This download of Terragen is the final freely-available version, version 0.9. Everything about your scene can be configured, including terrain generation algorithm, terrain shape, terrain texture, cloud density and size, atmospheric conditions, sun conditions, hazing and light scattering, light decay, shadows, and water level. It's one of the most advanced tools a mapper could have in their toolbox, and it's perfect for generating 2D skyboxes. Terragen is a program for generating scenery. The resolution (number of faces) needs to be tripled or quadrupled for a better Skydome.Related Tools Canyon Terrain Editor Sprite Explorer Wally Terragen Classic (October 2, 2017) I don't think there is any real "shape" in ORTS as I've looked - I'm assuming the sphere used for the Skydome is mathematically computed by the program. The resolution of the shape is way too rough and causes bad distortion on images making clouds wavy. If we're going to stick with the current Skydome technology - one thing that REALLY needs to be changed in ORTS is the resolution of the shape used to hold the Skydome image. That said - some of the ideas from our previous environment thread would be a better way of doing things - like removing clouds from the dome and making them sprites in the "air" independent from the Skydome. I did both these step on my Skydome in the FL. The final step is to then take the seamless texture and use what's called a Polar Distortion Effect in PSP to shape the image appropriate for use texturing a Skydome hemisphere. Granted there will be some obvious mirroring on the seam but you can fix that with the "Clone Stamp". For Skydomes only horizontal tiling is needed. That's pretty easily solved - both PS and PSP can make just about any texture tileable/seamless in the horizontal, vertical, or bidirectional with a couple mouse clicks. Other than that fatal flaw it looks good. It doesn't tile so when the opposite ends come together somewhere in the sky it will be painfully obvious there is a problem. Has anyone used this software before and familiar with its operation ? My Meager Attempt Just Playing Around For A Few Minutes: Image Gallery Showing The True Potential Of Terragen 2:Ĭomputer Generated Model Railroad Backdrops: Finally - since this is our own work we could upgrade the pretty plain Skydome included with the default ORTS download - greatly enhancing the visuals for the novice user new to ORTS. If wider images are needed - we can stich together panoramic shots - to build them as wide as needed. You can generate extremely wide high resolution screenshots of the sky and you don't have to include an actual sun. It seems to have great potential for creating all kinds of Skydomes that we could use to add some variety to ORTS. I've played with the software a bit and in a brief time - I've loaded in DEM for terrain (not needed for Skydomes) and added a fully rendered sky/atmosphere. The software is free but the output resolution is limited - however - you can subscribe for a reasonable fee around $15.00 a month for high resolution output. From what I gather - Hollywood uses it to generate backdrops in movies it's so good. The software generates terrain and renders ray traced images from it. He used "Terragen 2 from Planetside" which appears to be a very powerful tool that may help us generate Skydomes for ORTS. The backdrops are absolutely stunning and caught my attention. In my travels - I came across a video where a model railroader used a terrain generation program to create computer generated backdrops for his model railroad. In order to look good in ORTS - we need very high resolution images with a wide focal width - ideally without the sun being visible in the shot to avoid the two suns issue. Skydomes as we have them now are difficult to make - mainly due to the lack of good source material/images. Just curious - while there's been little work on our ORTS environment for years - has any thought been given or plans been made on where we're going with it ?
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