TS3 Tutorials Archive

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TS3 Tutorials Archive

Archives of The Sims 3 Tutorials

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» Guide to Houseboats in game & in CAW by SimGuruSemedi, EA IP Forum
by Archivist Thu Apr 02, 2015 11:46 pm

» Guests May Post Here
by Archivist Mon Nov 24, 2014 12:45 am

» Fancy Friezes Using Corniches
by Archivist Mon Sep 22, 2014 11:07 pm

» Building Basics ~ Lessons for Beginning Builders
by Archivist Mon Sep 22, 2014 10:56 pm

» Caw FAQ's........Links to Tutorials, and Resources. Textures, & Troubleshooting from EA Caw Forum
by Archivist Sat Aug 16, 2014 3:27 am

» CAW tutorial - first contact by Anushka @ Carl and Pam's The Sims 3 Forum
by Archivist Wed Aug 13, 2014 2:56 am

» Steam installation, and Caw by LittleMinxUndr
by Archivist Wed Aug 13, 2014 2:29 am

» Procedural Generation of Terrain Discussion and Tips: Two Tutorials Posted
by Archivist Fri Jun 20, 2014 3:15 am

» Why CC Should Not be Packaged with a World, & How to Ensure it Isn't by Simsample, EA Caw Forum
by Archivist Sat Feb 08, 2014 1:38 am

» How To: Upload Caw Files to Share by auntielynds
by Archivist Sat Feb 08, 2014 1:29 am

» Pinstar1161 The Legacy Challenge Rules
by Archivist Sat Feb 08, 2014 1:12 am

» Building Apartments and Bars using EA's Shells by Richdre @ BMC
by Archivist Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:19 pm


    Using Google Earth to create height maps by Richdre @ BMC

    Archivist
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    Posts : 220
    Join date : 2010-12-04

     Using Google Earth to create height maps by Richdre @ BMC Empty Using Google Earth to create height maps by Richdre @ BMC

    Post  Archivist Tue Nov 12, 2013 7:14 am



    Richdre wrote:

    If you are using CAW then you know that everything starts with a height map. EA supplied several with the program but most are flat and require a lot of sculpting to create a world. I've tried making my own in Photoshop but I'm not an artist and the results were bad. Then I found a tutorial that outlines how to create height maps from the data in Google Earth. I decided to give it a try and darned if it didn't work.

    Here is the link to the tutorial.
    http://builders.forumotion.net/t1151-tutorial-how-to-create-a-world-using-real-world-height-data

    I followed the instructions and after I downloaded and installed the programs required I was able to create new height maps using real world data. It took several tries to get one that I could work with but I finally got the one in the picture below. The data is from a small section of the California coast line.  A little rough but the basics were there. This saved me a lot of time because I didn't need to do the basic sculpting, I just flattened the areas where I wanted to build houses and smoothed out the rest. I did add some hills at the top of the map because I didn't want it to look like an island. I also added some more land at the bottom of the map. So bottom line,if your looking for new height maps or maybe you would like to make your hometown into a world this will do the job. I doubt that I will ever start with a flat map again.
     
    The original map

     Using Google Earth to create height maps by Richdre @ BMC 111






    After about an hour with the smooth and flatten tools I had a map that looked like this.

     Using Google Earth to create height maps by Richdre @ BMC 211






    Several more hours and my world looked like this.

     Using Google Earth to create height maps by Richdre @ BMC 311


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    Posts : 220
    Join date : 2010-12-04

     Using Google Earth to create height maps by Richdre @ BMC Empty Re: Using Google Earth to create height maps by Richdre @ BMC

    Post  Archivist Tue Nov 12, 2013 7:20 am

    Honeybear wrote:
    Thanks for sharing this Rich!  I had found that tutorial a while ago. So glad you put this up as this is a great tool which can save a lot of sculpting time. I created a world using this method because of the small selection of EA maps.  I had better better luck using an island and I found one called Tonga in the south pacific which was near the Samoan islands.  It is one of those unfinished worlds right now we all have in our dusty folders.  These are some that I've been fiddling with.

    Tonga
     Using Google Earth to create height maps by Richdre @ BMC Tonga10





    Hawaii

     Using Google Earth to create height maps by Richdre @ BMC Hawaii11






    Australia

     Using Google Earth to create height maps by Richdre @ BMC Austra10






    Please feel free to grab any of these should someone want them.  You should only need to right click, then copy and paste them into your CAW Height maps folder.

      Current date/time is Mon Mar 18, 2024 11:14 pm