15 - [Inner] The Ward of Erahum [Mouse]

[Mouse]

Experiment no 2 - no drawing, no bevels, just shapes, textures, glows and shadows.

It occurred to me that the kind of terrain I'm trying to represent did not require me to show slopes, since the landscape is a terraced set of plateaus raised by vertical (or more or less vertical) cliffs. I only have to show the difference in level, which I hope is achieved in the tiny island test spot on the map (same island as last time)

Let me know what you think

### Latest WIP ###
Errahum_04.JPG

[Azélor]

Some trees seems to be placed under the cliffside. Is it intentional?

[Mouse]

Yep

The reference photo I'm basing this experiment on (up the thread a few comments now) shows trees growing in every nook and cranny of the rock face - even where you would think its nothing but vertical rock.

I'm actually quite taken with this technique - more than I was with the bevel technique, but I may do another couple of experiments before I really settle on anything in particular.

[Redrobes]

I think that looks good. I had trouble representing the vertical cliffs too but to take a leaf out of Falconius excellent 3D map I think he got it better with the darker more contrasty nature to the cliffside than I had planned. So maybe on the shadow side darken it a lot and on the sunny side give it some welly on the highlights. My problem is that I dont have a shadowed side of the cliff on my map to show that with.

[kacey]

The cliffs look good Mouse, but those trees don't look to be growing from nooks, and cranies. The way the trees are under the cliffs completely is making it seem like the rocks are floating above the ground. The first thing I thought when I looked at it was that it was a floating island. I think if you put some of the trees above the bottom of the cliff it would help to ground the rock formation.

[Wingshaw]

I agree with kacey...mostly. I think that the cliffs do look good like this, although the edges of each cliff look quite sharp. You'd think a fairly soft stone like limestone would have eroded into a rounder kind of ledge.

Regarding the trees, I think Kacey's point about having trees above the bottom of the cliff makes some sense. Think of it like this: the first ledge is, say, 15 metres high. Whereas some of those trees adjacent to the ledge might be 20 metres high. Therefore you'd expect them to overlap the cliff edges a bit (although I can see how that might be hard to depict). Also, it might help to show more than just trees growing on the cliffs: what about vines, moss, algae, grasses...

THW

[Azélor]

I think most people would expect to have a tree like in number one (picture below) but number 2 is also possible. With the ledge higher than the treetop.

cliff example.jpg

[Mouse]

I think that looks good. I had trouble representing the vertical cliffs too but to take a leaf out of Falconius excellent 3D map I think he got it better with the darker more contrasty nature to the cliffside than I had planned. So maybe on the shadow side darken it a lot and on the sunny side give it some welly on the highlights. My problem is that I dont have a shadowed side of the cliff on my map to show that with.

Thanks Red

You are definitely right about the lack of contrast problem. I've seen it for what it is now that I've come back to upload the next experiment

The cliffs look good Mouse, but those trees don't look to be growing from nooks, and cranies. The way the trees are under the cliffs completely is making it seem like the rocks are floating above the ground. The first thing I thought when I looked at it was that it was a floating island. I think if you put some of the trees above the bottom of the cliff it would help to ground the rock formation.

Thanks Kacey

LOL! The more I look at it the more I reckon I was subconsciously thinking of District 59...

I've been messing around with the idea of drawing everything again, and I totally agree about the trees. The more I look at the last post, and compare it with experiment 3 (below), the more I go off the idea of doing it that way (experiment 2 above)... but it will take me forever to do it as an actual drawing like below (I know - what the heck do I think everyone else is having to do?!)

I'm a CC3 mapper - everything I do is supposed to be fast

I agree with kacey...mostly. I think that the cliffs do look good like this, although the edges of each cliff look quite sharp. You'd think a fairly soft stone like limestone would have eroded into a rounder kind of ledge.

Regarding the trees, I think Kacey's point about having trees above the bottom of the cliff makes some sense. Think of it like this: the first ledge is, say, 15 metres high. Whereas some of those trees adjacent to the ledge might be 20 metres high. Therefore you'd expect them to overlap the cliff edges a bit (although I can see how that might be hard to depict). Also, it might help to show more than just trees growing on the cliffs: what about vines, moss, algae, grasses...

THW

Thanks THW

It was your lovely cliffs that made me restless about the bevel I was using before this - made me start to really think about how I was going to make it look better.

I've been working on another alternative since the one above....

This is experiment 3:

Scale question.JPG

I got carried away with it, and completely failed to notice that it was totally out of scale. Those crags are tiny in comparison with the 12 foot road. I really should be ashamed to show this, but I need to know if I do it again (but larger) would this look a bit better?

Thanks all of you for taking the time to look at and analyse Experiment 2 for me - I'm really grateful for your help

[Mouse]

I think most people would expect to have a tree like in number one (picture below) but number 2 is also possible. With the ledge higher than the treetop.

cliff example.jpg

Aw thanks Azelor

That's really kind of you

[Wingshaw]

Whoa, experiment 3 is awesome! And don't worry about the scale: I think it looks like a pretty plausible scale, overall.

THW