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    Community Leader mearrin69's Avatar
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    Okay, here's a little more. Hope this isn't too disjointed...and I apologize for any flow issues and editorial problems. I'll make the final all nice and seamless.

    Laying the groundwork
    Now let's get the ground looking a little more like real terrain. Open the file "CAMwT_01.psd" in Photoshop and take a look around. In the layer stack you'll see a layer called "land - base" - it's nothing special, just a grey square at this point, but it'll form the base of our terrain texture. Let's put that layer into its own group. Click the folder icon at the bottom of the Layers palette and name the new group "land" then click on the "land - base" layer and drag it into the new group.

    Now let's get a textured base going; we won't see much of it in the final map but it'll give us something to work from. Click on the Paint Bucket tool in the tools palette and change its mode to Pattern then select an appropriate earthy texture. It's best if you choose one large enough that you don't have much repetition, but not so large that it seems out of scale with your map. Then make sure you have the "land - base" layer selected and click in the drawing window to fill that layer with your texture. (see attached image)

    Now we can start laying other textures over this base layer to build up our terrain. You can certainly just use the Pattern Stamp or similar tool to paint right into the layer but I prefer to have a lot of flexibility in this process so I use multiple layers with the Pattern Overlay layer style containing textures for the various types of terrain. Painting into a layer this way acts like a mask, exposing the chosen texture wherever you have made brush strokes. Having different textures in separate layers also lets you pull off some other neat layer style tricks later on.

    Add a new layer and call it "dirt" or something similar. Then either double-click the layer to open the Layer Style dialog or click on the layer style icon (it looks like an "fx") at the bottom of the layers palette and select the Pattern Overlay layer style. Select another earthy texture from the Pattern drop-down and press the OK button. Now you can paint into your new layer with any brush tools you care to use. For this layer I'd use a large, soft brush and turn down opacity and flow. Don't worry: if you mess up you can always just clear out the layer and start over. (see attached image)

    Next, create a new layer called "sandy" and follow the same steps as with the previous layer. This time, choose a sandy texture and begin painting. In the image, I have hidden both the road and water layers to show what's going on underneath. We won't use the road layer except as a guide because the lines are too straight and the water layer, with a more refined shoreline, will end up showing some of the textured land below it. You can see how I've begun creating a roadbed and a lake bottom with the painting so far. (see attached image)

    From here we'll add some grassy and brushy textures to indicate some low plant life. In the image below I have added a few more layers - there's a little texture repetition but we'll try to take care of that at a later stage. Note the "shrubby" layer includes layer styles providing a slight bevel and a drop shadow. You should try out a mix of textures and experiment with layer styles and blend modes to see what interesting effects you can come up with for your map. (see attached image)

    As you work your way up, adding more layers of texture, the goal should be to obscure any regularity. You want to try to break up any large regular areas of the underlying texture while making sure not to add any noticeable repetition to the layer you're working on. Also, as you build up the layers you can always go back in to an existing layer and lay down more texture. If you have a variety of "natural media" brushes give them all a try to see what works best. Finally, if some of your textures don't work well together because of coloration or brightness you can always add an adjustment layer or, when you're sure that you are done with the layer, flatten and then use the Image->Adjustments tools to get it all looking smooth.

    Next up: water!
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    Last edited by mearrin69; 09-13-2010 at 12:38 AM.

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