3dCoat Terrain work

Prepare basic mesh topology with procedural or photo displacement

Terrain

Choose patches to focus detail on.

Sculpt mesh using surface tools to maximum detail

Use live clay tools

Add detail strategically and do not over do.

Avoid twisting and overlapping faces too much.

Use autotopo to create a low res version of high detail sculpted mesh.

3D Coat Retopology

Bring into maya and do uvs.

Project uvs and then do an unfolding operation to make sure vertical faces aren’t stretched or compress.

Divide retopo mesh into tiles or multi uv sets.

Import retopo mesh and snap vertices to surface.

Use the option to Bake to Displacement and not Bake to Normals.

We want our large scale features to utilize displacement and our small scale features to be normals.

Otherwise we get terrain that looks blobbier and less realistic.

One thing that really sells the realism is strata or nice edges showing the layering of materials.

Bake ao and curvature maps

Painting with displacement and then re baking ao and curvature can help create a more richer and detailed surface when painting with smart materials. Utilize maps, and orientation, and such as maks when painting.

PBR Painting