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Thread: Playing with mountains

  1. #1
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    Post Playing with mountains

    Okay, so I'm playing a little with mountains, trying to find the right method. Like Joe before me, I'll offer a few pics and see what people's thoughts are.

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    The traditional version of RobA's overland map tutorial.

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    RobA's mountain tutorial.

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    One way of combining the two

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    And another...

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    And three more way of combining.

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  3. #3

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    They all look interesting, but none of the new methods break up the mountain ridges. Since the ridges are so isolated they look unique or unnatural. They'd make great mountains for something like the boarders of Mordor where some sort of magic threw them up They look like some sort of Ginormous Chinese character you could see from space.

    What happens if you impose one image on the other after a rotation or flip? Something to spread out the ridges and make it seem more like an irregular mound.


    Sigurd
    Last edited by Sigurd; 06-16-2008 at 12:36 AM.

  4. #4

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    OK-

    Here is something I am working on.... The steps are all the same. The only difference is the start point. And this required NO "artistic ability" or hand painting/touch-up. There are still a few artifacts I am trying to figure out how to eliminate...

    Click image for larger version. 

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    -Rob A>

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by RobA View Post
    OK-

    Here is something I am working on.... The steps are all the same. The only difference is the start point. And this required NO "artistic ability" or hand painting/touch-up. There are still a few artifacts I am trying to figure out how to eliminate...

    Click image for larger version. 

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ID:	4386

    -Rob A>
    I'm liking that. Man, it's really inspiring to see how you guys work to develop these techniques.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by RobA View Post
    OK-

    Here is something I am working on.... The steps are all the same. The only difference is the start point. And this required NO "artistic ability" or hand painting/touch-up. There are still a few artifacts I am trying to figure out how to eliminate...

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	mtntest.png 
Views:	233 
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ID:	4386

    -Rob A>
    hmm.. how about this. Note that I did this in about 8 minutes after seeing Rob's results. Also, I did NOT spend a lot of time blending everything in as I should if I was doing a full on map for presentation.

    Joe
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	MountainsTest3.jpg 
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ID:	4388  
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sigurd View Post
    They all look interesting, but none of the new methods break up the mountain ridges. Since the ridges are so isolated they look unique or unnatural. They'd make great mountains for something like the boarders of Mordor where some sort of magic threw them up They look like some sort of Ginormous Chinese character you could see from space.

    What happens if you impose one image on the other after a rotation or flip? Something to spread out the ridges and make it seem more like an irregular mound.


    Sigurd
    Hmm. I'll have to keep working, it seems. I don't perfectly like any of the results, as yet. I guess it will just take more fiddling to find something that still looks good!

    Quote Originally Posted by RobA View Post
    OK-

    Here is something I am working on.... The steps are all the same. The only difference is the start point. And this required NO "artistic ability" or hand painting/touch-up. There are still a few artifacts I am trying to figure out how to eliminate...

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	mtntest.png 
Views:	233 
Size:	476.6 KB 
ID:	4386

    -Rob A>
    Beautiful, naturally! You have real talent!

    Quote Originally Posted by jfrazierjr View Post
    hmm.. how about this. Note that I did this in about 8 minutes after seeing Rob's results. Also, I did NOT spend a lot of time blending everything in as I should if I was doing a full on map for presentation.

    Joe
    I'm still not quite sure how you do those long snaking range ridgelines. They do bear somewhat of a resemblance to what they actually look like from sat-photos (although I also think sat photos of mountains look peculiar, but you capture that in a good way!)

  8. #8
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Karro View Post
    I'm still not quite sure how you do those long snaking range ridgelines. They do bear somewhat of a resemblance to what they actually look like from sat-photos (although I also think sat photos of mountains look peculiar, but you capture that in a good way!)
    Hmm.. well, in this case, I just used the same technique you used based on RobA's tutorial. I am currently working on another variation of the samething, but in this one, I just(going off of memory):

    1. create a transparent layer
    2. filled a random selection with a 50% gray
    3. using a med brush set to high jitter, draw some white very squiggly lines (these are going to be the valleys in the picture)
    4. Noise around 20-30px
    5. Blur perhaps 10-20 px. You want to maintain a small bit of the pixelation but not too much.
    6. new transparent layer
    7. using the same technique you used draw your mountains on the new layer in the mostly empty areas between the blurred white/gray lines of the layer below.
    8. use the smudge tool to clean up some of the hard lines on the edges of your mountains will help it blend in below.
    9. merge down and bump map the whole thing.


    I am also working a lot with the smudge/airbrush tool to try to get some vertical ridgelines, clefts, etc. while maintaining the "point" of most of the ridges. In a few places, I intentionally smudge the white of the ridge line to make not all of the mountain tops pointy.

    Joe
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

  9. #9
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jfrazierjr View Post
    hmm.. how about this. Note that I did this in about 8 minutes after seeing Rob's results. Also, I did NOT spend a lot of time blending everything in as I should if I was doing a full on map for presentation.

    Joe
    Ok, here is an example with a slightly different technique and a bit more blending along with some terrain. Not a full map, but close enough to get an idea of how the mountains might look.

    Joe
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	NewMountains.jpg 
Views:	133 
Size:	847.1 KB 
ID:	4423  
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

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