Thanks guy's! Getting to know how more experienced world builders go about their processes is invaluable to me and as a result I've changed my game plan on how I'm going to tackle this project.

First off I know this all looks very sloppy right now, I've only just been blocking things in with the lasso tool so far and am very much in the planning stages still.

Quote Originally Posted by J.Edward View Post
One thing I would say that I sometimes forget in my own planet creating....
It is helpful to work out at least some of the tectonic plates and where they collide to create mountains.
Then get some of those rough mountain range lines in so you can plan large water features and also changes in elevation that can lead to islands and such.
Thanks J.Edward, I Hadn't thought about this so I made a really quick sketch tonight, and again I know little to nothing about tectonics because every time I try to read about it I want to smash my head into a wall, but here it is. Keep in mind I'll be changing the coasts more so this is just an idea, but let me know if it's at all plausible or if it's just a total mess that doesn't make any sense at all.

detail.jpg

Quote Originally Posted by johnvanvliet View Post
just a mix of the DEM and "Participation map "

i would not worry too much about the exact coast line right now , that WILL change a bit while eroding the Height map you have to make first

so just a decent coast line for know
Thanks for the links and advice, I'm hoping to use some of the techniques I was reading about in some of pixie's threads for the height map... I've never made one before. I'll also be using Wilbur. I've had some luck testing out some tutorials by Arsheesh using height maps I just grabbed from the internet, the only things is I may need to wait until I'm done building my new computer because it's not letting me use a very good resolution for the size I'm working with. I'm just waiting for my cooling system to get here then I'll have the whole computer built and it should be able to handle it, unless this is a common problem with Wilbur?

Anyhow... I started detailing part of the lower right corner, it need's allot of work and clean up still. I'm not done the section yet, but do you think this level of detail will be ok for making a height map and running it through Wilbur? I didn't realize I could work on refining the coast afterwards so thanks for the tip.

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