Sim City Style Satellite View: Volcano

Hi - welcome to the second part of the Satellite Map View Landscape tutorial series. (Say that 6 times fast.)

This time we're going to create a volcano for our map, with lava, smoke and the whole bit. If you don't want a volcano, catch the next part of this series and make something else, or read along anyway.

Off we go...

Step 1: Start a new Photoshop document, the size of which will depend on how big you made your map from the previous tutorial. I used a 500 x 500 canvas size.

Step 2: Select a dark brown color, and create a new layer. Select a rough, angled brush, like the "Charcoal Large Smear" brush, shown below. If you don't have that brush, use something similar.

Step 3: With the opacity set so somewhere around 20 or 30, paint in the outer edge of the volcano. This will be its base.

Step 4: Move just a bit inside with the brush and paint another layer. Keep doing this until you get the middle, or "top" of the volcano.

Step 5: Using the same method, paint in the hole at the top of the volcano, using black or a deep red. Once it's good and dark, create a new layer. Use the polygonal lasso selection tool (see image below) to create some lines down the edge of the volcano. These will become the ridges. Once you've drawn out the selection, click EDIT > FILL and fill it with black. Repeat these ridges around the circumference of the volcano until you're satisfied.

Step 6: Using the blur tool at around 80% strength, blur the ridges, starting from the bottom and working your way up. Make sure the base is blurrier than the top.

Step 7: Now, select the volcano layer again and use the burn tool to darken the areas near the ridges.

It still looks rough, but we'll make it better.

Step 8: Create a new layer. This layer will contain the lava, so pick a fairly bright red color, and then double-click the layer to bring up its Layer Style panel.

Check "Bevel and Emboss" and set the depth to something deep enough to get a nice highlight and shadow effect, but not so deep that it looks funky. Set size to about 5 pixels and softness to 100%.

Then, under the "Bevel and Emboss" menu check "Texture". I chose the "Streaks" texture with a depth of -309% and a scale of 57%, but pick whatever makes the lava look more lava-like.

Now check the "Gradient" box and set the blend mode to "Vivid Light", the scale to 140% or so, and the style to "Radial". You should now see a bright yellow highlight near the center of your lava. If it's not in the center, just click and drag it with the mouse.

Step 9: OK we're almost there. The volcano you have now might look something like a tropical spider attacking a mud puddle, but once you put it in your landscape scene it will look better.

Hit CTRL+A to select the whole canvas, then CTRL+SHIFT+C to copy all the layers. (Make sure that the background visibility is off (the eye icon in the layers panel) – this way you will get the volcano with a transparent background)

Paste the volcano into your map landscape.

Step 10: Play around with settings until the volcano looks right. I copied the volcano layer and set the lower one's blend mode to "Multiply", and the upper one's blend mode to "Color Dodge". I also roughened the texture of the lava with a brush, added some shadows near the base, and dodged (shortcut letter "O") the center to brighten the lava. Finally, I placed the volcano under a cloud to give a smoky effect.

Click to enlarge

I'm sure you can make yours much more realistic if you try. In the next tutorial in this series we'll start filling in the land with other stuff.