I've been fooling aorund with Photoshop 7 and a great deal of filters that I downloaded off the internet and have been able to produce, well, <whince> ok </whince>, landscapes.

I see other people's work and wonder what they use...and that is why you are reading this post...I'm asking anyone who developes landscapes to possibly give me (and/or anyone else wondering the same thing) how you do it.

Maybe even some kind of tutorial with pictures so we can elaborate from your design(s). Of course, if that is too much to ask, a simple reply would be ok, i guess...

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In general terrain generating software such as bryce, terragen, or worldbuilder do a fair job. Any animation sweet should also do a good job of it, Lightave and Maya are my favorites, though I have heard very good things about XSI as well. Finally, if you are interested in the 2d approach, I have had success with painting landscapes in painter with a wacom, Photoshop 7's new painting tools should make it a viable option as well, though the photorealistic qualities achievable in the aforementioned 3d modelers are somewhat more difficult to achieve.
Joe

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"Life is tough, but it's even tougher when you're stupid."
-John Wayne

Ok, cool, thanks. I've looked at Bryce before as a friend of mine has it---is there any special way to create a basic layout? I guess what I'm asking is is there some sort of tutorial out there as to how to accomplish this feat?

Also, I'v always wanted to look into Maya since I started playing EV Classic. However, I don't have $1000 (or even $4 for that matter)...

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well, an absence of any money would prevent your procurment of even bryce, but a google search for 'bryce tutorial' may lend some tutorials, but the sight (url="http://"http://www.3dlinks.com/")http://www.3dlinks.com/(/url) has some as well. I know of no 2D terrain painting tutorials, as painting Is not really something that is condusive to the tutorial format.
Joe

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"Life is tough, but it's even tougher when you're stupid."
-John Wayne

Early versions of Bryce (I think as far as 3) have been on magazine covers.

I'm sure that you know or can find someone who will sell you their cover disk from whichever magazine for $5.

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