Is GC somehow worth for me?

[Xpleet]

Hi,

i just recently stumbled across GC and I was struggling and fighting with WM before because i didn't get the desired erosion look that i wanted.

Now with GC it's ridiculously easy :rolleyes:

I'm a german Erosion Freak.

And I have a fascination for terrain and I do it just for fun amateur like, i do for mapping in games and I would also like to do renders.

The question now for a guy like me is GC2 in any way useful?

And also is there a payment method that gives me key/download instantly after purchase or do i have to wait?


Oh and I also have a problem with GC1 concerning exported raw 16 files.

For some reason mountains like this have sharp polygon edges...artifacts that WM didn't produce to me.


http://s3.directupload.net/images/080209/temp/ocxk4rxo.jpg (http://s3.directupload.net/file/d/1333/ocxk4rxo_jpg.htm)

http://s1.directupload.net/images/080209/temp/55uisrng.jpg (http://s1.directupload.net/file/d/1333/55uisrng_jpg.htm)

Oh and i got a feel that Crytek also uses your Terrain Generator :-)

And i like brushing the way it is in GC1 why was it completly removed in GC2 :-(

Thx in advance

[cajomi]

Hello and welcome.
Thanks for moving the discussion to this place.

At time, if you buy GC1 you get a timelimited preview of GC2 (till the end of february).
You get the key at once, it is automatically generated and send. You can not buy GC2 directly, I am just working on the shop, to change that soon.

I would say, that GC2 is of course useful. I spend a lot of time, and still do it, to improve GC. GC2 was developed with a strong eye to the needs of level design.


Crytek did not use any terrain generator. They produced the heigthmaps completly by hand with PS. No wonder, GC2 was a bit to late for Crysis.

Not sure, what you mean with "sharp polygon edges". That mostly depends on the algorithm you use. For example "High sedimentation" was coded a way, that it produce sharp edges (a bit artifact like), because that is often wanted, while "Thin flows" produces much smoother results. The same is with WM. Depending on the noise algorithm and the values, it produces more or less artifacts. The basic special L-System based GeoControl noise was developed to produce less artifacts than the common noise algorithms and it works.

The isolines are much better than the brush, and I hope that this is not only my opinion.

[Xpleet]

Hello and welcome.
Thanks for moving the discussion to this place.

At time, if you buy GC1 you get a timelimited preview of GC2 (till the end of february).
You get the key at once, it is automatically generated and send. You can not buy GC2 directly, I am just working on the shop, to change that soon.

I would say, that GC2 is of course useful. I spend a lot of time, and still do it, to improve GC. GC2 was developed with a strong eye to the needs of level design.


Crytek did not use any terrain generator. They produced the heigthmaps completly by hand with PS. No wonder, GC2 was a bit to late for Crysis.

Not sure, what you mean with "sharp polygon edges". That mostly depends on the algorithm you use. For example "High sedimentation" was coded a way, that it produce sharp edges (a bit artifact like), because that is often wanted, while "Thin flows" produces much smoother results. The same is with WM. Depending on the noise algorithm and the values, it produces more or less artifacts. The basic special L-System based GeoControl noise was developed to produce less artifacts than the common noise algorithms and it works.

The isolines are much better than the brush, and I hope that this is not only my opinion.

thx for the reply.

Do i see that right, that the Brush tool is completly gone in GC2?

And are there still any prize for GC2 if i buy gc1 at this point?

If i buy GC1 now..do I have to pay 100€ for GC2?

[cajomi]

There is no more price difference, if you buy GC1 now or wait for the pruchase offer of GC2. But of course, the introduction price of GC2 will be lower than the final price.

But if you buy GC1 now, you get the free preview of GC2, and so can use and test GC2 with the licence key of GC1. So it is possible, that you can use GC2 up from now, and of course you only have then to pay the upgrade, which is the full price minus 59€.
The introduction price will be 119€, the final end price 159€. So the upgrade price is 60€.

To the brush: Yes and no. The brush is not gone but was improved and is now the isoline tool. The isolines are based on the brush, and similiar actions are possible.
Best is you take a look at the isoline videotutorials here in the tutorial section.

[Xpleet]

To the brush: Yes and no. The brush is not gone but was improved and is now the isoline tool. The isolines are based on the brush, and similiar actions are possible.
Best is you take a look at the isoline videotutorials here in the tutorial section.

What i meant was that i like to brush ( or in this case draw a line ) and emediatly see the effect without having to prepare everything and then pressing the button. That's what i kind of liked with the Brush.

[cajomi]

That is not problem with the isolines. There is a autogenerate checkbox, after releasing the mouse button the terrain is autogenerated. So stroke, release, see result, stroke.
If you are adjusting the isolines, you can even control that in the render window.

That does not always happen in realtime, if you use erosion filteres, but you can also disable for this work the filters completly and so work in realtime on the basic heights and lows of the terrain.

[Xpleet]

Hey Cajomi,

thought you might tell me how I can get the full version fastest.

Funktioniert das ganze wie VORKASSE? Mein Paypal Acc ist noch nicht fertig und Kreditkarte ist bei mir momentan auch keine Option.
Ich war etwas verwirrt mit diesem "Share It" System, auch weil es ja keine "Warensendung" in dem Sinne ist.

[cajomi]

Nice to here that.

Well, you can use the second item ("Überweisung" / "Bank transfer"). Also you can select the language at shareit, what hopefully makes it easyer. If that does not work for you, or other reason, send me a mail [support [at] cajomi [dot] de
When the money has arrived, you'll get the key automatically.

[Xpleet]

Nice to here that.

Well, you can use the second item ("Überweisung" / "Bank transfer"). Also you can select the language at shareit, what hopefully makes it easyer. If that does not work for you, or other reason, send me a mail [support [at] cajomi [dot] de
When the money has arrived, you'll get the key automatically.

Can't wait to put my hands on this.

I was just wondering if I buy it per paypal the money is instantly there right? So i get an automated mail with the key / link i guess?


Also i was wondering since you can export the textures, which one were you using on those Glaciers? Are these built-in textures for the program renderer? It'd be awesome if I could mask a Crymap with such.

[cajomi]

I was just wondering if I buy it per paypal the money is instantly there right? So i get an automated mail with the key / link i guess?
Exact!

Also i was wondering since you can export the textures, which one were you using on those Glaciers? Are these built-in textures for the program renderer? It'd be awesome if I could mask a Crymap with such.
GeoControl2 has an own layerbased texture engine. The texture map can be exported as bmp.

[Xpleet]

Exact!


GeoControl2 has an own layerbased texture engine. The texture map can be exported as bmp.

Saw that erosion tutorial vid of yours. That's just amazing! :o The render not only in itself looks so incredible but the speed it renders seems incredible or do you have a leet machine :D .

But are terrain presets no longer supported by brush alias Isoline drawing? In the tutorials i saw all the erosions being created by random not by iso.


Überweising teh moneh tomorrow :p

It feels like the first time not wasting money for software! :cool:

You're doing all this on your own?

[cajomi]

Many thanks for the compliments!

All presets also work with isolines. First load the preset, then switch to isoline panel and load the isolines you want or draw some. I have to implement a modus, where a preset can be loaded, by keeping the actual isolines. That works at time only with filterpresets.

My machine is a Dual Core with 3.5 GHZ. Not the fastest, but GC2 uses at time only one processor, so a quad would not improve that.

Yes, I am doing that all on my own, as fulltime job. And my wife supports me with web design.