Creating Terrain for 3DGS: by Jeff Frazer                   page: 1 2 3 4 5

Note: Important images have a larger version. Just click on them.

Intro:
Okay folks. In this tutorial we are going to learn how to create height maps using Photoshop or a similar program. We can then use these in a modeling program to create 3D terrain. Sounds great right? Let's get started.

Preparation:
Since I will be using Adobe Photoshop© in this tutorial the references that I make will be to that program (duh!) but this doesn't mean that this is the program that you have to use. Something like JASC Paintshop Pro or even Paint will work. Also, since I am writing this for 3D Game Studio A5, I will be using MED and WED. All of the programs mentioned have a trial version available for download. The links will be in the footnotes at the end of this tutorial.

isn't that nice ...
Terrain Type:
First we should consider what type of terrain we want to create. Do we want mountains, lowlands, rivers, lakes or all of the above! I would definitely choose the latter but, for starters, we will stick to mountains and lowlands. To the right is an example of what we are looking for. Enough talk.

Let's get going

click to enlarge