The default sun position in CC3 is from the north west. That's because most modern atlas maps with hill shading are shaded as if lit from the north west, even though the sun is only ever in that direction for real if you live in the southern hemisphere. The reason for this is that the human brain expects to see things as if shaded from 'above', as if the map is hung like a picture on a wall. It's easier for us to see the shape of those shaded hills.

That's just a lot of possibly quite useless information there, but it is the reason the default sun position is 315 degrees. I tend to leave it there unless there is a reason for changing it - dramatic effect, or some other reason.

But again - as Dalton says it really is a matter of personal preference.

Is this better?

The reason I'm adding the real world names is to give us a reference for further instructions. It's easier if you say change "Fred" to "Burt", than if you give me a lengthy description of where you want a label that doesn't exist yet.

They're solid grey, just a bit darker than neutral grey, and because they are mapped symbols I can use an Overlay Blend Mode to make them take up the colour of the terrain.

The blend mode does odd things around the edges if I feather the edge of the symbol, so the EFI after the Blend Mode is to soften the base and help the hill sit into the terrain.

They're relatively simple map files, exported from Blender. I made a material that could mimic a map file and put it on a very simplified 'Landscape' object. The blue part of the map material is a simple blue material that reflects more or less light from the 'BLUE SUN' directly above it. The red part of the material is a radial gradient based on the normals of the object faces, and expressed as an emission, rather than reflected light. That way it stays constant depending on the direction each face is facing, and regardless of the sun.

The grey image is a gradient material that maps only the parts of the ladscape above a certain point.

That is most usually caused by the lights not being present in the current render pass, and not accounted for in the total light falling in the current render pass. At a guess that image took 2 passes to render.

Type EXPORTSETMPPP and hit enter.

The number showing in your command line will most likely be 4000000 (4 million)

Type 40000000 (40 million) and hit enter.

That will expand the size of each pass over the map as it is rendered, and hopefully prevent the artefact by completing the whole map in a single pass.

I think this is all of them so far. I say 'so far', but I can only add more snakes if I get to the end of the wish list and still have some time left.

Maybe this is slightly better?

Or even more discontinuous?

Profantasy is a most excellent employer - the best I've ever had in all my 57 years :)

Thanks Quenten :)

A crater sample.

The water in this style is drawn over the top of everything else, like in city styles, so it's easy to add a lake.

I am thinking that the structure markers might be a little too large at this continental scale. What do you think?

For reference, the larger crater is 90 miles (144 km) across.

@Wyvern - Thank you :) I did two volcanoes the end, and three versions of each one so you could have an active volcano setting without half the map being covered in ash clouds. Since this isn't going to be a huge set I think I might have overdone it at that.

@Quenten and @thehawk - Thank you :)

Ok, I admit I have been fascinated by Etna just recently, and I've also been a long-term fan of Kilauea's current Helama'uma'u crater eruption at the summit. I check the webcams every evening when dawn breaks in Hawai'i and the lava glows red for real in the low light. Though recordings of the Fissure 8 eruption in 2018 (recently given it's official new name of "Ahu‘aila‘au") are more impressive than the current eruption.

@Autumn Getty - I come from a place where there are large tracts of lowland heath not far to the east (since we don't have any mountains in Dorset), so purple is very natural for me, but you can probably do different colours by leaving that fill out and adjusting the background colours to suit :) Colour theory is fascinating, but not entirely necessary for mapping ;) And never be afraid to say what you think, even if you didn't find a thread until late on. A conversation isn't complete if there is anyone who wants to speak but doesn't, and anyway... I find your contributions interesting. Having them gives the thread a more balanced feel - all views are welcome :)

Ok. I think it's coming along pretty well. The main thing I would adjust if I was using it myself for a map is the hills. I would use effects and settings similar to those found in SS5, though I adjust those to make the bevel lighter again than it is in the template.

The HILL sheet uses polygons of "Solid 20", and my personal settings for the Bevel, Lighted sheet effect give the hill a highlight as well as a shadow. It's personal taste, of course, but I find the template setup makes the hills a little too dark for my liking.

These settings also use a lot more smoothing than you have in your template. It gets rid of the knife edge ridge which feels a bit unnatural for a relatively small hill - unless they are meant to be mountains.

Having sufficient edge fade on the hill after the bevel also helps to make the hill look like it's a rise in the ground, rather than something stuck down on top of it - a curve into the slope rather than a sharp line, or a line that hasn't been faded enough with a wide enough EFI. I increase mine from 10ft to 15ft, though it could be wider.