first of all, thanks for your replies!
@Spyndel - the image i’m working on right now is not intended for print.
the possibility to print the whole project would be a nice sideeffect, though… anyway, i guess i have to cope with zbrush’ limitations (it’s not really a limitation more finding of the right workflow… that is…). painting and displacing my terrain for a later composite in photoshop is a workflow i would rather not follow. zapplink is something i’m looking into right now - i’d love to switch the direction, though. like i said, from ps to zb would be so much cooler! but… let’s see what i come up with.
@dargelos - world machine looks nice. almost too nice! i would buy the software and others (terragen?!) in an instant - but: i really wouldn’t buy into any piece of new software at all. tbh, i did this for years - always have to learn a new set of tools and switch between applications for a workflow i didn’t plan in the beginning. i’d rather use the soft at hand, that is: photoshop, zbrush, blender… maybe my ol’ xsi701 will get some love, too… dunno yet. but, let’s get back on topic:
my map is: 9703 x 7767 px large
i want to work at double res: 19406 x 15534 px
crazy, i know that, man!!
here’s my plan for now: (thanks to your input!)
the map is a ‘highly’ distorted pacific-map, to fit all of the pacific area into place that was involved in the second worldwar pacific theatre of operations.
it’s for a game (a wargame/simulation) - rather a mod of a wargame-map, ok?!
the map is to be tiled into pieces of 1500 x 1500 px (3000x3000px working res) and later fit in photoshop to be cleaned and finalized(the edges… i don’t have a solution for the edges of my 3000x3000px tiles). anyhow, i plan to work on a mesh-plane in zbrush - the fit to canvas option is great for keeping the dimensions. since the whole map is soooo large, one can imagine that you’ll have a pretty high viewing altitude… that’s why i didn’t ‘have’ to see the topography from the side(there will be details, but not that fine, tiny and cute kind of details… i’ll leave the palmtrees and wavetops, ok?!) - but it’s a nice side-effect! so, working in full 3d and going between zbrush and photoshop with the help of zapplink shouldn’t be to hard. i don’t need dem-data or the like for displacement, though… i’m going for a hand-made-look here… still a little photoreal but no overkill! just the right balance between good looks AND usability! that’s right, USABILITY: because the map will feature a hexgrid - and every hex contains terrain-information, visual clues to know where do mountains end and rubble begins, deserts start and urban areas end… you’ll get the idea, not?
that’s it for now - i’ll keep you updated - please keep your ideas coming, too!
cheers!
chem!
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