The menu commands are the usual for Windows, excepting the program-specific ones. Terrain contains the sub-menus Design and Build. The Build menu brings up the Terrain Editor window, where you set the parameters and generate the terrain. The result is visible as a wire frame. Usually you have to do a few generations (adjusting the parameters) to obtain the desired pattern.
If you aren’t satisfied with the random-generated shapes,
access the Design sub-menu to block-model the terrain. With the left mouse
button drag-select an area, with the right button drag up, or down the selected
area. Repeat until you get the desired rough shape. Now, do Terrain->Build
again and Terranim8or will cover the rough shape with a smooth skin with random
displacement. The Design sub-menu performs its action on the
currently selected terrain. Switching back, the Build sub-menu
will process again and again the last designed terrain until a new design, or a Clear
All command. This behavior allows combining different terrain types in
one terrain, for example: make a low level Regular terrain (see below the
terrain types), switch to Design, do nothing and switch back to Build!
Now the shape is established; change the type to Fractal and cover the
terrain with small bumps (levels = -3, see below the meaning of the
parameters).
The Edit menu is available in Design mode. Clear
All flattens the terrain.
Import from Terrain menu loads an existing
terrain file for further modification. This command expects a Terranim8or v3.0+ generated terrain, otherwise fails!
When you are contented with the terrain, save it as Anim8or
file. By default,
Terranim8or assigns a global (file) material, named "TAN8terrain", to
each object of a sequence. It is
also possible to apply animated materials on terrains with Apply Animated
Material submenu. This comes handy for making oceans, where a different
bump map for each frame is necessary. For low polygon count models (16x16, 32x32), it is a good idea
to apply subdivision. Unwanted creases can be eliminated also by
setting the smooth angle to a higher value, 65 - 100.
Object menu allows importing, applying
animated materials or noise modifier, perform morphing, adding a trail to a
moving object, generating cube environment maps and exporting of Anim8or objects.
First, export the desired
object from Anim8or in .an8 format, then import it in Terranim8or. If importing
from an Anim8or project file containing more objects, by default Terranim8or
will import the first one. Only single objects are allowed (meshes,
subdivisions, or
parametric objects). If a composite object (more distinct components, or groups)
is tried to be imported, only the first component object will morph, or receive the
animated material. A successful importing is announced by a message and relevant
submenus become enabled. Further importing replaces the previously imported object. The
imported object is not displayed in Terranim8or's workspace.
In order to do
morphing, first import the start object. Now you can apply an animated material
(optionally). Then use Morph object... submenu specifying the
target object, start/end frames for the animation and the file for saving the
morphing project (may be an existing Anim8or file, or a new one). Very
important: the target object must have the same number of vertices as the start
object for a correct operation and should be derived from the start
object!
A particle trail can be added to any moving object which has no other object as
parent. The trail particles are created inside a sphere of a given diameter
(possibly zero) centered at the current location of the leading object (or
delayed by a number of frames). The particles move along the tangent to the
path, covering a given distance (in the opposite, or the same direction as the
leading object). A maximum spreading angle can be set. Once created the trail,
the leading object can be moved or deleted without affecting the trail.
Repositioning the trail is done by means of the
"TAN8trailtarget", the parent of the trail. This is useful when the
trail is generated for effects not depending on the leading object.
In order to generate a cube environment map, select the scene element and
the file containing it in the dialog that opens after selecting "Make
Environment Map...". A new project file will be generated by Terranim8or
where the camera is set up for rendering the map. Without changing anything in
the file, render the first six frames (0 to 5), selecting a square image format.
In a paint program flip the third and fourth image (corresponding to
"up" and "down" view) and mirror the other four. Load these images as environment map textures in your initial project file, in the
same order as they were generated! Because the maps are rendered during six
frames, the scene should be static that time interval.
A suit of blur routines help to add simple, focal, depth of field, or
motion blur to the Anim8or project. Single object blur and motion blur are
immediate effects, while focal and depth of field blur need post processing,
consisting of image blending. That can be done either using Terranim8or's Add
To Project -> Blend images submenu, or using an image editor.
Add To Project menu allows inserting in an Anim8or file
(new, or
already existing) of animated background, (animated) terrain, a previously
imported object, fire, explosion, rain, snowing (or fog) animation, flickering
light and gravity path for objects moving in a gravity field. It makes
possible blending images with Anim8or, build circle and ellipse primitives.
Camera quake shakes the camera while preserving its path and general
orientation.
If adding several times in the same Anim8or project file, it's the user's responsibility
to assign unique names for the inserted objects (different from the already
existing names in the file).
Before adding an effect to an already existing project, it is wise to make a
back-up copy of the file. Then, if you aren't contented with the effect just
revert to the initial file and try other settings!
After adding an effect to a project, it is a good idea to save that project in
Anim8or. Doing so, Anim8or rearranges the new data in its own way, enabling
further importing from Terranim8or.
For changing the default position and orientation of
the objects in a frame-by-frame animation (animated terrain, morphed sequence, animated
background, fire, explosion), just move the appropriate target
("TAN8terraintarget", "TAN8firetarget", etc., which holds
the effect attached) to the desired position.
Alternately, in scene mode drag-select all the objects of a sequence (or effect)
in wire
frame view and reposition them as you like. You can do that only
in wire frame view, when Anim8or displays all the objects even if they are
key-framed as non visible in that specific frame!
When adding particle effects like starry background, particle trail, etc., be aware that the project file may load very slowly in Anim8or (creating the impression of freezing the program), depending on the number of particles created.
Limitations of Terranim8or: The current version of the program works with Anim8or projects having a single scene. Between consecutive adds to a project, the file has to be saved in Anim8or.