Once you've experienced these surface maps, alter the parameters to suit your own needs and create a virtually unlimited universe of your own textures. File Extension conversion from MZT to SRFMAP is the conversion of computer file extensions from MOZART Template File to TerraGen SuRFace MAP. From beaches to deserts and snow capped mountains, there is sure to be something here for your Terrageneering requirements. Extract the surface maps from the zip file, and using the OPEN button just below Surface Maps on the Landscape control, load the file grass and rock.srf as the surface map.
Terragen classic surface maps zip file#
Third-party offerings are available to help, such as pre-made scenes and objects along with tutorials from New World Digital Art and Geekatplay. Harness the power of Terragen's surface maps with this collection of 15 multi-layered files. A later page will examine in detail making surfaces for the terrains, but for now, download this zip file of ready made surfaces Download the surfaces. But for this we can forgive Planetside, as they are a very small company and focus their resources mainly on development.
Terragen classic surface maps how to#
The bad news is, you’re going to have to rely mainly on other users to determine the best settings and how to use them, as documentation for Terragen has always been sparse and runs a bit behind each release. Other tabs handle the overall Terrain attributes, Shaders (effects applied to terrains to create dirt, grass, snow, etc.), bodies of Water, the Atmosphere (clouds, haze, etc.), Lighting (placement of the sun and other lights), Cameras (for taking “photos” of your scene, either still or animated), Renderers (settings for the size and quality of the finished image) and the Node Network (an advanced form of connecting and managing the attributes of your project, and no, I haven’t used it yet…).Įach tab has its own very detailed sub-settings that give you incredible control over your scene and the items in it. Tabs include a Library collection of scenes and objects, where you can import pre-made scenes and various 3D models and combine them to make your illustrations (that’s how I did the renders shown here).
But I found that if you break Terragen 4 down piece by piece and watch some online tutorials, you’ll get going pretty quickly. The Classic version (0.9, circa-2005) was a little more approachable and I did some decent work with it. Looking at the screenshot above, it’s easy to become immediately intimidated with Terragen, with its many tabs and sliders, and even nodes! For a long time I wasn’t sure exactly how it worked and what to do with it, since I’m a right-brained creative type and enjoy simple and intuitive interfaces.