June-Aug '21 Lite Challenge: The Bureaucracy of Water

[MatteBlack]

Hey Everyone,
Attached below is the beginnings of my desert map. Still working out the background details about this arid planet but as the title states, there's a lot of red tape to go through to get a glass of water. I'll noodle on it and post more about this world as I figure it out but here's what I've got so far. It's a topographical look at the water source and the city that guards/protects/administers/squabbles and barely functions for the people who need it to survive.

### Latest WIP ###
Layout_1.jpg

[Bogie]

Hey MatteBlack, Welcome to the challenge. Great idea, cool maps.
Unfortunately, one of the Lite Challenge rules is that you can not have previously won a Gold Compass.
Other Guild members who have won a Gold compass have also entered the Lite Challenge for the fun of it, and you are welcome to do so, but, your entry won't be included in the voting. Your maps are great and we appreciate you sharing them with us.

[MatteBlack]

Hey Bogie,
Thanks for the heads-up, I was not aware of this.
No worries, it's all about the fun of creating.

[Arimel]

Cool concept here. It shows that a desert is not necessarily a environment type but can also be created in different ways. I hope you will still continue with this one!

[The Elderly Cartographer]

Sweet! What program are you using?

[MatteBlack]

Arimel - Thanks, much appreciated. I plan on adding more to it this weekend plus fixing some bugs that happened as I was working on it. I was so careful and I messed something up, hmmm.
The Elderly Cartographer - Thank you, I built it all in Solidworks. The mountain layers on the right side were a pain in the rear, very slow and tedious.

[The Elderly Cartographer]

Neat! Solidworks looks like it handles a lot like Blender3D, which I am an avid user of.

[Adfor]

Even though this isn't qualified, it's still brilliantly realized. I want to see this finished, it's gorgeous.

IR

[MatteBlack]

Adfor - Thanks, much appreciated! Yep, I plan on finishing this up if my day job allows me.
The Elderly Cartographer - Never used Blender but I've watched some clips of guys building starships on YouTube with it. Looks pretty sweet, does it have a big learning curve?.

[The Elderly Cartographer]

The Elderly Cartographer - Never used Blender but I've watched some clips of guys building starships on YouTube with it. Looks pretty sweet, does it have a big learning curve?.

I haven't used Solidworks, so I cannot rightly say. But from the videos I just watched, Solidworks is for creating accurate 3D designs, for like 3D printing and real world construction. Blender3D can do that stuff, but is geared toward 3D art and animation. As Falconius says, if you are familiar with 3D software, the only learning curve will be the hotkeys and orientation of tools. If you start using Blender, I would strongly suggestion learning the hotkeys it will speed your work up exceedingly. I love Blender because it is free and handles better than the leading 3Ds Max, whose price is atrocious.