Using DEM data for fictional maps?

[su_liam]

Nice tutorial. That whole climate variation thing is something I definitely need to work on. I'm a little disappointed though, 'cause that would have really been a nice gradient. Love those colors.

[SeerBlue]

Speaking of World Machine, World Machine 2 is out, and there is a free version that is real sweet. Take the tour as well.

it is well worth the money, and the developer is very helpful, as are the forums.

Also Terraconv is a easy way to get your ter file to tiff format, or GeoTiff, and back. So in and out of photoshop,,,,,.

SeerBlue

[jezelf]

Hi there. Thanks for posting.

su_liam: You're spot on, errosion is really what I'm after. I did see Wilbur before but hadn't yet had time to explore, but I had a quick text last night and it's pretty cool.

Yeah I'm pretty new to the more serious side of map making - there's a whole new world out there (no pun intended) for me. So I only just realised about hypsometric gradients. The tutorials are aimed at the PS beginner and they were started because I was over at another forum for Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels and creative writing and people were wanting to make maps for their stories.

For the purposes of what I want to make maps for, as a back ground for fictional stories, I'm thinking there's little point cutting and pasting DEM maps, I would fair better with things like Wilbur. So thanks for your help.

RobA: yep that's right. My line of work has not really ventured into map making. It's a hobby thing through the creative writing. For the hypsometric gradient. I guess it could be created using photoshop's gradient tools. Sampling the finished artwork with the picker and work back from there? I've not created on before, so I'll see if I can look into it. Cheers.

SeerBlue: Hey that looks cool. I've got Mojo, but not really had much time to work with it (allong with other applications like z-brush -just not enough time ) The WM2 results looks great. I downloaded the trial, see what I can do.

Thanks all.
Jez

[ravells]

For shaded relief maps and hyso tinting, Have a look at this tutorial - it may give you some hints?
cheers
Ravs

[jezelf]

Cool.

Ive done a test using Wilbur. The results are just what I needed! I'll post the results up when I do a tutorial on my site - I'll fold in the Wilbur program for it.

I'm sure I can take it much further, but I'll look into all that for next time.

Thank you everybody!

Jez

[HandsomeRob]

I did this on my Nuusitu map...Basically I used the clone brush to piece together bits of about 4 different DEMs to create the relief for this area. I've always been interested in building DEMs from real-world sources to match my world's topography.

I remember seeing a thread once where someone had taught their computer to pick up bits of a real-world DEM and lay them in an arrangement that they had specified, so you could rough in some mountain ranges and river valleys first, and the software would pick appropriate slices of the DEM to match. I couldn't seem to get it to work, though.

Best of luck!
-Rob

[jezelf]

thats a cool map. I saw your other stuff and posted there. nice work!

Are you doing some of this (non relief) in Illustrator/ PS? Are the rivers and dashed lines paths, stroked or via some other method.

I like all the detail. What is that map for, may I ask?

[jezelf]

OK! This is the results of having 'fun with Wilbur' . There could be a lot more improvement, I feel I've only just scratched the surface, but it improved my map no end by adding the erosion that su_liam pointed out. I'll probably still study some DEMs ( nature is a good teacher ) and see what other details can be next.

Thanks guys! - and the fun with Wilbur tutorial helped me get straight to what I wanted to do (thanks Waldronate) . I'll be exploring the other aps mentioned. Also need to try out Fun with Wilbur Pt 2!

cheers!
jez

[Ascension]

Wow, that's pretty nice.

[su_liam]

<pant><pant>That's so hot!

Yeah, I know, but my wife would hurt me if I looked at the other kind of porn...

Honestly, it's frakkin cool what you could do with just Wilbur.