WIP: unnamed Earh-like planet

[Pixie]

Hey there.

I think your map looks nice, visually, so this is definitely a style you can keep. As for the actual heights, the one thing that strikes me the most is the amount of inland basins that you have - by far too many places where the water will flow into a basin and create huge lakes. Over time these places either fill up with sediment and become plains or the water carves a way out of them so that the stop being closed basins.

I think a very quick pass in Wilbur would do wonders.

[groovey]

Interesting Pixie, so it's that bad? Are you saying it's not reallistic at all to have so many? I had thought of using some to fill as lakes later on when I work on rivers, so I mean, I don't mind it at all if in Wilbut they become lakes, I'd love it actually.

EDIT: re-read your post, there are too many, I can reduce them. So they'd be lakes at first, then plains... sorry for my density, why is that bad? Won't Wilbur turn some into lakes connected to rivers so the water will flow and the lakes remain lakes? What do I do to make some of them lakes that will stay lakes?

My idea was to import the heigh-map, layer by layer, into Wilbur, if only to get the rivers.

[Deadshade]

Won't Wilbur turn some into lakes connected to rivers so the water will flow and the lakes remain lakes? What do I do to make some of them lakes that will stay lakes?

My idea was to import the heigh-map, layer by layer, into Wilbur, if only to get the rivers.

Wilbur is actually quite unfriendly to lakes. If you want some, you must define them specifically (I believe there is a tutorial by Waldronate how to do lakes in Wilbur).
What Pixie meant was that the procedure of basin filling/incision/erosion in Wilbur will make very realistic rivers and shape the countryside by erosion.
And in this process it gets rid of almost all unnatural inland basins.

If you import your map in Wilbur (what is a very good idea for rivers and erosion) be ready that the result will not be just "adding rivers". Your whole landscape will be eroded in the process.

[groovey]

Oh, I wouldn't really mind then if Wilbur changes things a bit as long as the tectonic derived terrain stays plausible. I'll try it out once I'm done correcting the altitude on the coastal parts.

[Pixie]

As long as you use fine parameters and small steps at a time Wilbur won't change much in terms of lowland/plateau/highland... I always avoid the "all-in-one" Erosion Cycle.

[selden]

Groovey,

Can you provide a copy of your heightmap which is a "uniform" greyscale, with black for the lowest depth in the ocean and white for the peak of the highest mountain?

That way, your planet can be drawn in some 3D visualization programs so that the mountains look like bumps. At the moment, the surface looks a little flat:


(I used Celestia, in case you were wondering. One can use more complicated 3D packages, but I find Celestia to be easy to use to visualize planetary systems.)

[groovey]

You mean like this?



Sorry I took so long. I finally have a bit more time after a hectic week. I look fordward to see what the result is selden.

EDIT: I hope you're still around selden cos I tried but I have no idea how to import my height-map in Celestia, and can't find anywhere how to do it.


I'm slowly (since I lost motivation), fixing the coast of that height-map so the altitude along most of it is between 0-500, but to be honest, visually I like the map much better as it was. With the coast altitude's shrinked it visually doesn't look that good to me. I've finished the big continent on the right side, I still have to do the others with 0 motivation.

[groovey]

Hi all!

Since I'm not motivated to reduce the altitude of the coast, I decided to import the grey-scale height-map to Wilbur and apply parts of the "Fun with Wilbur" tuts to suit my needs, one to get the basic erosion (which fixed the coast but I guess diluted the altitude levels I had set) and another to get the rivers as an overlay to export. So with the map of the terrain and the rivers map, I went back to PS and this is the result.



As unpolished as it is, I think it would do for me for world developing purposes and for the novel.

Of course, if Azelor eventually developes a system to get the climate info, I'll have to use the PS layered height-map, on which the coast won't be perfect, but eh, as long as I get close enough info I'll be happy.

I won't know where the desertic areas will be until then, but well.

BTW, this is the bump map Wilbur made:



Mm, I guess I need to research how to get some lakes too, where and how to make them in Wilbur.

[Pixie]

It's not that bad, groovey. The large continents look like huge flat mesas at this point, but that's something that can be sorted with time and patience on Wilbur.

If you feel burned out by all this, leave it in the backburner for a while. After all, it's just a hobby

[groovey]

Don't real world height-maps also look like flat blobs?