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Balor01
2011-01-02, 08:26 AM
This is a world map I made (lower half consists of rainforest), but I have no idea where to place rivers in order to make them look realistic. Could anyone, familiar with maps please draw a few rivers where it would be logical for them to flow? As said, lower 50% of the map are covered in jungle and subject to lots of rain ...

tnx :smallbiggrin:

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/7562/worldrivers.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/i/worldrivers.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

hamishspence
2011-01-02, 09:05 AM
This article by The Giant:

http://www.giantitp.com/articles/xO3dVM8EDKJPlKxmVoG.html

has a few recommendations- rivers should flow from the mountains to the sea- and multiple minor rivers should lead into one big river.

Balor01
2011-01-02, 09:21 AM
Awesome. Just what I need. tnx

Yora
2011-01-02, 09:25 AM
Look back in here in about 10 minutes. I'll make you a few suggestions.

I made them red for better visibility.
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/8861/riverss.png

As a rule of thub, rivers start in the mountains and head down to the next ocean, while finding a path that takes them as far away from any other mountains as possible. Your map only shows three levels of elevation (flar, low mountain, high mountain), but obviously, a river alway only flows down and never up.

Balor01
2011-01-02, 09:40 AM
@Yora
Lovely. I will use your map, I am just wondering regarding lower half of the map. There is suppose to be lots of rain there. Should that not mean a lot of rivers/lakes, even if these are flatlands?

Yora
2011-01-02, 09:51 AM
Probably. But without any indication for mountains or hills they could run anywhere. When the terrain is relatively flat, the water isn't channeled in a particular direction, so it's common that rivers make lots of changes in direction.
Like this:
http://c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000eGm25vcKfAE/s

Crow
2011-01-02, 10:29 AM
I think there are far too many rivers indicated in red on that map. You may want to remove some to free up space so it doesn't look cluttered.

A good rule of thumb is to only draw the navigable rivers. That is, ones that you can sail a ship up.

Yora
2011-01-02, 10:31 AM
That depends entirely on the scale of the map. If the map covers an area the size of Asia, there should actually be much more.

Crow
2011-01-02, 10:35 AM
That depends entirely on the scale of the map. If the map covers an area the size of Asia, there should actually be much more.

Not entirely. What I was saying is that it looks cluttered in some places. What I suggested was just a general rule which helps in avoiding that.

Balor01
2011-01-02, 03:09 PM
Cool?
http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/7562/worldrivers.th.jpg (http://img703.imageshack.us/i/worldrivers.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

Crow
2011-01-02, 03:52 PM
Very nice!