Faladriand - a large work in progress.

[Mouse]

I'm very glad you were able to find a solution, TG. This is looking extremely promising

[PaGaN]

Hey Faladriand

Projecting onto a sphere ABSOLUTELY helps LOL. That polar distortion can be real pig if you don't watch out for it, things end up getting really "pinched" up there but it only really get's bad from about the 80 - 90 degree lattitude. That's why Aerlaan is having pure ice poles that will creep down and lock to the land at probably 75-80 degress N/S.

And I agree with mouse, considering that you didn't even think about the world as a globe when you started you did a great job of avoiding the worst of the distorion.

Why are you abandoning ship on your original landmasses though? Nothing wrong with wanting to change course but what you had certainly seemed workable.

Given that you are now at the "random blob" stage (a wonderful place to be, just FULL of possibilities ) you might find this tutorial by RobA helpful. It gives great detailed coastlines. Written primarily for GIMP but works in PS too.

PaGaN

EDIT: apologies Tatteredglyph. just realised i called you by your world...LOL. IS that a symptom of hanging around here too long??? LOL (In my defence I have only been awake for about 20 minutes)

[PaGaN]

And you can paint directly on the sphere too and then work on the texture separately which is flattened back down so it really is handy, I don't know why I didn't think to mention that before.

Kacey, if you are following this thread, can you let me know how you flatten the mesh back down? That would be SOOOO useful. i have just been using the spheres as a "sanity check" and then deleting them. Had no idea you could flip back and forth (and i've been using PS for YEARS (shakes head and shuffles off mumbling)

[kacey]

No problem PaGaN, I just figured this out myself and I’ll explain from the start For those that don’t already know how to get an equirectangular map onto a sphere in photoshop who might interested…

First make a new layer on the top of the layer stack then go to (image)(apply image) set the blending to normal and hit OK, this will make a flattened copy of you’re image on the top layer.

Then,with this layer selected go to (3D) (new mesh from layer) then hit (mesh preset) and from the drop down click (sphere). When it asks you if you want to switch to the 3D work space hit yes, and then after a minute or so depending on you’re computer you’re world should appear.

You can paint onto the globe from here, just choose the normal paint brush tool or use the lasso tool but the bucket fill wont work so you’ll have to paint into you’re selection with the brush (unless someone els knows a way around this)… When you’re happy with how it looks on the globe… Here I just blocked in a primitive south pole, then go to (3D) in the little layer panel then go to (sphere)(sphere_material)…This part isn’t showing in the screen shot for some reason… but you’ll see it in the drop down once you hit the 3D tab in the 3D layer stack. After you hit (sphere_material)in the layers panel the materials properties should show up at the top right hand side of the screen.

Sketch (1).png

Where it sais (diffuse), just to the right, there should be a little page symbol with a few shapes in it… click it and then from the drop down press (edit texture) and voila! You’re new changes are flattened back down in a separate window. Just be aware that this creates a new file in a new window, you’re old map will still be there in the other tab, but from here you can save a new file for comparisons and drag it back into the original, or if you’re like me you can throw you’re computer across the room and swiftly delete the new changes because they just don’t look quite pretty enough on the equirectangular projection and start again until you find a balance between the two projections that you can live with.

This is what I got from this quick example, kind of ugly I know but you can then refine things from here or try again and change it all together.

result.png

I hope that helps...

[PaGaN]

Kacey, you just blew my mind!!!! THANK YOU!

Sorry for hijacking the thread TG (bites lip and looks at TG shyly)

[tatteredglyph]

Thank you everyone who said I did a good job without knowing anything about polar distortions! Means a lot!

@Mouse
Thank you for the encouragement!

@PaGaN
I'm re-doing the shapes because when I input them onto a sphere, I just don't like the way they look. So now that I have information about polar distortion, and a sphere I can paint on, it'll really help with making landmasses that seem to "fit" better and are more dynamic. LOL @ calling me Faladriand. That made my night a lot better. (And I had a pretty crappy night, lemme tell you. I almost went to the ER, for details anyone can PM me - I'm okay now, though.)

And, no problem with the hijacking! We're all here to learn. I would have asked kacey myself, but I accidentally figured out how to paint onto the sphere before I could ask!

@kacey
I think everyone at some point has wanted to throw their computer across the room while doing a map!

[tatteredglyph]

Update for the night:

So most of the land is finished. Not sure if this will be the final sizes - any critique on the sizes is welcome. I include the flat plane, as well as the spherical design. The cyan colored blobs will be done, but for now I'm working out how to do them with the polar distortion. Everything that is white is the final land shape - but sizes may vary depending on the feedback I receive.

faladriand - wip (4a).jpg
I'm quite happy with the outcome! I did take the triad island from one of my maps - because I did like the idea and the look of it. So that did make a come back.

faladriand - wip (4a1).jpg
faladriand - wip (4a2).jpg
faladriand - wip (4a3).jpg

Again, the cyan colored blobs are just place holders. I will be working on them probably tomorrow. For now, I'm happy with the improvement of the scale as well as the landmass shapes. Might be adding islands to the sides of the larger landmasses, I'm not sure just yet. Might test it out if I like it, I'll show it here. Otherwise, this is almost the complete final design~. As always feedback is welcome!

[kacey]

I think the new land masses look pretty good when I see them on a sphere like this, I especially like the part with all the islands.

[ladiestorm]

Wow, I've been making maps for little over a year, and I've never once thought about polar distortions! I'm not even sure what that means, so you are already much more advanced than I am .

I wish that was something cc3+ had, that's the program I use. Or maybe it does in Cosmograher... hmmmmm...

Anyway, this is looking really nice so far!

Here is my little bit of advice, and it goes back to rivers (when you get back to that point). I got 'hit' a lot with my rivers when I first started making maps. I'm going to give you the same advice my friends Mark Oliva, and Tonnichiwa gave me: Rivers always flow from the highest point, to the lowest point...except when they don't. Rivers never split, except for when they do. Rivers always come from the mountains and flow to the sea...except when they don't. Lakes always have one inlet, and one outlet, except when they don't.

What this means is that there are always exceptions to every rule, and there are usually plausible reasons for those exceptions. Remember that even your 'flat' terrain is never flat. Yes, rivers generally come out of the mountain ranges... because of the snow caps, when the snow caps melt, the water has to go somewhere....but what about underground rivers/streams/springs? Over time underground waterways will find a weak point in the soil, and will saturate, and flood a place, becoming solitary lakes. Rivers and streams change their course all the time, which is why a river or stream is never a good choice to use as property borders. Rivers running through a mountain range tends to run fairly straight, but once they hit ground level, where the terrain is 'flat' they tend to meander, because the terrain is never truly flat, and they will run the easiest route to the sea. Temporary barricades will cause a river to change it's course, then when the temporary baricade is removed, it now has two ways to flow...so it may split. The bottom line is this when it comes to mapping rivers, while there are general rules to follow, there is a time to adhere to the rules, and a time to break them. If there is a plausible reason to break the 'rules' then by all means, do so

[PaGaN]

If there is a plausible reason to break the 'rules' then by all means, do so

ABSOLUTELY!!! What she said! LOL.

Hope you're okay TG, sorry to hear you had some trouble. Regarding the new layout, it's looking good though the map isn't equirectangular so i'm wondering how you got that on a globe just fine (scratches head and furrows brow). Can't wait to see what's next.