Creating a Heightmap in Blender

Video

1. Delete Cube and Light

2. Create Terrain Mesh

- add plane
- enter edit mode
- scale plane to size you want
- subdivide plane to match grid
- enter object mode

3. Add Multires Modifyer

- set subdivision to simple
- subdivide until level 6
- set preview level to 6

4. Sculpt Terrain Mesh

- enter sculpt mode
- set transform locks
- sculpt
- enter object mode

5. setup camera

- select camera
- set position and rotation
- change to camera view
- set camera to ORTHO
- set scale

6. Setup Render

- set render dimensions

The height map resolution is defined as SMU * 64 + 1, see Mapdev:height

7. Setup compositor

- change space type to node editor
- select compositor nodes
- check use nodes
- redirect Z
- add normalise
- add invert
- render

8. Colour Management

- set display device to none

9. Save

- set type to tiff
- set BW
- set depth to 16bpp

Need discussion on non square maps, camera settings for altering which dimension gets priority when rendering.
Consider using this type of material to help understand your sculpting

if your ram doesnt allow rendering large maps due to image dimensions, consider the render regions add on.

Height map Visual of build/walk Detail distribution