Flattening terrain
GThiel
Surveyor
I am very new to Fractal Terrains and I've been playing around with a section of a map with a coastal plain and two offshore island groups. I am happy with how the islands turn out, but the plains are way too "bumpy" and i can't find a way to smooth them down that still looks somewhat natural. And I have some odd artifact square boxes that wont go away. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in Advance. Jerry
Comments
1) Draw a selection around your problem areas using the freehand selection tool (Select>>Freehand Selection Tool). I recommend getting out into the oceans a little bit
2) Feather that selection to soften its edges (Select>>Feather with a value of around 5 or so)
3) Use Global Smooth>>Land Offset with a value of about 3 to smooth out the land offset editing channel, which is where your artifacts most likely are.
If you'd like your plains smoother, use the following sequence while your from the previous step is still present:
Global Lower>>Land Roughness with a value of about 0.1 to 0.3.
Global Set>>Altitude Value with your desired altitude value (I recommend at least 100). It probably won't look quite like you're hoping, but it's pretty easily fixed.
Global Smooth>>Land Offset with a value of about 3 to smooth out the rough edges made by the set altitude value step.
I'm fond of http://www.fracterra.com/CGTutorial/index.html for a little light reading, even if it's getting a little older.