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How Do I Make a River?

First, let's hone our instruments a little finer.

1. Click on the two unit of measurement controls in the lower-right portion of the screen and change the units in each from yards to feet.

 

Now let's find a place to put our river.

2. Center the Top View on a nice lake that needs a river to help it drain, or just a good place for a river in general.

3. Right-click in the Top View and pick Center Camera, and the color of your active camera. Adjust the camera so you can see your work area in the Camera View.

 

Now we'll use the Polyline Tool to select the river's path.

4. Select the Polyline Tool from the Shape Selector Tools.

5. In the Top View, draw a line from the lake's edge along the path you want your river to take, clicking each time you want to change directions.

6. Right-click and choose Done from the pop up menu.

7. Click the Default Cursor Button on the Toolbar.

 

Let's make sure the river has a clear path.

8. If there are any objects, like trees or rocks, in your newly created riverbed, choose Objects from the Edit menu and, in the Camera View, move the objects out of the way.

9. Click the Default Cursor Button on the Toolbar.

 

Now we'll lower the river bottom so the water won't leak out of the sides and spoil our nice course.

10. To see how far you want to lower the riverbed, click and hold while you move the cursor along the surface of the lake feeding the river, or the low point of the surrounding terrain. Watch the Z coordinate in the Status Bar as you do this to get an idea how low the riverbed needs to be. It should be about one foot lower than the lake's, or the surrounding terrain's, elevation.

11. Select the Fill Relief Tool.

Set the altitude for the elevation you just found and use Abs. Set smooth to 10 and keep Clip by Selection checked.

12. Click in the selection to lower the bed. If you lower it too much, just choose Undo from the Edit menu and try again.

 

Now we'll flood the dry river bed.

13. Select Water from the Terrain Types

and click the Fill Terrain Tool.

14. In either the Camera View or the Top View, click within the selection for the river. It should fill with blue water in both views.

15. Any stray sharp edges that you find can be edited by choosing Grid from the Edit menu and then dragging grid points in the Camera View. Holding the Shift key will let you drag points vertically.

16. Click the Default Cursor Button on the Toolbar.

 

Now throw some rocks in it and listen to the babble.