How to "Erode" Terrain on an Elevation Map?

[jwbjerk]

My normal map-making process involves a greyscale layer for elevation: Black- sea level, White- Everest, Greys- everything in-between. I have no problem painting in most of the elevation in Photoshop, using custom brushes, etc. The detail that bogs me down is the erosion. If you look at an elevation map of the world you can see the river valleys carved out of the mountains, and the various tributaries. That is very time-consuming to paint in detail (so usually i don't). I've spent some time browsing the forums for this answer.

Does anyone have a technique, plugin or software add erosion detailing to an existing hight-map?
I use OsX, so Windows only software won't help.

Thanks.

[arsheesh]

Yeah, it's called Wilbur. Waldronate has some tutorials here and (I believe) at the site somewhere, and my Eriond tutorial goes over my method for applying the terrain to a pre-generated height map.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[jwbjerk]

Yes, i've heard of Wilbur.
Unfortunately, it is Windows only.

[josephgene]

@Arsheesh,
i was looking at your tutorial but i am not familiar with gimp only photoshop so some of the terminology stumped me in locations. However, i would very much like to use Wilbur and your tutorial for my map Corth. I look on the Wilbur site for tutorials but they leave me dumb founded.

Edit:: I found this bad boy! This is good!
http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...l=1#post181321

[josephgene]

/// Duplicate ///
Lo siento

[arsheesh]

@jwbjerk, oh, I see. Unfortunately I'm not sure what to suggest in that case.

@Josephgene, I wish I could give you more guidance, but my situation is just the reverse: I am only familiar with GIMP, not Photoshop. I'm sure that there is a Photoshop equivalent to every step in my tutorial, but I'm not sure what they are (except that whereas at one point I use "Bump Map" in my tut, I think in PS the equivalent is something like Emboss or Lighting effects). I'm not sure what to tell you about the tutorials over at the Wilbur site (although I go over some of the same steps in my Eriond tut). If you want to try out the tutorial though I'd recommend continuing to put up WIP pics in your Corth Thread and if/when you get stuck on one of the steps, explain where you are stuck in your thread (and/or PM me) and I'll try to explain what the idea is and see if you can figure out how to accomplish it in Photoshop). One final suggestion I have is to have a look at Jezelf's Photoshop Tutorials, which go over some of the same techniques I use, only for Phostoshop. This might help you translate my tutorial better. Best of luck to you.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Midgardsormr]

Does anyone have a technique, plugin or software add erosion detailing to an existing hight-map?
I use OsX, so Windows only software won't help.

I'm going to suggest Wilbur again, but with a solution to the OS problem: VirtualBox allows you run a virtual machine of another operating system in your Mac environment, and it's free. I don't know how well Wilbur will run in a virtual machine, but it doesn't do anything that seems problematic to me. The only issue is getting a license for Windows. If you do have a license for Windows XP, I recommend installing TinyXP, which is a very stripped-down version of the OS that won't take nearly as much hard disk space as a full-blown install. It is, by a strict definition, pirated software (apologies to the community for suggesting it), but if you have a license it's legal to install it.

[jwbjerk]

I borrowed a PC laptop to try it out.
Thanks, Wilbur looks like the tool i want.
I'll just have to figure out the best way to run it-- there are several possibilities: trade-offs between annoyance and cost.