3d Town Of Tartha

[spiderfate]

Looking great, spiderfate!

Could you use the thumbnailer function please as the page takes an age to load with the images at full size?

Cheers!

thumbnailer? i look into it.

[jfrazierjr]

Well, in this context, I am talking about outlines. Typically, outlines help the eye delineate changes in structure, shape, or height in this case. For example, the group of houses directly SW of the bridge. You have a solid line W/NW which separates the "Lower ground" from the upper ground which in this case contains the buildings. That line is the separator.

[geamon]

The thumbnail system is when you create the thread/post in the "Go Advanced" screen, below the message box there should be a "Manage Attachments" button. This opens up a window where you can archive and store any images you have directly on the CG's server, which prevents image and maps from becoming broken links if the third party host shuts down/removes file/ etc. Also it puts a small resolution preview when clicked goes to full resolution image. Only draw back is it has a ~4.5 Meg upload limit which sometimes forces you to lower the quality of the .jpeg or .png you are uploading.

[spiderfate]

thumbnail test

[spiderfate]

using the paint brush tool i hand drew the dock lines but it still didnt seem to fix the clash of the background vs the structers.

[jfrazierjr]

Well. there are several possible ways to "fix" that depending on your goals and flexibility, One is to make the lines a bit darker in places. They look rather muted in the places you added them compared to the original ones you already had in place. There seems to also be an extra gap where a pixel or two of the "ground" color shows through before the cliff face color starts. For the problem area, the line should probably be a bit thicker/darker than the bottom of the cliff transition anyway since the cliff color 'IS" the transition(though a line of some sort always helps).

You could also add additional shadows to the northern cliff face below the bride back to the waterfall. Darker closer to the "horizon" and less darkening as it gets up to the top of the cliff. I hope this makes sense.

Finally, you could increase the size of your river on the right so that it partially overlaps the lower cliff as well as being slightly below town level. This will also help the illusion. I hopw htis make sense too. If not, I can do up a few quick mockups later tonight(perhaps if I have time) just to give you an idea.

[Gidde]

The dock looks fantastic now. It totally "matches" its surroundings.

[spiderfate]

Well. there are several possible ways to "fix" that depending on your goals and flexibility, One is to make the lines a bit darker in places. They look rather muted in the places you added them compared to the original ones you already had in place. There seems to also be an extra gap where a pixel or two of the "ground" color shows through before the cliff face color starts. For the problem area, the line should probably be a bit thicker/darker than the bottom of the cliff transition anyway since the cliff color 'IS" the transition(though a line of some sort always helps).

You could also add additional shadows to the northern cliff face below the bride back to the waterfall. Darker closer to the "horizon" and less darkening as it gets up to the top of the cliff. I hope this makes sense.

Finally, you could increase the size of your river on the right so that it partially overlaps the lower cliff as well as being slightly below town level. This will also help the illusion. I hopw htis make sense too. If not, I can do up a few quick mockups later tonight(perhaps if I have time) just to give you an idea.

could you if you got the time, im having trouble seeing it in my head

[spiderfate]

well ive fiddled around with the ridge a bit. added some textures and shadowing and removed one of the buildings. do you think it made the optics problem better, worse or the same????

[Gidde]

It's a little better; after jfrazierjr mentioned it I looked and totally thought that building was to blame, since it hid that crucial section of line. Unfortunately, I think your major problem is that the width of the chasm just happens to exactly match the depiction of the height of the wall. It's obvious what's going on when you really look, but you have to really look to see it correctly.