Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 17

Thread: Effective edges

  1. #1
    Guild Apprentice Forkbeard's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    30

    Question Effective edges

    Can anybody offer any advice on techniques or best practices for joining together terrain edges, where one type of terrain meets another? I've seen wonderful results in maps, but have little idea how those finish products were created.

    I find that similar colours and brightest are easier to work with, but for instance making water realistically meet the edge of a natural pool seems quite difficult.

    Any tips?

  2. #2
    Guild Apprentice Forkbeard's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    30

    Question Example of my edging...

    Here's an example of my poor efforts with edging...

    Edges.jpg

    I haven't exactly spent a lot of time on this, and I prefer to use very basic techniques I can automate.

    Any advice greatly appreciated.

  3. #3
    Guild Expert johnvanvliet's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    N 42.39 W 83.44
    Posts
    1,091
    Blog Entries
    4

    Default

    both Gimp and Photoshop have a tool called "heal"
    it is a type of cloning tool that blends
    ( the real description is a lot more complex and based on many PHD and siggraph papers )

    you can smooth over a hard line with it

    the gimp version is partly based on
    " Image Reconstruction Invariant to Relighting."
    http://www.tgeorgiev.net/Invariant.pdf

    a quick "heal" on the hard lines and arrows ( about 5 min. )
    Last edited by johnvanvliet; 02-16-2015 at 05:22 PM.
    --- 90 seconds to Midnight ---
    --------

    --- Penguin power!!! ---


  4. #4
    Guild Apprentice Forkbeard's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    30

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by johnvanvliet View Post
    both Gimp and Photoshop have a tool called "heal"
    Yes, I've used the PS healing brush tool, but mostly not with much success, however I've never considered using it here. I'll try it.

    I always found the stamp tool more effective, as heal tended to just leave a bit of a smudge.

    The trouble with edges on maps... they are discrete and masked/clipped, meaning I'm not sure how heal will understand what to do with the layers beneath. I'll check it out though and report back.

  5. #5
    Guild Journeyer Facebook Connected CaptainJohnHawk's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Kirkland, Washington, United States
    Posts
    119

    Default

    When I blend my edges together, I will typically overlap the media a tiny bit (So make the rock go a little over the stairs. Then use a low opacity eraser, and use it to "blend" the layers into each other. It has a mixed success rate and isn't for everything.

  6. #6
    Guild Expert johnvanvliet's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    N 42.39 W 83.44
    Posts
    1,091
    Blog Entries
    4

    Default

    Mostly i used a 12 px 50% hard brush
    set the opacity of the brush to 20%
    ( see the documentation on HOW the "heal" tool works, the brush opacity has a BIG!!! impact )
    --- 90 seconds to Midnight ---
    --------

    --- Penguin power!!! ---


  7. #7
    Guild Apprentice Forkbeard's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    30

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by CaptainJohnHawk View Post
    When I blend my edges together, I will typically overlap the media a tiny bit (So make the rock go a little over the stairs. Then use a low opacity eraser, and use it to "blend" the layers into each other. It has a mixed success rate and isn't for everything.
    Understood, but because everything is layered I can feather for the same effect.

    So... I'm off to try the feathering

  8. #8
    Guild Expert johnvanvliet's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    N 42.39 W 83.44
    Posts
    1,091
    Blog Entries
    4

    Default

    Understood, but because everything is layered I can feather for the same effect.
    but you can feather the edge originally in the selection

    you can even go back on a layer and feather it ( however it is more complicated later )
    --- 90 seconds to Midnight ---
    --------

    --- Penguin power!!! ---


  9. #9
    Guild Apprentice Forkbeard's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    30

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by johnvanvliet View Post
    a quick "heal" on the hard lines and arrows ( about 5 min. )
    Thanks for the example John.

    Have to say I'm not overly keen on the grayish tinge, and I like a sort of hard edge, but one that looks more realistic. So damn hard. I think I'll grab some screen shots of real water and see if I can recreate the effect.

    I reckon a combination of healing, feathering and maybe then re-adding a finer edge, might work though.

    The best stuff I've seen blends in shadow, so as to hide the result so to speak, but once you get the area lit, the effects look worse. Unless of course the subject IS a hard edge, e.g. a wall meeting the ground.

    With water, maybe a damp effect might also help to mask the edging.

    I'm a fussy git, but playing around is fun

  10. #10
    Guild Apprentice Forkbeard's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    30

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by johnvanvliet View Post
    Mostly i used a 12 px 50% hard brush
    set the opacity of the brush to 20%
    ( see the documentation on HOW the "heal" tool works, the brush opacity has a BIG!!! impact )
    Yeah, opacity is king, and a soft edged brush can be used, but like you I prefer opacity. I think I need a graphics tablet with pressure sensitivity More toys!

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •