Looking for help on making a cliff

[arxhon]

I'm putting together a battlemap in Photoshop, and i'm having trouble making a cliff over a stream. Could somebody help me out?
Please see attached image.


Thanks!

[Ascension]

I'd do this with a few layers. First you have your land layer. Then you have a rock layer, put a soft chisel bevel on that with a big size so that it covers the rock and creates striations. Copy the land layer, put it on top, and erase out the middle where the cliff and river are leaving the rock layer to show through.

[arxhon]

Ok, i gave it a shot. How's this (it's at 50% scale; the map is 20 inches on a side)?

[Ascension]

Not too shabby if you ask me. It doesn't look like a big cliff - for that just increase the size of the bevel and erase a bit more on that side on the top layer...you get the idea. Also the bridge looks to be really big compared to the trees - reduce the size, split it in the middle, spread it out, copy chunks out of the middle, and then piece it back together. Overall looks good.

[arxhon]

Hmm...more like the trees are too small. One square is 5 feet.

Thanks for pointing it out, though!

[Gamerprinter]

Bear in mind that though I use Photoshop/GIMP for some design functions, I mostly create maps using a Vector drawing program, in my case, Xara Xtreme Pro 4.0. However the technique should end up with the same results.

I create cliffs by creating various beveled layers each with its own texture, beveling, and shadow properties, then create the next layer and stack it on top, repeating this process, until I achieve what I am after.

Though I have several cliff designs made in this style, here's one from April of last year...

Note the last map towards the bottom of the page - entry with two other maps in it...

Cliff map

You should be able to emulate that in PS or GIMP as well.

GP

[TheMarcus7]

n0oB question here, but how does one perform a "chisel bevel" in GIMP?

.TM7

[Joel Fagin]

A little late to the party but I was messing with a automated Photoshop map file thingie I have and made me a new cliff...

Cliffs and craters

Let me know if you want the recipe and I'll post it here.

- Joel Fagin

[Midgardsormr]

Of course we do! And here's some rep in expectation.

[Joel Fagin]

Rep?

Okay, this recipe creates a cliff effect which is transparent so it sits on top of whatever texture you like. In the example above, it was sitting on top of my "dirt" layer but I could have just as easily had a cliff made of grass (and did before I took to the grass layer with an eraser).

- Make a new layer and set its mode to "Multiply"
- Head into your layer effects and give it an outer bevel with the following numbers...

Screen shot 2010-02-13 at 2.27.34 PM.png

- Make the gloss contour on the bevel something close to this...

glosscontour.png

- Give it a texture bevel like this...

Screen shot 2010-02-13 at 2.27.45 PM.png

- Now simply draw on your new layer in white and a cliff will appear beneath your brush. It works best with a raggedy, bumpy edge to the cliff so I suggest a small brush and enough coffee to make your hands shake.

If anyone tweaks the numbers and comes up with something better or just usefully different, let me know.

- Joel Fagin

PS. I do believe I've worked out your attachment system!