I know I said I was going to work on the rusty grate texture, but life has a way of making sure that you don't get to do what you want to do, so I worked on improving my trees, and I increased the lighting just a tad. The tarmac around the drain is also paler. apart from the rust that isn't so great, I'm going to have another look at the basic rock texture - see if I can't find a way to stop it flip-shading on me (when one moment its rounded bumps, and the next its rounded hollows).
Bloodrock NEW 01.JPG
As a matter of interest, does anyone else have the flip-shading effect with this map, or is it just me?
I can't believe you lied to us like that! How could you?Those trees have gone back a couple of weeks as they have more leaves but still look autumnal
I love the colours of autumn.
Is it the border that's the rusty grate? I don't think the rust would be so uniform. I'd expect it in patches. Maybe you could find a dull iron work texture and then splash over some rust textures and see how that works?
Ok I lied! LOL!
I did a lot of work to give the trees more... voomf
The problem I'm having with the rusty grate lip (apart from it looking nothing like rust) is that its not uniform enough to show the shading and highlight that would give it three dimensional form.
I'm working on it right now, and might just have the solution - though it will probably take a couple of hours to get it to match in with the rest of the work so far, so don't lose your beauty sleep waiting up for it
Hopefully.... this one should look a lot better. I finally figured out why the concrete chute down into the drain didn't look right - I hadn't angled the shaded polygons right!
I've also succeeded in creating a far better rust texture for the metal grate lip, and introduced a shadow that hopefully makes it look like its sunken into the pavement/road.
I've also just noticed that I've got some kind of strange transparency acne effect (CC3 tech speak) going on with the bevel of the grate lip, but since its meant to be rusty metal I think it improves the look by appearing as tiny dents in the lip.
Bloodrock NEW 02.JPG
OK I'm getting this now. The sunken lip and the rim where the cover would sit if someone hadn't come along and lifted it off!
To answer your earlier question that I forgot to answer in my last reply here, no you're not alone - I too often have depth perception confusion where ups look down and downs look up.
4 am ??? Really?
Haha, trust Mouse to be up at that time!Originally Posted by Straf
4 am ??? Really?
I just realised I hadn't actually commented on this Mouse, but don't you worry, I've been keeping a close eye on it.
I'm liking the darker autumnal colours you've got going on (perfectly in season there Mouse
Without being told, I'm not really getting the rusty grate drain, but I don't really think that's an issue, as the border still works aethetically with everything else. Nic ejob so far!
Oh yeah - 4 amOK I'm getting this now. The sunken lip and the rim where the cover would sit if someone hadn't come along and lifted it off!
To answer your earlier question that I forgot to answer in my last reply here, no you're not alone - I too often have depth perception confusion where ups look down and downs look up.
4 am ??? Really?
What can I say? I get into a thing and fail to notice the time. Plus I tend to be a bit of an insomniac anyway - goes with being an Aspie. The body is tired, but the grey matter absolutely will not shut up with the thinking. Its like having a really annoying imaginary friend that keeps wanting to tell you all their wonderful ideas - some are good, but most are totally ridiculous and frankly silly! I listen to audiobooks to drown out my own thoughts, but often wake up in the morning nearly garrotted by the headphones, and with no idea how far I've got through the book! LOL!
I'm glad that I finally managed to sort out the drawing well enough for you to realise what that strange frame was all about. It was near impossible with that dreadful rust texture I was using before I really got my head wrapped around how to make a proper one!
You know me so well, GLS!Haha, trust Mouse to be up at that time!
I just realised I hadn't actually commented on this Mouse, but don't you worry, I've been keeping a close eye on it.
I'm liking the darker autumnal colours you've got going on (perfectly in season there Mouse
Without being told, I'm not really getting the rusty grate drain, but I don't really think that's an issue, as the border still works aethetically with everything else. Nic ejob so far!
And thank you for noticing the composition. It took me ages to sort it out in the beginning. Most of the gap between comments 6 and 21 was spent re-making and improving the entire 100 tree symbol set I'm using.
Maybe drains are different in other countries, but if you flip the top off a drain in the UK it sits in a phalanged rim (that's the rusty bit in my picture), and the walls of the drop are usually bricked or concreted down to meet the drain pipe itself - the chute I've added inside the rim. I've used a lot of artistic licence here, since as you can imagine everything should be about 5 times as chunky, but that would obscure more than half the mapping area, and I wanted to illustrate the fact that we are indeed peering down into a drain hole.
Any ideas on how to improve the illusion?
EDIT: You can tell I'm tired - I quite forgot that you are both Brits and therefore I don't need to explain what a drain looks like in this country! Never mind, maybe the description will help someone else
Last edited by Mouse; 11-22-2016 at 07:01 AM.
Flange! That's the word I was looking for. I'd been sitting here for quite some time trying to grab at it but it kept just out of my reach, if you know what I mean.
I have episodes of irritating brain chatter too. More lately I've been getting better quality sleep most of the time so I'm not going to complain too much
As much as I admire this piece I cannot help but think what sort of a deity would force subjects to live down a drain
Thanks Straf
I'm glad you like it. I have actually very nearly finished it now - one last WIP post on this thread to come in a bout an hour, and then I'm off over to the Finished Maps forum with it.
As for what kind of a deity? Hmmn... well I guess that would be me, since this little community is my creation. But I don't see that its really all that bad. The Inferosians, as they call themselves are tiny people - about the size of borrowers. Its this, or scurry around beneath the floorboards in some big old house. At least in this magnificently spacious fantasy drain world they are safe from detection and free to govern themselves. Everything's relative
Last edited by Mouse; 11-22-2016 at 12:30 PM.
This is looking really nice, like the layout and color palette alot. The texture seems a little heavy?
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