From a 2d map to a 3d map.

[Stormhawk]

I was planning on take my 2d map terrain map and making it into a 3d map but I was wonder what approach do you all think is the best for that? I had thought to myself that the best approact to this would be to make a Heightmap ( bump map) out of the alpha map of the 2d map but the problem with that is I have no way of creating the Heightmap all the subdivisions of my terrain map without taking hours to days.Hoping there was a better way then going at it from scratch with just black to white and using layers without losing control of small detail. Also if I do begin to gray scale it then I will lost the coastal line.

The second idea would be to just make the 3d map by eye. However, if I do this when I want use the map and show peoples

position on this map it will become hard to since they will not be exactly the same.

[xoxos]

if you're using photoshop, you could make a layer of the coastline, duplicate that to work from, while retaining the original for any additional processing needed to reintegrate your land and water as a unified height field map.

[waldronate]

http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ew-Found-Lands was my entry in the last lite challenege and it shows one way to make a visually interesting bump map from some arbitrary shapes.

[Stormhawk]

http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ew-Found-Lands was my entry in the last lite challenege and it shows one way to make a visually interesting bump map from some arbitrary shapes.

I read the pdf explaining how you made the map but my problem is that in the end you randomized. I want to be able to speifically places the details where I want it.