Stuart Christensen returns with another Maya tutorial creating an organic terrain using a displacement map that was created in Photoshop CS5 and its 3D capabilities to in effect “test” the displacement of the maps you are painting before they are brought over to Maya to displace geometry that will make the terrain. Pretty clever!

“The 3D tools in CS5 Photoshop are perfect for creating custom organic terrain displacement maps for mountainous landscapes or rolling plains. This tutorial by Stuart Christensen will guide you through the process of creating original terrain displacement maps in Adobe CS5 Photoshop and the process of making that terrain come alive in Maya. The terrain then becomes a blank canvas for you to color. So once again, textures and imagination are the essential key to making landscapes come alive.”