[Award Winner] Simple Mountains in Gimp

[hohum]

If you have a big flat area it is because you left a big spot all white. So yes, you have to adjust the curves down until you get just a small peak if that is what you want. I'm not exactly sure what the reference to ridges is, but the noise generator included with GIMP leaves diagonal striations. Use Felimage to get away from that. If you want to alter the color of your mountains you need to make a new color layer and mask it to fit your mountain shape. If the mountains are essentially a 50% gray bump map/embossed layer set on overlay it will show the color of the layer underneath, whatever it is.

[kjdavies]

you can also use MathMap (I like the flexibility, I don't much like how it sometimes crashes under Windows -- doesn't take GIMP with it, but it's still annoying. OTOH, being able to build complex generators and save them for later use is awfully nice).

As for the color, I usually take the heightmap, duplicate the layer (so I don't lose the heightmap in case I need it later, this step is destructive) and apply gradient color to it, usually going brown to a very pale grey (HTML #dddddd). If you go to white, you'll lose the ability to bumpmap, this pale grey is just enough you can still see them.

[Sharpe]

I can get the shape okay, but they end up just being green. I tired to make a new layer and mask it and use a gradient map, but it comes out looking like crap.

I'll keep trying.

[kjdavies]

what colors are you using? If I'm following RobA's artistic regional map tutorial and using the colors there I might use one of the darker dirt colors as low and #dddddd as high, then apply a mask to it. I might also use the same dirt color above that (masked to the mountain shape again) and set the layer to 'soft light' mode. You can see the results at http://www.kjd-imc.org/2010/10/22/va...-reinterpeted/ (yeah, I kind of pooched blending the edges of the mountains, but I can live with it)