Dakho
()[o__o]()
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In this tutorial I will teach how to make some different and common terrain types, using default blizzard materials.
1. Forest
Step 1: Apply height variation. The world isn't flat, and neither should your maps be. Using the Raise Tool, add some heigh variation to your map.
Step 2: Terraining. Mix it up! Use every tile at your disposal to make a good terrain. Any natural terrain you make should at the very least have 3 different tiles used.
So far here's what it's looking like:
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Now we have the layout done. Next, it's time for the doodads.
Step 3: Trees. Always use tree variation. Forests don't have just one tree type. Tree placing is also key. It's generally best to place 1 tree at a time, (for extra randomness, click extra fast!), as clumping all the trees together doesn't look as great. Then again, don't space them too far apart, especially if your going for a thick forest.
Here's our tree'd terrain now:
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Step 4: Now the good stuff. Plant life is in every forest; flowers, shrub, mushrooms.
Now, a great doodad is River Rushes. However, it starts out tan and with cattails in it. To change this, reduce variations to 3 and also reduce the red and blue in it. My suggestion is do 100 for Red and Blue, and one 180 for Green.
Note that certain doodads look good placed together, for example rocks and mushrooms clustered together make a nice look, as long as you don't spam either. Also a log tangled in shrubs looks good too. Make some combos yourself, find what looks good.
Here's my forest finished. Now this is a basic forest, it has no water or anything. However, it gets the point across and looks quite decent.
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2. Cliffs
Now, I'm not talking about Blizzard Cliffs, I'm talking about default cliffs.
Keep in mind, for all terrain you should follow the previously mentioned steps: heigh variation, terrain, doodads. Now, we'll apply those steps to making cliffs.
First: Make a large raised area of land. Next, use the Plataeu tool to make a flat area. Now take a natural rocky tile, and use it to cover the sides of your new plateau. Now, assuming you have grass on the top, use a median tile, such as grassy dirt, in between the rocks and the grass. If you want, you can add rocks on the cliff. However, make sure to use ctrl+page up/page down so the little pebbles at the base of the rock aren't sticking out.
Now, here's the finished cliff. Note this is a simple one, you can add more onto them.
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3. Towns
Now the final part, towns. Towns are usually a lot tougher to make, because you can't just spam random doodads and hope it looks okay, which may look fine in a natural setting such as a forest but not in something man-made.
Step 1: Choose what type of town: spread or compact. You can have a condensed, smaller area, or a spread, less populated area. In this case I'll make a condensed village. Now first,Make the layout of the town. 'pave' the streets, set up blocks for houses, leave areas for courtyards, etc.
Step 2: Begin placing of main doodads. This is houses, inns, taverns, churches, town centers, etc. A cool thing to do is remove the pathing on houses and using ctrl+page up/down turn them into larger apartment-looking buildings (for cool examples of this look at the Cinematic 'Cult of the Damned' on wc3campaings.net).
Step 3: Finer Details. Lamps on the sidewalks, people in the streets, trash and flies in the alleys... all that good stuff. Add on those finishing touches to make the city come alive.
Here's some images from the finished town of mine.
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On a last note... if you like terraining but feel limited by the blizzard models (though they're still pretty good) you can go to hiveworkshop.com and find new ones to help you make more diverse and unique terrain.
Anyways, good luck on any terrain in the future!
1. Forest
Step 1: Apply height variation. The world isn't flat, and neither should your maps be. Using the Raise Tool, add some heigh variation to your map.
Step 2: Terraining. Mix it up! Use every tile at your disposal to make a good terrain. Any natural terrain you make should at the very least have 3 different tiles used.
So far here's what it's looking like:
Now we have the layout done. Next, it's time for the doodads.
Step 3: Trees. Always use tree variation. Forests don't have just one tree type. Tree placing is also key. It's generally best to place 1 tree at a time, (for extra randomness, click extra fast!), as clumping all the trees together doesn't look as great. Then again, don't space them too far apart, especially if your going for a thick forest.
Here's our tree'd terrain now:
Step 4: Now the good stuff. Plant life is in every forest; flowers, shrub, mushrooms.
Now, a great doodad is River Rushes. However, it starts out tan and with cattails in it. To change this, reduce variations to 3 and also reduce the red and blue in it. My suggestion is do 100 for Red and Blue, and one 180 for Green.
Note that certain doodads look good placed together, for example rocks and mushrooms clustered together make a nice look, as long as you don't spam either. Also a log tangled in shrubs looks good too. Make some combos yourself, find what looks good.
Here's my forest finished. Now this is a basic forest, it has no water or anything. However, it gets the point across and looks quite decent.
2. Cliffs
Now, I'm not talking about Blizzard Cliffs, I'm talking about default cliffs.
Keep in mind, for all terrain you should follow the previously mentioned steps: heigh variation, terrain, doodads. Now, we'll apply those steps to making cliffs.
First: Make a large raised area of land. Next, use the Plataeu tool to make a flat area. Now take a natural rocky tile, and use it to cover the sides of your new plateau. Now, assuming you have grass on the top, use a median tile, such as grassy dirt, in between the rocks and the grass. If you want, you can add rocks on the cliff. However, make sure to use ctrl+page up/page down so the little pebbles at the base of the rock aren't sticking out.
Now, here's the finished cliff. Note this is a simple one, you can add more onto them.
3. Towns
Now the final part, towns. Towns are usually a lot tougher to make, because you can't just spam random doodads and hope it looks okay, which may look fine in a natural setting such as a forest but not in something man-made.
Step 1: Choose what type of town: spread or compact. You can have a condensed, smaller area, or a spread, less populated area. In this case I'll make a condensed village. Now first,Make the layout of the town. 'pave' the streets, set up blocks for houses, leave areas for courtyards, etc.
Step 2: Begin placing of main doodads. This is houses, inns, taverns, churches, town centers, etc. A cool thing to do is remove the pathing on houses and using ctrl+page up/down turn them into larger apartment-looking buildings (for cool examples of this look at the Cinematic 'Cult of the Damned' on wc3campaings.net).
Step 3: Finer Details. Lamps on the sidewalks, people in the streets, trash and flies in the alleys... all that good stuff. Add on those finishing touches to make the city come alive.
Here's some images from the finished town of mine.
On a last note... if you like terraining but feel limited by the blizzard models (though they're still pretty good) you can go to hiveworkshop.com and find new ones to help you make more diverse and unique terrain.
Anyways, good luck on any terrain in the future!
