Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 14

Thread: What is the most efficent technique for blending regional palettes in GIMP?

  1. #1

    Default What is the most efficent technique for blending regional palettes in GIMP?

    I am a GIMP newbie, and I am creating a world map. I want different regions of the world to have distinct color palettes. However, I do not know how to Blend colors to soften lines and have, as an example, arctic grey smoothly transition into a dark green tundra. I also have a red-based region next to a green-based region; is that going to be an issue in regards to Blending?

    I have tried the Blending tool, and it turned by image into a half black half white 1960's poster. I tried the Smudge tool, and it did exactly that to very poor effect. I am going to toy around with Filters and what not, but any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

  2. #2
    Guild Master Facebook Connected jtougas's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Wales Massachusetts
    Posts
    2,813
    Blog Entries
    27

    Default

    I use the smudge tool for up close detail stuff but it can get messy at large scales. You could try a blur on your transitions. Gaussian Blur is the most popular.
    I am the breath of Dragons...The Song of Mountains...The Stories of Rivers....The Heart of Cities.... I am A Cartographer....

    Finished Maps
    Kingdom Of Shendenflar Campaign Setting (WIP)

    Everything I post is free for use and redistribution under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 licence, except where noted otherwise in the thread.

  3. #3
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    St. Charles, Missouri, United States
    Posts
    8,392

    Default

    I just turn down the opacity or flow or both and just paint the colors by hand, building up more color where needed and leaving it pale/translucent where things smudge together. As to red and green blending together, they are opposites so when blended they should turn brown.
    If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)


    My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps

  4. #4

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jtougas View Post
    I use the smudge tool for up close detail stuff but it can get messy at large scales. You could try a blur on your transitions. Gaussian Blur is the most popular.
    I have used the Gaussian Blur before, but only on a complete layer. When you say transitions you are referring to the point(s) where one region meets another? Would I select one or both regions in order to utilize the Blur?

  5. #5

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ascension View Post
    I just turn down the opacity or flow or both and just paint the colors by hand, building up more color where needed and leaving it pale/translucent where things smudge together. As to red and green blending together, they are opposites so when blended they should turn brown.
    When you say opacity/flow are you referring to the Brush/Pencil? Do you alternate colors, or do you try to find the median color for the two regions?

  6. #6
    Software Dev/Rep Hai-Etlik's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    48° 28′ N 123° 8′ W
    Posts
    1,333
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    "Dark Green Tundra"? Did you perhaps confuse Tundra (Treeless arctic plain with permafrost layer) with Taiga (Subarctic forest)?

  7. #7

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Hai-Etlik View Post
    "Dark Green Tundra"? Did you perhaps confuse Tundra (Treeless arctic plain with permafrost layer) with Taiga (Subarctic forest)?
    It should have read light grey tundra to green fields. Sorry about that.

  8. #8
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    St. Charles, Missouri, United States
    Posts
    8,392

    Default

    Yes. When I say paint by hand I mean using the brush like an artist would paint on a canvas. Just plop some color down with a very low opacity and if you need more color then keep plopping more color down until it builds up to the point where you want it. I don't use a pencil for this since it has a hard edge while the brush has a soft edge. As for median color, well - yes and no. I change color a lot; I don't just stick with green for forests, white for snow, brown for mountains, and tan for deserts. I'll use a lot of different greens for a forest and mix in other colors for variation like tan, red, orange, black, blue, etc. With a low opacity the colors pretty much blend themself and, at least in photoshop, I can change the blend modes and things will change/blend in different ways. Say like I am using a light green and have the blend mode set to multiply, if I keep painting green over green then the multiply will make each successive brush stroke darker than the last. Now say I switch to a red and change the blend to screen, then each stroke will get lighter and browner since red and green are opposite. If I switch to overlay instead of screen then each stroke will just get browner but not lighter.
    If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)


    My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps

  9. #9

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ascension View Post
    Yes. When I say paint by hand I mean using the brush like an artist would paint on a canvas. Just plop some color down with a very low opacity and if you need more color then keep plopping more color down until it builds up to the point where you want it. I don't use a pencil for this since it has a hard edge while the brush has a soft edge. As for median color, well - yes and no. I change color a lot; I don't just stick with green for forests, white for snow, brown for mountains, and tan for deserts. I'll use a lot of different greens for a forest and mix in other colors for variation like tan, red, orange, black, blue, etc. With a low opacity the colors pretty much blend themself and, at least in photoshop, I can change the blend modes and things will change/blend in different ways. Say like I am using a light green and have the blend mode set to multiply, if I keep painting green over green then the multiply will make each successive brush stroke darker than the last. Now say I switch to a red and change the blend to screen, then each stroke will get lighter and browner since red and green are opposite. If I switch to overlay instead of screen then each stroke will just get browner but not lighter.
    I have already tried them out, and I see what you mean. It does help with adding color gradient (change, you know what I mean). Already, even my most rudimentary attempts at blending are markedly improved, once I employ the Smudge (the Smudge sounds like a Smurf hitman's street name). "Smurf the Smudge? I'm not afraid of that loser. Oh, h-hey there Smudge. I got's your loot."

    Thanks for the help. One more question if you don't mind. I am not well versed in color theory, and maybe I have this wrong. Would I be better off having adjacent regions with complimentary colors, i.e. light green to blue green to dark green to etc., rather than grey to green to tan? Or does that not matter as long as I take the time to blend them properly (assuming I can pull it off)?

  10. #10
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    St. Charles, Missouri, United States
    Posts
    8,392

    Default

    Well that depends on if you're going for art or for realistic terrain. For "artsiness" you'd need some color knowledge (split compliments, contrast, color weight, etc) but for a realistic terrain color palette it sort of doesn't matter about color theory. Mother Nature doesn't design her terrain according to what is symmetrically balanced or if the proper purple is balancing out the yellow. Good blending is a must so you have that right. Get a screenshot of a satellite image and just take some sample colors from that. Photoshop makes that rather easy as we can create a whole color swatch from a screenshot. Take your colors and put them wherever you want them with a few exceptions - swamps don't live right next door to deserts; deserts are largely on the 30th parallel (not the equator) and have yellows, tans, oranges, whites, and reds; white is either at the top or bottom for the poles; mountains can be lots of colors like brown, black, gray, purple, blue, rust, red, etc; forests are various darker greens and browns than plains, oceans are black, blue, teal, cyan, green; stuff like that.

    If you were doing color for a political map then color theory is much more important since each country will be a different color. You would not want pastel blues and greens combined with vivid reds and oranges.
    If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)


    My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •