Making better planet textures

[wpetula]

I've been working on a planet pack for quite some time now. I've made many planet textures by stitching together images from Google and Wilbur, but I can't figure out why they don't look as good as some other planet packs. For comparison, here's an image of a planet from my planet pack Precursors....

(Sorry about the lighting...it's much brighter in-game).

And here's a picture of one of@Gameslinx's planets....

From a purely surface-based standpoint (subtracting EVE and Scatterer), Gameslinx's planet seems much more detailed and much larger when compared to my planet. Maybe it's just me, but is there something I'm missing that would improve the level of detail in my planet textures (aside from EVE and Scatterer)? Should I use higher-res pictures when making my textures, or...?

Any suggestions are highly appreciated!

[Norocketscience]

14 hours ago, wpetula said:

I've been working on a planet pack for quite some time now. I've made many planet textures by stitching together images from Google and Wilbur, but I can't figure out why they don't look as good as some other planet packs. For comparison, here's an image of a planet from my planet pack Precursors....

(Sorry about the lighting...it's much brighter in-game).

And here's a picture of one of@Gameslinx's planets....

From a purely surface-based standpoint (subtracting EVE and Scatterer), Gameslinx's planet seems much more detailed and much larger when compared to my planet. Maybe it's just me, but is there something I'm missing that would improve the level of detail in my planet textures (aside from EVE and Scatterer)? Should I use higher-res pictures when making my textures, or...?

Any suggestions are highly appreciated!

soo, what is your resolution on your map? Try making more solid land and no isles. maybe make the terrrain a bit flatter. Other than that it looks good!

[wpetula]

1 hour ago, Norocketscience said:

soo, what is your resolution on your map? Try making more solid land and no isles. maybe make the terrrain a bit flatter. Other than that it looks good!

I use 4096 x 2048.

For making land, I'm going to try using cloud noise to make the basic height map. Then I'll mix Google / Wilbur images into the land portions to enhance the terrain. Hopefully this method will produce detailed land without creating a jumbled mess of islands and isles.

[Norocketscience]

try using a moon heightmap for atmo less bodys. also i would recommend 8192*4096

[OhioBob]

2 hours ago, Norocketscience said:

also i would recommend 8192*4096

I think that depends on how much PQS mods are used.  If the terrain is driven solely by the height map, then larger is probably better.  However, for some planet makers it is common for the height map to just provide basic height information.  The real terrain detail is added using PQS mods.  In that case there is really no need for a high resolution height map.