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This is a map that I have done testing some ideas that I had. I like a lot of what I have here, but I am still struggling with how to do elevation changes. I am using Photoshop, and doing bevel/Emboss, but what I am not liking, is that I am having a hard time doing different levels. What I have done is do three different layers of Bevel/Emboss, which works ok, but I can not figure out how to have some areas with gradual slopes, and others with steeper slopes.
Any help would be appreciated!
In photoshop you can "fake" a heightmap with the lighting effects.
Start by painting a new layer black and then set your paintbrush to a soft edge and maybe 10% opacity. Start painting in the hills. Each pass over the hills makes it whiter. And the heightmap uses the brightness of the layer to interpret the height of that particular pixel. Use the blur and sharpen brushes liberally to get the effects you want. Copy your layer into a new channel. Make a new layer that's 50% gray, then apply a lighting effect filter on it. Set the blending mode to "overlay" and presto near instant terrain.
I used it on a worldmap scale and used the Clouds filter to randomly generate a worldmap in this thread: http://www.cartographersguild.com/regional-world-mapping/1158-glennzillas-own-little-world-post9640.html