Mountain Techniques Using Wilbur and GIMP PDF

Mountain Techniques using Wilbur and GIMP
a tutorial by Torq of Cartographers Guild
Table of Contents
Section
Page
STEP 01: Creating the Heightfield ................................................................................................ 3

STEP 02: Modifying the Heightfield ............................................................................................. 5
STEP 03: The Ground Layer and the Heightfield ......................................................................... 8
STEP 04: The High Ground Layer and the Heightfield .............................................................. 12
STEP 05: The Mountain Layers and the Heightfield................................................................... 18
STEP 06: What about a bit of Water? .......................................................................................... 25
Tutorial Results with a little Tweaking ......................................................................................... 30
Extra Information .......................................................................................................................... 31
QUESTION: Ascension Will Wilbur support more import Formats? .................................. 31
ANSWER: waldronate ......................................................................................................... 31
QUESTION: Ascension How do you get rid of the hard beveling on the rivers? ................ 32
QUESTION: Korash How can the number of rivers be reduced? ........................................ 40
Page 2
STEP 01: Creating the Heightfield

This tutorial is an attempt to explain the mountain style I have used in the March challenge entry.
It assumes a working knowledge of Wilbur and the GIMP.
I will follow a step-by-step procedure spread over several posts. In this tutorial the syntax ">>"
will be used to denote the selection of menu and sub-menu items.
In Wilbur create an empty map and change the size (Surface>>Size) to 1024x1024.
Then generate the heightfield (Filter>>Calculate Heightfield). This opens the Heightfield
Computation window. Change the parameters by selecting Ridged Multifractal from the dropdown menu. Uncheck the Spherical Evaluation box and hit the scaling button. In the surface
scaling window, select Broken Value from the dropdown menu. Then press OK and watch
Wilbur generate the terrain.
Fill the basins (Filter>>Fill>>Fill Basins). Use the default slope value of -1. Next select only the
flat areas of the map (Select>>From Terrain>>Flat Areas). Once again, use the default values.
Then add some percentage noise to these areas (Filter>>Noise>>Percentage Noise). Choose 2 or
3% and press OK. Deselect the flat areas (Select>>Deselect).
The next step is to run the erosion filter (Filter>>Erosion>>Erosion Cycle). Use the default
parameters and hit the run button. This may take some time depending on your system's specs.
Close the erosion window.
Change to a grey scale map (Texture>>Grey maps>>Height Map). Then save the map as 16-bit.
Page 3
You should end up with something that resembles the map below.
In the next step we will be using GIMP. You can use either your own heightfield or the
heightfield shown in the tutorial. (Click on the link to download the heightfield.)
Page 4
STEP 02: Modifying the Heightfield

Open the grayscale map in GIMP. In order to increase the contrast and make the elevation effects
stand out more it is necessary spread the grey map over the full range of black to white. To do
this open the levels window (Colors>>Levels). The levels window is likely to look something
like the picture below.
Page 5
Pull the sliders inward to coincide with the beginnings of the curves on the graph as shown in the
picture below.
Page 6
Once you hit OK the result should have higher contrast and look something like the picture
below.
Page 7
STEP 03: The Ground Layer and the Heightfield

In this step, you will create three distinct ground layers and apply varying layers of bump to them
in GIMP.
Firstly, create a new layer above the grayscale map as shown in the picture below.
Page 8
Completely fill it with a light green colour. You may have to alter the mode of the image to RGB
to get colour (Image>>Mode>>RGB). Make sure that "Fill whole selection is selected". I have
used a light green texture that is not too uniform, as can be seen from the picture below.
Page 9
Then select bump map (Filters>>Map>>Bump Map) and use the grayscale map layer as the
bump map as shown in the picture below.
Page 10
In the bump map window adjust only the elevation to around 38. Then hit OK and you should
get a result similar to the picture below with the rive paths clearly evident.
Page 11
STEP 04: The High Ground Layer and the Heightfield

In this step, we will create the next level, or higher ground, and apply the bump map to it.
Firstly, hide the ground layer you just created and select the heightfield as seen in the picture
below.
Page 12
Then choose the "select by color tool" and check the "Feather Edges" box. Move the feather
slider to about 30 and the threshold slider to about 90 as shown in the picture below.
Page 13
Then choose the lightest point on the heightfield and select by colour as shown in the picture
below.
Page 14
Then unhide the light green ground layer. Create a new layer above it and name it "High
Ground". Then select the new layer as shown in the picture below.
Page 15
In the map window, use the bucket fill tool to fill the selected area with a brown colour
representing higher ground. I prefer to use lighter colours as lighter ones show off the bump map
more effectively. The result should look something like the picture below.
Page 16
Then use the same bump mapping technique as in Step 3, applying the bump map to the new
"High Ground" layer. This time the elevation is decreased to about 20 by moving the slider. Then
hit OK to apply the bump map. The result should look something like the picture below.
Page 17
STEP 05: The Mountain Layers and the Heightfield

Hide all the layers except the heightfield layer and select it. (See the picture below.)
Page 18
Choose the select by colour tool. Set the feather edges slider to about 20 and the threshold slider
to 50. (See the picture below.)
Page 19
Choose the lightest point on the layer and select it. An area smaller than the higher ground
selection should be highlighted. (See the picture below.)
Page 20
Unhide the hidden layers and add another one called "Mountain" on the top. (See the picture
below.)
Page 21
Select Bucket fill and add a light grey texture. Once again the lighter the texture the more
effectively it will pick up the bump map. (See the picture below.)
Page 22
Select the mountain layer. Apply a bump map. (Filters>>Map>>Bump Map). Apply the
heightfield as the bump map to the mountain layer. As can be seen from the picture below, the
elevation has been set to about 5 and the elevation has been increased to 5.
Page 23
Hit OK and apply the bump map. The result should look something like the picture below.
Page 24
STEP 06: What about a bit of Water?

I know this was supposed to be a mountain tutorial but lets add some water.
Add a new light blue layer below the land layers. Hide the other layers and select the bottom
heightfield layer. (See the picture below.)
Page 25
Choose the select by colour tool (make sure that the feather edges box is unchecked) and set the
threshold slide to about 60. (See the picture below.)
Page 26
Now click on the black areas of the rivers in the heightfield. This will select all the low-lying
areas and the largest of the river channels. (See the picture below.)
Page 27
Unhide all the layers and select the (greenish) ground layer (see the picture below) and delete the
selected areas (Edit>>Clear). Repeat this after you have selected the high ground layer.
Page 28
The result should look something like the picture below.
Page 29
Tutorial Results with a little Tweaking

Here is the same map after the colours have been tweaked. A dark blue border has been added
and a forest has been included.
Page 30
Extra Information
QUESTION: Ascension Will Wilbur support more import Formats?

Hey, alright...glad there's more. I spent all night last night messing around with stuff just based
on the first post and a post on Wilbur rivers in the overchuck tut. If waldronate happens to stop
by and read this...is Wilbur going to support more import formats? I'd like to be able to do up
some clouds, tweak them, and then import them into Wilbur but I can't output to any of the
formats with PS.
ANSWER: waldronate
Use PNG. In Photoshop, work with 16 bits per channel and save as PNG. In Wilbur, read this as
a PNG Surface (File>>Open, select PNG Surface as the file type and your PS PNG under File
name). If you get an error message along the lines of "attempt to read a PNG with 16 bits per
channel" then you didn't select PNG Surface as the file type. Save the PNG data from Wilbur as
PNG Surface to get it back into Photoshop.
Page 31
QUESTION: Ascension How do you get rid of the hard beveling on the rivers?
The thing that I've been struggling most with is trying to get rid of the hard beveling on the rivers
that Wilbur does. I'm pretty sure it's in the settings/values/numbers used but I haven't been able
to find something softer.
Heres what I mean. The rivers seem to have an outer bevel on them, like in Photoshop. One side
of the bank is shadowed while the other is highlighted, as if the sun were in the top left corner.
The below picture is straight from me following the tutorial, Fun with Wilbur, Volume 1.
Page 32
The below picture is the grayscale.
Page 33
The below is the grayscale (set to overlay) applied to the screenshot
Page 34
The below is from torq's map.
Page 35
The below is torq's method (erosion cycles) where it is more pronounced. Is there a way to soften
the effect when using incise flow or erosion cycles?
Page 36
ANSWER: waldronate
The apparent bevel is the result of the step created when excavating the river channel straight
down. The lighting models in Wilbur and image editors then give the light/shadow effect as they
would on any other kind of step. You can reduce the effect on the surface by using the Effect
Blend setting on the Incise Flow Process dialog. You can smooth out hard edge on the step by
using a blur operation on it. A combination of effect and blur can be very effective.
Here are some examples of different Effect Blends:
Example #1 Effect Blend value 1:
Example #2 Effect Blend value 0.75:
Page 37
Page 38
Example #5 Effect Blend value 0.1
Page 39
QUESTION: Korash How can the number of rivers be reduced?

I do have a question. It seems to me that there is maybe a bit too many rivers for my taste. Is
there a way to lower the instance of river generation in Wilbur, or is it a question of painting
them out in either Wilbur or GIMP?
In addition, for some reason, I seem to have a few places where either the water is showing
through the land or the land is blurred on the water. What did I do wrong?
ANSWER: waldronate
Flow Exponent is approximately equal to number of rivers (smaller exponent = more rivers).
Amount is clipped when it would go below zero, which is what gives the wide steep-walled
valleys. To prevent this amount from actually going to zero, use effect with a value like 0.75, this
uses 75% of the result.
The features in that user interface are a little peculiar. They are a direct control over parameters
in the underlying model rather than more user-friendly values. I guess I'm just that sort of guy.
Page 40

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Mountain Techniques using Wilbur and GIMP

a tutorial by Torq of Cartographers Guild