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Thread: [WIP] Random Island

  1. #11
    Guild Member Morgan's Avatar
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    I'm also experimenting with mountains. Alas, so far my results are not the best, but perhaps your minitutorial has given me some hints (thus, receive some rep!)

    But I think I also can give you an advice, I think it's better to work on different levels.
    I make one for the outline, one for plain color, one for texture/noise (on multiply, above the color), then one for shadow (hue/saturation regolation level set on multiply, with low brightness and perhaps a hint of dark blue hue to have the night dark effect), and one for highlights (again, hue saturation level set on hard light, with high brightness and a hint of yellowish/gold color for sun effect).
    Working on different levels allows you to change colors and brightness afterwards, and it's cool to see various effects.

    Alas, my main problem for now is to draw convincing mountain shapes. They always have a little "something" that I don't like.
    However, I'm trying with your method now, and I hope my hints can help you.
    Given the choice:
    wheter to rule a corrupt and failing empire
    or to challenge the Fates for another throw, a better throw against one's destiny...
    what was a King to do?
    But does anyone truly have a choice?
    One can only match, move by move, the machinations of Fate.
    And thus defy the tyrannous stars.

  2. #12
    Community Leader Guild Sponsor Gidde's Avatar
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    @ tilt: Thanks! It's wonderful to *be* back.

    Thanks Morgan (for the rep and for the insight)! There's a couple things in there I wouldn't have thought of, I'll have to try incorporating them Hope your experiments go well!

  3. #13
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    VERY nice start Gidde. The only thing I would suggest is to make the "bottoms" of each mountain no so flat(unless this was exactly the look you were going for!!!). It's something I have been trying to do quite a bit for the past year or so in what little mapping time I have available. Basically, the idea is to make them seem more 3 dimensional vs a static flat painting effect. If you look at this (REALLY OLD) test I started, you might say they are pretty(or at least I do), but they look much more like flat symbols dropped down. Of course, yours look much better integrated that my example did, but I think the same principle applies. Add to that the fact that I don't have any yet that I am happy with enough to post and show what I mean....
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
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    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

  4. #14
    Community Leader Guild Sponsor Gidde's Avatar
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    Ooh, I like those too! And good point about the bottoms. They were bugging me, but I hadn't been able to put my finger on it or fix it. The only thing I'd been able to come up with was to cover up the bottoms with hills or trees Wasn't thinking about the flatness though; that gives me some ideas. Thanks!

  5. #15
    Guild Member Morgan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gidde View Post
    Thanks Morgan (for the rep and for the insight)! There's a couple things in there I wouldn't have thought of, I'll have to try incorporating them Hope your experiments go well!
    You're welcome, happy to help if I can!

    However I have to quote jfrazierjr about the 3D effect. The principle is, you're drawing your mountains in ISO, so you must think the base in an isometric perspective, not a flat line. Most of the times this can be achieved by drawing the central part of the mountain longer than the slopes/sides. That is, imagine the mountain as a triangle. It's flat, 2D. Now trace the height, but instead of stopping at the base, continue for a while. Ta-dah! Pyramid effect!
    Experimenting with hand drawn brushes I discovered the result is soo different!
    Given the choice:
    wheter to rule a corrupt and failing empire
    or to challenge the Fates for another throw, a better throw against one's destiny...
    what was a King to do?
    But does anyone truly have a choice?
    One can only match, move by move, the machinations of Fate.
    And thus defy the tyrannous stars.

  6. #16
    Community Leader Guild Sponsor Gidde's Avatar
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    Well, I'm absolutely unhappy with this latest attempt, but in the interest of (hopefully) letting others learn from my pain I'll post it up anyway.

    I wasn't feeling the test landmass, so I resurrected an old project where I love the concept but the map itself sucked, created a new landmass for it, and roughed in some general thoughts on where stuff should go (in red). Then I put my latest attempt at the mountains on: this time there's a fill behind them, they're on lots of different layers, the bottoms aren't straight .... and I hate them. I've lost something I had before. Ah well. At least I do like the new landmass shape I'll give the mountains another shot tomorrow.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	BeforeBreaking.jpg 
Views:	71 
Size:	3.60 MB 
ID:	43630  

  7. #17
    Guild Member Morgan's Avatar
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    They are not so bad, but the previous ones were indeed better.
    Hmmm, I will point out the differences I notice between the two versions, so that perhaps you can understand what has gone wrong:
    - The general mountain shape: you went with much more smooth slopes before, now they are semi-regular triangles. Perhaps you should make mountains larger, raising the sloped with a more morbid line.
    - Lack of graduality: you had smaller mountains/hills in the previous section, here there's too much contrast between plains and mountain.
    - Density: you had a greater body of mountains, not just a line, and this improved the overall effect, I think.
    - Highlights: you had more highlights in the previous version. Though the technique is the same, there's less white, thus less tridimensional effect.

    Hope this helps!

    On the other hand, landmass and border are great. I love the writings and the title of the map!
    Given the choice:
    wheter to rule a corrupt and failing empire
    or to challenge the Fates for another throw, a better throw against one's destiny...
    what was a King to do?
    But does anyone truly have a choice?
    One can only match, move by move, the machinations of Fate.
    And thus defy the tyrannous stars.

  8. #18
    Community Leader Guild Sponsor Gidde's Avatar
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    Thanks, Morgan, that's actually extremely helpful! I've already tweaked them and the result is better, but I think I'm going to rehash the outlines anyway. Your recent mountain thread has been really helpful too, and I want to make them all a bit wider.

    The writings and the title and such are really old lol ... this was the original thread. The problem being, I started with a terrible "before" map and then broke it into too many pieces, making the project way too overwhelming. So I wanted to keep the concept, but fix the map and rebreak it.

  9. #19
    Guild Member Morgan's Avatar
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    Oh, that early thread makes me feel soooo young in this forum. Wait, I am!
    Well, old or not, I like them anyway. But I must say, your new mountain style is much better!
    I'm glad I could help, and also glad that my thread has useful also to someone else.
    Can't wait to see results, it's a gorgeous project!
    Given the choice:
    wheter to rule a corrupt and failing empire
    or to challenge the Fates for another throw, a better throw against one's destiny...
    what was a King to do?
    But does anyone truly have a choice?
    One can only match, move by move, the machinations of Fate.
    And thus defy the tyrannous stars.

  10. #20
    Community Leader Guild Sponsor Gidde's Avatar
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    Ok, went back to the one-layer, starting from transparency, done in Photoshop process (2nd one was in Gimp), but incorporated some of the stuff we talked about with the bottoms and shading and things. I think I like this version best, and I'll be going forward now (I hope!). I also increased the image size, so this is cropped down to the stuff I have so far on the map.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	post3.jpg 
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ID:	43805  

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