In this Blender tutorial I will show you how to use height maps to make landscapes in Blender.
Height Map
We will be using data from Open Topography for our height map
Click on “All Datasets” and choose “Global & Regional”
What we are looking for is Shuttle Radar Topography Mission – these are NASA images
Click on the button to the right and you will be taken to the proper page
Choose an area on the map
Click on “Select a Region” and draw out a box around your area on the map
For the output format – change this to image
Check “Generate Additional Color” for visualization
Give your job description a title and enter your email address
Click on “Submit”
When the maps are generated – open each image and save
Modeling
We will be using a plane to produce our terrain in Blender
We need to scale and subdivide the plane so we have enough geometry to work with [5, 200]
Under the modifiers tab, we need to add a displace modifier with a new texture
Under the texture tab, open the grayscale height map that you downloaded
Change the strength of the modifier [0.2]
You can also continue to subdivide the plane and also shade it smooth
Materials
For the materials, add an image texture node and open the diffuse map that you downloaded
Connect the image texture node to the base color of the principled shader
Height Map (Photoshop)
You can of course make your own height maps
I will show you how to do this in both Photoshop and GIMP
I will start with Photoshop
Make a new document – I will be using a 2K image
Fill the background layer with a mid-tone gray – this will be the flat areas of the height map [#959595]
On a new layer, run the clouds filter – this will be our peaks [render]
Change the blend mode to lighten – the white of the height map will produce the height for the terrain
For the valleys, duplicate the peaks layer and rename it
Change the blend mode to multiply
If I wanted to make a riverbed for example, I can choose the brush and use a dark gray color to draw the riverbed onto the heightmap
Once you are satisfied with the result, export the map
Back in Blender – follow the same steps as before
Height Map (GIMP)
This same procedure can be done in GIMP
Make a new document – I will be using a 2K image
Fill the background layer with a mid-tone gray – this will be the flat areas of the height map [#959595]
On a new layer, change the color to black and run the clouds filter – this will be our peaks [render – noise]
Change the blend mode to lighten – the white of the height map will produce the height for the terrain
For the valleys, duplicate the peaks layer and rename it
Change the blend mode to multiply
If I wanted to make a riverbed for example, I can choose the brush and use a dark gray color to draw the riverbed onto the heightmap and change the blend mode to multiply
Once you are satisfied with the result, export the map
Back in Blender – follow the same steps as before