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My question will definitely sound incredibly noobish, but I started to play with 3D graphics and Blender just a few days ago (after a month-lasting struggle with OpenGL basics) and I've run into trouble.

I have "created" a nice small bunch of models for a 3D game, determined that I wouldn't use a single texture for the appearence of the objects. This is what they look like: A bench, house, trees and stones

Right now I'm trying to create some environment (terrain, lights...), but all of my previous attempts have failed.

  1. I tried to create a hill without modifying it´s color. Result: the hill is unrecognizable, it has just the same color as everything else.

Can you see it? I can't.

  1. I played with Z-transparency. Result: better, but nothing delighting.

Huh?! What the hack is this?

Instead of trying and experiencing failure again, I want to ask: is there any way I could create (a visible) terrain consisting of hills and valleys without using textures? Are there any specific ways of doing things when doing "cartoon graphics"?

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    $\begingroup$ You need to use better lighting. If you have shadows and such, you will see the form better. $\endgroup$ – GiantCowFilms Feb 15 '15 at 17:25
  • $\begingroup$ Thank you... Well, I'm a beginner. What does better lighting include? Right now I'm using point lights from several sides of the scene. Do I need to add something special for better shadows? $\endgroup$ – user35443 Feb 15 '15 at 17:27
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    $\begingroup$ Use a sun as main light to get better shadows. A sun is a "all scene" light that has parallel rays from anywhere. Just give it an angle (try 45° to see) and your whole scene has shadows. Add some other types to make things look better here or there. $\endgroup$ – Bithur Feb 15 '15 at 17:33
  • $\begingroup$ reduce sun's size (properties) to get sharper shadows. $\endgroup$ – Bithur Feb 15 '15 at 17:40
  • $\begingroup$ Wow, thank you. Just one more question: if I want "hills" on an adjusted plane to drop shadows, is there something special I've got to do? $\endgroup$ – user35443 Feb 15 '15 at 17:45
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  • enable Ambient occlusion to get better lighting " you should lower the light source intensity "
  • move the light source to get the shadows where you want
  • use proportional editing to create hills
  • add decimate modifier to get the LOW POLY look
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  • $\begingroup$ This doesn't really answer the question $\endgroup$ – GiantCowFilms Feb 16 '15 at 4:04

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