PS Brushes & Mountains

[vhailor27]

I created these brushes from the map "Aronbor... or Perdon".

After I selected the desired area I followed the path
Select -> Color Range -> Shadows
Then pasted the selected elements in a new file and I cleared the image.

Two questions:
1. Which is the best method to create brushes from colored images, like maps?
2.If you use the brushes I created you'll notice that when you place a mountain partly on another the first mountain is still visible. When I place a mountain, how can I erase what is underneath it?

On the right of the picture you can see the result I have when I use the brushes, and on the left the result I want to achieve.

The goal is to create 50 brushes (small, medium and large mountains). If I manage to solve the problem I mentioned above, and the creator of the map (Ramah) doesn't have a problem with me posting the brushes, I'll be happy to share the set with you.

[Ramah]

I have no problem at all with you making brushes from any map I do. Go for it.

As to the problem with the overlap, I don't really think there is a solution to it if you use the brushes in a normal way. The brushes aren't two-tone but go from black to transparent.
I did read in another thread recently (sorry, can't remember the poster or the thread) of a way to place a brush and then use clone to make it work in a way in which you desire but when I tried it I couldn't really get it to work.

Again, no problem at all with you making the brushes. Good luck and I hope they turn out good.

Edit: Oh, and one way you might consider to work around your problem is to use more than one layer when placing your mountains. When I did Vaniya I used four or five layers and if a mountain was placed across another then I would make sure it was on a different layer, that way it was much easier to just delete the part of the mountain that was hidden. Hope this helps.

[Ramah]

Btw... if it will make it any easier for you I can send you a file that contains the mountain layer only. I guess that will solve your problem about removing colour.
Unfortunately I wasn't very forward thinking when I started this and I painted them straight onto one layer, unlike the hills which I made on three layers (outlines, hill shading, between hills shading).

Let me know if this will be of help.

[Midgardsormr]

I did read in another thread recently (sorry, can't remember the poster or the thread) of a way to place a brush and then use clone to make it work in a way in which you desire but when I tried it I couldn't really get it to work.

Did you use the Clone tool or the Clone Stamp tool? The latter is the one you need for that technique. I have a little bit more time today, so I'll post up a proper tutorial in a little while. Stand by for link.

edit: Hmmm… there doesn't appear to be a Clone tool in Photoshop. That must be a leftover from my days using PhotoPaint. So nevermind about that.

[vhailor27]

Thanks Ramah for your offer to send the layer. That would help a lot.

Using more layers for the mountains: Actually I tried that last night and worked pretty well. Another idea I had was making the brushes with white background. That way the white would cover the mountains in the back. Then I would select all the white color in the layer (with Select -> Color Range -> Highlighted, or some other way) and delete it. But I haven't used that yet and don't know if it works.

I'd like to know if you know any other way I could use for selecting the mountains from the image.
Last night I tried Select -> Color Range -> Sampled colors (or something like that) after selecting a color close to the mountain color. This path allowed me to select even the thinner lines, but the clearing process took 15 min for one brush because of the detail it had.

[Coyotemax]

If you are using photoshop, at least, having a white background for the mountain brush will not work. The brushes use a greyscale to determine opacity - black is opaque, white is transparent. And oh yes, I've tried

I'm seriously considering installing either gimp or my old copy of PSP from way back when to make a tube or hose or whatever they call them nowadays, just for mountains and forests.

[Gidde]

I'm seriously considering installing either gimp or my old copy of PSP from way back when to make a tube or hose or whatever they call them nowadays, just for mountains and forests.

Hehe, it's a pipe.

[Nexis]

Hehe, it's a pipe.

Ceci n'est pas une pipe.

[Ramah]

Hmm, can't see your e-mail address so I'll upload a PNG file. Hope this is good enough for what you need...

Mountains.png

[Coyotemax]

I look forward to reading it, I couldn't get it to work efficiently.