/3/ - 3DCG

I just realized all the terrain generation tutorials simply teach how to make some dogshit random mountains/valleys, but none teach how to design levels. Any 2 digits IQ monkey can copy paste lidar heightmaps, but what about recreating pre existing levels from other games that don't have heighmaps available, for example? What's the best approach?
I'm a pretty good digital sculptor, tested pasted a map on a Zbrush plane to sculpt over it and got surprised at how terrible the experience felt, the camera really doesn't helps to understand the perspective/depths of the geography, something a second camera would probably help.