recomend terrain program

#1 You could try L3DT, EarthSculptor or World Machine 2.

www.bundysoft.com/L3DT
www.earthsculptor.com
www.world-machine.com/

#2 World machine allows you to hand sculpt? I played around with it...I didn't see that choice

#3 Why not do it in Torque?

#4 Can Torque generate random height maps?

#5 @ Duion. Because, Torque is fine for minor editing but, the native tools are pretty limited when you compare to any of the tools in the list above.

Ron

#6 thanks for the recommended software

guess it's just a matter of finding the one I like

#7 She asked for a tool to sculpt the terrain, but the finer changes can be made in Torque, you will get a better feeling for that directly in the game.
The heightmap I would do in another program, but you have to understand that there is no "random" it is just algorithms, some more, some less good.

If you just need random bumps you can let Torque generate a bumpy terrain, if you create a new, you can chose between hilly and flat.

What tools you need depends on what you want to do and how much time and money you want to spend.

I did quite some research on this topic and my opinion is: If you want a decent terrain and don't want to spend much time or money you should go with L3TD , it can generate random terrains, lots of effects, even sculpting, does not cost much, even a free version is available and pretty easy to use and even compatible to Torque3D.
If you want to go full professional and want to spend more time and money, but get better results you should go with worldmachine.

#8 @Melissa - What Duion says makes sense. You can do what I do, which is to sculpt your basic terrain in Torque, and then export the heightmap so you can use it in World Machine. You're right in thinking WM doesn't allow you to sculpt, but there are other ways to get the same effect in WM with devices and masks, etc. I'd seriously suggest you try World Machine a bit more, together with the inclusion of Torque's terrain editor as part of your workflow. The results are well worth the learning curve, in my opinion.

#9 Just a hint, you can generate a small terrain in Torque, so it will be very easy to sculpt, export heightmap, edit it with terrain software and resize the heightmap.
For example you sculpt a 256x256 map in Torque and make a 1024x1024 or whatever out of it later and import it again into Torque, this will save you some time ;)

#10 Melissa, I'd say work within the Torque Editor the most you can-it's a free tool at your disposal, and most things can be done thru it with a bit of patience :), I've done some pretty silly stuff that looks awesome.