Teston

[Korash]

Okay, spent another hour adding shadows based on the sun "position" (top right). Comments and/or critiques?

@ Ascension - I am using gimp, and I have no clue how to "link" layers. I looked through the commands but I didn't see it if it is available.

@ Hoel - Got 2 high points for the catapults and am thinking of some strategically placed ballistas to shoot along some of the larger gully's.

? for people = how do you place a bevel and/or drop shadow in Gimp. I am at the stage in the tut to start working on the buildings and Drop shadow is the next step.

[Steel General]

Coming along very nicely Korash.

[Hoel]

Great job, coming along very nicely.
-The small pond to the west lacks shadows and seem to float on the slope.
-You need to soften some of the lines in the shadow layer, aspecially on the southern slope

I think you'll be using symbols for the catapults on this scale. Think about the range of those, they can't fire very far.
What's the main angle of attack?
The steep banks of the northen part of the river would make the bridges very hard to take if the defenders put up some stockades.
I'll keep checking in..

[torstan]

I'd copy your building layer and desaturate it so that you have a copy of all your buildings in lack. Place it under your coloured buildings. Now gaussian blur it and move it down and left to give you a drop shadow. The ammount of blur, and the amount you move it will change the effect. Then change the blend mode to multiply or overlay (depending on how heavy you want the shadow and you are done. If you want to be a bit more accurate to the shape of the shadow then use motion blur instead of gaussian blur, but then you'll need to do a bit of cleaning up on the top left corners of each building.

[Korash]

okay, finished number VI - Buildings and Roads. Or at least I think I am.

I also added a couple of rough bridges and tweaked the shadows a bit.

Next on the tut is the veggie stuff.

'nother ?....In the tut (Photoshop) pyrandon mentions a Filter>Artistic>sponge or dabbing with a sponge. Any equivalent in Gimp?

@ Hoel - main thrust would be against the southeast slope, with secondary assaults on the bridges and 1 threatened river assault from the western river bank. The main problem for the attackers would be keeping decent control attacking up the broken slopes, while the defenders really do not have any real protection versus any siege equipment.

C&C anyone?

[RobA]

I think the ps sponge tool is like dodge/burn but for saturation.

I'm guessing a similar effect could be made by painting with the paintbrush using a fully saturated colour (like red) using the saturation painting mode. . Desaturating could be painted by using black or white instead of a colour.

edit: oh yeah - and to link layers, click to the right of the visibility eye in a number of layers. Then performing a transformation on one of the liked layers will perform the same transform an all linked layers. Not sure if that is quite the same as ps. linked layers.

-Rob A>

[Korash]

Thanks RobA, will give that a try when I can later.

[Hoel]

Looks good.
The defenders sure have problems with an assault up the slope. They won't have much protection at all. It would be more like a field battle than a siege...
If the terrain is smooth enough for the defenders cavalry they could really make a dent in any attacker, and there's good positions for archers. This could be a fun map for a fantasy strategy game at company level i think.

[Korash]

Ok, spent a few hours adding the trees, but I think I might have gone a bit overboard. Opinions?

I also find that the trees take away from the sense of elevation that was there before. Suggestions?

Once I am actually finished with this I will do the "Siege of Teston" with the trees cut back and palisades and stuff, just for the fun of it (and to satisfy Hoel and me)

Anyhoot, suggestions and comments welcome.

:edit: got the tree pattern from pedrov in this thread - http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...p?t=724&page=3

[Sigurd]

Just think someone lugs water up that mountain to the castle every day. Bet their favourite thing in the world is the 'rain cistern'.

Very nice sense of depth and lovely tree texture.

I agree however that there are too many trees. Unless the town doesn't burn wood or till soil, I think us humans are just more destructive than that.


Sigurd