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That's handy information to know, actually. Thank you.Originally Posted by RobA
Just remember - the steeper the slope the straighter the river. The flatter the terrain, the more meandering.
(Of course there's that whole terrain geology thing that messes up that generalization, but it works at large scales)
-Rob A>
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That's handy information to know, actually. Thank you.
Just call him 'Old man River' well...'Old man river, Gimp, icon master generally brilliant chap at whatever he puts his mind to'...but that's too long.
River rule of thumb #2: Rivers cross contour lines at right angles. That is, rivers take the path of steepest descent. Maintained canals can cross at other angles. Unmaintained canals become either marshes/open land or rivers, depending on how they were unmaintained.
Oh yeah, the old "Rivers flow downhill" rule
-Rob A>
My GIMP Scripts: Rotating Brush ~ Gradient from Image ~ Mosaic Tile Helper ~ Random Density Map ~ Subterranean Map Prettier ~ Tapered Stroke Path ~ Random Rotate Floating Layer ~ Batch Image to Pattern ~ Better Seamless Tiles ~ Tile Shuffle ~ Scale Pattern ~ Grid of Guides ~ Fractalize path ~ Label Points
My Maps: Finished Maps ~ Challenge Entries ~ My Portfolio: www.cartocopia.com
Oh yeah, the old "Rivers flow downhill" rule
-Rob A>
That was actually one of the first lessons I learned when I was lurking this site. Before, I always drew my rivers from the oceans and forked them off from there, thinking that was the natural flow of things.
Of course I felt like an idiot afterwards, but...
Gah! I think I'll only be doing deserts from now on. Geez!
They look good. Only suggestion is that the split and reform of the river in the north looks a little odd. What do you want to cover next? Forests?
Actually before you finalise the rivers, you might just want to take a look at the next step I was thinking of (if you want your map to go this way). It involves using Bryce to get this sort of effect. I like it because you can get the forests (and rivers) to fold into the contours of the land and they look more convincing. Once you see the Bryce render it may affect how and where you draw the forests and rivers.
It might be worth doing the Bryce step before the rivers and forest so you have a better idea of the terrain slopes - but it's entirely up to you. We don't have to use Bryce at all and go for a different look.
Last edited by ravells; 04-29-2008 at 05:50 PM.
I wouldn't mind learning a little Bryce.
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