Raedis (WIP)

[jfrazierjr]

Nice start. First things first, the praise.

* like the river. The banks look really nice
* LOVE the fields. Is that all hand drawn, and if so, can you put up some instructions?
* The elevation shading is nice, perhaps a bit subdued, but still gives as sense of rising land.
* I really also like the color transition from the sea to the land. Nicely blended.


Now, things I think you could improve on:

* The forests don't fit with the rest of map, especially at this scale. Try to find some individual trees, similar to what Torq did with his map for last months challenge.
* floaty structures (forests, buildings, and docks)
* perhaps some texture on the water? This is not huge thing, but might make it pop just a bit more. I am kind of mixed on this idea though as it is nice as is.

Joe

[Steel General]

Joe...

as always thanks for your comments.

- I got lucky with the river, pretty much followed Pyrandon's tutorial, I put "dirt" along the 'banks' and then added a rocky pattern to it.

- The fields are a pattern that I downloaded (the site link is in the thread for that stuff) and then I put a bit of noise and a guassian blur on the edges. The "land" layer underneath has a pattern layer (I used the lichen pattern that comes with PS)

- The elevation shading needs to be darkened a bit I think, it is a bit more subdued than I originally thought.

- Your right about the trees, the longer I looked at them the more I disliked them. I'll check out Torq' trees when I get a chance - thx for the tip

- I didn't really think the buildings "floated", maybe I need to reduce the shadow some? But the docks definitely seem to float, need to remove the shadow from them completely or make it very light. Or maybe move the layer down lower in the "stack"

- I thought about a water texture, haven't quite got to it yet.


thebax2k...

Again great feedback, thank you. I'll definitely need to give some more thought about all of your points.

** Oh how I wish I had Photoshop at home instead of at work. **

[jfrazierjr]

Joe...

as always thanks for your comments.


- I didn't really think the buildings "floated", maybe I need to reduce the shadow some? But the docks definitely seem to float, need to remove the shadow from them completely or make it very light. Or maybe move the layer down lower in the "stack"

No problem. I actually LIKE the idea of the docks (part over the sea) having the floating appearance as to some degree thats what they are doing. The houses, I no like for that same reason... they just don't look grounded.

Joe

[Midgardsormr]

What jumps out at me immediately is that none of your buildings have been rotated at all. Every wall is strictly oriented along one of the cardinal directions.

[Steel General]

What jumps out at me immediately is that none of your buildings have been rotated at all. Every wall is strictly oriented along one of the cardinal directions.

Yeah I know, I was having a hard time figuring out how to rotate them in Photoshop, so I gave up and concentrated on other things.

[Midgardsormr]

I don't know what process you've used to create them, but if each building is its own layer, even if just at creation, you can rotate it with Edit > Transform > Rotate. You'll get handles around your object that you can use to free rotate, or you can use the tool settings at the top of the window to enter numerical rotation values (in degrees, I think).

[Steel General]

I don't know what process you've used to create them, but if each building is its own layer, even if just at creation, you can rotate it with Edit > Transform > Rotate. You'll get handles around your object that you can use to free rotate, or you can use the tool settings at the top of the window to enter numerical rotation values (in degrees, I think).

Well unfortunately they are not. But now that I know how do do it, It should be easy enough to adjust to that.

Thanks...

[Finis]

Yeah I know, I was having a hard time figuring out how to rotate them in Photoshop, so I gave up and concentrated on other things.

In photoshop, even if something is stuck on a layer with others (like buildings!) you can lasso around it and use the rotate tool for just that one object.

pretty much any tool can be used exclusively on something you have lasso'd. I do it all the time with the move tool especially.

[Ascension]

Love the lasso and rotate. I spent 1 whole night rotating every single building once...very tedious, but the results look sooo much better. Then my power went out You can use any filter or transformation, as far as I know, once you have lassoed something and anything outside the selection is not affected.