Canyon or Chasm in FT3?

I've made a world in FT3 and am generally happy with it. I'm using it to export sections to CC3+ in order to make detailed maps. So far, so good. The problem I'm having is that a portion of my world needs to have a big canyon or chasm, kind of like a huge crack. Something that's probably like a 1,000 miles in length. I'm having trouble creating this in FT3. When I lower elevation, it looks too smooth and too "rounded" around the edges, and doesn't have that split earth look to it. Any ideas on how I might be able to achieve this?

Comments

  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    Are you intending to do this all in FT3, or is it going to end up being a CC3 map?
  • Both. Mainly I'm going to be working in CC3, but I use the FT3 as a source to keep the placement of landmarks consistent, and also to make "views from space" of the planet.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    How wide is this crack? You say it's 1000 miles long, but not how wide. Is it like the African Rift Valley wide, or a lot smaller than that?
  • I'd say it varies between 50-200 miles wide with the average being around 100 miles.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    I made this one, which is between 2 and 6 miles deep variable along its length and relative to the surrounding landscape, and about 200 miles wide, by drawing the extent as a mask using the lasso tool. I then feathered the mask by 20, and used the Prescale Offset lower brush to paint it down.

    Editing resolution has to be high to do this. Mine was set at 8190, which is the maximum resolution, and the Allow Prescale Editing box has to be checked so that you can use the prescale editing tools.

    I would recommend practicing this on a number of throw away worlds before doing it to your main world file.
    scar.jpg 175.3K
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    Another thing to watch out for.

    If you have previously edited your world at a much lower resolution, increasing it may change the overall appearance.
  • Here is a suggestion: I did the Valles Marineris valley on Mars for one of my sites, just in CC3.

    Kind of a sketch map, for space suited hikers on Mars.

    mapping the Valles Marineris on Mars ?
  • jslaytonjslayton Moderator, ProFantasy Mapmaker
    I recommend increasing your editing resolution to around 8000 pixels (Map>>World Settings, Editing, Custom value), if you can. This change will let each editing pixel be on the order of 5 miles across, which will let you get some detail on your canyon. I then recommend drawing a polygonal selection and using Tools>>Global Set>>Altitude, set your canyon's floor altitude (use samples per cell with a value of 5 or more for best effects). The edges of you canyon will have a little bit of overshoot and a slope proportional to your editing resolution (deselect the canyon and use Tools>>Global Smooth>>Land Offset with a value of about 0.5 to get rid of the overshoot and slope the canyon walls a bit.

    The technique above will give you a canyon that has a floor at roughly the same depth overall. Getting a canyon that trails off in altitude at the ends take a little more finesse, but the simplest way is to make your selection for the canyon walls and then use the one of the paint lower tools (offset is probably easiest) to paint in the canyon. The selection will hold your canyon walls sharp, and painting over the same area multiple times will gradually lower areas to your desired altitude.
  • Thanks for the great tips, I managed to get something I'm happy with!
  • I used Loopysue's method, and it turned out pretty much like their picture. However, I had to restart my map for unrelated reasons so I don't have a screenshot I can post. I'm thinking about trying jslayton's method, too, to see which works better.

    Now I'm also wondering how I might "fractalize" the edges of the canyon. Something like this. I tried using Wilbur, but I didn't have much luck.
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