I think that Gaussian Blur is the way to go here. Unfortunately, however, I can't see the new version, only the original one. Maybe you could upload it again?
Here Joe puts his finger on what I like so much about he maps. The cliffs look great!
12- Finally, to add some color variation to the forests, add yet another layer set to overlay, filled with neutral gray and with the forest mask applied. Run a plasma cloud render with the turbulence set somewhere in the middle (I used 5.)
15- Texture a.JPG
This will result in multicolored forests:
16- Texture b.JPG
Set your colors to black and white again, and run a gradient map on the forest texture layer. The results should look something like this:
17 Color Variance.JPG
I hope this helps!
I think that Gaussian Blur is the way to go here. Unfortunately, however, I can't see the new version, only the original one. Maybe you could upload it again?
Here Joe puts his finger on what I like so much about he maps. The cliffs look great!
Thanks for the precise tuto. I have my new forests, now we can compare. What version is the best ? RobA (page 1) ? DanChops (here) ? Or mixt (page 2) ?
I'm now going to look for better cliffs ...
So, what did I do to the cliffs ?
First, I do a Cliffs mask. Secondly, I create a Cliffs texture layer and add the mask.
Then, I played with filters. And ... I think it's nice ! ^^
Last edited by Elvith Gent; 05-25-2008 at 12:25 PM.
I agree with Dan. The cliffs now look 10 times better, but with a bit more playing you could make them look even better. Right now, they are flat due to the hard edges. Also, feel free to try multiple techniques. I have been playing with both solid noise and plasma for mountains, and though I have not gotten anything I love quite yet, I think I am close.
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My Tutorials:
Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
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Ok, I applied a 3px blur.
Then, I looked for any other amelioration, but I did not find. It is out of my skills ^^
Does someone have an idea ?
That's better, but I would still play with the original layer and try to get the hard lines a bit more irregular. I included a screen cap. See how the lines are all straight? You would not have to do much, but a bit of randomization on the lines "down" your cliff face would help a lot. You don't need a ton, just a few squigles a pixel or two off the baseline, and it does not need to be every line (ie, there can be some straight ones.) Again, just my two cents.
Joe
My Finished Maps
Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
My Tutorials:
Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
----------------------------------------------------------
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Try a texture like this for your cliff:
cliff.jpg
(I just made it up...)
Paint a hard line at the top of the cliff face.
Select the cliff face area.
Enlarge the selection to include the stroke.
Filter->Noise->Slur, and repeat it a few times with different amounts. This randomly pulls down pixels through the cliff face selection.
Do a motion blur at 270degrees (straight down), setting the length of the blur to the size of the cliff.
Add a layer, fill the selection 50% grey.
Bump map the solid layer, using the streaky blurred one as the source, set layer to 50% opacity.
Duplicate layer, set to overlay, 100%
Here are the three layers I have, l-r: blurred slurs, 40% normal, 100% overlay:
cliff_l.jpg
-Rob A>
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