[agracier]

wondered if you could tell me your method for placing accurate rivers on the map_c file.
Do you just look at the greyscale and paint them in by hand in R.G.B.[0] in the valley's where it looks like they run before you do the white-out of the land?....Also can u give any addvice on good map referance for tasks like this?
Ive tried google earth but i having difficulty picking out the rivers when viewing from a workable height...not sure if it has an option to highlight rivers...hav'nt found one yet :roll:

Making rivers on my_mapC is a time consuming task and I usually do it by hand, using a paint brush tool at 3 pixels wide and then painting them on the large size my_mapC but with a tracing layer of map_h resized to the same dimensions as my_mapC.

I usually try and get a feel of the area by using Google earth, Google Maps and also with the overlays you can download at this site:

http://www.maps-for-free.com/

If you use these overlays it will take a bit of resizing to get them to the same scale as my_mapC, but it works out pretty well with some patience.

Mostly however, I use map_h as the main guide for making rivers. It doesn´t take much of an eye to spot the way that valleys twist and turn and where usually rivers run. I paint the rivers in y hand and if in doubt about their placement I will take a look at GE or GM ...

Sometimes you can also pick RGB values on the map_h layer, using a magic wand tool at 0 tolerance and then clicking on obvious river beddings. You will get a selection of same RGB values which should usually be river beddings.

Since I paint all rivers on a separate layer, you can then import the selection of same RGB values to the rivers layer and then fill in with an RGB 0 bucket fill tool.

I often use all of these methods on one and the same map, all depending on the geographical area and the size and extent of the river systems and what works best and most efficiently depending on the terrain.

There´s always something to be said for desert maps too don´t forget ... few or no rivers make things easier ... ha ha