Terragen is a scenery generator program for

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and

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

developed and published by Planetside Software. It can be used to create renderings and animations of landscapes.

History

Released in stages (tech preview and

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) to a participating community, Terragen 2 was released to pre-purchasers on 2 April 2009. 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. 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. Planetside released Terragen 3 in August 2013. Version 3.1 was released in February 2014. Version 4 was released in 2016.

Terragen Classic

Terragen Classic is popular among amateur artists, which can be attributed to it being

freeware Freeware is software, often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the free ...

, its intuitive interface, and its capability to create

photorealistic Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium. Although the term can b ...

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 Image resolution is the level of detail of an image. The term applies to digital images, film images, and other types of images. "Higher resolution" means more image detail. Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Resolution quantifies ...

, larger

terrain Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

files, and better post-render

anti-aliasing Anti-aliasing may refer to any of a number of techniques to combat the problems of aliasing in a sampled signal such as a digital image or digital audio recording. Specific topics in anti-aliasing include: * Anti-aliasing filter, a filter used b ...

than the freeware version. The terrain is generated from a two-dimensional

heightmap In computer graphics, a heightmap or heightfield is a raster image used mainly as Discrete Global Grid in secondary elevation modeling. Each pixel stores values, such as surface elevation data, for display in 3D computer graphics. A height ...

. 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 Digital Domain (also known as Digital Domain Media Group or DDMG) is an American visual effects, computer animation and digital production company headquartered in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California. Digital Domain has produced visual effects ...

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. An image from what is now known as Terragen Classic appeared on the April 16, 2001, cover of ''

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'', and Terragen was used for animations in

Brandy Norwood Brandy Rayana Norwood (born February 11, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, model and actress. Born into a musical family in McComb, Mississippi, Norwood was raised in Carson, California, beginning her career as a backing vocalist ...

's "What About Us?"

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

. The classic version was also used by numerous artists, such as Joan Fontcuberta ("Orogenesis" series), and the French photographer Mathieu Bernard-Reymond ("Vous êtes ici" series and "Pôle" series). Terragen Classic was used to create skyboxes for 3D

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s such as ''

Serious Sam ''Serious Sam'' is a video game series created and primarily developed by Croteam. It consists predominantly of first-person shooters. The series follows the advances of Sam "Serious" Stone against Mental, an extraterrestrial overlord who att ...

''. The software was used by Devastudios to create the mountainous scenery in the intro used by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

for its centennial anniversary in 2012, alongside

Autodesk Maya Autodesk Maya, commonly shortened to just Maya (; ), is a 3D computer graphics application that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, originally developed by Alias and currently owned and developed by Autodesk. It is used to create assets for inter ...

, with '' Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol'' in 2011, which would be carried on for

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Paramount Television Studios Paramount Television Studios, formerly the second incarnation of Paramount Television, was the television arm of American film studio Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global, founded on March 4, 2013, by its predecessor, Viacom, fol ...

and

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. Devastudios also used the software for the sky and clouds in the 2021 and 2023

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film studio and distribution arm of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group division of Warner Bros., both of which are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex ...

logos with '' Locked Down'' and '' Wonka'', respectively, alongside the

Academy Color Encoding System The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) is a color image encoding system created under the auspices of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. ACES is characterised by a color accurate workflow, with "seamless interchange of high quali ...

(ACES) and

Adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

Substance 3D Painter for the latter, which would later be carried on for

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television (abbreviated as WBTV; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division), is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio o ...

New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...

and Warner Bros. Pictures Animation.

References

External links

Planetside's Terragen websiteLuc Bianco’s Terragen gallery
{{Fractal software Freeware 3D graphics software Global illumination software Fractal software

History

Terragen Classic

Use in media

See also

References

External links