Generating Terrain from Hand Drawn Map

Bug Reports
#1

I am brand new to World Machine and have spent the last few days playing around with the various devices and getting familiar with the process of using macros and masks.

I have a question, or more so, need some direction. I have a hand drawn map with the outlines of continents and islands, a few scribbled in mountian ranges, and some rivers and lakes that I would like to generate terrian for. I do not have a grayscale heightmap, nor would I know where to start to draw one by hand. What are some efficient ways I could go about getting the terrain and mountian ranges shaped the way I want with World Machine?

Do I need to start somewhere else with another program to create a grayscale map? If so any suggestions?

Ideally I would like to just work within World Machine but I am completely open to suggestions.

Thanks!

#2

It is quite possible to overlay a sketch to help your work. Here’s how to do it:

Import your hand drawn sketch as a bitmap into world machine using the File Input device. Size it to the correct dimensions then go into layout mode and create a new layout.

Create an Overlay Output device and wire the output of the layout generator into the main input, and the sketch bitmap into the second input. Select it, then go back into layout mode.

You should be seeing a flat terrain with your sketch overlayed on top. You can create your layouts, etc using your sketch as a guide.

I would approach the actual world creation in several stages – one layout to place continents, another to guide mountains, and then a final one for rivers and lakes. At each stage you would use the layout to guide noise generators or change only certain parts of the map.

#3

Thank you for your quick reply! I am running some calculations on what size to make the initial continent and will be trying this out tonight.

I think I was getting lost in all the terminology, but your break down makes sense and I hope will help me wrap my head around what I am doing. Thank you so much!

#4

Ok I have gotten the map imported as a bitmap and everything looks good but, the terrain colors are applying (which makes it a bit of a pain to do tracing) to the layout and the map is acting like a greyscale and actually applying heigth. Any suggestions?

#5

Make sure your network and devices look something like the below:

IE that the file input is set to RGB, and that you’re using it in the network only at the very final stage (Overlay Output)

#6