unexplored Lands

[kacey]

I cringe a little at starting a new thread here because so many go unfinished, but I really want to learn how to do a detailed cross-blended hypsometric shaded relief world map that I can use as a base to make smaller regional maps later on.

I've only just blocked out the main land masses so far, and just started adding some detail to a small area today, but I thought I'd start a WIP to get some critique as I'm finding this style of coasts difficult to get a handle on.

The grey areas are just a rough block out that will probably change quite a bit, and the white part is where I've started to try and refine things a little.

detail.jpg

Here's a close up section at it's original size.

detail2.jpg

[Chashio]

Good luck. I've had a mind to do this on numerous occasions but... the patience.

First impressions: I like the land shapes a lot. The coastline detailing so far is good but might be a tad too regular-ish without many changes in detail-type and density, if that makes sense.

[kacey]

Thanks for the helpful critique Chashio That makes total sense. I was actually wondering if it was too regular myself after looking back at my reference of earth. I noticed that the coasts of our own planet are actually quite smooth compared to most fantasy maps which is what I'm used to looking at, so breaking the habit of trying to make bumpy coasts is what I'm having the most trouble with. I've started trying another way this after noon so I'll redo that section...I imagine it's going to take a couple of passes before I get it right.

Again... Really appreciate the critique, it really is helpful because I can't always point out what's wrong when things don't seem quite right.

[Mouse]

A cross-blended hypsometric shaded relief map?

Me simple mouse, and not understand!

I do like the land shapes, but if this is a equirectangular projection you may need to account for the distortion at the poles a lot more in the near polar regions.

Best way to work out what it will look like wrapped around a globe is to stick it in G-Projector, or FT3, and see what the resulting spherical projections actually look like.

EDIT: Do you mean a relief map with coloured contours? (I have to simplify these things for myself)

[kacey]

A cross-blended hypsometric shaded relief map?

Me simple mouse, and not understand!

I do like the land shapes, but if this is a equirectangular projection you may need to account for the distortion at the poles a lot more in the near polar regions.

Best way to work out what it will look like wrapped around a globe is to stick it in G-Projector, or FT3, and see what the resulting spherical projections actually look like.

EDIT: Do you mean a relief map with coloured contours? (I have to simplify these things for myself)

Thanks for the suggestions Mouse

This is what I'm after...

example.jpg

Edit...This example is from naturalearthdata.com the original image is massive so I had to shrink it down quite a bit.

It is equirectangular, but I'm a little torn on how to handle it in regards to distortion. I downloaded G.Projector, and I do get significant distortion at the south pole. The big issue is how do you deal with this? I want to be able to cut out sections for regional maps, and if I draw it distorted then those regional maps will look really weird...

Is there a way to draw it distorted and then have G.Projector straighten it back out for me for regional sections?

I mostly want to use this map to plan out the climate, and terrain and then use it as a base for smaller sections and other world building, and planning, like where resources are, and how did people migrate around the planet and to plan out different trade relationships, political boundaries, genetic lines and so on...

Above all I need it to be useful for both world and regional maps, do you have any suggestions on what are the best projections to get a distorted world map to give me properly projected regional maps?

I really do need allot of help with this, I've never done a world map, I know nothing about tectonics, and know verry little about how climates are distributed on a whole planet.

Any critique is helpful, and I really appreciate the suggestions.

[Mouse]

Gosh! No small feat then

I'm afraid I'm not really the person to talk to about different projections. You may need to talk to someone like Waldronate, but at a guess if you work on this initial equirectangular map to make it look good when projected on the globe, you should then be able to use it to make all kinds of different projections more suitable and specific to the regional maps.

G Projector is only good for things up to about 4000 pixels wide (I think), so its only really to get the general shape of things right before you really get into the drawing.

[J.Edward]

Is there a way to draw it distorted and then have G.Projector straighten it back out for me for regional sections?

In a sense, yes, Kacey, G.projector can, sort of.
You can make it distorted on your equirectangular map so that it looks right on the globe.
Then in G.projector you can play with the various projections to get something that is 'closer to flat' and then do your new drawing based on that.
I've done that before. You can also create an equirectangular map and apply it to a sphere in Photoshop via the 3d tools.
I've used that to good effect to tweak my north/south polar regions to be a bit more interesting.
There are options, but you really do have to tweak it based on its real look on the globe, i think.

Oh, and the newest versions of G.projector handles much larger files and output up to 20,000 pixels last i checked [much larger than previous].

One thing I would say that I sometimes forget in my own planet creating....
It is helpful to work out at least some of the tectonic plates and where they collide to create mountains.
Then get some of those rough mountain range lines in so you can plan large water features and also changes in elevation that can lead to islands and such.
I've gotten better about this over time, but it used to bite me in the butt all the time.

[johnvanvliet]

just a mix of the DEM and "Participation map "

i would not worry too much about the exact coast line right now , that WILL change a bit while eroding the Height map you have to make first

so just a decent coast line for know
Then place mountains and basins ,badlands deserts and so on

run through wilbur ( or r.terraform using GRASS ) to eroid

then a rain/heat map and rain shadow map
-- have a look at "worldengine" for examples
https://github.com/Mindwerks/worldengine

the color gradient used in post #5 looks to be one of these
http://soliton.vm.bytemark.co.uk/pub.../wkp/template/
or close
http://soliton.vm.bytemark.co.uk/pub...wkp/index.html

[kacey]

Thanks guy's! Getting to know how more experienced world builders go about their processes is invaluable to me and as a result I've changed my game plan on how I'm going to tackle this project.

First off I know this all looks very sloppy right now, I've only just been blocking things in with the lasso tool so far and am very much in the planning stages still.

One thing I would say that I sometimes forget in my own planet creating....
It is helpful to work out at least some of the tectonic plates and where they collide to create mountains.
Then get some of those rough mountain range lines in so you can plan large water features and also changes in elevation that can lead to islands and such.

Thanks J.Edward, I Hadn't thought about this so I made a really quick sketch tonight, and again I know little to nothing about tectonics because every time I try to read about it I want to smash my head into a wall, but here it is. Keep in mind I'll be changing the coasts more so this is just an idea, but let me know if it's at all plausible or if it's just a total mess that doesn't make any sense at all.

detail.jpg

just a mix of the DEM and "Participation map "

i would not worry too much about the exact coast line right now , that WILL change a bit while eroding the Height map you have to make first

so just a decent coast line for know

Thanks for the links and advice, I'm hoping to use some of the techniques I was reading about in some of pixie's threads for the height map... I've never made one before. I'll also be using Wilbur. I've had some luck testing out some tutorials by Arsheesh using height maps I just grabbed from the internet, the only things is I may need to wait until I'm done building my new computer because it's not letting me use a very good resolution for the size I'm working with. I'm just waiting for my cooling system to get here then I'll have the whole computer built and it should be able to handle it, unless this is a common problem with Wilbur?

Anyhow... I started detailing part of the lower right corner, it need's allot of work and clean up still. I'm not done the section yet, but do you think this level of detail will be ok for making a height map and running it through Wilbur? I didn't realize I could work on refining the coast afterwards so thanks for the tip.

detail2.jpg

[selden]

G.projector can convert equirectangular to a multitude of other projections, but it doesn't provide a way to get back to equirectangular.

For reprojection to equirectangular, I like to use the MMPS command-line program "project". Drawings of local areas can be treated as if they were created using a gnomonic projection, which doesn't cause too bad a distortion. See http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~arcus/mmps/ (I built the programs under Cygwin for Windows.)

Of course, there are much more sophisticated techniques which can be applied if you use one of the GIS packages, but they require a much greater investment in learning how to install and use than I'm willing to consider. Johnvanvliet might be able to suggest one of the easier ones.