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@jfrazierjr - It wasn't so much that there was anything "wrong" with the first version, it was more a matter of feeling like there was something more to it that just wasn't there yet, call it "character" if you will. The mountains didn't look bad, but I had a gut feeling they could look even better. Now that I think I have the mountain building process where I want it, I'm hoping the next render will have a much better feel to it, or, as I said just a bit ago, more "character."
GW
So, we've been short-handed at work which means, because I've had to fill the void, that I haven't had much time to work on this project over the last couple of weeks. I have, however, had time to think about the process and test a couple minor tweaks to a couple of the steps. I just started a new render in Terragen and hope to have it ready for posting sometime in the morning, or, depending on how long it actually takes, the afternoon. The initial results (in Wilbur) were pretty close to what I have been looking for. Once the render is done, I'll have a better idea of what other tweaks I might have to make.
GW
Yay! I finally have something to post, and a word of warning to boot; Don't work a double-shift unless you've gotten plenty of sleep beforehand.
Now, on to the important stuff.
I'm starting to get the kind of look I want for the mountains. I might still have to re-arrange the process a bit, but it's getting very close. I'd like both the ravines and ridges to be a bit more pronounced, and I'll have to work a little more with the peaks, but, overall, I'm fairly happy with where things are starting to go. The downside is that this render doesn't really give a good impression of height, but I can probably fix that the next time 'round by adjusting the "camera" angle. The rivers and lakes in this render are just rough place holders for the time being. I'm hoping that I'll have a good chunk of time over the weekend to work on this and take it a few steps closer to being finished.
The current plan is to beef up and adjust the mountain shapes to get a layout closer to what I envision for this particular island and then start working on the other significant terrain features. We'll see how that goes.
GW
So I haven't had as much time as I'd hoped to work on this. We're short handed at work and, having signed on the dotted line so to speak, it falls on me to fill in where it is needed. Such is life. Still, I have managed to accomplish a bit of work. I'm much happier with the way the mountains look in this render, and even tried adding in some smaller hills though they didn't come out quite as good as I'd hoped. It is progress, though, so I can't complain too much. I'll try another method with the hills when I get a chance, and even have an idea about adding a few seaside cliffs. For now, though, a sample of the progress I've made.
As for the mountains themselves, I reworked the erosion process, adding in a bit of incise flow between cycles of precipiton erosion. I think the overall results look better than before and have a bit more character. I also ran this render at a shallower camera angle so that the mountain heights would be a little more evident, but may have to adjust the scaling a bit more to make those heights even more evident.
GW
Ooh, those mountains are fantastic! Looking forward to watching this progress.
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
Looking good, GW!
GP
Looks good so far, great mountains.
Thanks.
I've got one more erosion sequence I'm going to try, mostly because I'm curious what the results will look like. If it works the way I think it will, I should end up with a few more of a ravine-like look along the slopes of the mountains. If it doesn't work as I think it will, my next big thing with this is to re-work the hills. I'm aiming for more of a rolling look as opposed the mini-mountain kind of look they have right now. Not quite sure when I'll get to that just yet. Finally hired a new person at work, but now we've got to get them trained up so that I can start getting my weekends again (when I do most of my mapping work), but, in the meantime, I'll try to plug along as best I can.
GW
EDIT : I've tried a little tweaking on the hills to see if I could smooth them out. Have a new render running, but don't expect it to be done until sometime in the wee hours of the morning. If I get a chance, I'll post it before going to work for the day.
EDIT 2 : Not sure . . . The hills are smoother, but I still think I am going to have to completely re-work them.
Wow, that's looking really good.
So I've loaded up/started the alternative erosion sequence I mentioned previously. It's still early in the process, but it looks as though it is going to give me the kind of results I am hoping for with the added bonus of allowing for rolling hills in the lowland regions. It's gonna take a while to wrap the process up, but, if I'm lucky, I'll have something to post by the end of the weekend.
GW