Building custom terrain

[Nathify]

Okay, before anyone says anything I just wanna say that I searched and found nothing on this. I have questions about custom terrain. Now some of you have seen my dart trap. (You haven't? Go search for Nathify's
customs.) But, that was pretty simple to make. I pretty much just tipped some trees over. So what I want to know is, how do some of you terrain makers like Grishnakh and Jandarforever make your terrain? I really want to know. Because I have some great ideas but I just don't quite know how to make them. Will some of you PLEASE help?

[JakeAndy]

Foam!! It works wonders..seriously. I personally use green floral foam but thats just because i am on a budget, and this limits me to making small terrain only. I also like using wood, but it is up to you to decide what to use.

[Jandarforever]

JakeAndy is right. Foam is the way to go. You can use other stuff to go along with your project, but I'd say for the most part that green and pink foam is an excellent material to work with. Green foam is available at Wal-Mart and craft stores. It's really messy and crumbly, but for making stuff like rocks, it works really well. Pink foam is available at lumberyards, and is what I used to make both of my trees. I haven't had much experience with either of these foams as I'm still new at custom terrain, but I'd definitely go with it. Sportcult gives much better advice than I can. Here's his thread: http://www.heroscapers.com/community...ad.php?t=22147
A great tutorial is on page four. I'd highly suggest looking through the entire thread. His incredible stuff is what inspired me (and my stuff pales in comparison).
So yeah foam, and basically anything else that can be glued onto your project and painted, will work. For bases, I use either regular hexes, or popsicle sticks. If you cut popsicle sticks up so that they fit in between hexes, glue them together, and then glue a platform on top of that, you have a base that works pretty good.

[JakeAndy]

I also would say to check out sportcults terrain. It is my inspiration considering i dont like my terrain to look "too" realistic. If you would like things to look more authentic i would suggest looking at grishnak's thread
http://www.heroscapers.com/community...read.php?t=448
Or renquists thread.
http://www.heroscapers.com/community...light=renquist

[Germund]

I'm pretty new to terrain making myself, so perhaps I don't have the right to give advice, but I often think of the guy who asked the artist how he made such beautiful sculptures. The response was, "I just cut away anything that doesn't look like my subject."

Look at things not with an eye to what they are, but what they may become.

Also, don't be afraid to screw up. So what if you butcher a chunk of foam, or the thingie-that-you-found-under-the-couch-and-glued-to-a-pen-tip to make a laser cannon doesn't look like what you thought it should. Toss it aside and start over. Perhaps the butchered object could become something else in a later creation.

I enjoy reading the tutorials on how to make things, but I have never actually made anything that actually looks like the tutorials I have read. However, I have really learned a lot of technique from the tutorials that I have applied to other things. That, to me is the greatest value of the tutorials I have found.

[Gidian]

To be honest, there are thousands of different ways to build terrain and there is no "right" or "wrong". It would be easier to assist you, if you would tell us about your ideas and what you want to build. Otherwise our general tipps won't be very helpful.

I wrote a tutorial about building rock terrain. Maybe it is helpful to start with something easy: CLICK.

Or how about some custom lava tiles? CLICK (written in German)

So let us know what you want to build and maybe we can help you.

Greetings from Germany

Gidian

[Daddio]

As a "junior" customs maker here, I'd say you should cruise this board. There are a LOT of step by step tutorials, and our friends like Gidian are some of the best. Don't worry about trying to keep up to that kind of level. Just get started.

A couple quick tips for you.

1) Get some supplies: green or pink foam, hot glue gun, paint
2) Carve out some foam. Glue it together
3) Check out dry brushing techniques...discussed at length all over this board.
4) Repeat.

Be sure to check out the Speed Customs contests and enter one or two or three.

[Yodaking]

Yeah, enter the contests. Most of them give you something to focus your ideas on, and they all have a time line to keep pushing you to complete it.

Fully expect your first few projects to be a bit rough, don't let it phase you. That is the process you must undergo in order to get better at it. Experiment with different materials and techniques until you find the ones you like to use best.

[Nathify]

Thanks for the ideas guys. If it helps you at all I'm looking for realistic terrain like Grishnakhs dungeon.

[bad_calvin]

You just have to take the first step man. I do hope to get some basic terrain building up on roguescape this year to help beginers out, but really you just have to decide what you want to make and then just do it. Foam core, and foam board are great tools in creating terrain. There are a ton of other things that can be used as well to make terrain. Just look at some of the things you throw away to start.

A soda bottle. Cut the spout off flip it up-side down and it kind of looks like a silo. Take some foam core and cut little rectangles out and glue them in a spiral all the way around to the top. Take some pop-cycle sticks or go out side and pick up some small twigs and make a platform at the top. Cut some cereal boxes into little rectangles and squares and do some patchwork on the outside of the can. Then spray the whole thing with some black primer. Now take some grey paint and dry brush the outside of it. Then take some brown and drybrus your wood work. let it dry and have fun. For more detail you could make a little door on it. Perhaps make some little flags with toothpicks and paper.

You just have to use your imagination a bit.. and keep moving. Not everything will turn out the way you want it, but you will learn something for the next time you do it.

Making things look more realistic? Well that will take some time, but the real trick to making something look realistic.. is detail. Detail with terrain is pretty much adding and adding and adding to it. For the example above.. why stop with a stair case? Why not add a rail? Why not a light over the door.. heck why not get an lcd light and make it really light up? How about a sign next to the door?...

Anyway, I am blabbing on but terrain making just takes that first step. Don't be in a hurry, and if you are not happy with it. Keep adding or start over.

[Nathify]

Originally Posted by Gidian

To be honest, there are thousands of different ways to build terrain and there is no "right" or "wrong". It would be easier to assist you, if you would tell us about your ideas and what you want to build. Otherwise our general tipps won't be very helpful.

I wrote a tutorial about building rock terrain. Maybe it is helpful to start with something easy: CLICK.

Or how about some custom lava tiles? CLICK (written in German)

So let us know what you want to build and maybe we can help you.

Greetings from Germany

Gidian

Okay, here are some examples:

A wooden bridge.

A portal.

Some vines to hang from palm trees.

A soulborg like the hive that can't move.

And some boulders for a canyon.

[bad_calvin]

Okay, here are some examples:

A wooden bridge.
Here is one the Chican0 did, it is pretty sweet. He has others he did as well. Others have made some bridges here as well. Terra Genesis would have some tutorials on it, as well.

A portal.
Use pink board and cut out an arch and design it. I am not really sure what kind of portal you are trying to do. I picture a stargate like portal with an arch. I would put some of the clear colored plastic in the middle of it with a touch of paint and perhaps even perhaps melt some excess clear plastic on it to make it look bubbling. Then depending on if it was tech or not tech... Tech I would wrap some spiral phone cord around it and perhaps put an activation panel on it. If it was fantasy I would decorate it in glyphs and vines. I would put it on a plaform with steps all around. You could cut that out with the pink board as well. Texture it with the foil to make it look rocky. Paint it black, then drybrush your choice.

Some vines to hang from palm trees.
Go to your local wal-mart or craft store (pet store even) andy purchase some vines. YOu could make some out of wire and such but it is much easier to just buy some vines. Grungebob showed how to make some simple palmtrees from a $15 set of palm sprues he got at a pet store. You can purchase it on a mat and can make them however tall, short, or wide you want. They should be by the fish and lizards.

A soulborg like the hive that can't move.
This I really have no clue on, you would have to use your own imagination on it. I know that I would use a lot of plastic gears, wire, and perhaps some small christmas lights and tubes.

And some boulders for a canyon.
There are a ton of rock formations that people have done here at scapers. Just search. Basically just get your pink board and cut out your desired rock shapes. Paint them and call it a day.