Terrain

(Emilios1310) #1

Hello there. I was wondering, how do I make terrain for my map?

I mean like rocky environments and etc.

I am a first-timer and I don’t know much things about mapping and I am working on my first map right now ^^

Thanks!
Emile

(twt_thunder) #2

try google for easygen

(KeMoN) #3

Hey Emile

Since you are beginning to map I would recommend you to use the terrain creator EasyGen. It is quite easy to handle and you can easily play around with different values.
Direct Download link
Tutorial #1
Tutorial #2
Tutorial #3 beware that this tutorial contains several sites, so don’t click the page away after the quite useless 1st page
Tutorial #4 quite good tutorial but sadly it was written in German
SD-Post by S14Y3R

Another way would be to use the plugin called GTK-GenSurf, which is standard in your Radiant.
2Bit has released a great tutorial for that. I myself couldn’t manage to get it to work maybe you have better luck with it?!

Pretty similar to EasyGen is the program FATE created by students in Stuttgart (Germany).
You find tutorials, example-pics, etc at this page. Nevertheless I think EasyGen is better than that one!!

If you think you have enough experience to try something new just build your terrain in the editor you use (GTK-Radiant or NET-Radiant).
The best tutorial therefore is the one by Simon O’C. Simon’s tutorial consists of several different articles for terrain creation and alpha blending. Give it a try, it is the best terrain-creation tutorial which crossed my path.

EDIT: (09.06.2011) I found another Terrain Editor at this page. Map editor called SC3K Map Editor.

EDIT: (02.11.2011) I found another Terrain Creator called Earthsculptor. The easiest Cretor to handle in my opinion but you run into troubles exporting your stuff with the free-version. Nevertheless you should give it a try.
Useful: Generates a heightmap which could be lateron used for EasyGen!

The best way in creating terrain is to create it by hand. You have the higher control of what is happening. In EasyGen the scale differs from the Radiant one. In the beginning don’t bother the shading. You will surely find kind people on SD who are willing to help you out. I, myself, haven’t managed to get the alpha shader to work, either. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but doesn’t matter.

I hope it will help you on your way to a mapping genius. If anything isn’t working post here and we all try to help you out :slight_smile:

Greetz, KeMoN

(Emilios1310) #4

Thanks a lot, KeMoN! EasyGen was a bit hard for me, so I considered FATE :slight_smile:

But, what if I don’t want to make my terrain using a program? Can I in any way do it from my Radiant?

Thanks in advance!

(KeMoN) #5

[QUOTE=KeMoN;334229]
If you think you have enough experience to try something new just build your terrain in the editor you use (GTK-Radiant or NET-Radiant).
The best tutorial therefore is the one by Simon O’C. Simon’s tutorial consists of several different articles for terrain creation and alpha blending. Give it a try, it is the best terrain-creation tutorial which crossed my path.[/QUOTE]

Sure you can create your terrain in your editor. Like I said above it is the best way to create terrain because you have the full control over what is happening and you can edit it far easier.

You know that terrain always consists out of many triangular brushes. You simply open your editor and draw a square brush in any size. Then you select the clipper tool via X and cut the brush into triangles and then you copy paste them until you have a surface. Now you select the brushes and press V. Then you press W and drag the vertices you’ve selected upwards or downwards. You do that several times with all of your brushes and you have a simple hilly environment.

In my quotation above you still have the link to Simonoc’s page. Go there and have a look at his tutorials. For vertical walls you just follow the Rockwall Corridor tutorial. Have fun with trying out :wink:

If anything isn’t working or if you have any questions feel free to also contact me via PM or MSN