Reply With QuoteWow. I start going merge-happy at about 20 or so.
Gidde, thanks! Yeah I see it now. Unfortunately it's in an earlier version which I have since merged, so it will take some copy/paste gymnastics to fix it. Of course I preserved all of the original layers in another file, but I haven't figured out how to copy layers between files easily. I'll have to get to that nearer the end... too much to do by deadline.
The original file has over 200 layers and had become difficult to work with.
Wow. I start going merge-happy at about 20 or so.
Imm - what I do is go back to the original (usually just terrain), make my tweaks, save it, flatten it, then select - all, copy, go to the new working image (buildings and stuff), then edit - paste just above the background. I usually have 3 PSDs for every map - terrain, buildings/roads and stuff, titles and graphics...then two jpgs, one for highest quality and one for posting.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
Easiest way I've found to move layers between PSD's is to load the backup (with the original still open) and then just select Duplicate Layer on the offending layer in the backup - it pulls a requester and you can choose which file to send the duplicate to. You can drag/drop the layer across too, but if you duplicate, it alse ends up in the exact same placement so you don't need to adjust it.
If you have memory issues (which I do on the laptop) I close the original, load thebackup, duplicate the layers to a new file (another option when duplicating), then close the backup, reopen the original, then re-do the duplicate from the new file to the original.
Hope that helps.. (and yes, I go layer happy as well, hah!)
My finished maps
"...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."
Hokay, lots new for this post.
First, tree trial in the upper left of the map. My wife likes them. I'm okay with 'em but not sure.
Also added a moat around the inner walls. It is created from multiple layers with the bottom a down-beveled dark-green, next layer is a swirly green with about 50% opacity. Next is the giant lily pads using a single brush and brush dynamics on a path. No, large lily pads aren't all that common, but they were more visually appealing than normal-sized ones would have been at this scale. Last layer was a 3-ft. wall around the moat. Can't have little tots falling in our stagnant water.
Last but not least, I added the business district. It went smoothly-enough but was still a major time-eater. Of course the most time was spent creating and placing the shields. For most of them, I had to hand-draw the image. For signs like the glazier, that isn't too bad. But for the sign for the One-Eyed Bull Inn and the magic armor shop, there are always a number of failures behind every final product.
The shed roofs around the main wall are city storage. These buildings are wood and affixed to the wall by iron pins which can be released using a special wrench on a large bolt in one of the nearby towers. This wrench is huge, weighing about two hundred pounds and requires at least two men to turn. Once turned a quarter turn, however, the bolt aligns with the iron pins and the sheds collapse, leaving a mess that has to be move out of the way rather than a place to hide from the arrows and stones of the defenders.
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It looks like it is starting to get a lil dark. I might lighten the blue roofs and put more trees in so that the shadows don't overpower the image with darkness. Also, you could use some more sizes on the trees, they all look pretty much the same size.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
The trees are all the same size (at least, the larger green clusters appear to me to be groups rather than larger trees). At this scale and with this level of detail, you should have some little saplings at least and probably a few old, larger trees. Unless this entire stand was planted to feed the saw mill, in which case I'd have expected a bit more regularity in the placement of the trees. I'd suggest a fallen log, but any fallen wood would have been hauled for firewood this close to a large settlement.
The moat is great. I'm not sure what all of the shields represent, but most of them are very clear. This whole city is just amazing.
I replaced the Winery in the monastery. It's nothing exciting, just more in keeping with the rest of the map.
(Oh! and replaced the vineyard pattern. I was using a real vineyard as the basis before but it was impossible to keep it from expressing patterns that were visible to the eye. Finally, I used paths and a three-leaf brush that I created to create the rows and a few thousand un-repeatable steps later, voila! I hope it doesn't suck.)
As to the trees, I went in a bit of a new direction and added multi-layer with conifers and broadleafs. It looks kinda cool to me, but you stare at these things for hours on end and your sense of judgement become very skewed. Color is always an issue of course, so I appreciate any pointing out where I made a dumb mistake.
Thanks for your help on this one again
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Last edited by Immolate; 10-18-2009 at 11:14 PM.
Been watching this thread but haven't commented yet. Have some rep for hand-drawing lots of little commerce shields!
This is looking really awesome. The buildings are beautiful and I'm impressed by your knowledge of medieval professions!
Things that jump out at me: 1) the roofs are very uniform by district. Is that by design for visually grouping them? Even if so, maybe some slight hue/value variation? 2) Some of the shields are hard to see, as they fall under building shadows, etc. Not sure how to place them differently...maybe on the roofs?
No matter how you go I think this is going to look great when you're done. Looking forward to seeing it progress.
M
mearrin69,
It's more a practical consideration than any bow to realism. But your idea is a good one and I'm going to think about how I could implement it. I do think it would add a certain dimension to the city that it currently lacks.
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