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Thread: My first map, WIP

  1. #11
    Guild Member DanChops's Avatar
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    Okay, new problem. My .xcf file got big. I mean really big. As in 1.5 GB big. Unfortunately, my antiquated PC just couldn't quite handle it very well - it was taking upwards of 5 minutes to simply show a layer. So, I've decided to chalk that map up as an educational experience and start afresh. This time, I'm going to try to post the steps I take along the way here, in the theory that by explaining what I'm doing, I'll learn it better.

    So, here's the basic coast outline of the new map. I decided to make it about 1/4 the size of the first map (5.5"x4" instead of approx 11.5"x8.5") in order to keep the size from getting out of hand.

    One of the problems I noticed toward the end of the earlier map was that in areas my coast was too right-angle-y (if that's even a word). I think the problem may have been that my initial coast outline was too detailed, preventing RobA's TLS from producing maximum effect. So, this time, I've made the coastlines quite a bit less detailed.
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  2. #12
    Guild Member DanChops's Avatar
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    And here is the coastline after applying RobA's TLS. I'm already liking the coastlines much better this time around. Not sure how that island got into the lake in the middle, but I think it has potential, so I'm going to keep it.
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  3. #13

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    Thanks for posting this, and for the series of in-progress images. I'll take a good look through this thread tonight.

  4. #14
    Guild Member DanChops's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GM's Apprentice View Post
    Thanks for posting this, and for the series of in-progress images. I'll take a good look through this thread tonight.
    Not a problem. I hope you get some use out of the thread, although I suspect that it will be more helpful to me than to anyone else.

  5. #15
    Guild Member DanChops's Avatar
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    One thing I did with the last map that I'd like to expand with this one is that I created two underlying land layers, rather than the one "grass" layer in RobA's tutorial. I expanded that two three layers this time - a Grass layer, a Desert layer, and a transition layer between the two.

    I created a separate mask for each of the three land types, as well as an over all mask of the coastline. This is what it looks like before applying any textures or bump maps or blurs or whatnot.
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  6. #16
    Guild Member DanChops's Avatar
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    The next step was to go through the texture --> bump map --> bump layers for each of the three. I pretty much followed RobA's directions on this one, except that for the desert bump map I used "Plasma" clouds rather than "solid noise." This gives the desert a nice stippled look. I think this is a serviceable alternative to giving the layer HSV noise and then bump maping it to itself, like Rob did with the dirt layer in his tutorial.

    After going through the texturing and mapping process for each of the three layers, I made a copy of each and merged the three copies together. Then I applied a Gaussian blur to the merged layer, and to the masks for each of the texture and bump layers. I think the combined effect blended the three layers together nicely.
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  7. #17
    Guild Member DanChops's Avatar
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    My final post for the evening shows the dirt layer applied to the map. I followed Rob's instructions to the T for this one. I really like how the dirt helps to blend the different terrains together. Tomorrow I'll spend some time with black and white brushes to get the dirt where I want it.

    One thing I'm concerned about is my colors for the transition layer. I'm wavering between the yellow look I've gone with so far, and a more muted pallet of brown and green. Fortunately, since I've kept the original underlying color layers separate, and only merged copies, it won't be too taxing to go back and change later if I decide I want to.
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  8. #18

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    DanChops - Really cool to see what you're doing here. It helps make Rob's tut more accessible. Also shows some alternatives to how he does business. Keep it up.

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  10. #20
    Guild Member DanChops's Avatar
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    Thanks for the comments guys. It nice to know that people are reading!

    Here's a quick picture of what it looks like as I've finished with the dirt layer. I only reduced a dirt amount a little bit in a few areas - there's not that much change from the earlier picture.
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