Thread: the capital city of Naim

Hey, Leonid, thanks for posting this! I really like the buildings--and I'd be interested to know how you achieved them in SketchUp (so I can copy you

I also like the compass rose's colors alternating with the river. Well done.

The overarching visual effect of the map does confuse me a tad: the parchment and ripped edges imply a photograph of an old, authentic map, while conversely the actual line art is so clean and perfect that they appear computer-generated. Neither style is wrong, of course, but together they appear to ride the fence. Did you have an intended objective for this map? Answering that may help in offering advice.

I'm glad you posted!

Thanks, Don! You're absolutely right about the conflicting styles. That was something I completely overlooked. I can't believe I missed something so obvious. Yowtch!

The compass rose was just put on a separate layer whose blending mode was set to...well, something I can't remember. Maybe Overlay.

As to how I got the buildings, the answer is simple: a LOT of work. Hours turned into days turned into weeks. That said, I am a slow study, so it probably shouldn't have taken quite so long.

Basically, I drew a whole bunch of buildings that didn't touch each other the first time around. Then I went back in, drew a rectangle to scale (something like a mile long), determined where my roads would be and sketched them in with the Freehand tool. Finally, I used the Line tool to draw buildings abutting each other along the edges of the roads. And over and over and over. Simple as that.

I think I'm going to try putting all the map elements into one style as you suggested. That sounds like a great idea. And I'll be using your tutorial for some of that as well!

Thanks again!

-Leonid

By the way, I have a 7-meg video file with a 3D fly-through of the map but I don't think I can attach it here. Any thoughts on how I might be able to upload it?

Thanks!

-L

Very nice map. I've always liked that style for representing city buildings. Very old school Judges Guild.

Originally Posted by leonid

By the way, I have a 7-meg video file with a 3D fly-through of the map but I don't think I can attach it here. Any thoughts on how I might be able to upload it?

Thanks!

-L

You could upload it to YouTube and then post a link here. Also, if you zip it I believe it will be attachable.

Thanks for the tip, Rob. Here's the link. This is a fly-through of the original design, before I re-drew it to connect the buildings (it just seemed disjointed otherwise).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbU4JJy4dBw

-L

Originally Posted by leonid

Thanks for the tip, Rob. Here's the link. This is a fly-through of the original design, before I re-drew it to connect the buildings (it just seemed disjointed otherwise).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbU4JJy4dBw

-L

MY.....DEAR.....GOD.....

Should.....have.....sent.....a......poet!

Very cool. How long did it take you to do all that in sketchup?

Thanks. It took "a while," that's for sure. Once I started using Ruby scripts, things went faster, but I still had to draw every single building and it was...umm...slow-going. I did it over the course of a few months, but part of the equation was the fact that I didn't know what I was doing and had to learn it all as I went along. I'm sure someone familiar with the software could probably get through it much faster than I did.

I'm still considering doing a new video render (I notice that it has some issues) of the updated map, but first I'd need to add heights and roofs to all the buildings and, frankly, that just scares me. Maybe I'll just make some popcorn instead!