Lair of webs, is it doable?

[almighty]

Hi, im new here and totally untalanted in making maps, but i dabble with the awesome tutorials to get better (enough of the excuses and back to my questions).

I have this idea of making a cave/room with paths and "platforms" of spiderweb that my players might be able to walk upon. My first idea was to make it an ISO, but figured out that the web would look better from above since some of the paths might cross eachother visualy as they are on different heights/levels. So my plan was to sort them out with different color on each layer and then blend it from the color on layer 1 to the color on layer 2 so you can clearly see what platform is connected to what.
Is there a work-around so i can "fill" the gradient in the web-strands (mask or something) or do i have to use the Paintbrush and check "use colors from gradient" with some length metric in it?


I'll hope you can see on the attachment what i´m after, i'll make it look more weblike and pick better colors when i got the technique. I've looked around in the forum as well to see if someone made a map like this before with "bridges" that crosses eachothers, but failed to find any.

And finally, thanks all guys and gals for making this forum what it is!

[paradox_wanderer]

First, I have no idea what program you're using. I'm using Photoshop.

Second, I read your post and thought it would be fun to try. I used three different methods to try to get a look that I thought you were looking for. I really like the colors that came out of the Red>Blue bridge. The Colors on the Green>Red are more pronounced. My favorite (and my wife's favorite) is the Blue>Yellow Bridge, though that might just be do to the delicacy of that particular bridge.

I think that it's pretty obvious which bridge is above the other. That's partly to the stroke on the outside edges and partly to the outer glow and shadow on the highest bridge. With my particular type of mapping style (Cartoonish Realism) it's not hard to see what's above an other, but a more realistic drawing would create more problems.

Anyway, it took me about 45 minutes, and is easily replicated. Let me know if you want a tut on any of the different types of bridges.

[almighty]

Sorry about that, I'm using GIMP.

And yes, thats what im looking for. The web looks awesome as well, never thougt about doing it shaped like that.
I wanted the colors in the paths more... distinct but i like the subtle touch. But as you say its pretty clear what path goes where, but my plans are for a bigger room with pathways from wall to wall as well and put cocoon-huts on the walls and have a cocoon temple hanging from the roof (but i'll only make the path to it and do the interior on another map), so i think there will be more crossings in the final one unless it gets to confusing.

I'd love a tut on the bridges if you could wisp one up for me! Make it simple, i dont know the "basics" yet.
Thanks a bunch for replying!

[paradox_wanderer]

Sorry, I don't know GIMP. Essentially I have a stroke effect that has an applied gradient.

[Jaxilon]

This kind of reminds me of something Torstan did for Sails on a ship. He created a semi-see-thru effect to imply the sails were there but it still allowed players to move around the deck without loosing themselves. If this is for a VTT you might have a rough time making it work but if it's for a visual map the colorshift should work. That and you can create different layers and change the opacity on each of them which I think might work pretty well.

If you need help with GIMP try RobA he's the resident guru. I'm still learning like you.

[almighty]

Paradox_wanderer: No worries, i'll sort it out eventually. Thanks again for the inspiration on the web-making.

Jaxilon: Thanks for the tip, i´ll try to find Torstan´s ship as well. We dont use VTT (yet) so it will be prints. I've just figured out how layers work from RobA's tuts and this will be a good practise for me before i try to get a hang on masks.