In view of Clipka's warning, I repost here what I wrote in answer to the 
/first/ message.

On 28-9-2015 10:47, "Jörg \"Yadgar\" Bleimann" wrote:
> Hi(gh)!
>
> Of course I know that I can use procedural functions to generate terrain
> reliefs and even entire planets (like I did back in 2010 with my
> Ghurghusht project)... but when I want to have full control over the
> distribution of land and sea, of river networks and terrain forms, there
> is no other chance but doing it in the old-fashioned cartographic way
> (like I did since I was eight years old, long before POV-Ray and modern
> computers).
>
> The main problem arising is: I want to paint my planet in a mostly
> undistorted fashion, but then have to convert this original map into a
> simple cylindrical projection. So I started with two circular
> hemispheres (west and east), painted the landforms and then stretched
> each line of each hemisphere to match the full diameter length, so that
> finally I got a 2:1 ratio map to be wrapped around a sphere.
>
> Even for a map of only 802 by 401 pixels (attached here) this is
> cumbersome work when done manually with an image processor (I used
> GIMP), so I will write a C++ program which does this work automatically.

There is a small utility which might help you perhaps in designing 
planetary maps. Can be found at: http://planetgenesis.sourceforge.net/

It might not be exactly what you want but it does an interesting job. 
You could use its output as a basis for further design in Gimp

[...]

>
> But what is M 720/Ilthanalg about? Here is the story:
>
>[...]

Nice!


-- 
Thomas

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