
	Terragen is an exceptional program for generating landscapes in your PC. A version intended for non-commercial use has been available free of charge at the Terragen website. Okay, what can we do with it? I've found it useful, not to mention fun, to create environments to go with projects on which I'm working. Not only does it help to envision the terrain through which my characters move, but I've found it's inspirational to have a graphic representation of my story environment. A case in point is a Sci-fi project I call Woollies. The storyline involves the first humans landing on a planet called Jevon in orbit around a star called Rho Coronae. The first human base on Jevon is called Avalon Station and is located in a long-extinct volcano caldera that is open at one end, forming a huge natural fortress. I could see this place very clearly in my mind's eye, but creating it in Terragen provided a few surprises, insights, and just plain serendipitous features. Here's a look at it.



		Here we have a view of the entire cauldron from a mountain on the far side from the strait. The rough terrian in the foreground was accidental, but I liked it and decided humans would call that little peak in the right foreground The Fang.



	Here's a view of the strait. The peak on the far side will be called New Diamond Head. Avalon Station itself will be built on the foreshore adjacent to the small rock formation about mid-frame.



		This view is from a boat in the harbor, looking towards The Fang (on your left). Terragen allows you to take pictures from all angles in your environment. Sun intensity and angle can be adjusted along with things like cloud cover and haze.


	A word about speed
	These images, at Terragen's maximum resolution, were generated on an 800-MHz Athlon PC with a Radeon 64 DDR video card. Executing the 250,000-odd quadrilateral equations in each case took more than two minutes. I have no idea how long they would take on a slower machine, but Terragen does have several resolution settings.