Ethran: Merelan City

[woodb3kmaster]

You've done a fantastic job with this map already, Sue - the level of detail is stunning! Of course, it may be that I'm not used to so much detail due to my limited exposure to CC3 maps, but it's still strikingly varied, yet cohesive. Bravo!

As for the new trees, I'm not sure they're an improvement. I don't quite know how to articulate it, but they seem somehow "harsher" in contrast to their surroundings, if that makes any sense. In comparison, your earlier trees seem to blend better with the ground while still being distinct from it. Perhaps a mild blur would help soften their appearance? (Lacking any formal art training, I'm not sure what exactly would make the new trees look more like the older ones, or what kind of effects you can apply to them in CC3, but this is my advice as a relative newb.)

All that said, both kinds of trees look way better than anything I could draw from scratch, so kudos on getting them to look so good! The new trees might not even look that different next to the older ones, but that's just a guess on my part. Keep up the great work!

[Mouse]

Thank you, woodb3kmaster

There is currently a narrow 1% black outer glow... I believe this is called a 'stroke' in PS... on the trees to make them 'pop' from the background and stand out as being separate entities from any smaller shrubs I might choose to add around them. The tree symbols have inbuilt variable transparency (gaps between the fronds), so this glow is active within the symbol itself as well as around its periphery... which is probably giving them a slightly sharper look than was originally intended.

I was using a blur on the previous trees, which are in most senses the same as the new ones; both sets of trees having been rendered from a single manipulated plum tree model in Vue (a 3D landscaping and animation package) in more or less the same way. The major difference between the old trees and the new ones, in fact, is that the new trees are more subtle shades of brown and green, and comprise a stack of two separately rendered Vue trees with a shadow cast on the lower member of the stack to increase the overall illusion of height. This last part of the tree manufacturing process was carried out using a very old copy of Corel Photopaint

So far, I have 75 new trees, which I believe is more than adequate to stock the map without too much obvious repetition. The only shame of it is that I don't have a pine tree in my freebie version of Vue, so I might leave them out altogether, unless I get some kind of burning desire to try drawing one from scratch in Photopaint

[paulotutu]

Thank you Paulo

My name is Sue, but I really don't mind being mistaken for a dude. To me, being mistaken for a dude is a form of acceptance in a discipline that traditionally (in the UK at least), has always been a male dominated occupation.

Sorry about that! My bad!


Enviado do meu iPhone usando Tapatalk

[Mouse]

Not at all Paulo. An easy mistake to make when I give so little information about who I am on my profile! LOL

[Mouse]

LOL! I've got myself into a vicious tree loop. I can't seem to stop fiddling with these trees!

This is a comparison test between the last most recent set of trees (Type A on the left), and a new set I'm developing without so much shadow within the symbol itself (Type B on the right). This was triggered by woodb3kmaster's comments above, which I happen to agree with

I'll try to make this the last tree test on this thread, as I'm sure it must be getting more than just a little bit tedious now, but I would very much appreciate any comments either way - which set is better?

Better trees 2.jpg

EDIT: I know the Type B colours are more than just a bit OTT, but its the texture I'm more concerned about here

[ajrittler]

...which set is better?

I'm not sure I can say "which set is better". They all look great. The last version it's like I can see the actual leaves. Keep up the great work.

[Mouse]

Thanks ajrittler

I've been having a lengthy chat about trees with my friends over on the Profantasy forum, and to summarise what has been said (combining it with what has also been said here), it seems that the general consensus of opinion favours the Type B trees, but only up to a point.

After a lot of different views were taken into account it looks as if I might be using both types in different places on the map - the tough weathered looking trees for the cliffs, and the softer looking foliage for the more sheltered parts of the island.

Other considerations are that Type B is far to bright (which I already knew - LOL), and concern that while both types might be fine in isolation at any scale, type B in particular might easily meld into a sea of brightly coloured oil paint blobs the further out the viewer zoomed.

I'll continue to work on both types, possibly settling on an intermediate type C with the best features of both

However, progress will be slower now until I've perfected the trees.

The symbols I have left to do after the trees have been done are far easier, so I would say this map is within the last week of development.

[Mouse]

Ok - I lied.

This is another tree test, but only a quick one. In fact its more of a demonstration of the new improved Type B trees I will be manufacturing for the rest of the day - in the hope of populating the Island of Merelan with trees that will make sense with the general style of the map.

This time I have increased the contrast between the main foliage colour and the highlight colour so that there is more in the way of detail to be seen from a greater distance. I have punished the image by rendering it from a greater distance and then reducing it by 50% in an attempt to destroy the treeishness of the new pale green tree with silvered leaves to the south of the older Type B trees (which do, I admit, look very much like blobs of oil paint now that I see them in this deliberately degraded image)

I chose the pale green silvered leaf variety to test, because this is the kind of tree that will most easily be lost against the grass, but I think its survived pretty well, considering my attempt to slaughter it

Better trees 3.JPG

[ajrittler]

Ok - I lied.Better trees 3.JPG

Sheesh, stop it! (lying to us)

I think you've done a great job here, though I have to admit it's tough for me to see the differences since Better trees 2.jpg is at a higher resolution than Better trees 3.jpg. (I keep zooming in, zooming out to compare the two)

Better trees 3.jpg from a distance looks fantastic. Can't wait to see the finished work!

[Mouse]

Thanks AJ

You have answered a very important question for me - that of "Will they look right at the scale I intend to publish the map?"

Closer, and they look too flat. Further out, and the detail starts to do funny things and becomes a pattern that makes the tree look a bit odd.

Now at least I know I am on the right track, which is good news - since I'm in the middle of manufacturing a set of some 150 individual trees, and hope to have this map finished now within the week

MUCH LATER EDIT: Well that was a lie, wasn't it!!! LOL!!!