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Here, I will show you how to create scenes with bodies of water with different altitudes, and then add waterfalls to them!

What you need:

  • Terragen - Any version with water! ;-)
  • Photoshop, PSP - Or any other photo editor that supports layers! Also, filters like Diffuse and Blur aren't absolutelly required but will help to make a realistic-looking waterfall!
  • A computer - ;-) Any that runs Terragen and your photo editor will do! Hey, I'm using a P100 and I made this image AND tutorial with no problem!

    Before you actually start this tutorial, it would be a good idea to read it over first.

    The terrain

    First thing we have to do is make a terrain! For easier control to make a nice-looking waterfall, I made one in Photoshop. It has a high canyon-like 'wall' with emptyness (flat terrain) on the other side. That emptyness is where the higher level of water will be! Once you've made a terrain, choose a camera position that enables you to see over the top of the canyon, but also the bottom where the waterfall will tumble into. Then set your atmosphere, lighting, surfacemap and clouds any way you want to, just like if you would be doing an ordinary terrain.

    Do a few tests with the water. Choose a water height for the bottom of the scene and a height for the top which spills over the edge of the terrain!

    Layers

    We're going to be doing a lot of compositing (layering images on top of each other) so it would be best to do several different renderings of only parts of the scene.

  • First render the sky alone. Save it.
  • Next render just the terrain with the water down below. No sky.
  • Finally, render the terrain with the water at it's high level. Again, no sky.

    First touches

    Once in Photoshop (or whichever program your using), open all three images in one document. Then organize them in layers. The sky rendering being on the bottom, the 'high tide' redering on the top and the 'low tide' sandwitched between the two. For all three layers, you also have to select the black 'edge of the world' area (magic wand in Photoshop) and delete it. Now you see an image with the high tide and the sky beyond. Now for the tricky part (but not really), see the picture below, on the left? Use the lasso tool (or better yet, polygonal lasso) with a feather of about 2 or 3.

    Cut where the high tide meets the edge of the terrain just before it spills over. Remove the area that will be replaced with the 'low tide' rendering. Use the eraser for the finishing touch, say you want to make a rock sticking out of the 'high tide' more pronounced. Once you remove the chunk of 'high tide' your image should look like something like the image on the right!

    Your image will be different of course, but in mine (upper-right) I see two semi-major flaws. The first one, which is not as important, is the reflection of the canyon wall in the water. You can see strange triangles, it's a bug in Terragen, it does that sometimes. To fix that, I just use the smudge tool.

    The bigger and more obvious flaw is the horizon. Depending on your terrain and camera angle, you may not even see it! But on mine it's pretty obvious. So I got rid of this 'edge of the world' problem using Photoshop's clone tool. It took a lot of work. I had to add the reflections of the clouds using a seperate layer to hide my cloning work. It was way too obvious!

    The waterfall

    Okay, now here's where you really show off your artistic talent! Unless you have a photo of a real waterfall that is viewed from the same angle as your scene, your going to have to draw one, but don't worry, it'l look better than you think! First thing to do is chose a location for your waterfall. Once you've done that, select the line tool. Yes, you heard me, the line tool! ;-P


    Create a new layer on top of everything and select the line tool. Using the line tool with a width of 2, draw white streaks that represent the waterfall's movement. If the water hypothetically smacks on a rock half-way down, go ahead and draw a splash!

    Don't be afraid to use different sizes of lines for smaller details, etc..! Remember to make this in a seperae layer!

    Now select the smudge tool with a stength of about 25. If your editor does not have a smudge tool, use the blur tool with it's strength at max! Brush the tool in the direction of the water. Brush it from side to side occasionally to blend the lines into each other a bit. Use your imagination!

    Next select the diffuse filter and diffuse the waterfall's layer once or twice to make the waterfall 'angrier'. Then use the smudge/blur tool again on some parts you feel are too rough. The top of the waterfall should be smoother.

    Create a new layer and place it right under the waterfall's layer. This will be the waterfall's shadow. Trust me, you want this! It will make it infinitelly nicer!

    Use the airbrush to spray under the waterfall. Use a black/slightly-blue color and try to judge where it should be and how strong it is. Make sure you spay under the waterfall's layer. Thin some parts of the waterfall to make the shadow apear stronger through it!

    Now it's time for the final step. Make a new layer on top of the waterfall's layer and use the airbrush to create the spray! It's colour should be white and it's height *about* half the height of the waterfall. You can use smaller or bigger brushes for finishing touches.

    Spray more of it where the fall hits the water to hide it's collision. Unless you really want to try to draw that too! ;-S Look at the picture to the right to understand what I'm talking about!

    Add as many waterfalls as you wish! Don't be afraid to use lots of layers! This way you can go back to correct stuff easily! In my pic, I added another big one a little to the left and three small trickles on the far left! Below is my final image in all it's rumbling glory!

    Written by Etienne Blythe with Notepad