There are elements I really like in all of your maps in this thread, zukeprime. If I might make a suggestion, why don't you layer all the images and then use masks to blend the most interesting parts of each attempt at the map? You'll end up with a map with lots of great variety, as well as doing what you want it to do. Of course it will require some fiddling to get the heights to line up properly, but I think you could make a really nice map that way.
I have a question for you about this stage of your map:
The rocky hills in this map are really cool! I can't quite work out how they came about from the base image - can you remember what kind of processing you did to them to make them come out this way? Also, if you still have the height map for the final product at this stage, I'd love to see it too.Originally Posted by zukeprime
This is an incredible tutorial. I been following it closely & asking lots of questions. But now at that end. I am stumped at the land noise portion. I can get the first part of noise done. But somehow, after I complete that process, I am no longer able to "replace selection with this channel" after I 15% blur. Not sure if I am in the channel, or layer. But I am pretty sure I am following the tutorial right. Anyone else have suggestions?
Hi
First of all: Thanks for this tutorial - basically THIS is exactly, what I've been looking for my whole (digital mapmaking) life
Right now, I'm stuck, though, in the Wilbur part, when it comes to creating rivers.
For a better understanding, I have attached the result, Wilbur produces:
Where the red lines are, I would have loved to see some rivers - instead the coastline gets "fractured" (sort of) and some (2, last time I counted) rivers appear in the ocean area ..
Now I'm wondering: What am I doing wrong / how do I do this right?
Thanks and kind regards,
Kai
Hi schattentanz, I'm glad to here the tutorial is of use to you. About the coastlines, do you mean that you get lots of little rivers and grooves carved into the shore? If so that's a normal part of the Precipiton erosion process. If you'd rather not have them in your map just skip this particular step. However just so you are aware, one of the advantages of using the precipiton erosion filter is that it helps to gently erode hard edges, so if there are any edge-bits of mountain clouds on your map which, despite your best efforts at blending, still stick out, the precipiton erosion filter will help to erode them a bit. As to getting rivers in the ocean, that is completely normal. Don't worry about it because later on in the tutorial I explain how to get rid of these. On the other hand if you aren't getting rivers in the areas you indicated then there is a problem, because the incise flow erosion filter is supposed place rivers in those lower elevation points. Just to clarify then, you have run the Incise Flow filter and still aren't getting rivers there?
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
Hi arsheesh
thanks for taking the time to reply and to explain
Yes, I did run the Incise Flow filter. I do not worry about those "rivers in the oceans" - ist rather the lack of rivers on the continents worrying me ..
As you might see from the attached image, I created riverbeds by coloring the landscapes accordingly dark .. do I need to correct this?
Thanks and Kind regards,
Kai
I don't know if this will help you, but it's worth a try.
I have found that Wilbur's rivers require basins to be completely filled in order to produce something that you might reasonably expect rivers to look like. Without filled basins, and especially if you are using incise flow, there will be little pits everywhere that suck in your rivers before they have a chance to get to any length at all. I would suggest that you try doing a fill basins command, and then try again. Note that if you are getting large basins, you may also need to add some noise - but I have found that this in itself messes up rivers, so usually I do: fill basins, percentage noise 1%, fill basins again.
Ah, I see, I wasn't sure if you had run the incise filter yet. OK, well as Thorf has pointed out, you do need to run a fill basins operation just prior to running incise flow. Like Thorf I then add percentage noise (though I typically use 4-5%) and then fill basins again prior to the incise flow. Have you tried doing this?Hi arsheesh
thanks for taking the time to reply and to explain
Yes, I did run the Incise Flow filter. I do not worry about those "rivers in the oceans" - ist rather the lack of rivers on the continents worrying me ..
As you might see from the attached image, I created riverbeds by coloring the landscapes accordingly dark .. do I need to correct this?
Thanks and Kind regards,
Kai
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
Yes, I've tried it .. The issue with flattend out basins appears to be: rivers run in straight lines through them ..
I helped myself now by drawing the rivers manually on a separate layer, selecting the negative of the land mass and adding the selection of the rivers to the negative selection. Then I inverted everything and saved it to a channel - tadaa: Rivers Mask
Yet, some questions remain:
Regarding the Mountain Bump Layer:
You say, without it, the mountains would look diminished. I've got an issue with the whole layer (and I guess I'm doing something wrong there, again):
When I use this layer, I get a white hue mountain top on each and every mountain. Since I've got mountains in a desert, snow would just not look credible there ..
So: What am I doing wrong there?
Regarding the Arctic:
You say, after duplicating Arctic 2, you need to apply the Mt Mask. When I apply the Mt Mask, though, upon further duplicating the layer, it won't brighten up the snowy parts anymore, leaving me with a very violet arctic .. I helped myself there by just not applying the Mt Mask - served my purpose .. Yet, I wonder, whether I misinterpreted anything there, too?
Btw.: I just want to stress out once more how incredibly awesome your tutorial is, since it tought me A LOT about the features of Gimp, showing me, what a damn powerful tool Gimp is
Thank you so much for putting it online
Kind regards,
Kai
That's where the percentage noise comes in... Adding noise prevents the rivers from running in straight lines, instead making them move in nice random paths through any flat areas. The fill basins you apply after adding noise does not (usually) get rid of the noise fully, so the three action fill basins/percentage noise/fill basins thing should work to randomise your river paths with incise flow.
Regarding the issue with having straight rivers, I concur with Thorf's assessment. But it sounds like you've found another workaround. Moving on to Mountain Bump Map layer, the issue you describe may not be due to any mistake on your part; it's just a function of the how the colors have been set on your gradients. One way to resolve this issue is to simply modify a few of the settings on your dessert gradients so that there is less snow (or no snow) on the desert mountains. To do this open up each of your desert gradient dialogues and adjust the control sliders at the bottom right to reduce the white segment (see image below). Next create a new gradient map of the deserts using these revised gradients and then just follow the steps in the "Defining the Climate Zones" section for blending these in with your other climate zones.Yes, I've tried it .. The issue with flattend out basins appears to be: rivers run in straight lines through them ..
I helped myself now by drawing the rivers manually on a separate layer, selecting the negative of the land mass and adding the selection of the rivers to the negative selection. Then I inverted everything and saved it to a channel - tadaa: Rivers Mask
Yet, some questions remain:
Regarding the Mountain Bump Layer:
You say, without it, the mountains would look diminished. I've got an issue with the whole layer (and I guess I'm doing something wrong there, again):
When I use this layer, I get a white hue mountain top on each and every mountain. Since I've got mountains in a desert, snow would just not look credible there ..
So: What am I doing wrong there?
Regarding the Arctic:
You say, after duplicating Arctic 2, you need to apply the Mt Mask. When I apply the Mt Mask, though, upon further duplicating the layer, it won't brighten up the snowy parts anymore, leaving me with a very violet arctic .. I helped myself there by just not applying the Mt Mask - served my purpose .. Yet, I wonder, whether I misinterpreted anything there, too?
Btw.: I just want to stress out once more how incredibly awesome your tutorial is, since it tought me A LOT about the features of Gimp, showing me, what a damn powerful tool Gimp is
Thank you so much for putting it online
Kind regards,
Kai
Regarding the question about the arctic layer, I think I might have made a mistake here (I will have to go back and check), but what you want to do on the Arctic 3 layer is mask only the mountains so that the Artic 3 layer only affects the rest of the land (otherwise the mountains would just become too washed out). In order to do this you do add the Mt Mask to this layer, but you have to tick the box that says "Invert", otherwise the mask will mask out the land rather than the mountains.
Oh, and thanks, I'm really glad to here the tutorial has been helpful.
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
Gradient Adjustment.jpg
Last edited by arsheesh; 10-16-2013 at 04:44 PM.
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