[WIP] The Continent of Zasháve

[Robulous]

Sounds like a lot of hard work, I'm exhausted just reading about it!

[woodb3kmaster]

My CPU would agree with that sentiment. Given that my base map is 12,000 x 9,200 px (or 110.4 megapixels), erosion filters took a long time to calculate.

### Latest WIP ###

zashave_biome_test.jpg

I've been experimenting with using gradient maps to color the various biomes, and I quite like the results. Some gradients could still use some tweaking, but overall, I think they look pretty good. I also tried using a difference clouds layer for more color variation, and it turned out nicely as well.

One noticeable issue at present is that I haven't yet warped the northernmost reaches of the relief layer to match this projection. I've been using Flexify to convert map projections within Photoshop, but for some reason, it isn't giving me consistent results with those regions. Attempting to correct them further with manual warping gives less than satisfactory results. I'll have to see what I can do on that front.

I've also ditched the outer glow for my coastlines in favor of a set of rings, made using the Stroke style as described in a tutorial I read about last night. It gets a bit noisy in the denser island chains, so I'm not convinced it's much better than the glow was.

[woodb3kmaster]

### Latest WIP ###

zashave_biome_test2.jpg

For the time being, I've reverted to the non-warped coastlines, since I've had so much trouble replicating them. This version is more about the biome gradients, anyway - which I've tweaked more to my liking. What do the rest of you think?

I've also added further details to the deserts, namely more dune fields and wadis/dry riverbeds. The latter were derived from the river map I exported from Wilbur, while the former use relief involving a set of PS dune brushes I found in a thread here (I forget which or whose thread). Now the deserts look much more like where I grew up (which, coincidentally, is some distance south of waldronate).

[woodb3kmaster]

### Latest WIP ###

zashave_rivers_shading.jpg

I finished tracing the rivers in Illustrator and added them to the PS file. The new rivers are something of a hybrid between my old rivers and the river map Wilbur generated, with a few extensions into the mountains.

I also added a second relief layer, clipped to the higher elevations, because I wasn't satisfied with how washed out the snowcaps looked. With this new layer's blend mode set to Darken, it really brings out the shading on the peaks.

Finally, I tweaked my tundra gradient again to lighten it up somewhat and added a snowy gradient to the northernmost point.

Comments/critiques/etc. welcome, of course!

[woodb3kmaster]

### Latest WIP ###

zashave_deltas_morelakes.jpg

The main changes in this version are that I detailed the river deltas and added more lakes. There are also many new oases in the Amanha Desert, as befits its name (which means "Desert of Springs" in my main conlang).

At this point, I think the physical map is nearly finished. Unless you think I should add or change anything else, there should just be some minor finishing touches to do, along with a new climate legend, and possibly a scale bar. Then, it'll be off to the finished maps forum!

[Robulous]

Very nice love your terrain it's so detailed. The sea I'm not so keen on, the texture clouds effect is very noticeable and distracting, I'd prefer a plain sea colour with not such a bright glow around it.

Slightly confused by the Amanha Desert - it has a lot of water flowing through it for a desert environment, unless those are river beds that are generally dry. I'm also wondering where the water comes from to fill those rivers. It makes sense that's a desert because it has mountains to east and west so it would be in rain shadow wherever the prevailing winds are coming from. In which case, how is enough rain falling on the east side of the Great Kresh Mountains to make so many rivers?

[woodb3kmaster]

Very nice love your terrain it's so detailed. The sea I'm not so keen on, the texture clouds effect is very noticeable and distracting, I'd prefer a plain sea colour with not such a bright glow around it.

Thanks, Robulous! I can fix the sea texture pretty easily, though I wonder if a subtle wave effect would be better than a solid color. As for the glow, perhaps a darker shade of blue would suffice? I tried to color-match the rivers and smaller lakes to the glow, so they'll get the same new shade of blue.

Slightly confused by the Amanha Desert - it has a lot of water flowing through it for a desert environment, unless those are river beds that are generally dry. I'm also wondering where the water comes from to fill those rivers. It makes sense that's a desert because it has mountains to east and west so it would be in rain shadow wherever the prevailing winds are coming from. In which case, how is enough rain falling on the east side of the Great Kresh Mountains to make so many rivers?

A lot of the new rivers ended up in the desert by accident and could simply be erased or reduced to a string of oases; there are similar features in the Sahara, often in seasonal river valleys. Some of the older ones that start in the Great Kresh Mountains actually start in the higher valleys between ridges, where I'd imagine there's enough runoff to support them. Others I'm not so sure of, so I might go with your suggestion that those rivers are seasonal. I'll try these changes out soon.

[woodb3kmaster]

### Latest WIP ###

zashave_desertfixed.jpg

I've made the changes I talked about in my previous post. My attempts at finding a shade of blue that was darker than the coast outlines had been, and that didn't make my rivers too hard to see, ended in failure, so I just got rid of the outlines and left the rivers in the old shade of light blue. I also made no attempt to break up the newer desert rivers into strings of oases, opting to merely delete their desert segments. This version should be much better, though I'd still like to try adding a subtle wave texture to the ocean so it isn't quite so monotonous.

Thank you to everyone who's provided feedback so far! Your insights have been invaluable, as you saw things in ways I wouldn't have otherwise. Any further feedback is, as always, most welcome as I get closer to completing this map.

[Robulous]

The climate and rivers thing is really just a nitpick, it's your world so the logic of it is up to you Just a question though, is the green outline along the desert rivers because they have a narrow fertile zone, like the Nile? Makes sense. Only other criticism is the transition between biomes eg desert and grassland is a little sharp - if you browse Google Earth these naturally blend a bit more.

Also, the rivers, are they all Wilbur generated? You do have a lot of them in the north and they're very uniformly wiggly, rivers tend to be so wiggly on very flat land, less wiggly further inland, though if its a big flat swampy region that would make sense.

But in general the texture you've achieved is amazing, it looks gorgeous, something I really aspire to.

[Soixante]

Really beautiful, I love this style. I would agree with Robulous that rivers tend to only be that squiggly in very flat, low lying areas. However they do look nice. Also, this is just a thought, but possibly the whole landmass could benefit from a slight grain, to give it a little more texture? Or not, up to you. I also have to commend you on the shape of the continent, and the coastlines. Very very convincing.