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Thread: WIP: Lao Ma for Serenity

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    Guild Member Publius's Avatar
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    Post WIP: Lao Ma for Serenity

    Hello all,

    First time poster here. I have been working on a city map for a Serenity game (and sharpening my cartography skills, I am not getting paid for this one but it is always good to practice practice practice) and was wondering if I could get some input.

    I use Adobe Illustrator for all my map work exclusively. I am self taught, which means I could probably do a lot more if I were to find out everything that the program can do

    Here it is, for those who are not Serenity/Firefly fans this is an amalgam of scifi and western, so I was looking for something relatively modern but with a western feel. The layout is not intended to be balanced, as many of the buildings closer to the train-stop are either boarding houses or warehouses (along with bars and whatnot) and some of those further out are more focused on the community. The Bond Commons functions as a kind of 'city center' for example.

    I'm wondering if I should not thin out some of the buildings located by the train stop.... I was planning on some of them being new construction (the town is a boom town in more ways than one).
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    Community Leader RPMiller's Avatar
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    Welcome Publius! Are you the Publius from the Hero Boards?

    I like the map so far. It definitely has the right feel for the setting.

    The trees don't 'feel' quite right though. I think it may be the 'trunk' in the center.

    If you want a bit more of a western feel the boardwalk should actually be broken up. Contrary to what some Westerns portray boardwalks never extended past the front of the building. That said it is still a future setting so it is likely they have learned that extending the boardwalks means less muddy boots.
    Bill Stickers is innocent! It isn't Bill's fault that he was hanging out in the wrong place.

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    Guild Member Publius's Avatar
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    Yup same Bad Guy

    Yes, I know what you mean about the boardwalks. The buildings are too close together as well for accuracy. Of course as you correctly surmise, I'm not going for accuracy, at least not entirely. Instead I want to give it the feel of the Western, which for most players is the movie Westerns. But I do agree with you that that was the standard. I might break up the boardwalks a bit (which were originally, and still could be, sidewalks as well)

    Bummer about the trees, I've never had luck with trees. In this case I hand dropped each (yeah I know that can be automated, but it is one of those things I do by feel) so I'm not likely to change them around this map. Next map however I could make some changes to the trees, what do you think would be the best approach? Just remove the trunk?

    What do you think about the density of buildings on Brynner and Murphy streets especially... I can see the density of the buildings just outside of the railroad stop, the more I look at it the more it seems to throw the map off kilter. Anyone else get that feeling or is it just me?

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    outstanding. you've got a unique style that is really quite nice. i'd like to see more like this.

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    Community Leader RPMiller's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Publius
    Yup same Bad Guy
    Great! Did you find us via my sig?

    Yes, I know what you mean about the boardwalks. The buildings are too close together as well for accuracy. Of course as you correctly surmise, I'm not going for accuracy, at least not entirely. Instead I want to give it the feel of the Western, which for most players is the movie Westerns. But I do agree with you that that was the standard. I might break up the boardwalks a bit (which were originally, and still could be, sidewalks as well)
    I wouldn't worry about it. Most players aren't as 'retentive' as me.

    Bummer about the trees, I've never had luck with trees. In this case I hand dropped each (yeah I know that can be automated, but it is one of those things I do by feel) so I'm not likely to change them around this map. Next map however I could make some changes to the trees, what do you think would be the best approach? Just remove the trunk?
    Ok, I looked them over very carefully and it is actually the dot in the center, and to a lesser extent the 'inner circle' as well. I think if you dropped both those and then used the same colors you are currently using to create a light side and a shade side it would give you a nice effect.

    What do you think about the density of buildings on Brynner and Murphy streets especially... I can see the density of the buildings just outside of the railroad stop, the more I look at it the more it seems to throw the map off kilter. Anyone else get that feeling or is it just me?
    Considering that most are warehouses and it is near the maglev I don't think that they throw things off balance assuming that there is a reason to have all that storage. If there aren't enough nearby businesses or manufacturing facilities, than I think there is too much. However I see the road to the spaceport so if this is near to the spaceport than it would make sense that this is a transfer point between spaceships and the maglev.

    In western towns the saloons, and other 'entertainment' would front right up to the train tracks so that the cowboys coming in would typically see them right away as would passengers disembarking the train. Maybe you could move the buildings on the rail side of Hart St.?

    Also, I discovered something else that was making my eye twitch.

    The boardwalks are offset from the roads and look to be over grass. I think removing the sliver of grass between the building and street would give a better reason for even having the boardwalks, again that is a very picky criticism and I don't think it is necessary to have it work.
    Bill Stickers is innocent! It isn't Bill's fault that he was hanging out in the wrong place.

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    Quote Originally Posted by RPMiller
    Also, I discovered something else that was making my eye twitch.

    The boardwalks are offset from the roads and look to be over grass. I think removing the sliver of grass between the building and street would give a better reason for even having the boardwalks, again that is a very picky criticism and I don't think it is necessary to have it work.
    It does seem picky, but that was the same thing that bothered me.

    Also, being a longstanding fan of both the movie and the series, the while map looks too green. Most of the towns were arid, dry and dusty... it might just be the choice of green.... too verdant, maybe?

    -Rob A>

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    Guild Member Publius's Avatar
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    Those boardwalks started as sidewalks, there was also a gap between the buildings and the sidewalks that I cut down. I think you are right, the gap does make less sense in a more western setting. That's why it is a WIP

    As far as the color, what I wanted to do was to hit that with some effect that would variegate it more: brown it around the edges and here and there. The problem is that I need to transfer the finished map to another program (unless Illustrator can do that) which I will not do until everything else (like the boardwalks) is pretty much all done. Any suggestions on the best way to do that? I mean, other than just drawing it in with a dodge/burn.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Publius
    As far as the color, what I wanted to do was to hit that with some effect that would variegate it more: brown it around the edges and here and there. The problem is that I need to transfer the finished map to another program (unless Illustrator can do that) which I will not do until everything else (like the boardwalks) is pretty much all done. Any suggestions on the best way to do that? I mean, other than just drawing it in with a dodge/burn.
    Just export the layers you want to work with into a photoshop document, do your edits, place the the psd back into your illustrator document, and turn off the original illustrator layers.

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    Community Leader RPMiller's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Publius
    As far as the color, what I wanted to do was to hit that with some effect that would variegate it more: brown it around the edges and here and there. The problem is that I need to transfer the finished map to another program (unless Illustrator can do that) which I will not do until everything else (like the boardwalks) is pretty much all done. Any suggestions on the best way to do that? I mean, other than just drawing it in with a dodge/burn.
    I forget, can you add noise in Illustrator? If you can add noise to the green layer, I would add some brown-ish noise and then blur it. That might add more of the effect you are looking for.
    Bill Stickers is innocent! It isn't Bill's fault that he was hanging out in the wrong place.

    Please make an effort to tag all threads. This will greatly enhance the usability of the forums.



  10. #10
    Guild Member Publius's Avatar
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    Updated version.
    I used Photoshop to create a background, brought it into the file and then adjusted the transparency.

    The road I did something similar, but within Illustrator. I combined all of the roads together with Pathfinder, then made a copy over top, then hit it with the Effects>SVG FIlter>AI_woodgrain and then toned it down using transparency.

    EDIT: I went back after looking at this and altered the font slightly, using a bold version to make them stand out much better. The next time I load this map up you'll see the changes.
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