July 2017 Entry: Somewhere on Watun Way in a nearby village.

[Mouse]

This is just an idea for the future, now that you've abandoned the first map, but maybe turning them into symbols as you went would help? I mean within the program, not exporting them and messing around with them in GIMP, but doing it inside CC3?

[Falconius]

Sounds like you'd be better off moving to Sketchup or something else?

[Tonnichiwa]

I'm not sure you can Sue, I thought to make a symbol you had to give it a transparent background so that meant exporting it to something like Photoshop or Gimp. If you don't give it a transparent background then it drags all of the background with it when you convert it to a symbol inside CC3+...well, last I checked anyway. Maybe I'm remembering the way it was in CC3. It might have changed for CC3+. Do you know how to do it in CC3+?

@Falconius I would LOVE to get Sketchup but it is WAY out of my price range. I don't want the 30 day trial because if I like it I don't want to have to give it up.

[Mouse]

Making symbols in CC3:

Menu item: Symbols/Define Symbol, then select all the various bits and pieces that make up a single building, then ok, then save the symbol with a name in the box that pops up.

When you open the Symbol Manager after that, your new symbol will appear in the list. Highlight it (or them, depending on how many there are), and save the catalogue in the same way that you would save any catalogue. You can also use the Symbol Manager to make random sets of buildings, and control scale and mirroring.

I'm not sure of all the tiny nuances of the method, but that's the basics.

I'm pretty sure that creating symbols will mean that the buildings take up no more memory that any other symbol.


Re - Sketchup. You can carry on using Sketchup after the trial is over, you just lose some of the more hi-tech architecture type of stuff, like cross sections and animations. You can't, however, use the free version (which is what you are left with) to do any commercial work.

[Chashio]

I thought that they made sketchup free awhile back, at least a version without the more fluid type modeling tools. Or maybe I'm mixing that up with the desktop version of Earth. Might check again, anyway. **ninjad.
I'm glad Mouse asked about the red text and I am very much in agreement with the idea of changing it, and that the city you did put together is quite nice. I like it. And the camel.
Sorry you're having so much trouble though. Is frustrating.

[Falconius]

Holy moly, that is expensive for the pro version. I was just recommending the free part though. In that case however I'd also have a look at Blender, I only avoided recommending it because I see people getting very nice results with Sketchup very quickly and it looks like it has a lot of tools and stuff that have foundations from paint or draw programs so it might be easier to pick it up. Blender is not intuitive so you have to sit there and learn how to work it, which is an investment all on its own, but afterwords it makes moving around to other 3D software much easier.

[Tonnichiwa]

Thanks Mouse, I still haven't had time to look at making symbols yet today. But I will.

Thanks Chashio, the guy walking the Camel is probably the whole reason for the map as something was supposed to be happening on Watun Way. No one said it had to be exciting But I'm glad you like the Camel. I've been dying to use him in a map lately so this one worked great.

Yeah, Blender is definitely expensive Falconius. I've seen it get used quite a bit on those television shows about home improvement though, so I'm sure it is considered a great program. I want to get the full version so I can make commercial maps with it and sell them.

I've got Blender, it is just not very easy for me to use yet. I still need a lot of practice.

Anyway, I decided to update the text so it is not so red. Here is the text with an off white and a black outer glow. I hope you enjoy it.

### Latest WIP ###

[snodsy]

This is a beautiful illustration, love your highlights and shadows, so subtle but works perfectly. I'd like to see the front Oasis a little more sheltered? Really like your mountain to hill transition. The man walking the camel is perfect.

I would take the numbered list a little smaller while leaving the Leading (space between lines) as is, a little tight right now and maybe a little further to the left away from the buildings? The compass may be a little large as well.

Should the aqueduct have a 90 degree turn in it, so that it's not just a straight line and would easily topple over? Maybe it's a broken column too but would support the structure some?

Great job, love your style!!!

[Tonnichiwa]

Thanks Snodsy

I've added a few more trees around the southern oasis and separated the words a bit more. I also shrunk the compass a bit. But the aqueduct is supposed to be a ruin that no one uses anymore it is basically the only thing left standing of it. It just hasn't fallen down yet.

### Latest WIP ###

[Mouse]

Looking great Tony