Some CC3 Experiments

[jaerdaph]

Thanks again ravells for your help with this.

The lighted borders (from the bevel effect) are the cave walls. I added some torch sconces in one of the caverns to help with the visualization (I didn't use the symbols with lit torches because the addition of light would probably throw off the shadows etc.). They are aproximately in the middle of a cavern wall.



I decided to take some advice from writers and "kill my darlings". In this image, I've removed the bevel effect completely, and I think it makes things a lot more clear:

[RPMiller]

Actually, now I'm getting the convex/cave effect... I hadn't been earlier. Put something in the cave to indicate walls and maybe my eyes will see it correctly again.

[jaerdaph]

I think you're right - the map does need some more visual cues.

Does this help?

Bevel off:



Bevel on:



The bevel is actually a pain in the butt because you have to move the symbols so they look like they're on the wall the bevel is creating.

[RPMiller]

That is an improvement, but my eye still slips a bit on the non-beveled one, but I'm not real pleased with the beveled one. Yea, this is a really tough call. Maybe it is because the colors are all grays. What happens if the floor were brown or the walls were?

[jaerdaph]

That is an improvement, but my eye still slips a bit on the non-beveled one, but I'm not real pleased with the beveled one. Yea, this is a really tough call. Maybe it is because the colors are all grays. What happens if the floor were brown or the walls were?

I think you may have hit the nail on the head - the similarity in the grays may be causing the optical issues. I'm going to search for some brown (and black) stone or rock tiles to see if I can get something that eliminates that.

More to come...

[NeonKnight]

I think you may have hit the nail on the head - the similarity in the grays may be causing the optical issues. I'm going to search for some brown (and black) stone or rock tiles to see if I can get something that eliminates that.

More to come...

I found this site has tons of cool BMP images for maps and stuff:

http://www.grsites.com/textures/

Also, reduce the size of your bevel. It makes it more sharp and helps to reduce how it looks

[jaerdaph]

I found this site has tons of cool BMP images for maps and stuff:

http://www.grsites.com/textures/

I love that site - I got the cobblestones from earlier in this thread there.

Also, reduce the size of your bevel. It makes it more sharp and helps to reduce how it looks

That does make a difference - thanks.

Here's what I did. I changed the rock bitmap fill that the caverns are cut out from and reduced the bevel:





I like the newer bitmap I'm using - I think using something that looks like real rock works better than the texture I was using before. Is the faces/vase thing still happening?