Take a look at Figure 8.19 and make sure that your settings are the same. You want the Color mode to be 24-bit RGB, the width and height to be 256 pixels, and the resolution to be 72 dpi. You’ll probably have to change the units of measurement to pixels to be able to enter these numbers. Click OK once you have all the settings entered.

Press the Ctrl key and the Backspace key at the same time. This will open the Fill dialog box (see Figure 8.20).

At the bottom of the dialog box you will see a row of buttons with little pictures on them. Click the button on the far right called Texture Fill.

Now click the Edit button. This will open a dialog box where you can choose a texture for your heightmap.

Scroll through the different textures and click on a texture name to see a preview of it. The textures are grouped into seven different categories. You can change categories by clicking on the Texture Library drop-down arrow. There are dozens of different textures to choose from (see Figure 8.21) with millions of combinations. You can also adjust the colors in the texture by clicking on the drop-down arrow beside the color boxes. Just make sure you click the Preview button to see your changes. Following are some of the best textures you can use for terrains.

Under the Styles Texture library, there are a variety of textures that begin with the word Rock that are perfect to use:

• Rock-Cloudy-Cracked 2C

• Rock-Cloudy-Eroded, 2C

• Rock-Fractal-Cracked 2C

• Rock-Fractal-Eroded, 2C

• Rock-Speckled-Cracked 2C

• Rock-Speckled-Eroded, 2C

Under the Samples 7 Texture library, there are a variety of textures that are great for terrains, including:

• Drylands

• Polar Surface

For creating sky textures, there are a couple fills that are perfect. You’ll have to change the colors to blue, but the results will be great. These two options can be found in the Sample 6 Texture library:

• Cotton Candy

• Exhaust Fume

Once you find a pattern that you like, you can click the OK button to return to the last dialog box. You’ll have to click OK again to be returned to PHOTO-PAINT where you will now see your heightmap. As you make your decision on a heightmap, keep in mind again that the darker an area is, the flatter it will be, while the lighter an area is, the more it will be raised

Now that your texture is created, it is a good idea to save it. Generally speaking, you should save it as a .jpg file. In PHOTO-PAINT, click File > Save As to open a dialog box where you can save your file. Click the Save As Type drop-down arrow and scroll until you can select JPG—JPEG Bitmap. Now give your file a name, and then click the Save button.