Making a heightmap DEM for use in putting together a relief

Question

I'm new to GIS, and I'm just doing this as a hobby.
I've seen 3d relief maps like this one: https://i.redd.it/peq57uoa28c51.jpg and I wanted to try my hand at making my own. I used the topoView service from USGS, and was able to acquire a .tif file, but that's the furthest I got.
Does anyone know how to create a relief like the one in the picture above? It doesn't look like the original author has any tutorials or guides.

Tom Brennan · Accepted Answer

Basically you need two things:

A source of DEM data
An overlay to drape over it eg a topographic map source

The image below uses

DEM data from ELVIS (https://elevation.fsdf.org.au/ - search for Katoomba)
An overlay using topographic tiles from NSW Spatial Services (set up a new WMS/WMTS connection using
https://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/arcgis/rest/services/public/NSW_Topo_Map/MapServer)/WMTS/1.0.0/WMTSCapabilities.xml

Use the Raster Terrain Analysis -> Hillshade tool from the Processing Toolbox to create a Hillshade layer from the DEM layer
Set the Hillshade layer above the Topographic overlay in the Layer Toolbox
Under Layer Properties -> Symbology, set the Color Rendering: Blending Mode to Multiply

Making a heightmap DEM for use in putting together a relief

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