there isn't enough, which is hurting the depth. Lighting is good. Clouds aren't good at all, especially the blending around the rock in the foreground. But, like I said, it's one of the first you've done, so you'll get better. :)


EDIT: if you're looking for inspiration, click on the luminarium link in my sig. It's an international art collective that i contribute to, and there is amazing artists there that use terragen in their pieces.

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Thanks, but I can't really agree with your criticism. I do agree that the clouds could be improved, maybe with a second cloud layer that makes the cloud layer more bumpy, but I think the blending is fine. I also think you contradict yourself by saying that the foreground and background are too separated, reducing the contrast here would definitely push the foreground back and give it less depth. I this kind of light, that's how the contrast would behave, even though it's enhanced in post. Also, the texture would be gone in the light. Go look at some similar photography and you'll see what I mean. So I don't think there is so much more that could actually improve it!

However, of course I'll be able to do more detailed scenes in strong daylight (much more difficult) later. I just don't think this was that bad for a first go. :)