That looks great. Is it done with a height map and if so on what software?
That looks great. Is it done with a height map and if so on what software?
Thanks Warlin and vorropohaiah.
Yeah, the ocean is a lazy job compared to the rest - I think my attention kept turned to labels and land geography and I never gave a second look to the coastal/deep waters divide. As it is (and I'm leaving it as it is), I think it's sufficiently neutral not to focus attention on itself.
This started as a crop of my world elevation map, vorro. I use an adapted version of Nathan's tutorial.. (this one) over my global elevation map, (which I really should update in that thread).
My adaptation for this map was to use the technique 3 times, with different sizes, different grays for shadows and different strength for the bevel effects and add the results (by applying them as "Pass Through" with 20-60% opacity in Photoshop). The "quality" though, comes from the countless hours I spend working on the elevation map manually because I aim for "more realistic than Wilbur" elevation.
Yep, elevations are all done by hand. This takes a huge amount of time and it has been my hobby-that-consumes-a-sickening-amount-of-time for as long as that original thread exists... just about 2 years, and there's still plenty to be done.
In fact, I keep retouching parts of the main map as my experience with this technique increases, as I grow in the learning of earth sciences and as I improve the tectonics of Maward. So a lot of the time I spend o this (which isn't much nowadays as I am the father of a 7-month baby) doesn't result in new areas being made.
I did a video-tutorial some time ago, which you might be interested in. But still, your Atlas Elyden maps are a beauty as they are, vorro, I don't think adding shaded relief would "do wonders".
Last edited by Pixie; 12-07-2016 at 02:05 PM.
wow, and i thought my method was time consuming! I've been experimenting with black/white difference clouds overlay with bevel/emboss set to soft light though I'm not that happy with the results. I've been looking at a way to make the images a bit more 3d though the added realism might compromise the in-world authenticity of the maps.
anyhow, really inspiring work on these