Landscape for Fun

[kalmarjan]

Nothing really special about what I am going to create. I just recieved my new PhCS3, so I am practising a little here. Of interest here is the new smart filters function. At last, non destructive filtering editing. :)

I will update the picture as I am working on it. :)

Steps so far:

1) Draw out coastline with Wacom Pen.
2) Make a selection of the line, and make a new layer.
3) Invert the selection, fill with gradient of light blue, dark blue.
4) Make selection of water layer, invert selection, paint green.
5) Convert water layer into smart object
6) Apply smart filter to the water layer. Ocean Ripple (I forgot the settings)
7) Set the blending mode to color dodge, apply a level adjustment layer to this
8) Play with the levels until it looks right.
9) Lower opacity of layer to 65%
10) Copy the Water layer to seperate layer.
11) Drop fill to 0%, apply layer effects: Outer Shadow, Inner Glow (With the sawtooth profile applied to get the double lines.) Add noise to outer Shadow to get the "beachlike effect".
12) Set the color of the inner glow to gradient, and play with the opacities of that until I get what I like.
13) Scale back the layer transparency so it is not so in the forefront, about 80%


C&C welcome.

Sandeman

[Arcana]

My CS3 will be in next week...I'm looking forward to it...especially the 3d object importing (extended) and the vanishing point tool. Good stuff.

Explain smart filters...I'm not sure I follow...though I haven't bothered to look into it yet.

[RPMiller]

I'm looking forward to this. I like seeing a map as it is created especially if it can be turned into a bit of a tutorial even if we don't have the software it will give us some ideas.

[kalmarjan]

My CS3 will be in next week...I'm looking forward to it...especially the 3d object importing (extended) and the vanishing point tool. Good stuff.

Explain smart filters...I'm not sure I follow...though I haven't bothered to look into it yet.

Smart filters apply to a smart object. Basically, what this means is you can now apply filters just as if you were applying layer effects. The cool part is, you now have control AFTER the fact about layer transparency, blending modes, layer masks on top of that.
Better still, if you are not happy with the effect, you can turn it off. Your underlying image will still be there. :)

Sandeman

[kalmarjan]

Okay, so I did the following from the last pic:

1) Reinstalled my Wacom Drivers. Grr....
2) Drew in a main river in a new layer. Width was driven by pen pressure.
3) Looked at maps online for Deltas/Watersheds
4) Drew in tributaries, planning for where the mountains will be.
5) Added almost the same layer effects as the ocean layer, except I changed the following:

Dropped the outer glow, and the inner glow.
Applied a bevel effect, of 1 pixel, and changed the light source to the opposite side of the global. I also dropped the opacity of the shadow.
Added a gradient effect, foreground to transparent, and played with the settings to get it right.

So, here is where I am so far:

It is by nowhere complete. Chances are I will play around with the rivers until I get exactly what I want.


Sandeman

[pyrandon]

Great stuff, Sandeman. When you're done, would you consider allowing us to shove this over in the Tutorials board? I think this could be very helpful to many people!

Keep it up!

[kalmarjan]

Great stuff, Sandeman. When you're done, would you consider allowing us to shove this over in the Tutorials board? I think this could be very helpful to many people!

Keep it up!

Sure!

Now, here is another screenie... I have to go to work, so tonight I will post a through by through.

It is a little different, because I went ahead and dropped the layer effect on the beaches, and did it manually. If you look at the two side by side, you may see why. ;)

Sandeman

[Publius]

Beautiful work Sandeman, I especially like the beaches

[kalmarjan]

This walkthrough will be put on hold while I work on the mapping challenge for June. Stay tuned though, it will be finished!

Sandeman

[RobA]

Very nice!

I especially like the oxbows and islands in the rivers. Often rivers are drawn too straight at this scale.

-Rob A>