Terrain features: Blender -> MapTool?

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badsequel
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Terrain features: Blender -> MapTool?

Post by badsequel »

Anyone else than me tried making terrain features in Blender or Sketchup rather than hassling with Gimp?

I've tried Sketchup but have no real control of the export file. It's either the whole viewport or some subset of it. Haven't found a way to say that e.g 10mm in the model is 100px in the export. So I gave up on Sketchup

I was working a simple space ship model in Blender the other day when it struck me that perhaps it would be easier to create slightly better looking terrain features in Blender than my usual failures in Gimp..

Watching a tutorial on terrain texture painting in Blender it occured to me that if I exported a top down hill top sticking out through a solid colour plane I could replace the solid colour with transparency and well.. Doing video composting, basicly.

So after a bit of trial and error(especially with the camera and resolution settings for the export) I got this rendered and imported into MT.

Image

Far from perfect, but a start. I don't expect to create uber maps via this method - just an exploratory journey while learning new skills.

Any of you out there tried this? Have a few workflow tips to share?

-bad
My shared rpg stuff:
(exe)TokenNameChanger3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cqsof54v3dl2k ... 3.zip?dl=0
Tiddly Spell Wiki: https://www.dropbox.com/s/53pya4k68mnvc ... ddly01.htm

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Cherno
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Re: Terrain features: Blender -> MapTool?

Post by Cherno »

Hmm, I guess modelling hills in 3D has it's merits, however I think it's still much easier to do it directly in a graphics editing program.

I have never used Sketchup or GIMP so I can't help you with that, but Photoshop CS2 has been released for free a short time ago. I use CS3 and like it far better then the newer versions, so maybe you might wanna give CS2 a try. It's certainly a powerful tool. I have used it to create my maps for Dark Sun, the rocks were just cut out from a larger stone texture, then blurred along the edges and given a shadow drop and bevel layer property for the 3D effect. I like the result very much and it's a matter of minutes at most.

Here you can see an example.
Spoiler
Image
In the past, I also did a lot of modelling via 3D Studio Max (love those student licenses) for some modern floorplans to be used for a Zombie RPG/Wargame:
Spoiler
Image
Spoiler
Image
Spoiler
Image
These were just pre-made models of furniture etc. and then assembled in 3D Studio, just to show that IMHO it's worth using 3D editing if the terrain in question is very detailed and would profit from realistic lighting. For simple hills, I'd probably just paint it as above, but if the hill has a rocky cliff with intricate structures or whatever, 3D modeling is the way to go if you can model it yourself or find something suitable for free.

For more information (I just realized those floorplans might be useful for Maptools users):

http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php? ... #msg404462

Sorry to have highjacked your thread a little ;)

badsequel
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Re: Terrain features: Blender -> MapTool?

Post by badsequel »

I appreciate the feedback!

It brought forth more ideas for stuff to try out!

Man, I wish I had 50hrs a day of spare time! =)
My shared rpg stuff:
(exe)TokenNameChanger3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cqsof54v3dl2k ... 3.zip?dl=0
Tiddly Spell Wiki: https://www.dropbox.com/s/53pya4k68mnvc ... ddly01.htm

Stuff to check out:
Mote Kickstarter(back it): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/74 ... abletop-ev

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Azhrei
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Re: Terrain features: Blender -> MapTool?

Post by Azhrei »

I would think Blender would be overkill for generating 2D terrain. I expect some kind of fractal terrain generator that has a lot of user-definable parameters would be best. Maybe with some texture mapping on it...

I haven't used Blender that much, though. I used it in my RttToEE game to build a 3D animated rendering of the cosmology of my in-game universe so that the players could see how the various planes interacted with each other.

And I built a couple of the encounter areas in 3D because they were the type that are easy to describe with words, but difficult to exactly visualize. And when it's a climactic battle scene, visualization is everything!

(Oh, and I have a 3D animated GIF logo for my business that I built using Blender.)

I remember that it took me a lot of time reading and researching to learn how to set up animation tracks, lighting tracks, and so forth, and then synchronize them with each other.

badsequel
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Re: Terrain features: Blender -> MapTool?

Post by badsequel »

Making this hill top took me very little time. Painting it only a few minutes.

It was very simple actually. Just a grid with lots of vertexes, proportional editing on, grab a bunch of vertexes and pull them along the vertical axis.

Just fooling around, learning new things and having fun.

If anyone else have a 3d tip that can come handy, consider posting it. Thanx

-bad
My shared rpg stuff:
(exe)TokenNameChanger3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cqsof54v3dl2k ... 3.zip?dl=0
Tiddly Spell Wiki: https://www.dropbox.com/s/53pya4k68mnvc ... ddly01.htm

Stuff to check out:
Mote Kickstarter(back it): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/74 ... abletop-ev

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Cherno
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Re: Terrain features: Blender -> MapTool?

Post by Cherno »

Height maps would give a better result than manipulating certices manually, but I dunno if Sketchup supports it.

badsequel
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Re: Terrain features: Blender -> MapTool?

Post by badsequel »

Cherno wrote:Height maps would give a better result than manipulating certices manually, but I dunno if Sketchup supports it.
Nice tip! I'll have to try that tomorrow!

-bad
My shared rpg stuff:
(exe)TokenNameChanger3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cqsof54v3dl2k ... 3.zip?dl=0
Tiddly Spell Wiki: https://www.dropbox.com/s/53pya4k68mnvc ... ddly01.htm

Stuff to check out:
Mote Kickstarter(back it): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/74 ... abletop-ev

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JML
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Re: Terrain features: Blender -> MapTool?

Post by JML »

Azhrei wrote:I expect some kind of fractal terrain generator that has a lot of user-definable parameters would be best. Maybe with some texture mapping on it...
As Azhrei said, you can take a look at Terragen and Vue free versions.

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Cherno
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Re: Terrain features: Blender -> MapTool?

Post by Cherno »

Yes, I remember Terragen, it's somewhat of a classic and I have used it once many years ago. I can recommend it.

badsequel
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Re: Terrain features: Blender -> MapTool?

Post by badsequel »

Heightmaps works like a charm. Really simple to do and produces results very fast!

Sadly I'm at work so I haven't got time for texture painting right now. =(

Thanx for the tip Cerno!

-Bad
My shared rpg stuff:
(exe)TokenNameChanger3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cqsof54v3dl2k ... 3.zip?dl=0
Tiddly Spell Wiki: https://www.dropbox.com/s/53pya4k68mnvc ... ddly01.htm

Stuff to check out:
Mote Kickstarter(back it): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/74 ... abletop-ev

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Simetradon
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Re: Terrain features: Blender -> MapTool?

Post by Simetradon »

I prefer Gimp.

This is an example of what I've been creating for a play test game...

Image

Total time to create was a little over an hour.

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