Not to worry, I think I ironed out my shadows problems...duplicated the motion blur layer 2 extra times. I also added 2 lil footbridges over the irrigation canals and put some ripples on my lake. This one is getting pretty close to done...gotta add some miscellaneous junk for the villagers to play with (clotheslines, campfires, carts, animals for the pens, etc.) and then slap some labeling and graphics on it.
May I ask how you accomplished the ripples?
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
This is in PS: I copied the original clouds layer then moved it up above the pond. Then I did a sketch/bas-relief filter (gives me a stone-like texture with ridges). Selected the whites and deleted the grays and blacks. Color overlay layer style of white with a mode of dissolve at 10% (this gives me lil white dots where the remaining white base color is). Set the fill on the layer to zero so that only the white dots remain and the white bas-reliefed clouds are invisible. Merged the layer to a blank layer to flatten out the layer style. Copied this layer and set the opacity to 10% (so the white wasn't so harsh). On the original layer I ran a 10 pixel motion blur filter which lengthened the white dot out into a semi-transparent slash. Set the mode to color dodge at 25% (this turns the semi-white slash into an aqua-colored slash) then put a small low opacity outer bevel on it and viola. It sounds complicated but it isn't. I did the same thing for my Farpoint map in about 45 seconds. This method is probably way over-complicated but it was my first attempt so future methods might be simpler.
Doing this in GIMP would just be to render up some clouds, select only the white then run some noise, and blur...don't know if GIMP has a motion blur but in PS you can adjust the angle of it 360 degrees, which is nice for doing different parts of a coast.
I wrote a tutorial while doing the oasis (I always write one so that I can always look back at how I did something in case I forget) so I could put that up if ya want...although I just put that part all right here
I might also try something similar to add vegetation to my fields.
Last edited by Ascension; 06-28-2008 at 08:10 PM.
Many thanks! I'd rep you, but I apparently need to spread it around a bit first. Every time you post, I see how much further I have to go in learning Photoshop. I obviously need to start experimenting with more filters--the use you get out of motion blur far exceeds what I would have thought possible before you came around.
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
Actually, I only used motion blur maybe twice in my life before I started working on city sized maps. I've learned more about PS in the past 2 or 3 weeks that I've been here than I did in 5 years of online tutorials for other miscellaneous stuff like removing red eye and making realistic gold. Gimme a challenge and I'll figure out a dozen different ways to overcome it...I'm one of those kinda guys. Low down on my list of challenges right now is GIMP, I'll just follow the other's lead there
Double ditto...Originally Posted by Midgardsormr
I think it would be GREAT if you took some of these just learned techniques and translate them to GIMP also. Each program has somethings it does that are exactly the same, some things only it can do, and some things can be done in one but with a different method in the other and being able to translate that would be sweet!Actually, I only used motion blur maybe twice in my life before I started working on city sized maps. I've learned more about PS in the past 2 or 3 weeks that I've been here than I did in 5 years of online tutorials for other miscellaneous stuff like removing red eye and making realistic gold. Gimme a challenge and I'll figure out a dozen different ways to overcome it...I'm one of those kinda guys. Low down on my list of challenges right now is GIMP, I'll just follow the other's lead there
Joe
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.
This one, I think, is done. I added some basic grafix as I'm not not all that talented at creating new and interesting borders and text fx. I make a tutorial for everything new I try out so that I can go back and look at my own notes and change things when I like. I'll put that up in the tuts section if anyone wants to have a go at it. Tried to incorporate the stuff into GIMP but to no avail, I need much more experience with it. Do I post this here or in Finished maps?
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