Basic Terraining - Lesson 1
Forests
Forests
(Note, this is VERY basic. This is meant for begginers.)
Index
I. Cliffs
II. Methods of Tile Variation
III. Adding Doodads
IV. Shaping the Environment
V. Conclusion
II. Methods of Tile Variation
III. Adding Doodads
IV. Shaping the Environment
V. Conclusion
I. Cliffs
Yes, we've all seen them. We hate them. They are disgusting. Blizzard cliffs make any terrain look horrible. You want to use the "Raise" tool and "Lower" tool to make good looking terrain. The raise tool raises the terrain in a way that it doesn't create cliffs, but just raises the land up. Same with the lower tool, it smoothly lowers it down.
II. Methods of Tile Variation
There are two major ways you can vary the tiles in terrain.
A. Realistically
B. Randomly
Both of them look good, so I won't recomend one.
IIa. REALISTICALLY
If you choose to use this method, you will spend a little-alot more time than randomly, depending on the size of your map. Realistically is where you have dirt under trees, because less will grow under the shade. Or, you don't have thick grass right next to dirt. The doodads should also be placed according to tiles. I will give an example of things that can touch what. Rough Dirt<--Dirt<--Grassy Dirt<--Grass<--Thick Grass
Rough dirt can only touch dirt, but dirt can touch grassy dirt and sometimes grass. Thick grass can only touch grass. Think of Grassy Dirt as the "middle man".
Here's an example of realistic tile variation:
IIb. RANDOMLY
If you choose to use this method, you will spend alot less time than realistically doing it. To do this method, choose a region you want to terrain. Then, start spreading "SIZE 1" tiles of dirt. After that, spread "SIZE 1" of grass, then thick grass. Now do it once again with grass. There is not much skill in doing this, just close your eyes and place the tiles. 
Here is something you should get:
III. Adding Doodads
Now its time for the good stuff. Adding doodads. You should start by adding trees in a realistic way, because not one forest on this earth is so closley packed together you can't move through it. Trees should probably go on dirt tiles, because less grows under the shade. Now, start adding flowers in the grassy regions, and try placing them in little groups. After that is done, place shrubs where it looks nice, they look best under trees. I guess I shouldn't say forest, but more of a woodsy area. Try to make it easy to walk through with what will fit your purpose. May be for armies, or a single hero.River rushes look nice under trees, but only using the bush-like variation of it. Add a few flowers in dirt, but mostly in the thick grasses. I added an archery target with a fence to make the terrain look a little nicer.
Next, add some props and birds:
IV. Shaping the Environment
Okay, now that you have the doodads down and the tiles varied, shape the terrain to look nice. Try raising some areas where trees are. Make hills and valleys. Be sure to use the smooth tool, if you are using the noise tool or not, and yes, use the noise tools sometimes. Using the noise tool along with raise and lower then smoothing can give a very nice effect. (The smooth tool makes extremly unrealistically high areas next to very low areas smooth out, so it appears that it goes "up hill" in a smooth motion, not just jutting up.)Eventually you should get:
V. Conclusion
That's it, your done! You should have a pretty nice looking forest by now. Note that this was meant for begginers, and probably won't help you pros out there. If you think this tutorial helped you or someone else out there, give some feedback, I would really apreciate it. 
