Terragen

TerragenFile:250px

Terragen 2.0.1.1

Original author(s)| Matt Fairclough
Developer(s)| Planetside Software
Stable release|

4.5.56 / January 1, 2021; 5 years ago (2021-01-01)

Written in| C++
Operating system| Windows, Mac OS X
Type| 3D computer graphics
License| Commercial, freeware
Website| planetside.co.uk

Terragen is a scenery generator program for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X developed and published by Planetside Software. It can be used to create renderings and animations of landscapes.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Terragen Classic
* 3 Use in media
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## History

Terragen ClassicOriginal author(s)| Matt Fairclough

|

Developer(s)| Planetside Software
Stable release|

0.9.43 / September 7, 2005 (2005-09-07)

Preview release|

1.9.99.1 / July 31, 2008 (2008-07-31)

Operating system| Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Type| 3D computer graphics
License| Commercial, Freeware
Website| Terragen Classic for Windows
Terragen Classic for Mac

Released in stages (tech preview and beta) to a participating community, Terragen 2 was released to pre-purchasers on 2 April 2009.[1][2] Terragen 2 is offered in feature limited freeware and full-featured commercial licenses.

Planetside Software released the first public version of Terragen 2 after more than three years of development of both the core technologies and the program itself.[3][4] Since then there have been several released updates to both licenses of the software along the development cycle with a series of technology previews and a beta release. The "final" build was released on April 23, 2009, and more updates, including feature modules, are expected to be released later.[5]

Planetside released Terragen 3 in August 2013.[6] Version 3.1 was released in February 2014. Version 4 was released in 2016.

A highly reflective lake, showing off the possibility for photorealistic renders in Terragen Classic Julia island from Terragen Classic. It can be combined with other tools (here land-mapping as a Julia set).

## Terragen Classic

Terragen Classic is popular among amateur artists, which can be attributed to it being freeware, its intuitive interface, and its capability to create photorealistic landscapes when used skillfully. It can also use DEM (digital elevation model) files, and other graphic surface maps for rendering.

A commercial version of the software is also available and is capable of creating larger terrains, renders with higher image resolution, larger terrain files, and better post-render anti-aliasing than the freeware version.

The terrain is generated from a two-dimensional heightmap. The program contains facilities for importing and exporting heightmaps to images, for use in other programs.

## Use in media

Rendering software contributed by PlanetSide proprietor Matt Fairclough was used by Digital Domain for effects in Star Trek Nemesis. Terragen Classic was used in The Golden Compass, the 2006 remake of The Wicker Man, games, and many TV commercials.[7][8][9]

An image from what is now known as Terragen Classic appeared on the April 16, 2001, cover of Newsweek, and Terragen was used for animations in Brandy Norwood's "What About Us?" music video. The classic version was also used by numerous artists, such as Joan Fontcuberta ("Orogenesis" series),[10] and the French photographer Mathieu Bernard-Reymond ("Vous êtes ici" series and "Pôle" series). Terragen Classic was used to create skyboxes for 3D video games such as Serious Sam.

The software was used by Devastudios to create the mountainous scenery in the intro used by Paramount Pictures for its centennial anniversary in 2012, alongside Autodesk Maya, with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol in 2011, which would be carried on for Paramount Players, Paramount Television Studios, Paramount Animation (under supervision of Reel FX and ATK PLN), Paramount+ and their parent company, Paramount Global (now known as Paramount Skydance Corporation), with the latter two being done by Loyalkaspar and Bigstar, based on their work.[11] Devastudios also used the software for the sky and clouds in the 2021 and 2023 Warner Bros. Pictures logos with Locked Down and Wonka, respectively, alongside the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) and Adobe Substance 3D Painter for the latter, which would later be carried on for Warner Bros. Television, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures Animation.

## See also

* E-on Vue
* VistaPro
* Picogen

## References

1. ↑ "Planetside Forums". http://forums.planetside.co.uk/.
2. ↑ Pre-purchasers get release early
3. ↑ M. Larsson; M. Wrenninge; Roble (August 2004). "Inter-frame caching for high quality terrain rendering". ACM SIGGRAPH 2004 Sketches on - SIGGRAPH '04. p. 9. doi:10.1145/1186223.1186235. ISBN 1-58113-896-2. http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1186223.1186235.
4. ↑ Fairclough, Matt; M. Wrenninge; M. Larsson (August 2004). "Robust rendering of high resolution terrain: Copyright restrictions prevent ACM from providing the full text for this work". ACM SIGGRAPH 2004 Sketches on - SIGGRAPH '04. p. 10. doi:10.1145/1186223.1186236. ISBN 1-58113-896-2. http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1186223.1186236.
5. ↑ "Beta Release announcement". http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=2940.0.
6. ↑ "Terragen 3". Planetside Software. http://terragen3.com/.
7. ↑ Terragen 2 , Planetside.co.uk
8. ↑ "About us: Matt Fairclough, Proprietor and Lead Developer". Planetside Software. http://www.planetside.co.uk/content/view/24/40/. "From 2000 to 2003 Matt was also a Technical Director at Digital Domain in Venice, California. He is credited in The Time Machine, Star Trek: Nemesis, and The Day After Tomorrow. Matt initiated the development of Digital Domain's proprietary terrain renderer which was used in the films Stealth, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima and other films and TV commercials. Much of its core technology went on to become Planetside Software's Terragen 2."
9. ↑ "Planetside Home: Change the landscape with Terragen". Planetside Software. http://www.planetside.co.uk/. "Terragen has been used to create visual effects for many films including The Golden Compass and The Wicker Man, dozens of games and countless TV commercials"
10. ↑ Joan Fontcuberta. New York: International Center of Photography. Retrieved 10 July 2008.
11. ↑ "Paramount's 100th Anniversary Logo Created With Terragen" (in en-US). 3 October 2016. https://planetside.co.uk/featured-projects/paramounts-100th-anniversary-logo-created-with-terragen/.

## External links

| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Terragen.

|

* Planetside's Terragen website
* Luc Bianco’s Terragen gallery

* v
* t
* e

3D computer graphics software

Open-source|

* Blender
* LuxRender
* MakeHuman
* MeshLab
* OpenFX
* OpenSCAD
* Point Cloud Library
* POV-Ray
* Seamless3d
* Wings 3D
* YafaRay

Closed-source|

* 3D-Coat
* AC3D
* Autodesk 3ds Max
* Autodesk Alias
* Autodesk Maya
* Autodesk Mudbox
* AutoQ3D Community
* Blackmagic Fusion
* Bryce
* Carrara
* Cinema 4D
* Clara.io
* DAZ Studio
* Electric Image Animation System
* E-on Vue
* Golaem Crowd
* GigaMesh Software Framework
* Hexagon
* Houdini
* Indigo Renderer
* Kerkythea
* LightWave 3D
* MASSIVE
* Messiah
* Modo
* Nuke
* Paint 3D
* Pixar RenderMan
* Poser
* Remo 3D
* Rhinoceros 3D
* Sculptris
* Shade 3D
* Shark 3D
* Silo
* SketchUp
* Strata 3D
* Terragen
* ZBrush

Defunct|

* Amapi
* Autodesk Softimage
* Cyber Studio CAD-3D
* Dynamation
* Imagine
* N-World
* PowerAnimator
* Sculpt 3D
* Softimage 3D
* StrataVision 3D
* Swift 3D
* TrueSpace
* TurboSilver
* VistaPro

Core technologies|

* ACIS
* C3D
* HOOPS 3D
* KernelCAD
* Open Cascade Technology
* Parasolid
* Romulus
* RGK
* ShapeManager
* Teigha
* IntelliCAD

* Comparison
* Category
* List
* 3D modeling
* 3D rendering

* v
* t
* e

Fractal software

* Digital art
* Graphics software
* Fractal art

Open-source|

* Apophysis
* Blender
* Fyre
* Kalles Fraktaler
* MilkDrop
* Sterling

GNU|

* Electric Sheep
* GIMP
* openPlaG
* XaoS

Freeware|

* Fractint

Retail|

| Cross-platform|

* Bryce
* Chaotica
* Maple
* Wolfram Mathematica

|

Windows only|

* Ultra Fractal
* VisSim

Scenery generator|

* MojoWorld Generator
* Picogen
* Terragen
* VistaPro

Found objects|

* Burning Ship fractal
* Jerusalem cube
* Julia set
* Mandelbox
* Mandelbrot set
* Mandelbulb

Related|

* Computer-generated imagery
* Fractal compression
* Fractal landscape
* Fractal flame
* Iterated function system
* Mathematical visualization
* Orbit trap

* Category

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terragen. Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Software:Terragen&oldid=3955812"
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template