Veil Vale - an experiment

[pyrandon]

(I interrupt this post for a quick lol @ "the foul punster!" That's hilarious. Now, back to your regularly scheduled thread...)

[Gamerprinter]

Hey guys, I'm getting better at map creation using the Xara stack terrains technique. I've actually improved my terrain creation work.

First I created a rocky terrain filled level. Then I drew a freehand polyline shape as in creating the next terrain, but I did not bevel it, rather I feathered heavily 30+ pixel feather and applied fractal plasma transparency at about 38%. This allows the rocky texture to show through the grass fill texture above it. I also added a similarly fractal plasma transparent smaller region with my standard grass fill. Altogether more complex and more realistic.

Similiar thing done on the foam at the edge of the sea and around the rock. For being quick and easy method, its surprisingly realistic, even has its on drop shadow.

Also I am being more "geologically logical" about create terrain stacks by the sea. First level above the waterline is large boulder/gravel, next is algae covered stones, above this stone with patches of moss/algae, above this gravel stone and then my stone texture on top.

Oh and to help scale things, there is a wagon track for a road running betweeen the shore and the rocky outcroppings. Also on the bottom right is a line of fencing wind blew it down 30 degrees from upright (actually a squished image of masked fencing).

Bad News: as a 7200 x 4800 pixel (200 pix = 5 ft) map in 24 bit color, PNG = 92 MB

So I saved it as a JPG in "High Settings", sorry RP, but test this for me anyways, despite not being PNG. (Still 8.6 MB)

The second image is a 1400 x 1400 pixel, 70 pixels = 5 feet, "med. settings" JPG for Valarian to try, if willing.

I didn't upload my PNG trees, yet, but I thought I'd try downloading Dridon's TREE PNGs in the Resources thread. Unless one of you have already done so.

Are you willing to VTT test this map?

Of course the first file is too big to link with thumbnail, but... http://www.gamer-printshop.com/images/shoreline.jpg

And the image shown is the Fantasy Grounds/GRIP version: (fence is cropped off in this version)

[ravells]

Bloody hell, that looks fantastic!

Sorry can't say more (in mourning here for rugby reasons)

[Midgardsormr]

Very nice. Those wagon ruts don't really look like they're part of the ground, though. Everything else has so much depth that they look like they're floating.

It's really amazing how well that technique works--I expect we'll be seeing some mimicry of it very soon.

[Gamerprinter]

Very nice. Those wagon ruts don't really look like they're part of the ground, though. Everything else has so much depth that they look like they're floating.

It's really amazing how well that technique works--I expect we'll be seeing some mimicry of it very soon.

Yeah I plan to add a few more tracks, vanish them around exposed rock area, kill the grass around them in grassy areas, and add an intersection near the big rock to the bottom left. Plus put some transparency onto those tracks.

You're quite right though, they are floating ain't they?

[Valarian]

Interesting. The interface is nice looking but the figures and/or grid are not to scale unless you resized the map. Assuming that each square is 5' of course.

Gamerprinter, does the scale on those look correct to you? Based on that grid the PCs could simply hop over the rivers/streams.

Per my original intended scale, no. The trees seem more like bushes and the river more like a stream.

However in Valarian's defense, except for the trees, this map is useful in whatever scale best meets its user's needs. Although I picture a larger scale with 40 foot minimum drop at the higher waterfalls, the user could see something like a total of 20 foot drop from the top of the upper falls and the bottom of the lower falls - the graphics work either way, thus a universality in the design technique.

But RP, you are quite correct in your assumption that the scale has been reduced to 25% its original.

The tokens are 50px scale. Based on the original image size and how this loaded in the VTTs, I interpreted the image as a hillside with a stream waterfalls and pool. The image works well. If you were to scale up the size of the image, it would work as a river gorge.

[Valarian]

The coast road encounter map in action using Fantasy Grounds and a few skirmish symbols knocked up in Campaign Cartographer (still a little rough around the edges with the transparency layer).

[ravells]

Heh....that looks really cool, Valarian!

[Gamerprinter]

I like the mixture of maps in that screenshot, giving you a peek in to the larger world, to keep the party fully understanding where and what they are doing at the time.

And as I said, above, whether its a river gorge or a hillside stream the graphics work in Veil Vale - a nice advantage for a single terrain map design!

Thanks guys!

[RobA]

I found in my references something similar (but handdrawn):

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ma...ppi_3fes3t.jpg

Uses the idea of flat "layers" of land for elevation.

-Rob A>