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Thread: Takeshidai - WIP

  1. #1

    Default Takeshidai - WIP

    I have decided that the redux of the Outremer project deserves a lot more love and attention than a simple "revision". It's too large and too detailed of a world to simply be given a makeover. That said, I have decided to regionally map equally sized segments of the map until I have one massive, multi-part map that truly covers everything I need this world to be.

    I've decided to start with the region known as Takeshidai. And so far it's seen a substantial, hand-drawn reworking of its landmass design. I am debating right now between two separate textures for the water. I am leaning heavily towards the second one.

    Full size images available at the links beneath the thumbnails.
    Also, I'm aware of the texture block lines when fully zoomed in. I'm going to fix that, just a rough draft here.


    imgur: the simple image sharer

    Or


    imgur: the simple image sharer

  2. #2

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    I have decided to go with the second option for the water.

    And have completed mountain placement on the isles of Takeshidai. I am pretty happy with the result at the moment. Mountains were done using rendered clouds, copy/pasting segments and then smearing to generate a smoothly blended look.

    I am about to begin work on the hills and plains, which will all be done 100% manually.



  3. #3

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    Additionally, I have decided that instead of concerning myself with filling in the surrounding land as well as the focused territory, I will be taking a more artistic approach. I'm going to do this as an atlas style "book" rather than a puzzle-piece "this piece goes here, and this one here" gargantuan singular map. Doing this in an atlas style with a focus on a specific location in each map will allow me to take more creative liberties with individual regions, as I won't have to worry about stressing over whether or not landforms or objects are perfectly represented in later maps. It is also abundantly clear to me that some geographic regions will be substantially larger than others, making it a moot point to try to make equally sized maps if the focus will be split for half or more of the maps because a large amount of content will be partially irrelevant to that map.

    No, an atlas style book of maps focused on individual regions is a better idea.

    That said, I've tried two different styles for blocking out irrelevant landmass, both focused on a scroll-like paper style texture.

    For me, the first one is more artistically pleasing, but the second one might be better for writing in or applying map art, and looks like it will probably meld better with the end product. I might even be able to put some vague reference points in there and have it stay in theme with the second one.



    Last edited by gspRooster; 02-05-2014 at 03:03 AM.

  4. #4

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    Here's the work in progress of the height map after tinkering with Wilbur. I managed to maintain some inland lakes, but during the tinkering process I think I may have discovered a way to get Wilbur to show me more natural potential locations for lakes. I'll re-do it later and see if I can't find some way to make Wilbur do the work for me, which would be quite nice. Currently this still needs quite a bit of work, and may still see subtantial changes in river flow and lake placement. But it's a nice start.

    Comments welcome. Also, I've been struggling with whether or not that central river being one long south-flowing river bothers me or not... In my mind's eye I see that as being two separate rivers, one flowing north from the center, another flowing south... and that archipelago of islands in the middle on the north shore would be the logical delta for the north flowing river... might have to tinker with the land height in the middle to force Wilbur to follow my philosophy. lol


    Thumbnail pic will take you to the imgur site where clicking the pic again will give you the full size.
    Last edited by gspRooster; 02-09-2014 at 12:43 AM.

  5. #5

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    So I've decided to let Wilbur do it's thing BEFORE I try to incorporate the lakes, and then just edit the Wilbur height map to put the lakes in where I want them along Wilbur's already defined river systems. It's easier than fighting with Wilbur and trying to get it to do it right.

    Before I go about that though, I wanted to make sure I could get the height map to look right with the bump maps. So here's a quick screeny of the WIP. Bump maps up from wilbur height map, ocean layers on, and parchment paper "fog" over adjacent landmasses layer on. I also went and tinkered with the desert texture I had for the southern end of the island just to see how it would look with the bump map. Could do with a blur to make it look less like blatant noise, but overall the map is turning out rather nicely I think.

    Still LOTS of work to do... but coming along.

  6. #6
    Guild Expert Jalyha's Avatar
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    It's really coming along!
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  7. #7

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    Little bit more work done. Mostly just a test covering of grassland that I am replacing from the bottom up.

    As you can see, the desert has been adjusted, I've textured in two of the mountain ranges, and trying two separate options for the savannah/prairie/plains or whatever you'd like to call it that border the desert and run through the southern mountain center.

    I think I prefer the first one. It looks a little more believable... I think the next thing I need to do though is deal with those rivers. That's just got to get done. They're interfering with everything and look terrible not filled in. That's got to get taken care of.




  8. #8

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    Still heavily a work in progress. Tinkering around with forests at the moment. These are by no means final. I might end up placing major cities and such first and then determining the positions for forests. Forests are currently way too heavily populated in some areas, probably a little light in others, and I need to start separating some regions into deciduous forests. Currently they're all textured with pine forest.

    Also still having trouble with rivers. Any insight on getting the rivers to select properly from the height map would be appreciated. It's currently just a giant fussy pain in the neck.

    In any case, I'm happy with how the mountains have turned out. Also happy with the swamp in the northeast, the desert and plains in the south. It's coming along fairly nicely I think.

    Last edited by gspRooster; 02-16-2014 at 08:39 PM.

  9. #9
    Guild Expert Jalyha's Avatar
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    I like your swamp a lot... I think it could be a little less subtle (meaaning I guess, I'd like to see more of it? idk)

    The mountains look nice.

    I wish I knew how to fix your river problem. Is there a way to just sketch in the rivers, put them at a sea-level height, fill with the riveer colors/texture you want and then just put your sea over the top of that layer? (So only rivers on "land" show?) Idk if that makes any sense.


    Also I like your trees. Most places start with more trees than people give them. Why do you think it's too much?
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  10. #10

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    I don't think it's too much trees, I think I'm just unhappy with the distribution... I'm going to tinker with it.

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