Procedural City Lights for Fantasy Worlds – Gaea 2 & Blender Tutorial

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create procedural city lights for your fantasy world using Gaea 2 and Blender. We’ll start by generating a population density map based on key geographical factors like coastlines, rivers, and habitable land. Then, we’ll use this map to create fully procedural night lights in Blender—perfect for globe renders or adding a dynamic touch to your world.

I’ll also demonstrate an alternative workflow using Photoshop with custom city light brushes to achieve a more realistic and customizable look.

Whether you’re creating a medieval world with sparse lighting or a bustling sci-fi metropolis, this tutorial will guide you through both procedural and artistic approaches to city lights.

In this video, you’ll learn how to:

Generate a population density map in Gaea 2
Create procedural city lights in Blender
Customize city lights in Photoshop for a more realistic look

0:00 Introduction
1:03 Kos - Example Island
3:02 Download Real world Heightmaps
4:09 Gaea 3D Setup
8:32 Gaea Population Map
19:17 Comparison to real map
22:15 Blender Fully Procedural workflow
30:41 Photoshop City Brushes
36:19 Blender Semi-procedural lights
37:25 Final Result

Tangram Heightmapper: https://tangrams.github.io/heightmapp...

Link to city photoshop brushes (optional): https://www.deviantart.com/1wyrmshado...

Tutorial for rendering Gaea output in blender:    • 3D Fantasy Maps with Gaea2 (Part 3 Re...  

Tutorial for creating a globe render. Follow the same steps with the population map as with the other maps here:    • Create a Stunning 3D Fantasy Planet i...  

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