Computer-generated backdrops - 9
Terragen automatically places the objects on the surface of the
terrain so you do not have to worry about that.
No worldly scene is complete without light, sky and clouds. All
are completely controllable in Terragen, from the exact posi-
tion of the sun to how much haze is in the sky. The direction
and angle of the sun, haze levels in the atmosphere, and more
are all adjustable. Clouds, of course, can be a very important
part of a backdrop. Built-in shaders for three main types of
clouds found in the real world, cumulus, alto cumulus, and cir-
rus are available. Combining these elements, many different
types of cloud formations are possible. Cloud generation is an
art all its own, and is a great place to borrow work from sam-
ples provided by the Terragen community.
11. One-inch scale models of my layout scenes
were used to perfect the placement of objects and
adjustments to the panoramic stitching process.
11
12. This is a montage of the four backdrops created for
may layout. From top to bottom: Carter, Fort Benton,
Virgelle, and Coal Banks Montana
12
Final resolution
During scene development, we are continuously rendering to
get a higher-resolution view of how the scene is developing,
but hopefully at a level that renders in few minutes. When pre-
paring for the final rendering, you will to want to crank up the
resolution and quality for the final output. This will dramatically
increase rendering times, and should be reserved for your final
work. How long rendering takes will depend on your scene, but
in my experience it can range from eight to 36 hours.
After some research, I decided a resolution of 150 dots per
inch (dpi) is sufficient. More pixels means more rendering time,
and based on my results, is not worth it.
MRH-Jul 2014
