December Entry: Pirate Caverns - The old lighthouse

[Redrobes]

Oh I really don't mind what people post even if similar in nature. The map is going to be different and you are going to use different tools. The tools I am about to use are not released yet !. It would be interesting to compare similar ideas anyway. Its not like were going into pitch battle here and there is no big jackpot prize - just a bit of ego and I have enough of that already

I am going to post WIPs as I go with a lot of method / tutorial on how I am going about it. In a sense I wanted to post my ideas early so that I can plan and think about my map knowing that my declaration of intent is already in so nobody can think that I am copying but I don't see the issue here.

The ViewingDale sound bite is "Share the Vision". Thats about being able to share the maps (visual vision) via its net connection and download content as well sharing the ideal (prophetic vision) of zoomable high detail large scale mapping and is why I have the crystal ball with map in it as my logo / avatar.

I have a pretty firm idea of what I want my map to look like but I have never tried out a few of the techniques that ill need to get there. I might have a test or two just to check that its even possible before I start on the map. If it works then it will be totally awesome. If it doesn't then ill just look like an idiot.

[Redrobes]

NeonKnight - I think the deadline is 26th Dec. At least thats what the sticky contest rules reckon. So don't be late and miss it.

[Redrobes]

Right, lets start on this...

First up, I have drawn the rough contours for the map. We need a peninsula that forces the water into it instead of dropping down the side of it. That would be an unusual relief to generate that but I reckon that two hills either side of the river and then the peninsula in front should do it. The thieves guild can then dam it and divert off to the right.

I have done this with contours for the cliff, hill and sub sea. They are not uniformly spaces. Since the cliff is 250 feet height I will shade with 2' per gray scale where mid gray is sea level. The top of the cliff, and the sub sea will need to be smoothed a lot to blend it together but the cliff will have to be done separately.

[Redrobes]

So filling in the contours, using a wide median filter in PSP to remove the contour lines, and then applying some judicious blurring I get these below. I am at 21mins 15secs now. 1/6th the way through my time allocation. Phew this will be close. Edit -- actually thats 1/12 isnt it. Not quite so bad...

[Redrobes]

I have taken the terrain into my GTS program and put it through a smooth in there. This app works in float so were not limited to the 256 shades of gray now. I added some noise saved it out and then pushed it though my texture compositor. So at 35 mins in it looks like the first image.

Then I got my rocks height map out and sprayed them liberally around the base of the cliff using ViewingDale and added that to the height map. I also cut a river channel by hand and filled it with water. Its a bit dodgy because the water is not using the full sim to get it flat over the terrain. I was burning time at this point.

Finally, I got out ViewingDale and put in some trees, the house, the path and the lighthouse. Then I got PSP out again and did the cave by hand.

By an hour and a half I am here. Probably should have kept more time back for the actual caves but heck time flies when your having fun.

Now that I have the terrain in 3D I have zipped it up and uploaded it. You can get it
here. Unpack it into a directory. Then download the Dragon Flight app from here and put that into same directory and then run it. You will need to up the res a few times before it looks good but it slows down with higher res.

[Robbie]

Its lookin pretty cool thus far...I really like the height map stuff.

[Redrobes]

Thanks Arcana,

I tried a few test runs on getting my GTS to carve out some caves automatically and it wasnt working too well so I will do the caves the old fashioned way and look into that technique more later. So my caves will in a 2D plane which is not so realistic but its a lot easier. Maybe ill have to get a 3D modeling package out to do it properly - I dont know.

So I drew some caves out and then scanned that in. Did the usual blur and got ViewingDale to liberally spray rocks over the edges. Then after clamping and rendering the result I am now at 2 + 1/2 hrs in. Its not the caves I would have liked but it will have to do.

[Blakjak66]

Hmm Even I was thinking of having a lighthouse/Inn with an entrance down to the cave system and I don't even know how to make a map yet. Great minds and all that...

[Redrobes]

It was a bit cliche huh ?

I reckon the real reason was that if we owned a lighthouse or an inn we would just love to have a secret passage way to a cave system. Well I know I would - like the Bat Cave you just gotta have one !