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The following is a brief description of the software used to generate landscape scenery:

Terragen™ is a work-in-progress scenery generator for Windows and the Mac OS. At this stage of its development, Terragen™ is free for personal non-commercial use. Terragen™ is capable of photorealistic results for professional landscape visualisation, special effects, art and recreation. Be sure to see the latest information on 'Terragen 2™' at the Planetside web site ...this is an exciting development!  

World Machine is a terrain height field generator that takes a slightly different approach than the norm. Most available terrain creation software uses the "masterpiece" approach: you dabble a bit here and there until all is perfected -- and if something goes wrong at any step, or you decide after 30 minutes that you want to use a different basic terrain shape, all is lost.

World Machine takes a different approach. The height field generation process is viewed in an object-oriented fashion; components that perform different actions are wired together like an electric circuit, allowing you to change anything, at any time in the height field pipeline. This control over every step of the terrain process is what makes World Machine unique among terrain synthesis tools.

For an excellent review of GeoControl, see The Paula Sanders Report: Review of GeoControl. Join Paula as she reviews this outstanding stand-alone terrain creation program, created by Johannes Rosenberg. Get a closer look at how you can use it for full, precise control over any terrain project!

Paula is a senior staff writer for the Renderosity Art Community. The Paula Sanders Report is a regular Renderosity Front Page featured column, where Paula investigates and comments on graphic software, techniques, and other relevant material through her reviews, tutorials and general articles.

TerraFormer2 can be used alone to create terrain height maps; or, to modify Terragen™ and/or World Machine terrain height maps.

MojoWorld 3 and MojoWorld 3 Pro are available directly from Pandromeda software. This scenery generator uses another approach to the creation of beautiful and unusual landforms. The terrains created here can be transported to other programs for additional enhancements.

Bryce 5 software is available directly from DAZ Productions. The entire program is designed to allow new users to quickly draw and render stunning landscapes, scenes, and 3D artwork. You can literally create a world of your own within this unique 3D program.

Vue 4 Professional by e-on Software, Inc. is the most efficient and advanced solution for creating, animating and rendering natural 3D scenery. Specifically designed for professionals, it combines a multitude of cutting-edge features that easily integrate with your workflow. With its intuitive, production-oriented layout, you will quickly create and enhance your production with incredible wind-swept SolidGrowth™ 3 trees and plants, volumetric atmospheres and rich terrains in fully animated scenes.

Additional tools used for post worked enhancements on scenes created with the above software include:

• Adobe® Photoshop®

• Paint™ Shop Pro®