Which do you prefer?

[su_liam]

First off, look at RobA's attachment. Those are real mountains and they basically tell you just what rpgmapmaker is trying to.

A mountain range is a labyrinth. For every point on that labyrinth(with certain exceptions where evaporation exceeds precipitation or the underlying strata are very porous) there is a path out. Water has three ways to get off your mountain: it can evaporate, it can flow across the surface, or it can fill a depression with a lake till it finds a way to flow out. A good way to structure a mountain range is to build a central spine then build radiating spines. Some of those radiating spines can themselves have spines that radiate parallel to the central spine, but make sure those have outlets.

I'm afraid it doesn't really look, 'mountain like' to me. The edges of the field seem to be too uniform...perhaps a layer mask to roughen the edges a bit? I really do like the twisty pattern of ridgelines within the range itself, but if you could find a way to texture or colour the 'low' areas, that might really make them shine. I think there's great potential in the design, but there's a little more work required, but if you can get there, it will be a fantastic way to do mountains.

I have to agree with Ravells here. To amplify on what I believe to be part of his point, you need to carry some of the lowland texture up into the mountains. Perhaps carrying some green up into the valleys between the ridges. These green areas can become increasingly narrow as you work your way deeper into the network. Try Google Earth on the Himalayas for examples. This can serve both to make your mountains more realistic and also blend them in better with the lowlands. I'll try an example later. Bedtime now.

[ravells]

There is a good shaded relief map of Everest and its surrounding mountains here. May be worth a look for some inspiration?

Also have a look here for general wow-dom. Those Canadians make BIG 3d maps!

[jfrazierjr]

Ugh... Another try. I need to go back through and clean up the forests that are on top of the mountains and make them a bit more ragged. Hopefully, that will make them look a bit better and less uniform, but for now, I am going to play with my new tablet for a bit.

[Karro]

Ugh... Another try. I need to go back through and clean up the forests that are on top of the mountains and make them a bit more ragged. Hopefully, that will make them look a bit better and less uniform, but for now, I am going to play with my new tablet for a bit.

Hey, that's looking pretty good! Much better than the initial images.

What does the stuff that looks like a giant patch of lichen (to the east and west of the mountains) represent? They don't look like the forests that are in the midst of the mountains.

[jfrazierjr]

Ok, here is my final try, with a new technique. There are no forests, or mountain colors, just a background and the mountains themselves. You may note that the left half might look quite a bit better (more craggy and irregular) than the ones of the right. This is be design for my testing. I have to say I rather like the way the ones on the right came out in terms of texture and stuff, so will be playing with this a lot more in the future.

I know it's rather hard to separate components of an unfinished map, but please let me know what you think about the texture of the mountains themselves.

Perhaps this weekend, I will take this example and finish it up with trees, water, and some more color variation in the mountains themselves.

Joe

[ravells]

Looks much better to me. I think you could really work with this.

[jfrazierjr]

Thanks ravells. Which of the two last examples looks more mountain like? Or are they both fairly ok, just different type of mountains? Granted, the 2nd to last example has a lot more detail in terms of forests, color, etc, but the hills are more rounded like older mountains. The latter has no fine detail work, but the ridgelines are a lot sharper. If they are both passable, then so much the better as it gives me a bit more options in terms of why style go where just like in the real world.

Joe

[ravells]

I thought the last example was way better than the second to last example.