WIP : Port Sol

[Katerek]

I really like the technique you are using on the various buildings. It is a nice approach to adding color. I am curious as to how you are doing it - is it entirely by hand?

[Absinth]

Katerek, I guess you're referring to the houses, that have a different colored border/frame to make them look like buildings with flat roofs, that have a low encircling "wall" that surrounds the roof or terrace. I'm just using selections to create them. When I've done the outline, I'm just resizing the selection (making it smaller) and then just drop the lighter color into it. I'll add shadows to the darker, encircling sections in the end, to hopefully make it look more like roof terraces.

Now, there's another WIP update. There aren't many exciting changes in this one, but the ones that can be seen, were time-consuming nonetheless.
I finished the ruins (and am quite pleased with them, which might be the main reason for posting this update... ) and the walls surrounding some of the buildings. I'll finish the buildings next.

[Absinth]

Well, it's time to post another update. In this one, a lot has been done. I finished the buildings and their walls and then I did the trees.
The trees were pure horror! I tried about a dozen approaches to doing them while in the back of my head I tried to put together a believeable reason for why there's not a single tree in a city at the coast of an island that's covered with jungles... I failed a whole lot of sanity checks in the two dreadful nights I took on this thrice-cursed and rotten vegetation. Well, as you can see, it hasn't gone that far...
I managed to get some trees done and they're looking kinda okay I guess.
I also did the shading and hopefully corrected all the errors that were pointed out earlier in this thread.
There are only a few things, that need to be done and then it's off to the finished map secion! Yay!

But first, I need an advice. I don't know how to do realistic looking dome-structures. As you can see, there are several dome-like buildings, that just look flat now. I tried using the globe creator plug-in, but I couldn't come up with nice results. Does any of you know a nice way to create domes or temples or similar buildings? I don't need anything fancy, I just need a technique to do the shading in a way, that makes it look dome- or globe-like. I couldn't find a tutorial for something like this on the net.

[Steel General]

Well the easiest way would be to download a mostly clear dome already done from someplace like the Dundjinni forums, then apply a texture to it.

Or you could use circles with a bevel applied and then adjust the shadow/highlights until you get what you like.

There's also a way to do it with Dodge/Burn - but I'm not that familiar with that one.

[Alecthar]

Looking really good. I still think it would be worthwhile to give a bit of texture and bevel to your crenelations (that's what the extension of a wall like that is called right?). Just to set them apart from the rest a bit more. It's slightly odd to have the stone-like wall with the texture-less stuff atop it.

[Gandwarf]

This is turning into a very beautiful map, with some great features. I especially like the map when I am zoomed out. Then it looks really cluttered and organic. Great layout.
Zoomed in it loses a bit of its charm.

Have some rep!

[Absinth]

Thanks for the kind words, fellow guild members! Alecthar, I don't know, what you mean by "crenelations". Leo.org doesn't even know this word... I guess, that you're referring to is the parapet of the giant wall, right? That's one of the remaining things, that need to be done before the map is considered finished. I'm also toying with textures to apply to the roofs, but I couldn't come up with nice looking ones yet.

Steel General, many thanks for your aswers! I'll take a look at the Dundjinni forums. Maybe there are some ships too, that could be used to make the harbour look less deserted.
I don't get the bevel-technique you described, but I'll look into it next time the Gimp is running. And Dodge/Burn sounds like an option! Thank you!

Gandwarf, I agree. The way uploaded files are displayed by the board software isn't that nice. Either you get it in a size too small to make out details or - when zoomed in - it's far too enlarged (about 150% I'd guess). The map was created to be printed in A3! In this size, there are enough details to reognize without "losing it's charm"...

[Steel General]

@Absinth - You're welcome...for an example of the beveled option I brought take a look at the WIP thread for my Vale of Tears Map, there's a bit of a discussion on how to get it to look decent.

[RobA]

@Absinth-

Here are the basic steps in Gimp I use:

dome.jpg

Note: You can also make nice "pointy cone" shapes by using the "Conical (sym)" gradient shape and the attached (zipped) gradient:
cone.jpg


-Rob A>

[Absinth]

Wow, RobA, thanks for the advice! You even provided an example using my own map! I'm stunned... This is exactly what I need! Thanks a lot!