[Award Winner] Saderan – a tutorial

[Tadiera]

So I hope I'm not posting somewhere people... er, aren't anymore.

I should have read the thread before I started.
With the Group / Clipping Mask deal, I just made... groups in the layers area. I figured it was just for ease of organization and somehow I managed to stumble my whole way to the rivers step. *cough* I'm glad I've saved a lot of stages, because I'm afraid I know the answer to my own question.

Nothing happens when I select the Land Mask to use the brush to stroke the river path. I recall earlier times when erasing/adding on the Land Mask did nothing, but I kind of brute forced my way through. Is there any way to fix it now? I'm not a TOTAL PS newb, but a lot of this stuff is beyond what I usually do.

[Alex]

I was suggested to ask my question here, so I hope I did not break any rules or anything.

How does one go about getting the land's shape to come out like the shape/edges of the maps, for example, generated in Saderan's tutorial? I have run a scanned image in through Photoshop but I cannot figure out how to do the next steps on an existing image. Is there any way to do such a thing to drawn/etc etc maps?

@Tadiera:

I might be able to help. It happened to me a few times in CS5. First, let's see if this fixes it:

Nothing happens when I select the Land Mask to use the brush to stroke the river path. I recall earlier times when erasing/adding on the Land Mask did nothing, but I kind of brute forced my way through. Is there any way to fix it now? I'm not a TOTAL PS newb, but a lot of this stuff is beyond what I usually do.

Make sure you set the brush to 100% and have the proper settings for the brush. Click on the Paths layers > NEW PATH (little sheet of paper; will automatically be named) > Press [P]> DRAW RIVERS > GO TO LAYERS > LAND LAYER (make sure you get the mask selected) > PRESS [D] > PRESS [B] > SET BRUSH TO 100% (and the settings) > CLICK PATH TAB > RIGHT CLICK PATH 1 > SELECT STROKE PATH > UNCHECK SIMULATE PRESSURE > MAKE SURE "BRUSH" IS SELECTED FROM THE DROPDOWN BOX > PRESS OKAY > DONE.

[Jeff6016]

Hi everyone,

I am working my way through this fantastic tutorial, but I have run into a snag.

Page 5, second column instructs us to duplicate the "ocean shallow" layer and label it "ocean shallow variation". After doing so, we are instructed to lock the layer and set it to overlay. So far, so good. But then I try to follow the next instruction, which tells us to apply a cloud filter and PS7 tells me "Could not complete the Clouds command because the selected area is empty". I'm sure I missed something, but in going back over things I just can't see it.

Can anyone help?

-Jeff

[ScotlandTom]

Typically when using filters the "selected area is empty" error comes up when you've attempted to apply a filter to a layer that has not yet been painted on. When I'm working this is usually because I've created a brand new, completely empty layer and attempted to apply a filter. Check to ensure you have the correct layer selected, then make sure that layer actually has something on it before applying the filter. If your "ocean shallow variation" layer is empty it could mean that you accidentally created a new layer instead of copying the "ocean shallow" layer, either that or the "ocean shallow" layer you duplicated was also empty.

In the tutorial, pg 5, second column, under the [Layer > Duplicate Layer... > "ocean shallow variation"] instruction there is a graphic that shows what your layers palette should look like. Notice that both your "ocean shallow" and "ocean shallow variation" layer icons should appear to have a gray/white checkerboard pattern with white splotches on it. If all you see is the gray/white checkerboard then your layer is empty and needs to be filled with something in order to have the Render Clouds filter applied to it.

Hope that helps!

[rjames112]

I am somewhat stuck on page 7 with the elevation base. I opted to use difference clouds to get the base down for the elevation, but I cannot tweak it, each time I do it just gives me a perfect circle. I assume my brush size is too big but even making it a small, low opacity brush I still cannot replicate results.

[rjames112]

Ok past the first problem, now I cannot for the life of me get my rivers to show.

[Thesslian]

You could give lessons on how to write tutorials. Having read a ton of them I think yours was about the best I have seen. I just finished going through this. Turned out pretty decent, though "Oh god no" did enter my mind when you wanted me to use the pen tool. I dread that thing. I may have slipped up somewhere since when I went to place the forests the elevations layer was above the base color and blocked everything until I moved it. Looks pretty decent though. All that anime I colored is seeping into my brain saying it needs to be brighter. Maybe a lens flare or two. I should probably ignore those inclinations though.

RJames112, you might make sure you are on the mask layer when you tell it to stroke the river and not the land layer next to it. At least I kept making that mistake when I was trying.

[Michael Stenmark]

Great tutorial!
For the inexperienced Photoshop user that might be hard at first. Still it is a great tutorial.

[gokufan87]

Tear, this a fantastic tutorial, and a great help. But I have one question. You're working at a relatively small image size, and after trying the cloud filter on a large canvas, I understand why. But how do you go about upscaling the map for presentation? The one I'm working on, I've made the size of my desktop wallpaper, at 500 dpi, and I still get VERY jagged, pixelated edges with just a small zoom factor. Any help or advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

[atomfullerene]

I don't know much about anything, but I know fractal patterns are scaleable. There should be some way to adjust the cloud render to make the "clouds" bigger