First I'll preface this with; yes, I know where is the terraforming for Beginner's by Crackers here, most of which I'll go over in a closer look. Hopefully illustrated!
Feel free to contribute if I've missed anything, I'm by no means all knowing, this'll be pretty anecdotal and off the cuff. This' some stuff I use too so.
Introduction
Feel free to contribute if I've missed anything, I'm by no means all knowing, this'll be pretty anecdotal and off the cuff. This' some stuff I use too so.
Introduction
Hello! Terraforming is the act of resculpting landscape in order to make it more apt to it's purpose it's destined for. It tends to involve carving out and rebuilding land.
In Minecraft,particularly in Creative, happens to usually be in an attempt to create land that imitates the game's natural generation, or to make grandiose astounding structures that seem naturally formed or created.
Now, onto the actual things.
BasicsIn Minecraft,particularly in Creative, happens to usually be in an attempt to create land that imitates the game's natural generation, or to make grandiose astounding structures that seem naturally formed or created.
Now, onto the actual things.
The basics are actually rather basic indeed. There are two principles you need to know how to do;
Random & Curves
Randomness is one of the key ideas you'll need to nail to get a more authentic appearance to your terrain, because terrain doesn't follow a lot of rules. Not following a set strict set of laws will usually assist in a more natural in the long run.
Conformity is the enemy. I see it far too often where people will build parallel to their plot borders, avoiding straight lines, even if a little wavy would add to the effect. There's too many cliffs with a river in the middle running dead straight through.
Curves
Arguably the more important of the two basics, curves will be your bread and butter. Nothing in terrain is as square as you think it is. This INCLUDES, 45 degree angles.Forget what you know about straight lines. Staggering out blocks in longer curves is a common tactic, and if you have trouble doing it, grab some graph paper, draw your line.
Now colour in the boxes that have a larger amount of line. Use your intuition with colouring in your boxes if you choose to use this tactic, since you line will cut through boxes and be rather erratic, it's really there just as a guide to where you want to blocks rather than a strict guide.
If you're having trouble with what kinda shapes you should use.. Topographical maps. They're a very handy tool to use for things of this nature and should give you some understanding of natural valley and rise appearances. Google is your friend.
-Curves extended-Random & Curves
Randomness is one of the key ideas you'll need to nail to get a more authentic appearance to your terrain, because terrain doesn't follow a lot of rules. Not following a set strict set of laws will usually assist in a more natural in the long run.
Conformity is the enemy. I see it far too often where people will build parallel to their plot borders, avoiding straight lines, even if a little wavy would add to the effect. There's too many cliffs with a river in the middle running dead straight through.
Curves
Arguably the more important of the two basics, curves will be your bread and butter. Nothing in terrain is as square as you think it is. This INCLUDES, 45 degree angles.Forget what you know about straight lines. Staggering out blocks in longer curves is a common tactic, and if you have trouble doing it, grab some graph paper, draw your line.
If you're having trouble with what kinda shapes you should use.. Topographical maps. They're a very handy tool to use for things of this nature and should give you some understanding of natural valley and rise appearances. Google is your friend.
Let's say you want to bridge a gap between A and B.
How would you bridge that gap? How would it look natural?
Neither of these look natural;
However, not using strictly straight lines, or at least using them in smaller amounts with an idea of what to curve you want to use can give your terrain a nicer, natural look to it. There's really not any kind of procedure I can tell you since it's really just more or less random and following a line.
Planning!
How would you bridge that gap? How would it look natural?
Neither of these look natural;
Now you got some basic ideas under your belt, it's time to plan. While this' usually skipped for more experienced builders that already have a draft or idea of what they'd like to do, It's still a very important step to consider. Especially starting out.
Let's say I wanna build a castle with a nice hill, maybe the edge of a mountain.. I'll draw my castle in blue, and the terrain in red.
Note: Do not be afraid of your plot's corners! Build to the space you have, but don't be afraid to utilize the heck out of them.
Setting your vision helps overall, it gives you something to look at and debate about, something to show anyone else and ask for opinions.
Re: Planning
While setting out your idea for terrain, it's a good idea to do wire structuring to get a feel for how it'll look and what you're going to be doing.
Then filling in is quite a lot easier of a task than to build from nothing, and now you also know how large your terrain features are in game.
Subtlety footnote;Let's say I wanna build a castle with a nice hill, maybe the edge of a mountain.. I'll draw my castle in blue, and the terrain in red.
Note: Do not be afraid of your plot's corners! Build to the space you have, but don't be afraid to utilize the heck out of them.
Setting your vision helps overall, it gives you something to look at and debate about, something to show anyone else and ask for opinions.
Re: Planning
While setting out your idea for terrain, it's a good idea to do wire structuring to get a feel for how it'll look and what you're going to be doing.
A few random key things that you might want to consider during your planning phase.
- Bodies of water tend to reside in the LOWEST point they can find. It follows the path of least resistance, and usually that means down, or at the lowest point it can sit, riverbeds and lakes while don't have to be the lowest point on your build, basins like to be lower. Of course water can sit higher if there's no other way for it to go, though naturally they often sit as low as it can get.
-Plants get lonely! AKA; with foliage, single entities aren't as common as clumps or clusters, plants like company of other plants, try to refrain from spreading them too thin or having an alone tree without some kind of other bushes, ferns, long grass, flowers, ect around it. (Aslo; Make your trees! Growing trees is lazy and never looks as good.)
Blocks- Bodies of water tend to reside in the LOWEST point they can find. It follows the path of least resistance, and usually that means down, or at the lowest point it can sit, riverbeds and lakes while don't have to be the lowest point on your build, basins like to be lower. Of course water can sit higher if there's no other way for it to go, though naturally they often sit as low as it can get.
-Plants get lonely! AKA; with foliage, single entities aren't as common as clumps or clusters, plants like company of other plants, try to refrain from spreading them too thin or having an alone tree without some kind of other bushes, ferns, long grass, flowers, ect around it. (Aslo; Make your trees! Growing trees is lazy and never looks as good.)
Block choice should be your next though prior to building. Choose a set of blocks that complement your plans on trees/foliage, what kind of setting you want, what your building itself it made of, what biome you've got your plot set to, ect.
Three or four detail blocks along with your main block is usually enough, using them is a different matter. How varied do you want your landscape to be? Very? Use your blocks generously! Similar to the base block? Use them for flourishes of colour or choose blocks somewhat similar to your base (Like using green hard clay with normal grass, or coarse dirt and podzol). Of course, you don't have to adhere strictly to your chosen blocks, they are a rough guide.
Though while you choose blocks, remember the word 'contrast'. If you want to draw attention to something, use something that stands out more and don't use a lot of it. Like if you're building in a snowy setting, using darker colours for your main build on it will draw more attention to it than the surrounding terrain, though this is by no means a call to make all your buildings pink as it contrasts opposite with green, what I'm trying to say it use different shades of block to try and draw attention to your main attraction rather than your gorgeous terrain. (Unless you're going for subtle.)
World Edit & Voxel SniperThree or four detail blocks along with your main block is usually enough, using them is a different matter. How varied do you want your landscape to be? Very? Use your blocks generously! Similar to the base block? Use them for flourishes of colour or choose blocks somewhat similar to your base (Like using green hard clay with normal grass, or coarse dirt and podzol). Of course, you don't have to adhere strictly to your chosen blocks, they are a rough guide.
Though while you choose blocks, remember the word 'contrast'. If you want to draw attention to something, use something that stands out more and don't use a lot of it. Like if you're building in a snowy setting, using darker colours for your main build on it will draw more attention to it than the surrounding terrain, though this is by no means a call to make all your buildings pink as it contrasts opposite with green, what I'm trying to say it use different shades of block to try and draw attention to your main attraction rather than your gorgeous terrain. (Unless you're going for subtle.)
Are super useful tools, yes. Though, you don't need them. A lot of terrain is better done by hand, though skilled users of either tool can make wonderful terrain quickly, Voxel Sniper isn't the most accessible plugin on the server and Worldedit tends to lend itself to be more clunky and rigid side of the cake.
Neither of these tools are quick fixes by any means, they are usually conveniences that would otherwise just save you time (Like using WE to flatten land or make a large filling block).
Building ON your terrainNeither of these tools are quick fixes by any means, they are usually conveniences that would otherwise just save you time (Like using WE to flatten land or make a large filling block).
Some will say build your structures before you terraform, some will say afterwords. I'm personally in the camp that builds onto terrain so that I know what I'm working with, and can make the building mesh with the surroundings as good as I can help it. Though; the appeal with the opposite is building your structures to a high standard without having to worry about ruining your carefully created terrain or interrupting something that would otherwise been fine. Overall, it's up to you what approach you take. One is good for some thing, the other works better for others.
I'd argue that building your terrain after larger structures would be a wiser move, but smaller things after sculpting out your landscape.
TreesI'd argue that building your terrain after larger structures would be a wiser move, but smaller things after sculpting out your landscape.
While not strictly PART of terrain, I'll include a bit of a crash course here.
Trees are strange things to build, just because they come in all kind of shapes and sizes. The first thing you're going to want to do is figure out what kind of trees you're using, then stick with the style for same or similar plants.
Let's take a generic tree, for simplicity's sake.
In Minecraft's default generation, they're sticks with some tuft on top; this, is not what we want. You know those 'large' oak trees? We're going more for that. Branches, most notably so. I'll use my super blinding neon glass trees as an example since I screenshot them while making 'em. The branch part is more or less what I want to draw attention to rather than the leaves themselves, since the trunk is essentially what I want to show.
What I've done is essentially make a slightly curvy line from the ground up, then made a bunch of lines coming off of it in random directions where it splits. While it looks imposing it's far from it.
Now, I'm just going to throw out a bunch of mistakes I see a lot.
Ideal you'll want a bunch of leaves. Don't be too scared of using a shedload of leaves on your trees, they're what give it the majority of it's shape, NOT the branches.
Note: You can use World edit to replace your logs with the 'only bark' variants.
Re:Note: You could also use stained glass panes and blocks to give your trees a different texture than just leaves.
OtherTrees are strange things to build, just because they come in all kind of shapes and sizes. The first thing you're going to want to do is figure out what kind of trees you're using, then stick with the style for same or similar plants.
Let's take a generic tree, for simplicity's sake.
In Minecraft's default generation, they're sticks with some tuft on top; this, is not what we want. You know those 'large' oak trees? We're going more for that. Branches, most notably so. I'll use my super blinding neon glass trees as an example since I screenshot them while making 'em. The branch part is more or less what I want to draw attention to rather than the leaves themselves, since the trunk is essentially what I want to show.
What I've done is essentially make a slightly curvy line from the ground up, then made a bunch of lines coming off of it in random directions where it splits. While it looks imposing it's far from it.
Now, I'm just going to throw out a bunch of mistakes I see a lot.
Ideal you'll want a bunch of leaves. Don't be too scared of using a shedload of leaves on your trees, they're what give it the majority of it's shape, NOT the branches.
Note: You can use World edit to replace your logs with the 'only bark' variants.
Re:Note: You could also use stained glass panes and blocks to give your trees a different texture than just leaves.
Just notes and stuff;
- In natural Minecraft, grass is very rarely flat against stone, usually at least having another dirt block under it (Grass > Dirt > Stone), this particularly seems to be evident with steep hills and mountains.
- If you want a decent rank, doing terraforming would be a good idea, but remember to have a decent amount of structure too!
- Don't be afraid to ask for opinions and other members! The A rank members are usually more than happy to help, Mods that grade can also give you a few pointers and a first impression if you just ask.
- In natural Minecraft, grass is very rarely flat against stone, usually at least having another dirt block under it (Grass > Dirt > Stone), this particularly seems to be evident with steep hills and mountains.
- If you want a decent rank, doing terraforming would be a good idea, but remember to have a decent amount of structure too!
- Don't be afraid to ask for opinions and other members! The A rank members are usually more than happy to help, Mods that grade can also give you a few pointers and a first impression if you just ask.
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