Interactive planet-creation tutorial - Scifi-Meshes.com

**aszazeroth** · 09-15-2006, 11:23 AM

Howdy folks

Since I am nowhere near used to make pretty tutorials, let alone usually able to explain stuff in a coherent and understandable way, (gasp), I decided to have an interactive tutorial WIP thread going.

So, lets make a M-class world for some of out nice spacships to orbit or to blow up with our favorite mega-weapons of mass destruction.

First I usually like to make an alpha map type of thing that separates out continents and ocean in order to control my painting in PS, later. For this tutorial I used the LunarCell plugin just to speed things up a bit.

Fig.1 Da creation of a new world.

Fig.2 50 Lunarcell iterations later, about 65% landmass, 13% ice, not much complexity and texture and few large craters.

Now I generally do not like the uniformity that I get from a generic lunarcell filtering. So it is time to turn on the imagination and move around some of the continents. For this case I imagined a -huge- submerged impact crater (santorini style) to the left (marked red in figure 3) and I cleaned out a larger ocean to the right. These are just the rough stuff more like guidlines.

Fig.3 The raw mask is just about done, red circle notes a large impact site.(for some reason the red stuff ain't working ...)

Alright folks. Just remember, it works equally well with other worldgens, copied terrain, all handpainted. We are just interested in the rough mask here in the beginnings.

Next post I will do some test renders with the mask to look for oddities in the mask that might look wierd when mapped on a sphere. Cya in a while with some more stuff and "Cowplanet" renders.

Cheers //Asz

lennier1 · 09-15-2006, 12:04 PM

Great idea! I´m definitely looking forward to learning some new techniques from you.
BTW: It´s only a small error but I think you probably meant the 3rd pic to be http://pc213.astro.lu.se/~stefan/SFM...eenShot003.jpg instead of http://pc213.astro.lu.se/~stefan/SFM...eenShot002.jpg.

**Guerrilla** · 09-15-2006, 12:35 PM

Went and fixed the numbering (can't have all fig1s now can we?) and the link for fig3.

And they gave you a Ph.D...

Anyway, really looking forward to where this is going.

**aszazeroth** · 09-15-2006, 12:37 PM

Thanks a million bunch guys... plain copy and paste error

**backstept** · 09-15-2006, 04:07 PM

lookin forward to the rest of this

**Jedilaw** · 09-15-2006, 04:48 PM

As Oliver Twist said, "More, please!"

**SandmanNinja** · 09-16-2006, 12:25 AM

Very cool!

Looking forward to following this.

For those without the plugin (like me) - try:
Flaming Pear - LunarCell: plugin for Adobe Photoshop

**Lt. Cannonfodder** · 09-16-2006, 06:46 AM

Takes bloody ages to create a map of that size with Lunarcell

Gonna follow this one very closely.

**aszazeroth** · 09-16-2006, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guerrilla

And they gave you a Ph.D...

Chocking... isn't it ...

lennier1 · 09-16-2006, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aszazeroth

Chocking... isn't it ...

Could be worse (e.g. let our Fearless Leader judge a spelling bee)

09-15-2006, 11:23 AM	#1 (permalink)
aszazeroth Resident Ph.D Flaunter Realname: Stefan Join Date: May 2006 Location: Höör (Scania), Sweden Age: 33 Posts: 1,232	Interactive planet-creation tutorial Howdy folks Since I am nowhere near used to make pretty tutorials, let alone usually able to explain stuff in a coherent and understandable way, (gasp), I decided to have an interactive tutorial WIP thread going. So, lets make a M-class world for some of out nice spacships to orbit or to blow up with our favorite mega-weapons of mass destruction. First I usually like to make an alpha map type of thing that separates out continents and ocean in order to control my painting in PS, later. For this tutorial I used the LunarCell plugin just to speed things up a bit. Fig.1 Da creation of a new world. Fig.2 50 Lunarcell iterations later, about 65% landmass, 13% ice, not much complexity and texture and few large craters. Now I generally do not like the uniformity that I get from a generic lunarcell filtering. So it is time to turn on the imagination and move around some of the continents. For this case I imagined a -huge- submerged impact crater (santorini style) to the left (marked red in figure 3) and I cleaned out a larger ocean to the right. These are just the rough stuff more like guidlines. Fig.3 The raw mask is just about done, red circle notes a large impact site.(for some reason the red stuff ain't working ...) Alright folks. Just remember, it works equally well with other worldgens, copied terrain, all handpainted. We are just interested in the rough mask here in the beginnings. Next post I will do some test renders with the mask to look for oddities in the mask that might look wierd when mapped on a sphere. Cya in a while with some more stuff and "Cowplanet" renders. Cheers //Asz
	________________________________ "The impossible only takes longer time" [DrD] [WBD] Last edited by Guerrilla; 09-15-2006 at 12:31 PM.

09-15-2006, 12:04 PM	#2 (permalink)
lennier1 SFM Obsessed Total Awards: 2 (more» ...) Realname: Michael Join Date: May 2006 Location: Regensburg, Germany Age: 24 Posts: 1,442	Great idea! I´m definitely looking forward to learning some new techniques from you. BTW: It´s only a small error but I think you probably meant the 3rd pic to be http://pc213.astro.lu.se/~stefan/SFM...eenShot003.jpg instead of http://pc213.astro.lu.se/~stefan/SFM...eenShot002.jpg.
	---------------------------------------------------------------------- Somebody blow something up, I'm in a really bad mood. Thanks in advance. Current project: Star Trek - Odyssey

09-15-2006, 12:35 PM	#3 (permalink)
Guerrilla Worldwide Phenomenon Realname: Mika Join Date: May 2006 Location: Helsinki Age: 25 Posts: 2,910	Went and fixed the numbering (can't have all fig1s now can we?) and the link for fig3. And they gave you a Ph.D... Anyway, really looking forward to where this is going.
	WIP: Semi-Random Projects Comco: i entered it manually in the back end

09-15-2006, 12:37 PM	#4 (permalink)
aszazeroth Resident Ph.D Flaunter Realname: Stefan Join Date: May 2006 Location: Höör (Scania), Sweden Age: 33 Posts: 1,232	Thanks a million bunch guys... plain copy and paste error
	________________________________ "The impossible only takes longer time" [DrD] [WBD]

09-15-2006, 04:07 PM	#5 (permalink)
backstept Still Alive Realname: Andy Join Date: May 2006 Location: Syracuse NY USA Age: 24 Posts: 3,595	lookin forward to the rest of this
	\| It's easy to see in these tired eyes, that blood has no value in modern life. \| All time is held in stars, and it tears me apart. \| [_]\|\|\|\|\|\|\|[_] \| backstept.blogspot.com

09-15-2006, 04:48 PM	#6 (permalink)
Jedilaw Is Baaaaack... Realname: Casper Del Blanco Join Date: May 2006 Location: Way Down In The Hole... Age: 36 Posts: 2,535	As Oliver Twist said, "More, please!"
	My inner child got his ass kicked by my inner juvenile delinquent... Star Wars Reference Photos here.

09-16-2006, 12:25 AM	#7 (permalink)
SandmanNinja Senior Member Realname: Joel Callahan Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Ballarat, Victoria Australia Age: 43 Posts: 469	Very cool! Looking forward to following this. For those without the plugin (like me) - try: Flaming Pear - LunarCell: plugin for Adobe Photoshop
	-SandmanNinja "...I have no mouth and I must scream!"

09-16-2006, 06:46 AM	#8 (permalink)
Lt. Cannonfodder SFM Guru Realname: Tuomas Kankola Join Date: May 2006 Location: Helsinki, Finland Age: 22 Posts: 301	Takes bloody ages to create a map of that size with Lunarcell Gonna follow this one very closely.
	www.tuomaskankola.com www.undo.fi

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