Quote Originally Posted by Naima View Post
Looks pretty good, you used satellite heightmaps or assembled images?
Currently, the images consist of about 20 separate layers, some of which are based on 100-meter resolution raster data, although only one (satellite imagery) is present in its original form. Some of the other layers are based on the data; for example, the oceans are recolored heightmap info and I used a sliced-elevation layer to determine the coast- and snowlines. The bulk of the layers, though, are hand-painted adjustment layers with various photoshop effects that focus on vegetation and climactic indicators. Probably the most 'fun' layer to do was the relief, because I didn't have any raster data that was just relief, so I had to derive it by manipulating several other layers and do lots of manual adjustment in areas to make it look the way I wanted.

One of my basic goals for this map was to have a solid base that would look good at whatever 'zoom' level I wanted...with areas of crisp detail that didn't look faded or blurry.