Map drawing stuff

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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #15 on: 07 June 2008, 11:39:54 »

Yay! The Bombox and the Parpalm!

One problem: you want your tree to not have too 'varied' a silhouette, otherwise it looks strange when you are duplicating it many times. Pretty as number three (Bombox Palm) is, you might want to try putting the trunk more upright. But play around with it and see how it looks... Number four is great - even so tiny you can see the 'rings' of the Parpalm!


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Artimidor Federkiel

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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #16 on: 07 June 2008, 15:28:55 »

Yeah, this looks pretty cool already, Smee

And it doesn't hurt to have some variety in the palm design - the more different versions we have the more interesting a whole forest will look, you can also flip them etc.

Also make sure that at the bottom you have a piece of transition/smeared half transparent landscape (see the other trees), this allows them to be pasted much easier on a map, so that the trees doesn't look like an alien element if you make a forest with them.


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Smee

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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #17 on: 07 June 2008, 17:21:05 »

Quote

Note that it is definitely not easy to start with an island that is extremely small

Is this really the case?

Even at the final size, these islands are so small that from my view it obscures little mistakes I might make on my first map-making adventure.

Hopefully by the time I'm done, I'll be at a point where I'll be able to cope with an area that'll get closer scrutiny.

~

I'm glad you like the palms. Last night during the downtime I attempted to put them into a jungle on the largest island.

Here's the result.

Click for full size again.

Should I put this waffle in a seperate Shoals thread, or we ok in here?

EDIT:

By the way, the copying the selection tip was awesome. Took me a little while to work out how to do it, but it was very useful.


« Last Edit: 07 June 2008, 17:25:12 by Smee »	Logged

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Artimidor Federkiel

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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #18 on: 07 June 2008, 17:35:08 »

Well, there seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding here regarding the way you use your palms to make a forest, Smee. Because when I look at your map I don't see anything anymore of your palm, know what I mean?

Have a look at the Manthrian map, and be aware that the Manthrian map is the same scale as the Scattersand Shoals map you try to deal with now. This means that trees shown on the Shoals map should be shown in the same size as on the Manthrian map. The trees are a symbolic representation anway, so we don't put every single tree on the map, so you should ideally just paste a bunch of palms around the isle, so that they are nicely recognizeable by the viewer. If you put it next to the Manthrian map it should look the same style. What I can see here right now looks more like a grass texture - it isn't identifyable for the viewer as a forest.


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Smee

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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #19 on: 07 June 2008, 19:20:15 »

Yeah, I know it's the same scale. But, aah, I think I may have twigged what you were meaning about the small size then.

Ok - no problem. Plan B

EDIT:

I think I'm on the right lines now with the main island... this is full sized.

I'm umming and aaahing about the twin-palm. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. But at a glance, I see the collection of trees, and I'm still thinking desert island, rather than jungle, maybe I just need to darken the inner land, leaving the whiter areas at the edge to mark the beaches?


« Last Edit: 08 June 2008, 01:59:45 by Smee »	Logged

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Mannix

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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #20 on: 07 June 2008, 19:40:14 »

That looks really good Smee. A lot more like the Matharia map. thumbup

Keep up the good work! grin


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Artimidor Federkiel

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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #21 on: 07 June 2008, 20:23:07 »

Have you got your palms on an own layer in the Resource file, Smee? If so, please send them to me. - I might have a look at it and adjust it a bit, so that you see how I'd improve it a bit. You know, one perfect palm copied hundreds of time might make a perfect wood - if the palm isn't completely perfect, this also multiplies. So getting the single map icons done best is the key to the whole thing


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Smee

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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #22 on: 07 June 2008, 20:30:52 »

Sent to your MSN Yahoo email address.


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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #23 on: 07 June 2008, 21:28:48 »

The address isn't really in use, Smee - always use webmaster@santharia.com!


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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #24 on: 07 June 2008, 23:02:23 »

Ok, Smee - I've tried to show you a bit what I mean exactly. I've used the second palm you had and made a bunch of varying trees out of it - nothing major, but the varying trees makes it interesting in case you post more palms.

Looks like this then - you can also see that I've put it before the white background to see how it blends in with it. The bottom part is also important, as it connects the tree with the ground.

I've also made it a bit lighter (changed the transparency of the layer to 83% and then saved this layer again). I think palms aren't so dark. You can see both versions on the picture.

I've updated the resource file with the new version containing the updated palms, so you can download that one again (same link as above) to be up to date.

Here's how the palms then look like on the picture - note that there are no textures at the ground and other stuff that would make the map more complete, but you get the idea. As you can see - it is difficult to work with such small islands, you don't really have much space.


« Last Edit: 07 June 2008, 23:03:59 by Artimidor Federkiel »	Logged

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Smee

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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #25 on: 07 June 2008, 23:09:06 »

OK - I'll work with just the one good type of palm in the varieties you've created. Makes more sense.

I'll leave you alone for a bit now, and get back to you once I've made more significant progress.

Thanks for bearing with me. Despite at this stage it probably being faster for you to just create the map yourself, hopefully it'll lead to faster maps once I'm trained up

EDIT : Incidently, I'd lowered the transparency too, on that most recent pick I think they were at 65-70% ish.

EDIT 2 :

Yep - the single palm looks much better. I've also played with a little terrain, river and a small cave now too


« Last Edit: 08 June 2008, 02:00:50 by Smee »	Logged

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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #26 on: 08 June 2008, 03:04:53 »

Yay, Smee! This looks pretty cool

- The sizes look right, the palms are more realistic now, it fits together and fits to the style of the Manthrian map

If you've followed the description of this particular island as it was described by Gean, then this island is pretty much done already

The ocean ripples around it are still missing, but otherwise it looks really nice. thumbup


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Smee

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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #27 on: 08 June 2008, 03:29:12 »

Yep - I was following the description. It mentions central hills, rivers, pools, caves. It's all there. On to the next islands

As for ocean ripples. I spent some time on those. PSP8 has 'ripples' and 'waves' but neither of those do any good. I got a semi-decent look with a partial transparent sandstone effect, but again not great.

I'm afraid, barring a great discovery, I can't get PSP8 to replicate the ocean ripples.


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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #28 on: 08 June 2008, 05:45:11 »

Well, I can give the ripples a shot myself once you're done


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Smee

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Re: Map drawing stuff

« Reply #29 on: 08 June 2008, 09:49:08 »

That would be very cool - thanks

Anyhoo, seems I couldn't stop, and as it nears 2am, I'm just about done with island two. Don't worry, I won't be posting after every island. But this one is probably the most intriguing of the rest of them. According to the entry it features high cliffs, with rock formations on top known as the 'Teeth', with normal forest to the east, and beaches to the south. Alot to fit in to a small island, but I think it's come out well.

Oh, and I found reference to an inn apparently being on the main island, so I've stuck a hut in as well.

The passage between these two islands is also supposed to be treacherous, and most visitors enter the bay (where the hut is) via the south, unless it's a life or death thing (chased by pirates!). So I've stuck some rocks in.


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Map drawing stuff