# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Regional/World Mapping >  Kronos (reborn) topographic

## Harrg

Hello guild! I come back. :Smile: 
I experimented with my mountains style and make this. I want mix topography and photo-realistic styles(in future, m.b)
This is small northen part of my old world.
If will be interesting how i did it, i can give psd file of this part land.

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## Harrg

mini-update.
1. I work with basic height map
2. basic river map
3. land map

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## J.Edward

Both of them look really good Harrg.  :Smile: 
I will be interested to see where you go with this.

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## Harrg

Thank you :Very Happy:

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## Harrg

Map progress █]]]]]]]]]]]]] 0.1 %
I changed colors.
I use "water way lines" for chek my coast line and oceans.
I started work with basic underwater relief. In future it will help me with islands

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## Ilanthar

I prefer the more classical atlas palette you have on this last one. Nice work, btw  :Smile: .

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## AzurePlanet

Your work is very promising!  :Smile: 
Looking forward to seeing next steps.

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## Harrg

Thank you Ilanthar. Thank you AzurePlanet.

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## Harrg

Daily update.
I worked with north. This isn`t finished lands. It`s only sketch. When I will color all map I will change it again. It will add more islands, fjords, lakes and rivers. And I will be correcting my mountains and hills. Now I`m working only with basic relief. It help me see and understand my map.

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## Harrg

Daily update.
I need help. On map I show where I want mountains ranges(black symbol _/\_ ) Is it look normal or unreal?
What type relief should be on (?) area?
Thanks.

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## Charerg

Well, to have an idea about how normal those mountains would be, I think a few questions have to be asked first:

How large is the area in question?
And how high do you plan the mountains to be?

And finally, perhaps the most important question: Is the present topography formed by plate tectonics (as on Earth), and if so, does the area depicted here consist of a single plate or multiple plates, and which way are they moving?

Oh, and a final question regarding the inland sea: is the area simply continental crust that has been flooded (like the Hudson Bay, for example), or is this actual oceanic crust (like the Red Sea or the Mediterranean)? If the prior, it's not a problem, just remember to keep it shallow. In the latter case, however, it's slighly harder to explain, because then you'd kind of expect it to be either closing (like the Mediterranean), which would imply the presence of mountains, or expanding (like the Red Sea), which would again imply mountains (and also the shorelines should fit each other like the pieces of a puzzle).

This is of course only relevant if you want to take tectonics into consideration. However, if you're aiming for realistic topography, it can be worth it to put at least some thought into the forces that are responsible for creating Earth's topography, since that can help you to determine the landscape of your world.

One comment I can make off-hand is that having both an island arc and a mountain range on the south-west margins of the continent isn't necessarily normal. The general rule tends to be that you have either island arcs (if the continent is diverging from the Ocean, like the Asian margins of the Pacific), or mountain ranges (if the continent converges towards the Ocean, like the American margins of the Pacific), but usually not both at the same time (though I guess it's still possible in some situations, just not necessarily normal).

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## Harrg

1. not big, like Europe or Australia. Mb like Africa. (not sure)
2. the middle ranges should be highest mountains in world like Caucasus or Hymalayas, i think. Other mountains not so big.
3. Sea was a flooded.
I can change this sea(blue line) In small b area can be islands like Greece.(but not sure)
Thank you for help.

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## arsheesh

Always nice to see another iteration of your Kronos Maps Harrg.  Look forward to checking in on your progress.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

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## Charerg

Well, if you're planning on depicting an Australia-sized area, I'd aim for just one or two plates. Too many, and it becomes really implausible (technically, you'd want to figure things out on a planetary scale, if you really plan to do the tectonics in-depth). Many of the lower mountain ranges can be explained by either volcanism or as old ranges that are the result of older collisions (the Urals, Appalachians, and many others). This means that you don't need (or even want, necessarily), an active tectonic boundary for each mountain range. However, in the place where you want the highest mountains in the world (the west-east oriented range in the middle?), you would need an active tectonic boundary. 

So, basically you'd have a continent formed by two converging plates. The rest I'd drop, it's a good idea to keep it simple if you're not doing the tectonics in detail. It's worth noting that there aren't any (major) plates that consist of only continental crust. They typically have a leading edge of continental crust, with a trail of oceanic crust formed at a mid-oceanic ridge. So, two continental plates colliding sounds perfectly plausible. Then you need to decide which plate is being subducted. If you look at the Himalayas, for example, all the mountains are formed on the side of the Eurasian plate, whereas you have an area of lowland on the side of the plate being subducted (the Indian plate, in this case). So, generally speaking you'd expect the topography on the side of the subducting plate to be much higher in comparison to the topography of the plate that is being subducted.

Another thing worth noting is that a subduction zone (and therefore, the mountains formed via subduction) have a strong tendency to form a convex curve (convex on the subducting side). Again, the Himalayas is a good example. This is because it's less work to subduct a plate in this fashion. However, the other side of the coin is that *if* a concave subduction zone is present, you'd expect the highest peaks to appear there (like the Altiplano in South America), precisely because concave subduction takes more force and causes a greater degree of deformation as a result.

Here's a very quick and ugly draft of how (I think) the tectonics that explain the present topography should look (of course, this is just a very quickly drawn suggestion, nothing authoritative, feel free to use, modify or to ignore):



Here, purple represents a convergent continent-continent boundary, blue is a subduction zone (where oceanic crust is being subducted), and green is a transform boundary (the plates moving sideways). The arrows are drawn on the upthrown side (the subducting side, in other words). The orange lines are there to highlight old mountain ranges that are the result of past collisions/volcanism (and as a result should be relatively low and eroded, like the Scandes or the Urals, for example). If you decide to use this suggestion (or something similar), it's worth noting that there would probably be some island arcs appearing along the oceanic subduction zones (the blue boundaries), on the upthrown side.

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## Harrg

Thank you arsheesh
Thank you Charerg
I will be think about it

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## Harrg

mini-update

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## Pananacakes

Looking good. Mind sharing how you made it? (I'm always looking for new techniques  :Smile:  )

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## Harrg

Thank you. I use Pixie style for made it. And this https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=30277. Sorry for my english.)

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## Pananacakes

Thanks. The mountains from that tutorial are the most real looking I've seen out of Wilbur.

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## Pixie

Hey Harrg, this is looking great. Really good looking and convincing. I think Charerg gave you good hints concerning the probable tectonics.

Thanks for calling it my style, although it's a general topographic style that I copy, just like you do, so I can't take much credit. I think you're in for thousands of man-hours of work to finish this map, it's a huge area and you've got a seriously big file. On that note, I wish you strength, perseverance and a lot of free time, because you're going to need it.
One advice: if you ever turn this continent into actual maps, you can leave less ocean around the land and maybe even not show all the land - large continents look larger on a map when not all its ends are seen.
Second advice: save a copy of this, in poor quality, smaller fize size, and get in on Google Earth as an overlay. Then, from there, choose where this continent would be and how big it would be. Then, using the grid (latitude/longitude) and the ruler tool, you could establish size and location to your liking.

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## Harrg

Thank you Pixie. This is realy good advices!

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## Harrg

mini-update
What you think about this?
I want added  simple shelf relief and ice to correct my coastline and erosion in future. Do you know good example of it in guild?
I guess with size of the world. S-N ~3000-4000 km. W-E ~ 3000 km.

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## Harrg

flooding and ice
I work with correcting my coastline and relief. This explain me how born middle sea. This is long process by many steps. I think in ancient time it was flat desert, swamp and groups of lakes and big middle sea with out connecting with ocean and by the end it was flooding like sea on actual time. (i will be change relief in south)

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## Charerg

Very unique approach, and the results look highly realistic to my eyes  :Wink: . I especially like your approach to modelling erosion.

I am a  bit curious about the middle sea though. If I understand you correctly, the plan is that it was an intra-continental basin with a surface below sea level, and was later flooded when a passage opened to the ocean (actually something similar happened with the Mediterranean for a time)?

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## Harrg

Thank you Charerg. Yes I think about Mediterranean sea when imagine my Middle sea. Simply I need correct my coastline, because I don`t like s-w and s. coasts. Also I need added more islands and fjords.

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## Harrg

mini-update
I work with basic shelf, b. relief and b. erosion. Now I can see were will be two old canyons. (1st will be between Middle sea and S. (between two land massive) 2 I show like dirty puncture line on N-W near Tanat mountains(Tanathaptal`haphi(wall of the 7 peaks) in the dwergulasalu language)(big ranges W-E))

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## Harrg

I continue experiment with map. Now I like this map more and more. Unfortunately I have problem with Photoshop, sometimes my file crashed and it make me cry. But step by step I draw it, but not so quickly how I want.
I want show another process of ice movement and  creation of Middle Sea.

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## Diamond

It looks pretty good so far.  I admire all you people who are this deep into creating your worlds.  It's impressive.

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## Pixie

What a great idea, to imagine how would huge glaciers during an Ice Age would carve deep valleys. Must be a a lot of work though... I think I'll grab this and give it a go in my own conworld one of these days.

Your map is looking very good, Harrg. And it's like you say, once we get hooked on this level of detail, we love the map more and more each time we draw "a little stream" in the mountains  :Very Happy:

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## Harrg

O thank you Diamond for so warm words! :Very Happy: 
Thank you Pixie! I will be check you progress with Ice cover. :Wink:

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## Naima

The map looks awesome , great work so far.

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## ChristosLegacy

You want to actually go as far as make a map as detailed as the Earth's map? With all the cultures, bolder and stuff?  :Surprised:

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## Harrg

Thank you Naima.

Mini map update.

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## HadrianVI

This is looking great so far :Very Happy:

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## Naima

> Thank you Naima.
> 
> Mini map update.


Looks great, the only thing that doesn't convince me are the too many curves and twists in the mountain shapes that look a bit too unnatural and too wavy to me.

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## Voolf

This is shaping so nicely. Very similar to vorro maps. Looks very good so far.

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## Harrg

ChristosLegacy yes))) But this is not full world modelling. Very often I use my fantasy. In guild there are many realistic world modeling project than my. (Pixie, Chaereg and many many aslo)
Thank you HadrianVI
Thank you Naima. M.b you are right. But this is sketch, may be I will changed many of this. I don`t start work with details because there are many factors that can change this relief. Ice shield, water and wind erosion, volcanic activity, waves. And I also not started modeling it. For mountains I use orography, but m.b I made mistakes in it.
Thank you Voolf. What is it vorro map?

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## Harrg

Naima post made me doubt in my geography. I redraw tectonic and now I see my mistakes.
Ping color - platform
Red color - shield
Grey - old mountains \ platform
Green - another old mountains
Yellow - new mountains

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## Naima

> Naima post made me doubt in my geography. I redraw tectonic and now I see my mistakes.
> Ping color - platform
> Red color - shield
> Grey - old mountains \ platform
> Green - another old mountains
> Yellow - new mountains


Glad was of help and that image is really good, the shape of the whole landmass is great and belieaveable as well.
since you are making it all from scratch and trying to use a lot of layers of details, have you thought about the erosion cycles due also to winds, sea vicinity , attrition tectonics, past mountains , preactual stage older tectonic remnants, then fluvial erosion or old fluvial erosion , past sea basins , past ice ages etc ...

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## Harrg

Yes. This version I like more. I need also continue mountain belt to the south-east, east. And redraw location than I don`t like. And after it, I think I will draw small details.


I succumbed to the temptation and add some titles)))

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## Pixie

This latest version is a little weird to my eyes because it's round but there are no graticule lines... is it an hemisphere or an ortographic projection?

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## Harrg

Pixie, this is no world modeling of earth-like planet. This is fake-realistic world. Because this worl under big air dome, space - is a big ocean and if you go to east/west/north/south on the sea you come in space. The sun this is underside of this land and this land is underside of sun.It is like a split personality of the demiurge. (when\if i finish this world I will draw si-fi earth-like world with correct tectonic plates, erosion and etc. Sorry if I disappointed you) But culture, history born in this world like in real world(with small magic odour)
I will change border (or delete)if it embarrasses you :Smile:  So there isn`t curvature projection.

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## Pixie

Oh, I didn't know that. I'm embarrassed to assume it was just an ordinary "con-earth" - now I know it's not. 

Please, please, don't delete or change anything in your stuff because of me - I'm nobody  :Very Happy:

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## Harrg

Pixie! I love you! After your comment I don`t like my map and I started redraw it and... I open for myself 3d in photoshop. How it easy draw tectonic on 3d sphere! I work now with it and soon show more correctly map.

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## Harrg

mini update

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## Harrg

And first test with shading and texturing after long time :Smile:

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## Pixie

Looks very very good. But.. have you tried a version without the blue rivers? The picture almost seems like a satellite picture, but at that distance/scale, rivers are too small to be seen. 
The mountains are very realistic, that's amazing. Even if, at the same time, Wilbur's work is quite visible.  :Wink:

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## Harrg

Thank you Pixie. Yes I have. I will be work with it. Unfortunately my skill with hand drawing DEM is bad. I can`t draw it like you (and my computer too, it always crashed when I try))) My next step work with textures and shading. I try minimize Wilbur print.

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## Harrg

OK. My own perfectionist-destroyer said that I will redraw this map again. Now I think that I better understand the tectonics of my world. But now it looks like a mirror child of Africa and Scandinavia, and I do not like it. Tectonics professional I need your help. What you think about it?
I show you 2 map. Tectonic plates and Ice shield.

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## Charerg

Well, I was going to say that the map looks absolutely amazing!

Tbh, I'm not sure if there was anything wrong with the prior version. It looks plausible enough to me. Do you have some ideas where you think the prior map went wrong and needs to be improved? Or do you wish to expand this into a world map, which makes the whole tectonics business a lot more complicated?

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## Harrg

Thank you Charerg. In old map I  especualy don`t like the north region. And  my map look strange, when I try to draw it in enoter size or rotation. I love what you and Pixie do in yours topics and I can`t repeat it.
 I love concept: middle sea, hight mountains from W. to E (form west range part it should be like Anatolia and Zagros, east part like Spain or Greece )/ 4000 - 4000 km size. I draw this world for my story and for me wery important some places, because I modeling my story and use relief for it. I dream to draw detailed atlas\or map like a satellite picture with all my roads,rivers, and etc. I want know geology, relief and many many details in my world. And when I try do it I see mistakes in previouse steps. I`m not shure that in my prior version relief looked true, but I love coasts (not north-west coast). Unfortunatly I placed between real relief and fantasy. (in this world not magic, magic like in real medieval this is more ocultisme, religion and myths. My world now it bronze age or early iron)Because in real modeling my map will be look wrong. (for example middle range will be between west coast and middle sea, but not form west ocean coast to east ocean coast like now)
For draw map like a satellite picture I need draw DEM, for DEM I need good tectonic. Because this is one continent that I imagine in this world I never think about all world. In my story, people belive that continent were serrounded by 4 end- 4 world ocean and the 5th ocean is space. And if you go to east or west you come to space. This is like in medieval maps, where the Paradise Gates was on the East, and if you go east you come to the paradise. But they don`t know about real continents borders. For my story I choose this size ~4000-4000 km, because It give me places for different peoples and cultures, and this is not so far from each other. Mb. my important mystace that I never think about correct progection of my map to globe.
May be I back to last map version and try to redraw relief.

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## Harrg

I spent some hours with g.projector and now I see, where is my problem. I will redraw north part of my world. This north projections brake my brain. I corrected east and west coast, but north very difficult. In different projections it`s look like potato or drunk line.(first img - new. second img. - old). May be hied my North under ice? :Very Happy:  Or make big counterweight island on the west(between 3 small islands)?

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## Harrg

Ok. I understand, that Kronos is located closer to the equator.
I spent many time played with map on the globe :Very Happy: .
You can see It here
https://vk.com/doc40428472_454189188

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## Charerg

Very nice. Distortion of continent shape due to projection can always be tricky, especially if you didn't take it into account from the beginning. But it's good that you were able to find a "nice spot" for Kronos that doesn't totally mess up the shape.

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## Harrg

I promised to hide wilbur textures and I try to did it. I need advice about ice.  :Very Happy:  What you think about water and ice? Is this small part look like ice shield?

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## Harrg

Daily update. Added some lakes and ice erosion on the north. Lakes look strange and I don`t know why. May be use more green or dark color? I think about how draw differentiation of  biomes.

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## Pixie

Lakes look fine to me. And you are mastering differentiation of biomes - that's 1000 times better than anything I ever managed, at least. 

The one thing that still strikes the eye (my eye) is the abrupt change from land to ocean color. If you are going to a satellite look, you will have to put in the hours and have a lot of different shades of blue in coastal waters.

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## Harrg

Thank you pixie.



> The one thing that still strikes the eye (my eye) is the abrupt change from land to ocean color. If you are going to a satellite look, you will have to put in the hours and have a lot of different shades of blue in coastal waters.


I feel it too. Thak you for advice. I also want added more small erosion on the coast

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## Harrg

Happy New Year, guild!
Mini map update

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## zhar2

Looks good, I see you are using wilbur and are getting some strange straight and slanted erosion, the easiest way to fix this is: fill basins, 5% noise, fill basins again and then you can run insice flow.

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## Harrg

Thank you zhar2. I didn`t know about it) Unfortunately I can`t fixed it on this map, because it mean that I must redraw all map)) I try to mask it by textures.

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## Harrg

I changed img. size. May be it can hide "line erozian".

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## Charerg

Very beautiful map! And yes, in the low resolution version the linear valleys aren't really visible anymore.

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## Harrg

Thank you, Charerg!

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## swiss

Hi Harrg,

I'm glad I found you! I am on your same path, many months behind. Hoping you can entertain some of my questions:

1) Are you getting your textures from Google Earth? Have you found any way to get higher than their 96 pixels per inch? I wish I could get 300 PPI but no matter what option I use to save, it opens in Photoshop in 96 PPI

2) How did you do your oceans? Google Earth's satellite's don't seem to focus on the oceans too much, because the imagery there is very pixelated or unrealistic at several different heights. It looks like in some early versions you used that wavy pattern but then switched to another aesthetic. 

3) Speaking of heights, how far above the earth do your textures translate to?

4) I noticed those little red dots...are those settlements? How did you add those?

5) Any other tips/tricks?

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## Harrg

Hello swiss. Thank you for questions)
1. No I use many simple textures of grass, sand, and ect. I use 300 PPS in photoshop settings, and my file size 988 mb it`s lagging on my computer) I`m not fully understand last part of this questions, sorry for language barrier.
2. I have 4-5 layers with different transparency. For sand stream I use  tool "finger" in photoshop. And some layers for light and dark. I use simple soft dark brush and transparency 6-12%
3. unfortunately not understand too :Frown: 
4. Yes I fun with this) Just small brush with texture and in layer option use embossing
5. I wrote this. I think it can help you https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=30277
First of all you should make height map. There are many ways for this on this forum. Уou can use tutorial of Arshees, Passis, Pixie. After it you can start work with texturing. I use stamp brush with 15-60% transp.  You can mixed different texture to make effects that you want. I love work with many layers for different places.
About forest. I use one texture. I deleted some pixels for make sieve. And save it like texture pattern. On layer "forest" I use embossing and shadow. And make layer to multiplication effect. With light and color correction you can change this layer to look like real forests. For forests i have 4-5 layers of one texture with different settings to make dark on light forest for different biomes.
Use layer on top for shadows. I have 2 layers for this. Global shadow with 5-15% transp. and local shadow with 15-25% transp for show deep places.

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## swiss

Thanks for the replies! 

1) Where do you get your high resolution textures? What I meant by the last part is when I use the Google Earth program (https://www.google.com/earth) and save an image, and then open that image in Photoshop, it has a resolution of 96 pixels per inch. But I want to work in 300 pixels per inch. I'm not sure if I can do that using Google Earth. I may need to use pre-made textures like you.

3) In Google Earth, it tells you your altitude. So from a certain view, it will say something like "200 miles", indicating this is what your view would look like if you were 200 miles (321 kilometers) above the surface. If I had to guess at yours, I would guess 200 miles. But because you are not using Google Earth and just using textures, you may not be able to answer this question.

5) Thanks!

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## Harrg

Уou're welcome. You can find textures here www.textures.com or in google search. I use simple textures of grass, sand and rocks and mix it. To make effect of zoom on "200 miles" you should draw by hand and check size of tress, mountains and etc. You also can use  this https://zoom.earth/#46.358871,10.227...,pm,2013-08-03 for check your work.

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## Pixie

At some point, Harrg, you will need to publish a finished version of this in the Finished Maps thread, so we can give you an Atlas Award for best satellite map ever!

 :Very Happy:   .. it would be well deserved.

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## Harrg

Thank you very much Pixie! It`s very warm words. But I`m not sure when I will finish it))

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## Charerg

You mean it's still not finished yet? Because if it was me making this map, I'd definitely consider this high quality as a finished piece  :Very Happy: .

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## Harrg

Thank you Charerg. I hoped, that I can do sea ice and some volcano, but after 2 day tests its failed. I will be think that it`s summer map_)))). But maybe I will do it in the future, because after this map, I want start to do zoomed regions of it.

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## Harrg

This post finish my previos stepe. Satellite map now in finished map. And I start work with new maps in Kronos. I don`t want create new theme and will be continuie write here.
About plans. How I said, I want draw something like satellite(and atlas) map of all world. I make gird by 50x50 km and it mean that I need draw ~174 maps(without empty sea). May be this nuber will change, because I`m not sure that I can draw it)). I very want draw maps with all roads, houses, rivers, trees. I think 50 km scale is good for this.(not sure).
But first of all I must fixed my mistaces. My DEM and satellite map were different, because in satellite map I hide some Wuilbur relief. Also I feel that some mountains and borders must change. This is small corrections, but it`s important.
I have first problem. I use last Wuilbur DEM from my map and I need brake it in different layers with one color per one layer with saving shade and borders. How do it easy and quicly? I try do it with levels. (I can use photoshop and gimp, but prefer photoshop).
Second problem how draw maps and save relief on the borders in each tiles?

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## Harrg

Fast sketch. I think that middle ranges must be level up on 2-3 points.
plans:
1. eastern part in Наратар (Naratar) should looks like Greece and Anatolia.
2. western part of middle ranges should looks like middle Asia
3. redraw relief of north part with ice movement
4. Артарден (Artarden) and Каллихар (Kallihar) should looks like Madagaskar and Africa(and Zagros some time)

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## Harrg

More details for God of Details! I started experement with big zoomed sattelite map. I dream make all Kronos map like Google Earth. And it means that I need draw 1000 and 1000 maps)) And I sarted draw from small island, near Keldar in Amber sea. I`m not shure how will be connect borders map, but I use my old DEM and try to save Kronos relief in small maps.

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## Harrg

First problem after good start. I love like look relief, but it looks good only on small heights. Reason in shadows. But I don`t whant make hand draw shadow, because it looke terrible.
Second problem is shadow for different heights. Big mountais will make big shadows that covered small heights. My Tanat mountains, that must be the heigest mountains look flat So I will be continue experementation.

I think that I need do hand draw height map, withou wuilbur help, and convert it in gray shader.
Have andybody some ideas how make height mountains?

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## Naima

> First problem after good start. I love like look relief, but it looks good only on small heights. Reason in shadows. But I don`t whant make hand draw shadow, because it looke terrible.
> Second problem is shadow for different heights. Big mountais will make big shadows that covered small heights. My Tanat mountains, that must be the heigest mountains look flat So I will be continue experementation.
> 
> I think that I need do hand draw height map, withou wuilbur help, and convert it in gray shader.
> Have andybody some ideas how make height mountains?


The map come out great, for shadows you could increase the inclination of the light source so to have deeper and longer shadows in order to increase visibility.

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## Harrg

> The map come out great, for shadows you could increase the inclination of the light source so to have deeper and longer shadows in order to increase visibility.


Thank you. Hm. interesting idea, I try it. But I feel that I need 2 different light source for local on global shadows.

I try to use hand draw shadows for mountains. Here quickly dirty result

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## Harrg

I make sketch of Tanat mountains. Next step try to connect 2 border tiles. If it will be sucsess, it mean that I can make all map in this style.This is not finish view, I will try fixe mountains. Because its look flat.

P.S. added enother shadows
P.S. because this map show u world of bronze and early iron age, there are bigs forests, but I don`t whant hide all map under forests, can u write plz "places of interes", like caves, roads, and etc and I try to adde it on sattelite map in future. Thanks everybody

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## Naima

> I make sketch of Tanat mountains. Next step try to connect 2 border tiles. If it will be sucsess, it mean that I can make all map in this style.This is not finish view, I will try fixe mountains. Because its look flat.
> 
> P.S. added enother shadows
> P.S. because this map show u world of bronze and early iron age, there are bigs forests, but I don`t whant hide all map under forests, can u write plz "places of interes", like caves, roads, and etc and I try to adde it on sattelite map in future. Thanks everybody


That looks actually very good, one question though , how did you do that level of erosion ?

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## Harrg

> That looks actually very good, one question though , how did you do that level of erosion ?


Thank you. This is wuilbur. I selected zoomed part of old  height map. When I do it, it look like big pixels, in wilbur I added noise and than make 4-8 erosions c. and rivers. Than save it like gray shaded map (textures in wilbur). And use passis toutorial. For shadows I use your advice. Tnak you for it! I make 3d plane in photoshop with hegith map and drop sun, so it make long shadows. Than I save this img and use magick tool to select shadows and cut it in new layers.

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## Naima

Ok I suppose you are applying wilbur to enlarged portions of the map and not on the whole map , but in that case how will you connect then the enlarged portions of the map together? will the erosion of Image enlargement 1 fit with the erosion of Image enlargement 2?
How you will match borders?

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## Pixie

Those last pics you shown, Harrg.... they're just amazing! Honestly, they are, hmm, I have no other word for it... amazing.  :Smile: 

I can't give you any more reputation, but that is worth A LOT OF REP. You picked up tectonics, Wilbur, climate, Pasis realistic tutorials, heightmaps on photoshop for shadows... the whole lot... and turned it into something never before seen around here. Obviously you won't be able to make your entire continent on this scale, your life is just too short for that, but, oh man, this is already an achievement.

Congratulations on the results so far.

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## Harrg

> Ok I suppose you are applying wilbur to enlarged portions of the map and not on the whole map , but in that case how will you connect then the enlarged portions of the map together? will the erosion of Image enlargement 1 fit with the erosion of Image enlargement 2?
> How you will match borders?


Thank you very much! Unfortunatly I don`t know. On this week I will try to make neighouring map and connect it. I think I will draw or collage it.




> Those last pics you shown, Harrg.... they're just amazing! Honestly, they are, hmm, I have no other word for it... amazing. 
> 
> I can't give you any more reputation, but that is worth A LOT OF REP. You picked up tectonics, Wilbur, climate, Pasis realistic tutorials, heightmaps on photoshop for shadows... the whole lot... and turned it into something never before seen around here. Obviously you won't be able to make your entire continent on this scale, your life is just too short for that, but, oh man, this is already an achievement.
> 
> Congratulations on the results so far.


Thank you! I dream that it will not eat all my live

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## kacey

Wow, this looks great Harrg! Ive been slowly going through this thread for the past few days in all my spare moments and find it very inspiring, And though I prefer the older versions before Wilbur got to it you cant argue the results, youre work here is really well done and something to be envious of.

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## Harrg

> Wow, this looks great Harrg! I’ve been slowly going through this thread for the past few days in all my spare moments and find it very inspiring, And though I prefer the older versions before Wilbur got to it you can’t argue the results, you’re work here is really well done and something to be envious of.


Thank you very much! I`m very glad that it inspiring)

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## Harrg

First connection! I do it very quicly, but it work. Of course it will be this line, and differentiatons between maps, but I try to find optimal settings and mask it. My next step make 9 maps. I do number 2 and 5. When I do 9 map it will be 1 chunk, that I will can connecte with other chunks.
Example of numbers.
1*2*3
4*5*6
789

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## Harrg

### Latest WIP ###
I masked ugly line, and now it looks good like for me. Height mountains biome very difficult region, because in forest biome I just fill it by trees and its masked all errors, in rock biome I need use more new ways like stone streams or cliffs. I many times try to imitate ice stream or snow, but I not understand how it make better.

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## Naima

> ### Latest WIP ###
> I masked ugly line, and now it looks good like for me. Height mountains biome very difficult region, because in forest biome I just fill it by trees and its masked all errors, in rock biome I need use more new ways like stone streams or cliffs. I many times try to imitate ice stream or snow, but I not understand how it make better.


It all depends on the level height you are assuming to watch your land, and so if or not rocks should be visible at all.

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## Harrg

> It all depends on the level height you are assuming to watch your land, and so if or not rocks should be visible at all.


Yes. I see it, I think about technology, how it make. Because I need use something more then simple textures. I think try to draw special gray map for ice.

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## Harrg

I spent many time with g.plates. Now I understand that here can be 2 t. plates, mb 3, not more,(how it said  Charerg). I need back in tectonic and remade it, because I feel not that I understand my relief very good and it stoped me to make DEM.
1. I whant save my map size, mb make it ~5000-5000 or 7000-7000 km. 
2. I whant save basic relief idea. Tanat mountains(big middle mountain chain). and basic view of coastline with corrections.
3. If I continue use 4000-4000 km and 2 t. plates, it meen that I need redraw north. I don`t belive that north plate have so small land. Mb islands? Or something conection like Kamchatka - Alaska? I think this is the better choise.
4. I don`t whant detailed enother continents, but i feel, that witout it I don`t understand how make Kronos.
5. My experement with tiles looks good like for me. Who find 2 dragons on map?)))) But I need redraw DEM, because it looks unrealistic.
6. Scale size. I need choose zoom. I whant see all houses, rivers, towers and ect Mb 500 m?
7. example of chunk

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## Harrg

Mini update. Redrawing elevation

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## Harrg

Small test with half-auto-texture blending on black-white height map in photoshop. Where gray=grass, dark gray=sand, light gray = forest, white = rock and snow. And I can cotrol it in real time. With this I can fast texturing my map, because in last I do it all by my hand with brushes.
Did anybody know how make drop shadows in photoshop?. I used 3d pluh in photoshop, but it made artifacts. Mb u know easy technicqe with lighting effects?
My shadows are very lockal. I whant massife shadow of full mountain range. (some time I just draw big black blumb for imitate it, but it look unrealistic)I don`t feel deeps and haven`t feeling that I rise up on the mountain when look at coastline on south and mountains on the north of my map.

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## Harrg

Back to height map

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## Pixie

> Back to height map


 :Very Happy:  And always, isn't it...

Your last height map version reminded me of a video I watched recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwiNhnFPUnw . Have a look  :Wink:

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## Harrg

Yes, unfortunatly I can`t miss this step and all map based on good height map.
Thank you for link. I saw them, and how you guessed I inspiration by this video :Wink:

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## Harrg

So, I spent some time to understand that gplates don`t work with kirillic dyrectory on my PC, and now I can use gplates. It is show me many my last mistakes.

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## Harrg

"and eternal battle, we only dream of peace" (с)

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## Harrg

Finally I could repeat Pixie style. This is small hand draw part of dem without wuilbur

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## Charerg

The map looks great! How are you finding Pixie's style (to work with I mean, I know it looks amaxing  :Wink: )? I tried doing all the elevation layers manually myself at one point, but after a while decided it was too much work (especially if you change something afterwards, then you have to redraw everything) and settled on working with greyscale instead.

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## Harrg

Thank you! I draw blotch level map, than basic rivers. When its look good, I make smal rivers, it help me undersatnd where will be watershed. Than zooming in 1200% and draw erosion.
I have some unrest about mountains (here only 4 layers for hills) because it have to rise up quite sharply in some places, but when I convert it in shading it look very smoth.
I tried do work only with greyscale, but when I come texturing it, its look flat and unrealistic. I whant more details like flooded area, ice movement, dry seas, sands movement and barkhans. Classical dem can`t do it. I think to do N gray layers for all of this types. First of all classical dem, then grayscale for barkhans, glases and etc. And then add texture on it. I can use method that was in my previos finish map, but I whant show how wind or water\ice stream move this masse.

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## Harrg

Tectonic sketch. Tectonic profi, how its look?

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## Philippo

> Tectonic sketch. Tectonic profi, how its look?


It looks very nice!

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## Charerg

Are all the borders in the tectonic sketch meant to be active in the present day? If that is the case, this would be an unlikely scenario, though of course many (most) of these could be older, now-extinct collisions and failed rifts (essentially everything south of the Tavant/Tanat mountains).

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## Harrg

Thank you Phillippo!
Thank you Charearg. Yes I think that from souht of Tavant and Tanat are old collisions. I thinl only one zone active today.(from west to east and it create big mountain ranges).
In Svartal I think should be old cratoon.
Not shure that in this tectonic version possible create Middle sea conaction with ocean on the north-east. Mb small plates?
Absolutly not shure about Naratar

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## Harrg

Second tectonic sketch.
I spent some time rotated my map, and I think this is looks better.
I added young Fire ring. Flooded Santimora (conglomertes of islands on the east). It will be young volcanic islands too.
In Svartal (north) I added volcano too. It only started formed new young mountains. This is will be interesting region, because here will be active volaconos and ice shied. I think will be funny see fight between ice and fire on the erosion.

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## Harrg

mini update

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## Harrg

After last windows update I loosed all my backups and files. This is my 3 or 4 time when I loosing world files. But it mean that I can start again and try fix my previose mistakes.
Dirty restart.

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## Harrg

After lossing all my progress I reborn (haha so ironic I called this topic "Kronos reborn" in 2016) my contour map. In last try I understand how imitate Pixie DEM style. Now I want fixe my tectonic(again, I hate this). This is rougue tectonic. I absolutly nothing know about other continents.
I have old problem with my west mountain range and Middle Sea connection.
Middle Sea formed like Mediterranean sea. But how correctly make relief on this region? I tryed mixe Indochina,Iberia and Asia Minor but can`t find correct way for middle Tanat range
White lines this are potential new ranges that I whant added. Shaded areas this is coast correction.

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## Harrg

Ok, after some times I started work on super-continent model and redoing (again) tectonic model.
This is super-continent that crushed in 4 new.
In previose stadie 2 super-continent (Northen and Souther) collapsed and create middle mountain range Tanat.

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## Harrg

My expirement with DEM. This is very easy and qick to create height map. I use it like substat for hand draw. You can see that rivers are crasy now, I planing fix this and others problem places in traditional hand-draw elevation

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## Harrg

I think finish soon my height map.
P.S. I added map with pink lines that show my problem places that I didn`t like or it`s look strange for me. I will glad any advice about improvet it

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## Harrg

Tectonic model.
Today active only purple, blue and black zones.
Brown Maromar-Sarpadia belt is old border of northern continent. Borwn Hornhord-Kallihar blet is old too.
I just not shure about north. I feel than should be old belt from Hibben to Svartal on west coast, but it brake east coast, because after Ice Age it will be under water? Mb sent old belt from Maromar-Veldia-Svartal on the east side?

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## Tiluchi

This all looks excellent to me so far, and I think your tectonic boundaries make sense as they're placed now. A couple things I might have done differently, such as adding some more mountain ranges to the north of your big orogeny in the center of the continent, and maybe putting the plateau/escarpment closer to the coast where the small continent is rifting in the south. But overall I think it's quite plausible. 

When it comes to inactive orogenies such as in the north, I suppose you've a bit more room to play, especially since they tend to get warped and deformed by subsequent tectonic processes. Of course, the best way to figure that out would be to map out the tectonic history in GPlates, but that all depends on how much time you want to spend with it! I think it looks alright as is, though perhaps I would put at least one more defined mountain range (such as the Appalachians or the Ural Mountains) rather than one big plateau. But again, overall it looks great!

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## Harrg

Thank you Tiluchi!



> A couple things I might have done differently, such as adding some more mountain ranges to the north of your big orogeny in the center of the continent


Yes. I thinked about mounatain range like Tian Shan. Brown line in my gray map show it. I was not sure about this, but your advice convinced me otherwise. It formed 2 big plane, like Gobi or Taklamakan (between Maromar and Izsarant and between Kalenor and Sarpadia in my map).

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## Harrg

I change relief on the north. Now u can see old mountain range from Hibben on the south-west to Svartal and Whale coast on the north. Aslo I added old mountain range on the middle of continent. And like experiment I added some volcanose on the east of Middle Sea.I think this volcanos look interesting and soon I will add new volcanic lines in right places.
Now I`m working on islands arcs on the west and east of continent. I see some problem places, that I whant try fixe with wilbur mask(not shure will it be work or not)

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## Tiluchi

This looks like an improvement! Always a fan of adding more volcanoes, especially since this seems to have good enough resolution that they'd be visible. Guessing the coastal mountain range in the far east would be volcanic, as it appears to be on a subductive margin. Also a big fan of the glacial (?) lakes up in the northern part.

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## Harrg

Thank you.



> Guessing the coastal mountain range in the far east would be volcanic, as it appears to be on a subductive margin.


Yes Narratar mountains(far east) will be volcanic.



> Also a big fan of the glacial (?) lakes up in the northern part


Yes I mean glacial lakes.
I'm not completely satisfied of my north. If correctly use glacie erosion it flooded it and will be islands here. I whant save plaine with lakes, but not sea bottom. Mb make west-nothern mountains range active? I thinked about Pangea or Lavrasia model for it. Panthalassa ocean on the norht-west and Tetiss ocean on the east.
With this model I will have 3 oceans. Panthalassa-like on the norht-west, Tetiss-like on the east, and south Pole ocean. And 2 big continetal mass - Kronos and TERRA BOREA on the north-east
I show it in sketch.

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## Harrg

Small test with shading and coloring.
There are many troubles with wilbur artifacts, I will fixe it soon. In some place there are height difference and unrealistic smooth coasts(I mean brush movement, I need remake for more realistic coastline erosion) Also I need fixe rivers, add sand dunes, swamps, volcaonoes, and etc

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## Harrg

Some fun with bathymetry. I ignored it in my previouse maps, but I think it`s look interesting
I need advice about base relief and land formes, tectonic, previouse than I will start work with small details of coast and relief.
 Mb add some small mountain ranges, or correct it? (Ignore rivers on this step, I will be work on it soon)
I think nothern part looks better, but something wrong. And Tavant-Izsarant (mountain on the west of "Himalay")looks strange too
P.S.
I added some dunes and barkhans, make correction of coast, added new lakes and fixed old, lowered the land level in some places, made the mountains clearer and added orogeny Zagros-like on the west. And now it`s look better

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## Harrg

I`m working on the Ice Age relief of the north.
This is hard, because I need imagine how ice shields moved and how it influenced on rivers and etc. Also I try imagine how rivers change them streames, previouse than stay on the modern positions.
Lands on the north of the huge middle orogeny looks flat and congenerical. I whant add here some ancient basins(punctir line). Today it is a flood plains with some lakes.
I also revise the relative heights by lowering the altitude in the southern part of the continent
I try to pay special attention to the large river in the center of the continent. I am planning to add a large delta here.
I have not decided yet and have no idea how the river will look like. I think the best candidate would be a mix of Amazon and Ganges
I try to lower the relief here to emphasize the sinking of the southern plate under the northern.
I feel that in the southern part of the continent some rivers need to be redirected into indoor pools. Because now, they are all oriented towards one of the coasts


I hope for feedback.
Thanks

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## Harrg

Mini-update. 2 different color-map that I use for work.
Dark version better for edit elevation. Light version is main.

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## Harrg

I think I was able to achieve the forms that I like. The main work on map finished, but it does not mean that the work as a whole is close to the end.
There are a lot of boring, routine work ahead.

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## Harrg

I decided to take a break from the heightmap and have some fun with the biomes. I placed biomes more based on my desires than sience based.
While I was working on the biomes, I realized that I want to add some more island arcs in the eastern ocean. It seems to me that this will make it possible to better outline the boundaries of the eastern oceanic plate.

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## Harrg

I had a bit of fun with shading the map and I think I found a good one. The details that I spoke about and on which I am working are best seen here. There are still many problem areas, but I will gradually fix them, probably

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## Harrg

I fixed relief on the south and north.
I could not resist and added a couple of hydronyms.
Added many small lakes in the north
I started work on the rivers, after that I plan to work on the islands and the coast

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## Harrg

small sketch. Some plans about fixing coast lines and elevation

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## Arimel

Wow! This is a lot of work and dedication.

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## Harrg

Thank you Arimel!

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## Ilanthar

You are dedicated, indeed. And I must say I like the colour palette you have in post 125.

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## Harrg

> You are dedicated, indeed. And I must say I like the colour palette you have in post 125.


Thank you  Ilanthar!

I planned to start work on adjusting the coast and island arch to the east, but instead focused on detailing the central mountain range. I didn't like the mess that was squeezed out in the center. I wanted to show geological activity and folding. There are still places that do not quite suit me, especially at the edges of the bends, but this result seems to me better. I further lowered the relative heights to the "green" level and it seems to me that it was beneficial.

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## Harrg

Some fun with psevdo-swiss map style and some fixies and improving relief. I worked on improving coastline, but have some problems with ria and fjords types coasts. Soon I will back to the bathymetry and islands.
### Latest WIP ###

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## QED42

I really like the latest version.

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## Harrg

Thank you sir QED42!

I continue to make cosmetic changes to the map. My main focus now is on increasing the detail of the central mountain system. I add new watersheds and sharpen them to emphasize tectonic specificity.
I finally added an island arc in the east
If you see any inaccuracies in the believability of the relief, please let me know.

### Latest WIP ###

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## Harrg

Hi. I am in some creative stagnation. It has often been pointed out to me that my central mountains are similar to Himalay . It's funny, but I made up these mountains mainly from the Taurus, Zagros, Armenian Highlands and the Caucasus (in fact, most of the world was made up of them). Perhaps subconsciously, but I really made the central mountains very similar to the Himalayas and it depresses me a little. I would like to keep the overall system, but make some adjustments so that it does not look so much like the Himalayas. I really need feedback and advices how fix it
Also please let me know how recognizable the real DEM on my map. And what elements of the world seem really strange or wrong to you. Thank you

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## Harrg

I decided to switch to other parts of the world for now. Added new volcanoes, worked on the rift zone in the south. Added relief to the islands. I plan to improve the detailing of the underwater relief. Of the major changes, I still plan to improve the northeast coast and the terrain there before I can say it's over. I made attempts to create conlangs for my world in order to give various and interesting names, since now i'm experiencing a deficit in them

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## Harrg

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## Ilanthar

I like those last versions! Real improvement both for colours & contrast. Can't really choose between the two, though.

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## Harrg

> I like those last versions! Real improvement both for colours & contrast. Can't really choose between the two, though.


Merci!

Some fun with texturing.
### Latest WIP ###

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## MrBragg

That texturing looks incredibly good!  Kind of hard to believe that that isn't an actual satellite image.

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## Harrg

> That texturing looks incredibly good!  Kind of hard to believe that that isn't an actual satellite image.


Thank you very much!
It`s testing of fast texturing technique. I already used this trick a couple of years ago, here in the thread, when I was making local maps. But now I have applied this effect to the entire map.I like the results in high vegetation areas. But deserts and highlands - they definitely require more attention.
This is still not the final result. Texturing showed those problem areas in the relief that I have. And I will probably have to go back to the heightmap over and over again. If you could somehow quickly create a map of the river system based on a height map, then this would simplify the process.

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## Harrg

### Latest WIP ###
Added some water effects.
P.S. fixed south colours

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## QED42

This new version has really taken things up a notch, the map is coming to life in a very impressive way.

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## Harrg

> This new version has really taken things up a notch, the map is coming to life in a very impressive way.


Thank you sir QED42!

I would be inspired by warm reviews here and elsewhere and spend all day drawing a map. I added more transitions and colors for the desert. Perhaps they are the most difficult regions for texturing. In the north, I can simply hide my mistakes under a dense forest, but the desert, the desert does not forgive mistakes. She immediately revealed all my flaws in the heightmap. At the moment, I like the desert better. I want to focus on the eastern part of the continent where the savannah is located. I had a bad idea of ​​these parts of the world, but now, after texturing, the picture starts to fold

### Latest WIP ###

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## Harrg

Fixed the south. Added more forests. Added textures for nothern island.
I`m not shure about steppe(noth-west of vast central mnts). Mb here should be less vegetation and more semi-desert, steppe, semi-steppe? Rain shadow?
What would you change / add?

### Latest WIP ###

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## Ilanthar

Wow, this is looking spectacular!

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## Harrg

> Wow, this is looking spectacular!


Thank you Ilanthar!

I`m back to the relief map. My tests with texturing show good result, but I`m not satisfied. So far I have not been able to achieve consistency of all elements.
My eye clings to the back of the mountain arc. I'm trying to get the feeling of the Alpine-Himalayan belt. When you start looking at the Alps, you lead your gaze and suddenly you are already in Indochina.
I also try to work out pseudo tectonics. If you take a look at real world maps, you can easily guess where the plate boundaries are. On my map, this is not yet obvious. It can be understood that there are 2 plates that collided and there is a rifting in the southwest. But these are not closed systems, the boundaries of the plates simply break off.
The difficulty here is that I have not built a full-fledged tectonic model. This is like try pull on owl on globe (idiome)

### Latest WIP ###

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## Charerg

This has really come a long way, the map looks absolutely stunning!

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## Harrg

Thank you very much Charerg! 
Recently, I have been rereading your and some other topics for a long time, trying to delve into the understanding of tectonics and its influence on the relief.
At first glance, everything is simple, but when you start working, there are many subtle points that are confusing.
I am currently working on bathymetry. I'll post the result a little later.



Hope to see your world update.

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## Harrg

This is what I came up with when trying to create a tectonic model
Two plates north and south collided with each other, forming a huge mountain belt in the center. The southern plate plunges under the northern
The southern continent begins to split. The subcontinent Artarden has already broken away from it, which is moving to the southwest.
There is another rifting zone in the west. I'm not sure if it will die out or not anytime soon.


### Latest WIP ###

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## Marilynx

New here -- had a registration years ago, but it disappeared. 

This is one of the most amazing map sagas I have ever looked at. The kind of thing I would dearly love to do.

Wish there was some way I could mark this thread to come back to it.

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## Harrg

> New here -- had a registration years ago, but it disappeared.
> This is one of the most amazing map sagas I have ever looked at. The kind of thing I would dearly love to do.
> Wish there was some way I could mark this thread to come back to it.


Thank you. I hope you quickly type 10 messages on the forum and we will see your world. It's really addictive, especially when you're getting close to tectonics. She scares and beckons. And after many years, you will still find something that you want to redo.

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## Marilynx

> Thank you. I hope you quickly type 10 messages on the forum and we will see your world. It's really addictive, especially when you're getting close to tectonics. She scares and beckons. And after many years, you will still find something that you want to redo.


Just posted an intro of myself in the section. I'm going to have to wait to DL Gimp again until I get my new computer -- no room on this one!

I use a free program called Paint Dot Net (PDN) on which I can do almost anything I managed to learn to do when I had access to a copy of PS. Gimp just about drove me insane. 

As the daughter of a geologist, I found your section on plate tectonics particularly interesting.

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## Harrg

It's great! I think you will like the projects of Charerg, Pixie, Tiluchi and many other tectonic nerds. Soon enough of us will accumulate to create a separate section on the forum :Wink: 

### Latest WIP ###
I started  draw a smooth transition between land and ocean floor.

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## Tiluchi

This is looking really great Harrg! Of course my particular favorite is the geology- nothing cooler than seeing a bunch of thought put into the geological history behind the topography we see today. I'm curious about the formation of the Internal Sea (if my Google Translate is correct), given that the inlet is directly in the middle of a continental orogeny- something similar to the creation of the Black Sea, with the collision of a few different microcontinents and back-arc basins? A tiny suggestion (assuming it's not too far along in the process) might be to add an aulacogen or two around the rift occurring in the southwest, given that rifting tends to happen along triple junctions at about 120º angles. I also might add some island arcs around the subductive margins of the Centimora (?) Plate in the Southeast, similar to the Philippine Sea Plate on Earth. But overall the geology is really great here, and I love all the smaller details like the grabens and thrust faults. 

The topography overall looks fantastic as well- easily one of the best-looking relief maps I've ever seen on here. You will have to post a tutorial on here or suggestions for those of us working on similar projects!

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## Harrg

Thanks Tiluchi. I am very pleased to hear such words from experts in tectonics. You have asked very good questions.




> I'm curious about the formation of the Internal Sea (if my Google Translate is correct), given that the inlet is directly in the middle of a continental orogeny- something similar to the creation of the Black Sea, with the collision of a few different microcontinents and back-arc basins?


Yes, this is the Inner Sea or the Middle Sea, Inland Sea too. To be honest, I myself do not fully understand how exactly this sea appeared. This is one of the many objects that just exist and now I'm trying to fit the rest of the processes so that nothing breaks, but remains logical.
I took the Mediterranean and Black Sea as a basis. But the middle sea is not very suitable(in modern day), because it is, in fact, the closing ocean of the Tetis.
In my case, the Inland Sea is actually located behind the main orogeny. 
In my original concept, the Inland Sea was larger and flooded the vast lowlands to the west.
I love the thought of micro plates. This would explain well the thickness of the Tanat orogeny and the Naratar orogeny. The break that connected the Inland Sea and the ocean could have resulted from the shift of these micro-plates or their compression under the powerful pressure of the northern and southern plates.
For a while I thought about the glacier that breached. But this is too far from the last maximum glaciation and looks unlikely.
Although it is possible that the inland sea actually appeared originally as a closed freshwater lake fed by mountain rivers. But this still weakly explains the breakthrough of the isthmus in the center of the thick mountain range.




> A tiny suggestion (assuming it's not too far along in the process) might be to add an aulacogen or two around the rift occurring in the southwest, given that rifting tends to happen along triple junctions at about 120º angles.


I have an idea to launch the aquologen directly above the Artarden sign in the direction of Kallikhar. Maybe a little earlier at the Skogsongai bend. Perhaps a small aquologen should be somewhere to the west in an unnamed land beyond the lakes. For now, I call this region Artarden Minoris.
According to my assumptions, in a few million years, Artarden Minoris will also split off, like Artarden Majoris, from the Hornhord continent (a large southern continent)







> I also might add some island arcs around the subductive margins of the Centimora (?) Plate in the Southeast, similar to the Philippine Sea Plate on Earth.


Yes. IPA [santimora] - the Bygone Shores or the Drowned Shores. You are absolutely right. I am just finishing preparatory work before pushing out the volcanic islands.
wow this is probably the biggest post I've written in 10 years at the guild.

----------


## Harrg

### Latest WIP ###

And so, the last month it was very hot +33, so I actually couldn't work on the map. My computer did not want to start afterwards.
Tiluchi's message made me reconsider the relief in the east. I decided to follow the scenario with a series of small and super small tectonic plates. I started working on visualizing tectonic boundaries in relief in this area. Hopefully they will be clearer.

----------


## Harrg

Looking closely at what I was getting, I came to the conclusion that most likely there is another continent in the southeast.
Let's call it Terra Nova.
Terra Nova has two parts. The southern part of Terra nova broke away from the main continent and headed east. There it collided with northern Terra Nova
Well, I think I've come close to the point where I can't ignore the rest of the world, because it primarily affects the main continent. In fact, I started to do the inverse construction of the world. Instead of creating supercontent and then splitting it, I started my journey from a small piece of the known world, gradually "discovering" new lands for myself.

It's funny. It all started with the fact that I could not explain how the Middle Sea appeared. By the way about that. I suspect the shape of the current strait is unlikely. Most likely it will be more straight, and not zigzag, as it is now. Then the strait arose as a result of the shift of two microplates, flooding the cavity between them. By a mechanism close to the formation of a bridge between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea
Another problem area that I do not yet know how to solve is the mountains in the west. Now I am intensively mastering gplaets and maybe I will find a solution. So far, I have a poor idea of ​​the geological development of this region. Perhaps something similar to the Urals and the reactivation of the southern outskirts caused by the invasion of the Kallihar continent.
Another point, I do not really like the strong visual similarity of the Thanat mountains with the Himalayas. I was inspired by the Himalayas and I love the southern outskirts of Tanat. And I suspect that something like this should happen when two content collides, but I will think about how to make these mountains more unique. This is not due to the fact that I am using real world height maps. I collected Tanat from the mountains of Asia Minor and the Caucasus, but they turned out to be very similar to the Himalayas.

P.S. I started add aulacogens on the South in rifting area

----------


## QED42

The darker blues really add something.

Not sure about the dark line you have as an outline on the land, stands out a bit too much for me.

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## Harrg

> The darker blues really add something.
> Not sure about the dark line you have as an outline on the land, stands out a bit too much for me.


Thank you sir QED42,maybe a dark blue would look better? Anyway, so far, the outlining helps me keep the coastlines clean, because immediately shows my mistakes. Perhaps a little later I will completely get rid of it.
### Latest WIP ###
I spent some time contemplating the geology of the world. My understanding has improved a lot lately. When Charerg, and then Teluchi, asked me about the nature of the origin of the Inner Sea, I did not fully realize what was the reason for such curiosity in this particular region. Only now I understood what was the matter.

Teluchi's last post made me pay attention to this area and answer the question, how did this damn sea come about?
This could explain the sea, the mountains, and the bridge with the ocean.
Now it seems I have found a solution that does not break the big picture and does not require major changes.
And so, the southern continent Hornhord began its movement northward, covering the paleo ocean. The Veldo-Sarpad continent was moving towards the meeting.In the area of ​​Ashudkaur indenter, the ocean closed. Hornhord's pressure caused the Izsarant and Keldar blocks to be squeezed out. The Keldar Bloc rushed to devour the remnants of the Paleo Ocean, which is now the Middle Sea. The southeastern boundary of the Keldar block turned out to be parallel to the Naratar micro-plate. A strait was formed in the shear zone, which connected the Inland Sea and the ocean.

----------


## Tiluchi

This looks great! Always fun to see other worldbuilders who take their geology seriously. That story seems plausible, and we do have something similar with the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. That southeastern archipelago you're working on looks great as well- I do love a good volcanic island chain. 

On an unrelated note, you really must post a tutorial of your technique on the forum at some point- this is one of the only examples I've seen of a realistic-looking DEM on a large scale, and it's almost enough to convince me to figure out Wilbur at long last...

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## Harrg

Thanks Tiluchi. To be honest, I don't know what exactly should be in this tutorial, because all this is already there. From current textbooks - the work of Morne. The only difference is that I do the shading in Photoshop, it's easier for me and I have more control.
Wilbur is needed only at a certain stage. My process can be divided into 3 steps.
Step 1. We collect clay. I don't really care about whether the rivers and so on will be reconciled. The main task is simply to mold basic shapes and show basic heights. I pay more attention to form than detail.
Step 2. We have got a very motley map, where the fragments do not fit together. It's Wilbur's time. Run your map through 2-3 erosion cycles. Wilbur will destroy most of the small parts. This is exactly what you need! It will bake all the pieces together into a monolithic relief.
Step 3. Detailing. At this stage, it is already necessary to carefully observe the consistency of all elements. Overlay dem fragments on top of your baked heightmap. Use different layer modes (multiply, soft light, etc.). To do the desired result. It is at this stage that attention should be paid to the geological features.
I know that it looks like that guide with drawing an owl, draw a circle, draw an owl. Done!
But I honestly don't know what to suggest here. I need leading questions.


If I went back in time and gave myself a couple of tips, they would sound like this:
1. Understand the basis of tectonics.
2. How can the plates move? How can they not?
3. Learn to visualize tectonic models. What relief will be in the zone of subduction, rifting, spreading, etc.?
4. The sand model videos helped me a lot.
5. Understand how the movement of one plate affects others.
6. How tectonics affects the coastline. I often see (and do the same myself) when people are making a tectonic model but not editing the coastline. It is obvious (for example) that the coastline will stretch along the subduction zone, and will not abruptly break off. Or it is unlikely that a strange peninsula will appear there, for which there is no place here.
7. Perceive the relief as a system. The mountain cannot just break off somewhere. It will continue along the border of plate. It may be in the form of rifting or spreading or something else, but it is always closed, like a race track. Even the old geological formations, strongly distorted, are closed, their boundaries are simply not so obvious now.
8. Check yourself on the sphere. Gplates are a great tool!
9. A simple rotation of the canvas is sometimes enough to see errors. If the map looks natural from any angle and when mirrored, then you are doing everything right.
10. Mountains are not just a mass of land with beautiful intricate erosion. When I started out, I tried to imitate the Alps (for example) and tried to see each "block" of the watershed as something independent. This is wrong way. Use geology! These are, first of all, ridges, folds, etc.
11. https://www.geokniga.org/bookfiles/g...-tectonics.pdf  good book
12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI5r4cs74w8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly78AxI9gaE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9bKXY0OMxc

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## Harrg

Distracted a bit from the relief and tectonics and decided to have some fun with different palettes. This is useful when working with a heightmap, because identifies mistakes and allows a different look at old things.

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## Harrg

First animation form gplates
As you can see, I understand well the history of the southern continent. It's simple. But I still have no idea how the northern one came about. I still don't like the collision model. I feel like I still have a lot of time to spend exploring the northern and western borders.
Some idea or sujections?
P.S. I seem to have a definite animation and bump mismatch. Probably, the southern continent should at some point begin to move stronger to the northeast in order to get the kind of orogeny that is now. It seems I started to see a number of inconsistencies. Why did such massive orogeny arise essentially from oceanic subduction in the east? And not in the west, where is the continental convergence?
Why is the coast of the Middle Sea so far from the mountains in the subduction zone? Sediment? From the side of the subduction zone?
The more I think about it, the more I want to say stop. Best the enemy of the good. But these thoughts scrape my brains.



### Latest WIP ###

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## Charerg

I would say most of those problems have easy solutions, here are some ideas:

1) The Western & Eastern Tanat mountains
- Change the Eastern portion into an island arc that has collided with the southern continent as part of the process (similar to New Guinea). That way you can have the continent-continent convergence (and possibly subduction as well, on the northern boundary).
- The relatively small size of the Western mountains can be explained as well. Perhaps here there has been mostly subduction of oceanic crust, and continent-continent contact has begun only recently? I feel the plate movements themselves support this idea, as clearly the eastern part of the southern continent moves at a higher velocity (hence more crustal shortening must have occurred in the eastern regions to accommodate that movement).

2) The Middle Sea
- Again, the "ocean arc collision" explanation would go a long way to explain the Eastern Tanat mountains, they could be a separate plate, with a transform boundary between the E. Tanat and the northern continent (a situation similar to the Sea of Marmara).
- Though maybe the seaway from the Middle Sea to the ocean could be a little bit more open

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## Harrg

Thanks Charerg! These are very helpful tips indeed.
I tried to sketch this out. Did I understand your idea correctly?
It seems I have caught your general idea, now I need to temporarily distract myself from the existing relief, tk. it is rather confusing. And pay attention to pure tectonics. Phew this is a really tricky region considering how much is going on here.

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## Charerg

Yes, that is pretty much what I had in mind.

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## Harrg

Fast sketch of new conitinent Albara.
### Latest WIP ###

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## Harrg

mini update
### Latest WIP ###

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## Hieronymus_Blaze

This is great. What software are you using to create these maps?

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## Harrg

> This is great. What software are you using to create these maps?


Hello Hieronymus_Blaze! Thank you!
I use photohop, wilbur and QGIS
All my maps based on height map.

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## Ilanthar

You're expanding your world, I see  :Very Happy: .

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## Harrg

Yes. It is rather a necessity. Certain parts of the map take me hostage and force me to think at least roughly what other continents look like.
As you probably know, initially I did not want to be distracted by other territories. But unfortunately they have too strong an impact on geography.
In fact, I went down the wrong path of building the world from a small piece of land to global tectonics.
On the other hand, it is quite interesting and gives the impression of a real geographical discovery. And plausibility is the test of my models. The difficulty is that I have to iteratively go back all the time and make adjustments. I still cannot say that any particular section is fully completed.
Here's a small sketch of the world at the moment.

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## Ryan Pourchot

Very realistic, I'm looking forward to seeing more. 
Very intrigueing how the tectonic plates, and faultlines dictate the shapes and elevations. 

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

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## Harrg

> Ryan PourchotVery realistic, I'm looking forward to seeing more.
> Very intrigueing how the tectonic plates, and faultlines dictate the shapes and elevations.


Thank you very much!

Small update.
### Latest WIP ###

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## cyanide_baby

> I think finish soon my height map.
> P.S. I added map with pink lines that show my problem places that I didn`t like or it`s look strange for me. I will glad any advice about improvet it


Hello.

I'm trying to understand your use of DEMs.

1 - So to get to this stage, you stopped drawing your map heights by hand, and instead decided to paste in real DEM heights. Correct?
2 - And it looks like you then applied Wilbur on top of that. Is this correct?

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## cyanide_baby

> I change relief on the north. Now u can see old mountain range from Hibben on the south-west to Svartal and Whale coast on the north. Aslo I added old mountain range on the middle of continent. And like experiment I added some volcanose on the east of Middle Sea.I think this volcanos look interesting and soon I will add new volcanic lines in right places.
> Now I`m working on islands arcs on the west and east of continent. I see some problem places, that I whant try fixe with wilbur mask(not shure will it be work or not)


- About your volcanoes, in the east of the middlesea: are these volcanoes taken from DEMs as well?

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## cyanide_baby

> Small test with shading and coloring.
> There are many troubles with wilbur artifacts, I will fixe it soon. In some place there are height difference and unrealistic smooth coasts(I mean brush movement, I need remake for more realistic coastline erosion) Also I need fixe rivers, add sand dunes, swamps, volcaonoes, and etc


Hello again,

You wrote "... unrealistic smooth coasts(I mean brush movement, I need remake for more realistic coastline erosion)..."

1 - How did you make the coastline more realistic: with Wilbur too? Or did you do it by hand ("brush movement")?

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## cyanide_baby

> Thank you sir QED42!
> 
> I continue to make cosmetic changes to the map. My main focus now is on increasing the detail of the central mountain system. I add new watersheds and sharpen them to emphasize tectonic specificity.
> I finally added an island arc in the east
> If you see any inaccuracies in the believability of the relief, please let me know.
> 
> ### Latest WIP ###


- This island arc you added to the east of the continent: were these islands hand drawn, or did you paste them in from DEMs?

Your work is amazing.

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## Harrg

> Hello.
> 
> I'm trying to understand your use of DEMs.
> 
> 1 - So to get to this stage, you stopped drawing your map heights by hand, and instead decided to paste in real DEM heights. Correct?
> 2 - And it looks like you then applied Wilbur on top of that. Is this correct?


Hello. Thank you. 
Yes. I use real world DEM. But in difficult places i use hand drawn height map.
I made some blueprints in wilbur like volcano
My landmasses and borders I drew only by hand

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## Darrow

> Hello. Thank you. 
> Yes. I use real world DEM. But in difficult places i use hand drawn height map.
> I made some blueprints in wilbur like volcano
> My landmasses and borders I drew only by hand


Would you ever do a video walkthrough for us? I'm so interested, as it seems are so many others, with your whole process and results so personally I'd even pay to support something like that.

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## Darrow

> More details for God of Details! I started experement with big zoomed sattelite map. I dream make all Kronos map like Google Earth. And it means that I need draw 1000 and 1000 maps)) And I sarted draw from small island, near Keldar in Amber sea. I`m not shure how will be connect borders map, but I use my old DEM and try to save Kronos relief in small maps.


The magnified map you did here is also amazing! I'd love to learn about that too  :Smile:

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## Harrg

> Would you ever do a video walkthrough for us? I'm so interested, as it seems are so many others, with your whole process and results so personally I'd even pay to support something like that.





> The magnified map you did here is also amazing! I'd love to learn about that too


Thank you, but alas, the video format is not included in my plans. I can show this process in discord, on the guild server, when it is convenient time. (Closer to the new year)


### Latest WIP ###

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## Harrg

I usually show intermediate results with shading and gradient. Today I want to show what the whole work is based on - a height map. It is the height map that lies at the heart of the entire production process. Now I am finishing fine details, leveling the height, working with the relief of the seabed. I add rivers and so on. Gradually, step by step, I am getting closer to completion.
From a heightmap, I create a shaded map, on top of which I apply a gradient or textures to create different types of maps, from satellite to relief.



### Latest WIP ###

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## Harrg

New test with texturing

### Latest WIP ###

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## Ryan Pourchot

Loving the updated work, texture came out great.
Do you plan on expanding on the world? 

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

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## Naima

Nice update! Have you checked rivers flow height to sea ? The main problem working with heightmaps is that the rivers must be reworked in erosion to make them reach the sea ; also check the shoreline heights that seem too step ...
Everything else looks great.

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## Harrg

Many thanks! 




> Loving the updated work, texture came out great.
> Do you plan on expanding on the world?


I am anxiously thinking about the expansion of the world, because on the one hand, it is interesting and exciting, but at the same time it spends a lot of time and effort, and I would like to approach the completion of the project. But most likely, sooner or later I will come to the map of the whole world. There are many pitfalls here, for example I will have to deal with changing the projection for northern latitudes, etc.




> Nice update! Have you checked rivers flow height to sea ? The main problem working with heightmaps is that the rivers must be reworked in erosion to make them reach the sea ; also check the shoreline heights that seem too step ...
> Everything else looks great.


Yes, that's what I'm busy with right now. Initially, I worked on different groups of layers for land and sea from 0 to 255. Now I have combined them into one range, ie. the deepest sea trough is 0 and the highest mountain is 255. (formerly 0 was the beginning of land and the seabed ended at 255). Unfortunately, this led just to the steep cliffs on the border of land and water. I am trying now to pay a lot of attention to the shelf and the seabed.

For rivers, I have so far rudely used the services of a wilbur, but far from everywhere he reached the sea or laid rivers as I would like. I will deal with river flow adjustments a little later, as there are still regions that will undergo certain changes. The same applies to lakes and dry bodies of water. Now the lakes are simply painted on top of the texture, and are not inscribed in the relief, which is not true. Because lakes at this stage are not water intakes.

I also want to heavily edit the coast. For example add more fjords to the north. Draw deltas and sediments

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## Naima

> Many thanks! 
> 
> 
> 
> I am anxiously thinking about the expansion of the world, because on the one hand, it is interesting and exciting, but at the same time it spends a lot of time and effort, and I would like to approach the completion of the project. But most likely, sooner or later I will come to the map of the whole world. There are many pitfalls here, for example I will have to deal with changing the projection for northern latitudes, etc.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, that's what I'm busy with right now. Initially, I worked on different groups of layers for land and sea from 0 to 255. Now I have combined them into one range, ie. the deepest sea trough is 0 and the highest mountain is 255. (formerly 0 was the beginning of land and the seabed ended at 255). Unfortunately, this led just to the steep cliffs on the border of land and water. I am trying now to pay a lot of attention to the shelf and the seabed.
> ...


One good thing of making the rest of the world , even if just outlined is that gives you the base layout to determine currents , winds, temperatures and rainfall that will influence climates qnd so riverflows.

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## The Colonel

Excellent work! I hope you'll have enough time, energy and passion to finish this project - the final map will be amazing.
So, don't give up!

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## Harrg

### Latest WIP ###

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## Harrg

Another sketch of the whole world. I'll have to work hard to fix the polar distortion. But the general idea is this. There are 2 more continents and a large island in the north. Probably "Antarctica" will sail even further south.

### Latest WIP ###

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## WoodytheClimateGuy

I like your work! Keep it up! I have a question though, can you accept my friend request?

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## Harrg

> I like your work! Keep it up! I have a question though, can you accept my friend request?


Thank you! Of course!

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## WoodytheClimateGuy

Cool! But also, how to create mountains like that? I plan to get Illustrator soon and I am now working on an elevation map. I am interested on how you create those types of mountains. In addition, how do you create realistic textures for the map like that? When I finish my climate map, (eventually lol) I will create a texture representing the climates similar or at least a stylized version of Earth.

Like this Reddit post here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Speculative...akes_place_on/

Thank you!

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## Turambar

> Cool! But also, how to create mountains like that? I plan to get Illustrator soon and I am now working on an elevation map. I am interested on how you create those types of mountains. In addition, how do you create realistic textures for the map like that? When I finish my climate map, (eventually lol) I will create a texture representing the climates similar or at least a stylized version of Earth.
> 
> Like this Reddit post here:
> https://www.reddit.com/r/Speculative...akes_place_on/
> 
> Thank you!


I'll let Harg answer how he did it, but there was a tutorial awhile back on these forums which was helpful to me on this kind of technique: https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=18280

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## Stìophan

I absolutely love that tutorial but as a Mac user getting Wilbur to run is not easy, I have tried WINE but found it quite unstable.  Would the Saderan tut be useful here I wonder?

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## WoodytheClimateGuy

> I'll let Harg answer how he did it, but there was a tutorial awhile back on these forums which was helpful to me on this kind of technique: https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=18280


Thank you, dude! This is very helpful! I sent you a friend request!

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## Harrg

I am using photoshop. My technique is actually very simple and it seems I have already described it in this thread. It is based on a height map (black and white). Then I copy the heightmap to a new alpha channel. I create a new layer and fill it with grey. Select this layer. I open the lighting effects filters. In lighting effects, I select the alpha channel with the heightmap. I move the extrusion slider. I set the light source to infinite. Ready!


A texture is just a collection of simple earth, sand and grass textures, sometimes using homemade textures based on satellite imagery. The main thing that you must understand is that there is no magic texture that will draw everything for you. It's just a mix. Look at the textures of the Earth and mentally divide it into simple components.

One of the tips to texture based on height range. Select a certain height spread using a height map and paint with one (or several) textures only in this range. This will create a zoning effect.


I actively use color adjustment and so on to fit the texture to the color I want. Grass - can be sand, and sand dyed green by forest. The main thing here is to have an open mind, on such a scale only color and light texture are important.

I did not come up with anything new, all the guides are already in the guild, one of them was shown above. I just use them at different times.


Combine masks, different layers and positions. Do not be afraid)))))

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## Harrg

### Latest WIP ###

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## Harrg

Step by step. I whant to create "based" relief map for whole world and than back to tectonic model. Again. Because now I see many problem places here. By Charerg help I can work with polar parts.
Here is small gif
https://gfycat.com/memorablejoyfuldegus

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## Harrg

### Latest WIP ###

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## cyanide_baby

Hello,
My I ask how you put together your bathimetry data, that is, those ocean depths?
Are they just drawn by hand, or did you work in actual bathymetry data from real-world data (like the DEMs for the landmasses)?
Thank you.

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## Naima

> ### Latest WIP ###


красивый мир
Beautifull world.

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## Harrg

> Hello,
> My I ask how you put together your bathimetry data, that is, those ocean depths?
> Are they just drawn by hand, or did you work in actual bathymetry data from real-world data (like the DEMs for the landmasses)?
> Thank you.


Hi! I use DEM and hand-drawn. I have 2 groups of height map for earth and water in diapozone from 0 to 255 color. When I whant make smooth gradient I just use curve in photoshop. For mixed different DEM`s use soft light in layer settings




> красивый мир
> Beautifull world


Thank you very much!

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## cyanide_baby

Thank you for this.
So, basically, the techniques you use to merge/mix parts of real life DEMs to create your fantasy DEMs are the ones you employ to put together your bathymetry.

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## Harrg

> Thank you for this.
> So, basically, the techniques you use to merge/mix parts of real life DEMs to create your fantasy DEMs are the ones you employ to put together your bathymetry.


Yep, for shading and DEMaking water and land I use one method. Shade I make in photoshop too. Coppy ur heightmap on new alpha chanel. Make new layer, fill gray. Select this layer. Open filter-light effects. Choose unlimited light, choose in settings ur alpha chanel with heightmap. Extrude on 8. Ta daam u have shading map. Add new layer on top of ur shading layer. Past here height map. Make gradient fill on top of it. Press alt and LMB between gradient layer and height map. Ur cursor chaged to specific arrow, it mean, that gradient will be work only on this layer. Change transpety of heightmap for 50-60. U can also change lyaer setting to soft light. 
The end.

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## Charerg

Looking good as always! Did you end up using GProjector to work on the poles (the old-fashioned approach), or did you figure out how to do the re-projections in QGIS?

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## Harrg

> Looking good as always! Did you end up using GProjector to work on the poles (the old-fashioned approach), or did you figure out how to do the re-projections in QGIS?


Thank you! Yes I finally got g.projectore working properly on my computer and it finally allows me to save high resolution images. I could not resist and made a primitive relief to see if the reprojection works correctly

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## Harrg

### Latest WIP ###
https://gfycat.com/boilingdifficultbluet
another back time animation of tectonic plates in my world

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## Ryan Pourchot

Absolutely wonderful work here! Bravo Harrg!

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## Harrg

> Absolutely wonderful work here! Bravo Harrg!


Thank you very much!

I haven't posted anything for a long time and it's time to show the updated sketch of the world map.
As I have said many times, my world building is of a spiral iterative nature. I have no idea what the world looks like outside of that ecumene, which is already drawn and detailed. In general, all these gray continents appeared due to the fact that I did not understand how the boundaries of already existing land masses should look. So for example, trying to figure out how the cape should end in the southeast of the main continent, I drew Albara.
But the question arose: how should Albara end in the south?
Also, for a long time I could not explain how I got the old Misty Mountains in the northwest. Intuitively, I understood that I should have a zone of fire belt on at least one side. All this led me to the need to sketch the whole world.
Now I seem to have started rubbing the bricks together and they are starting to look more and more natural. A lot of things still confuse me.
I think the island arc in the northeast should run closer to the main land mass, creating a smaller back-arc basin.
It is necessary to slightly correct the region of the breakthrough of the Middle Sea, I think to go here according to the scenario with the Black Sea.
It is necessary to think over the process of the collapse of the previous super continent and understand how the new "Pacific Ocean" was formed.
At some point, I remembered that I did not pay attention to glacial erosion, although I worked with lakes, I did not carve fjords in the rocks at all.
The only scenario for the collapse of the last supercontinent that I know is the southern part

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## Harrg

I haven't posted anything for a long time. Finally, there was time and a new computer that I can not be distracted by lags. Lately I've been completely stuck in gplates Working on the tectonics of the world. The North remains the most difficult region for me. It has a very rich geological history.
When I think of the north, I imagine a series of microcontinents and island arcs that collided with each other and were then severely eroded by glaciers.

### Latest WIP ###

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## Harrg

wip
don't pay much attention to the northwest. There, for now, the plates see themselves as drunk.
I worked on the southern region. Finally, I achieved a good result, in my opinion, on the collapse of the Paleo-Albara. Although I still want to add a few details.
The orange color in Albar is the remnants of a fault that tends to come to life lately. He aims to split Albara into 2 continents in the future

* *










* *










* *

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## Naima

The works looks good, but are you considering also underwater plates ? Couse not all are emerged.

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## Harrg

> The works looks good, but are you considering also underwater plates ? Couse not all are emerged.


Hah thank you. If u mean this blue plate on the south - it`s just undrawn yet.

I'm not entirely sure about the shape and geologic history of the south pole plate (blue plate)
I also do not yet know how the boundary between the southern plate and Albara will pass, whether there will be an island arc there, as a continuation of subduction, or something else.


Now I want to jump back in time a little more and see the process of the collapse of the supercontinent. Perhaps this will guide me further.

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## Naima

> Hah thank you. If u mean this blue plate on the south - it`s just undrawn yet.
> 
> I'm not entirely sure about the shape and geologic history of the south pole plate (blue plate)
> I also do not yet know how the boundary between the southern plate and Albara will pass, whether there will be an island arc there, as a continuation of subduction, or something else.
> 
> 
> Now I want to jump back in time a little more and see the process of the collapse of the supercontinent. Perhaps this will guide me further.


No I mean that you have to imagine the whole planet like a magma ball covered with coldened crusts, those crack around and float over that boiling mass... some are taller some are lower, the lower is under ocean the upper are the continents. They interact so if you push a continent over a direction it can meet the underwater plate and interact with it .

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## Harrg

> No I mean that you have to imagine the whole planet like a magma ball covered with coldened crusts, those crack around and float over that boiling mass... some are taller some are lower, the lower is under ocean the upper are the continents. They interact so if you push a continent over a direction it can meet the underwater plate and interact with it .


O I see.I roughly keep in mind the basic shape of the plates. But one of my goals is just to understand where the boundaries of oceanic faults are. Now I have no idea how my "Pacific Ocean" developed. I am also a hostage to the existing topography and need to manipulate the maps so that they don't disturb it too much. I would not like to see subduction from the north south on the west coast of the mainland.
My whole process is built from the opposite.
I roughly understand that I have an analogue of paleo-Tethys in the center. Something similar to Laurasia in the north.I would like to work out the model of the northern continent in more detail, because. I don't like direct copying of the Himalayas. I want a more complex model that suits me. I am partially trying to explain the existence of a water corridor between the Middle Sea and the ocean, for example, with the help of fault.
I also do not know if there are subductions for production, from the Island in the north of Albara to 3 islands Kalenordon zone
The Hibben Mountains (north-south) in the north are most likely the result of an old collision of an island arc and Veldia
Simply put, all I know is what land looks like at the moment
P.S.
One of the reasons why I'm focusing on the south right now is that it's one of the few regions that I understand in general. There is simply a process of disintegration of a large continent and the formation of a new triangle of the ocean (?)

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## Naima

> O I see.I roughly keep in mind the basic shape of the plates. But one of my goals is just to understand where the boundaries of oceanic faults are. Now I have no idea how my "Pacific Ocean" developed. I am also a hostage to the existing topography and need to manipulate the maps so that they don't disturb it too much. I would not like to see subduction from the north south on the west coast of the mainland.
> My whole process is built from the opposite.
> I roughly understand that I have an analogue of paleo-Tethys in the center. Something similar to Laurasia in the north.I would like to work out the model of the northern continent in more detail, because. I don't like direct copying of the Himalayas. I want a more complex model that suits me. I am partially trying to explain the existence of a water corridor between the Middle Sea and the ocean, for example, with the help of fault.
> I also do not know if there are subductions for production, from the Island in the north of Albara to 3 islands Kalenordon zone
> The Hibben Mountains (north-south) in the north are most likely the result of an old collision of an island arc and Veldia
> Simply put, all I know is what land looks like at the moment
> P.S.
> One of the reasons why I'm focusing on the south right now is that it's one of the few regions that I understand in general. There is simply a process of disintegration of a large continent and the formation of a new triangle of the ocean (?)


I usually start also from a general idea of the map I want , as continental shapes, and then I work out the plates, but if you do not have the whole picture of the plates cutted on the sphere it is difficult to understand what goes where and why , I think you need to first draw all other plates too and then in combination with those decide the directions fo the continents.

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## Harrg

> I usually start also from a general idea of the map I want , as continental shapes, and then I work out the plates, but if you do not have the whole picture of the plates cutted on the sphere it is difficult to understand what goes where and why , I think you need to first draw all other plates too and then in combination with those decide the directions fo the continents.


Yep this is a big problem for me. 
I am moving in this direction. First, I want to finish the animation of those things that are unambiguously clear and understandable to me and start from them.
I added the north polar continent because I think its presence there is logical. It was part of the Veldo-Sarpadia paleocontinent, which has now split apart. You can see that Calenordon appeared for a short period during the collapse of Veldo-Sarpadia, but then Veldia again pulled him to her.
Here is a link on video model.
### Latest WIP ###
https://youtu.be/CZWFq-NbFPo



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## Naima

I mean they look very good, but ... Its the time spent setting yp those continents and all parameters worth the overall needs to project the world ? Is there someting that you cannot do manually ? Just asking, I found this program too time consuming for what are my needs I can make the project of plate tectonics manually , subdivide the planet, position the direction , place friction colliding and diverging zones, have an overal look of the sphere even by projecting it in stereographic or other projections and have all speeds and directions predecided , all that it can be done in a hour or so I think , I found that setting up all that in Gplates required hours and hurs of work , segmentation of continents if you want to have them well defined, and so on... Its worth for me if you want to have the nice animations bt for worldbuilding? Mine is a question not a criticism.

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## Harrg

> I mean they look very good, but ... Its the time spent setting yp those continents and all parameters worth the overall needs to project the world ? Is there someting that you cannot do manually ? Just asking, I found this program too time consuming for what are my needs I can make the project of plate tectonics manually , subdivide the planet, position the direction , place friction colliding and diverging zones, have an overal look of the sphere even by projecting it in stereographic or other projections and have all speeds and directions predecided , all that it can be done in a hour or so I think , I found that setting up all that in Gplates required hours and hurs of work , segmentation of continents if you want to have them well defined, and so on... Its worth for me if you want to have the nice animations bt for worldbuilding? Mine is a question not a criticism.


Thank you. I understand. Perhaps I didn't convey my idea clearly. I roughly understand where I have what is behind the fog of war.
The situation is that I do not know my world. Initially, I only knew one continent. Based on what I knew about him, I realized that there would be another one in the southeast. This is how Albara appeared. Then I realized that Albara could not appear alone during the collapse of paleoAlbara. So that southern blue continent was born.
Then I wondered how the lands in the north formed. At the moment, I partially give this answer. Unfortunately, I have no idea where other lands will be or where they used to be.
Intuition suggests that there must be at least one more landmass in the west.
This gives me roughly the following picture. I roughly understand where I have passive and active edges of the plates. I kinda keep it in my head, as I render the animation it fires my imagination and I redo things that I don't like

You can look at my old sketches, that's pretty much what I'm talking about. But I don't like their current form, position and origin.
Sorry if I'm being confusing. I understand your general idea and I fully agree with it. For good, it was necessary to start with a super continent and then just split it, drive it through a couple of decay cycles and get a good world. Or, vice versa, from the disintegrated continent to collect back pangea. But I don't know where the other continents are. It's like reloading the world when you get to the edge of it in the game.
The creation of the whole world became a necessity when I realized that I could not draw the outskirts of the ecumene, the only continent at that time
I thank you for your feedback. Honestly, it's really important for me to see this. Do not pity me and criticize boldly. I'll be happy.

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## Naima

I have seen quite a few generators that create worlds with tectonics , perhaps you saw?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1892520/Rock_3/

http://davidson16807.github.io/tectonics.js/

https://freezedriedmangos.github.io/...ild/index.html

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## Harrg

> I have seen quite a few generators that create worlds with tectonics , perhaps you saw?
> 
> https://store.steampowered.com/app/1892520/Rock_3/
> 
> http://davidson16807.github.io/tectonics.js/
> 
> https://freezedriedmangos.github.io/...ild/index.html


I only knew 2. 3 link doesn't work for me
I don't really like generators. For my taste, they create rather boring forms. They all work like perlin noise or cellular automata and give pretty similar results. I mean that it is almost always just some kind of noise, sometimes having some kind of similarity, but visually I can almost never tell that this is a subduction, and this is a thrust or a graben.
In this regard, I like to have complete control. Although such generators are useful, for example, for starting. I prefer another type of generator, like the wilbur, which allows me to add randomness to my process, as all the same, the eye is blurred and creates similar structures manually.
One of my frequent niggles with other maps is this "fractal noise". It is not very realistic for my taste, be it mountains or landforms.
Although it’s more likely than not, it’s just a matter of taste and nothing more.

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## Naima

> I only knew 2. 3 link doesn't work for me
> I don't really like generators. For my taste, they create rather boring forms. They all work like perlin noise or cellular automata and give pretty similar results. I mean that it is almost always just some kind of noise, sometimes having some kind of similarity, but visually I can almost never tell that this is a subduction, and this is a thrust or a graben.
> In this regard, I like to have complete control. Although such generators are useful, for example, for starting. I prefer another type of generator, like the wilbur, which allows me to add randomness to my process, as all the same, the eye is blurred and creates similar structures manually.
> One of my frequent niggles with other maps is this "fractal noise". It is not very realistic for my taste, be it mountains or landforms.
> Although it’s more likely than not, it’s just a matter of taste and nothing more.


I agree thats why I am not using either but for starting could be a good starting point ... anyway if not wrong tectonic js allows custom heightmap load ... I think I did use once ... 

https://www.deviantart.com/n-a-i-m-a...nics-790628003

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## Harrg

> I agree thats why I am not using either but for starting could be a good starting point ... anyway if not wrong tectonic js allows custom heightmap load ... I think I did use once ... 
> 
> https://www.deviantart.com/n-a-i-m-a...nics-790628003


Hm It`s look funny

### Latest WIP ###
I started work on the oceans. So far this is a rough sketch, but I can already see some interesting things.
I have plan for share this Gproject on github for tectonic nerds. So that everyone can easily twist the sliders and see the world


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P.S.
https://github.com/Lenin-Grub/Kronos.git
I  decided that it will be good idea shared my gproject for gplates

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