WIP (sort of tutorial to be) : Climates, applying Geoff's Cookbook at detail (some)

[vorropohaiah]

i cant really understand the image, though i think the possibility of a PS action tantalizing, though i cant really see how you could apply something like this to an action. Looking forward to seeing more about this (id love to set it out on my own world too)

[Alphast]

That's some serious background work...

[Azélor]

I can confirm that it's possible to automate some parts of the process with actions, most notably the selecting and comparison of temperature and precipitation layers (step 7). It could be possible to automate the other steps but with photoshop it's very hard.

I'm also planning to make my own tutorial but it's generally an improvement of Pixie's tutorial. I added more clarifications to avoid mistakes or randomness and added some clearer parameters set be recreating the climates of Earth.

The method will have more temperature categories but they are mostly for the extremes, it doesn't make it more complicated.

[MrSquiffy]

Hi there. Apologies for necro'ing a two-year-old thread, but I've been following this guide quite rigorously in making my own world, and I've got a few questions about the temperature mapping, as it's causing me some degree of confusion. Any help or clarity on the situation would be greatly appreciated.

1. With the humidity layer, the guide states to shift the temperatures towards 'hot' 'warm' or 'mild', and to ignore areas already in those zones. How are you able to get to 'warm' following this system, if it's between hot and mild, and you're not to alter temperatures in either? Is it a case where a large-enough contiguous area of high humidity can shift small areas of hot or mild into warm?

1.5. If that is indeed the case, would hot and mild skew towards warm, or hot and warm skewing towards mild (like maritime influence?). Following that, if large masses do push the temperature, does that mean that there can be some shifting in the areas of those temperatures, even if the guide says not to touch them?

2. In my world, there happens to be a thin band of high humidity in an otherwise-'very cold' area. Following the rules, would this create an area of mild immediately surrounded by very cold, or would there be a transitional layer of cold to act as a buffer between the two values?

Any help is greatly appreciated

[Pixie]

Hi there.

Nice to see people following my long abandoned ideas ... Did you notice that at the time of this thread Azelor actually grabbed the line and took it a further step forward (much further!).

As to your questions: the answer is pretty simple.
High humidity air is harder to take to extreme temperature. That's because water evaporation/condensation involves huge amounts of heat exchanged with the atmosphere, and also because humid air has a higher heat capacity than dry air. Meaning that the same amount of energy will take the temperature to a higher point in dry conditions, and that water vapour condensating in colder conditions will keep local air from dipping swiftly into a cold state.

This is the long explanation, now to your questions:
1 - humidity doesn't always take to Warm - it just takes areas out of the extremes of the range. So, no, by that reasoning, a large hot area with high humidity will still be hot.
1 (2nd part) - the two factors are done separately, apply one, then apply the other one, it may just happen that you skew the very hot/ hot boundary in one direction, then you skew it back to its original place.

2 - very cold steps up to cold, and where it was cold before, steps up to mild (...if I remember correctly) - where does Warm come from? Always have the intermediate levels. Take care not to change one level into another level you haven't adjusted before, or you will end up doubling what should be a one-step change.

Hope it helps.
I'm glad you're using this guide. Why not starting your own W.I.P. (work in progress) thread in this forum and share what you have? And also, what I would recommend nowadays is to use my guide, then use Azelor's, independently, and then use the two as a guide for your own take on your planet (kind of take an average between them).

[PaGaN]

Hi Pixie.

Just wanted to stop by and say "Hi" and say thanks this now venerable awesome thread. I was a lurker for a while but finally jumped in for expert advice for the world i'm working on.

Started my WIP post up in World Mapping (pending approval before it's viewable).

When i get to the climate mapping i will be starting off with this here guide that you gave to us all and it would be great if i could call on you for an objective opinion and some input if you wouldn't mind...

Anywho, that's it for now.

PaGaN

[Pixie]

Thanks for the compliment, PaGaN.

Azelor followed up on this thread and created a better/different tutorial. You might want to dig it as well. In fact, Azelor and I take turns (not on purpose) in being active here at the guild and he's much more available than I am nowadays. He really is the go-to guy for climate

[PaGaN]

Hey Pixie!

Compliment is well deserved.

If i'm being honest I found it easer to follow your guide along to the temp and precipitation stages. The way you broke down the various zones and categories using the screen blend mode seemed a little clearer. I read Azelor's guide IN ITS ENTIRETY! LOL (that was a mission ). I'll stop by, subscribe to that thread and give Azelor a wave.

Regardless, your feedback and opinion will always be welcomed.

Thanks for getting back to me.

PaGaN

[arch-fiend]

sorry for necroing this thread as many have done before me. im aware that azelor has made an updated guide based around this one a long time ago, but i used this guide like 2 years ago and i used it again recently, and i just discovered and wanted to point out that your rules for maritime subpolar and taiga conflict

14. MARITIME SUBPOLAR (Cfc)
- one season is Warm/Mild and one is Very Cold/Extremely cold
- both seasons are Moderate or above

17. TAIGA (Dfc/Dsc/Dwc)
- warmer season is Warm/Mild and colder season is Very Cold/Extremely Cold
- not qualified as Cold Steppe or any other D-type climate

its very unlikely for the cold season to have a warm/mild climate which overlaps with a warm season very cold/extremely cold climate thus the taiga is going to dominate practicaly all zones that maritime subpolar is likely to find itself in. so im wondering which should be dominant in your guide?

[Azélor]

The cc (not just cfc) definition is definitely wrong.

The average temperatures can't go below zero.
I think the coldest they can go is mild, but Pixie never gave the temperature equivalent for these categories.

You are right, the taiga covers most of the area. Cc climates are rare.