Sketch to terrain: four workflows

Terrain tools are very good at realistic noise and simulation, which suits the “make the terrain, then let designers fill it” workflow. I wanted the other direction: a designer drafts the layout first and the terrain follows it. So I built the same sketched layout (a chain of mountains across the top, two separate ones below) with four tools.

• Stable Diffusion. A heightmap sketch plus a derived map for ControlNet depth control gave consistent batches, but the result still has to be picked by hand from many.
• Gaea. Node-based and the strongest of the four out of the box: an island mask, Apex and Perlin noise for the blockout, erosion passes, auto leveling, then texturing.
• Houdini. The same steps, from a drawn curve and polywire blockout through four passes of erosion and slump to COP-based texturing. Fewer terrain features built in, but you can build your own tools.
• World Creator 3. Not node-based. Base shapes plus filter stacks gave two quite different looks from the same draft.

AI is the most accessible route once a pipeline exists; Gaea and World Creator suit individuals; Houdini suits studios with technical artists. On a team project, the sketch-to-heightmap idea became a pipeline that turned concept sketches into usable terrain in minutes.