Unpaid Commission - 3d Experiment

This is my WIP for an unpaid commission by Shifty on this thread.

I'm learning a lot of this as I go along, so it won't be quick and I'll be asking for lots of advice!

So here are the first 3 images.

Shifty's original sketch
The model
The sketch wrapped on the model.

The next step will be to try and figure out what colours / textures to use that will fit this sort of map and to work out what I do for forests etc.

I'm thinking that oversized models of cities etc. would work quite well for this sort of map...so it almost looks like a table-top model rather than real terrain.

Very nice although on the third image the mountain ridge looks a bit... suddenly overwhelming

I agree on the cities, that would look cool.

Cheers Guys. Jasper, once I've finished the texturing I might go back and play with the model (ohh that sounds like fun, shame it's not that sort of a model) and bring those mountains down a bit...I agree, they are a bit huge, but if I'm going for a table-top look that might be a good thing??? Not sure...

Exaggeration would be a good thing for this...like the old board game Life with the little plastic houses and hills.

I've often found when working with 3D terrain, what looks good in a isometric view is hardly noticeable in a top down - you almost always have to over exagerate in order make the hills and mountains appear as such in a top down. This of course all depends on brightness of the light source, shadow values and textures used. Thus I find creating 3D terrain less useful for cartography than creating structures, statues, trees and other 3D objects.

GP

Yeah I found that too, although that's mitigated to some extent by using RobA's forced perspective technique. I'll keep trucking...maybe the best way is to have it displayed at an angle.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ascension

Exaggeration would be a good thing for this...like the old board game Life with the little plastic houses and hills.

---

I LOVED that game as a kid, particularly because the board had those 3d bits to it. Even the poor house looked cool.

Here's the next render, trying to get a decent texture for the mountain Range.

Ooo, I like that. That looks sweet.