Ethran: Merelan City

[Mouse]

Thank you Darcy

I am working very hard on it just now to try and get it finished - so hard in fact that I see I was tired enough to write south east instead of south west in my last post! (now amended).

[Mouse]

Version 47

I've more or less completed the lower half of the area I marked up yesterday (except that because its full of orchards, and the trees aren't there yet, it looks a lot too bare), and will move on to hopefully finish the housing altogether in the next version.

Then I just have the trees, tents and boats to sort out

[darcycardinal]

Version 47

I've more or less completed the lower half of the area I marked up yesterday (except that because its full of orchards, and the trees aren't there yet, it looks a lot too bare), and will move on to hopefully finish the housing altogether in the next version.

Then I just have the trees, tents and boats to sort out

Sweet, this is unfolding very nicely. How many layers are you working with now? and whats the load/save time for such a piece?

-darcycardinal

[Mouse]

Sweet, this is unfolding very nicely. How many layers are you working with now? and whats the load/save time for such a piece?

-darcycardinal

Hey Darcy Thanks

Layers in CC3 are called Sheets and we use them in a similar way to the way that Layers function in software like PS or GIMP.

I have approximately 135-140 sheets right at this moment in time, and add a couple more each day as I think of new things to put on the map.

Zooming and panning are relatively easy in CC3+, which is a lot faster than CC3 or any of its predecessors. Most people work with the sheet effects turned off, to increase the speed, but I have several sheets that without their transparency would be impossible to use with the effects turned off, and which I need as a visual reference. The relief shading sheets are a good example of this, since the relief shading polygons are solid black without their transparency and blur effects.

To get around having to work with the effects turned on in such a large map, I pick a level to work on (a level in the geography of the island) and work with about 30-40 sheets around that level visible, which reduces the time taken for zooming and panning to no more than about 5 seconds. I look on this time as time to think and consider my next move - to think about whether I should put this house here... or over there...or what particular shape to draw this or that patch of fill... LOL

Most CC3+ maps are about a tenth the size of this one and have only a very small fraction of the number of sheets and effects. With those there is little or no lag on zooming and panning

I hope that answers your questions

EDIT: Load time for this one? Approximately 10 seconds. Save time - negligible.

[Mouse]

A little list for anyone who's interested in the file size etc, and while I render Version 48...

This is a list of all the objects in the Merelan City map (I discovered the info button!)

It doesn't show the sheets or effects - I haven't found that button yet.

File facts.JPG

[Mouse]

Version 48:

The city is finished as far as buildings, roads and paths are concerned. Now I will start to work on the trees, tents and boats. The next version may be some time!

[darcycardinal]

Hey Darcy Thanks

Layers in CC3 are called Sheets and we use them in a similar way to the way that Layers function in software like PS or GIMP.

I have approximately 135-140 sheets right at this moment in time, and add a couple more each day as I think of new things to put on the map.

Zooming and panning are relatively easy in CC3+, which is a lot faster than CC3 or any of its predecessors. Most people work with the sheet effects turned off, to increase the speed, but I have several sheets that without their transparency would be impossible to use with the effects turned off, and which I need as a visual reference. The relief shading sheets are a good example of this, since the relief shading polygons are solid black without their transparency and blur effects.

To get around having to work with the effects turned on in such a large map, I pick a level to work on (a level in the geography of the island) and work with about 30-40 sheets around that level visible, which reduces the time taken for zooming and panning to no more than about 5 seconds. I look on this time as time to think and consider my next move - to think about whether I should put this house here... or over there...or what particular shape to draw this or that patch of fill... LOL

Most CC3+ maps are about a tenth the size of this one and have only a very small fraction of the number of sheets and effects. With those there is little or no lag on zooming and panning

I hope that answers your questions

EDIT: Load time for this one? Approximately 10 seconds. Save time - negligible.

Thanks for clarifying Mouse. I am currently using PSP X9 and started to heavily use those sheets that you mentioned. I sort of learned the hard way why its good to work with those and not just on one layer. Gimp is okay, and of course the premium program is Photo Shop, but never used my CC account that much, so I ended it.

For some reason, saving on my machine takes anywhere from 30-60 seconds, mined you its an old HP Elitebook Workstation laptop, so I'll probably have to upgrade soon.

Are you running off of SSD's on your rig?

-darcycardinal


EDIT: Post 100! Woohoo!

[Mouse]

Thanks for clarifying Mouse. I am currently using PSP X9 and started to heavily use those sheets that you mentioned. I sort of learned the hard way why its good to work with those and not just on one layer. Gimp is okay, and of course the premium program is Photo Shop, but never used my CC account that much, so I ended it.

For some reason, saving on my machine takes anywhere from 30-60 seconds, mined you its an old HP Elitebook Workstation laptop, so I'll probably have to upgrade soon.

Are you running off of SSD's on your rig?

-darcycardinal


EDIT: Post 100! Woohoo!

I have a bottom of the range 3 year old HP Pavilion laptop with a good old fashioned HDD in it, and only use an external SSD for system backup. In fact, I only have the SSD because I learned the hard way about the impermanence of all things when the main cooling fan on my 10 year old desktop failed during an overnight render of a fluids animation scene done in Blender

I don't think it really matters what software you use, as long as you can fly it, and I have always thought that judging a map by the software that was used to create it was a bit like judging the merits of a painting by the particular qualities of the raw canvas on which it is painted - rough, smooth, cotton, linen etc.

It doesn't really matter what you fly, as long as you enjoy it, and you fly it to the best of your ability

[Mouse]

I still can't work out where else to put these, and since they are being created primarily to populate the city map I will carry on adding them here.

This is the first serious dead tree symbol I've made:

Dead Tree 01 showcase.png

And this is the tree in use:

Dead Tree 01 in use.jpg

The lesson I have learned from making this version is: white branches show up in a really distinctive way, so don't add too many to the other 5 versions (I will be making five versions of each type of tree) or they will be readily identifiable if they are too close together on the map.

[- JO -]

The city comes realy fine ! Such a pleasure to see the whole picture !
It's realy great to see a long and hard project coming to an end (even if it's never completely finished... as always)

It's really a great map, and I'm glad to have learn a lot about the city through your progress in the making !
I do hope it will be possible to read your stories !