Creating lanscapes with the Gimp: Part 1
by Vincent Stoessel

Download the blend file | Download in PDF format

This tutorial demostrates how to use the Gimp's ifCompose
plugin to create height maps that can imported into Blender
to make great landscapes. This tutorial does not require a
C-key. It does however, require the gim0 which is a great
and free image manipulation program. It run's on most unixes,
you can download a copy from www.gimp.org


The first thing you want to do with the gimp is open
a new document. The default 256x256 blank image is cool.
With the cursor over the image press the right mouse button
to get the pop-up menu. Select Filter->Render->Ifcompose
you should get the ifcompose window. There is a screen
of the window below. ifcompose works by adjusting the
positions the 3 triangles on the left to change the image
on the right. There are also numeric imputs for more
precise control.

The basic idea is to create a goo height map. A height map
is a grayscale/color image that can be used build an elevated
3d mesh. When a height map is applied to a flap plane the lighter
colors will raise the points of the mesh while the darker
colors will keep vertices close to the floor. White will cause the
highest elevation of course while black will be the lowest.
I got this with a little bit of tweaking the rotate/scaling
trianges.


I created a bunch of cool height map but let me talk about
the one I have below. When I open blender I have a simple
mesh and some lamps as my default. Cntrl-U saves your
default settings by the way. Select your plane, go to the
material buttons (F5) and create a new material for the
plane. Give it a name or hit the "auto" icon to have blender
generate a unique name for it. Next go to the texture buttons
(F6) and create a new texture. Choose an image texture and use
the image selector to load the image you saved in Gimp's
ifcompose.

It should look something like this in the texture window.

Now go to the editbuttons. Hit tab to get into the plane's
edit mode. hit "a" to select all vertices in the plane.
hit subdive about 7 times to make the plane more granular.
Now while the vertices still select hit the noise button 2
or three times. Do you see how the distoted plane is now in the
shape of the heightmap? Hit the noise button 2 or 3 more times
to make the elevation more pronounced.

Get out of editmode by hitting the TAB key.
flip/rotate the mesh over so that the bottom is on top.
To smooth out the jagged edges, hit the smooth button
in the editwinow when all the vertices are selected in
edit mode.

Hit the z or shift-z to get an idea what the mesh looks like.
With the mesh still selected hit the "set smooth" button.
You should have a mesh that looks something like this.
Now all you have to do is add a rocky or grainy texture
and add a water layer (see my ocean view tutorial).
DON"T FORGET TO RID OF the original heightmap texture,
you don't need it any more and it will have an influence
on the color of your mesh if you leave it there. For mountains
I usually use a noisy marble or wood texture combined with
a image texture.

Here some texture I slapped together but I'm sure you
can do much better.

Just add water and that's it.