[WIP] Orichalcacia

This city is the capital of the Empire from the world of Oshen-Dan-Desh that I've posted a map of. As you can see, it's still a work-very-much-in-progress. I've laid the general outline of what I want the city to look like, but I'll probably modify that as I go along. I'll probably also make the map bigger, because the city seems kinda square right now. I'll also add stuff like varying elevation.

I posted the WIP because I wanted to get some feedback what I've done so far, especially the look of the houses. I'm trying to find method where I can apply a texture to the rooftops without making it look monotonous, but since I've just switched to PS from GIMP, I'm still learning the basics.

It's an interesting start...

For me the smaller buildings look OK, but the university building looks a bit strange with the bevel the way it is.

For the roof's I would suggest putting each 'section' on its own layer (If it's not already) so you can try different textures/patterns and change them easily.

I'm cool with everything except the university as well. It doesn't look like a building. The houses look like buildings but the uni looks like a big weird shape. The quarry is cool and the layout looks ok.

Alright, I'm posting an updated version, though I haven't added a whole lot. I've really hit a wall with the bigger buildings. I could see the university didn't work, so that's gone, but I'm really struggling with this map. I need a way to put textures on my buildings that will warp to fit the beveled shape of the roofs, I'm really not an expert with Photoshop, so I've been scouring the interwebs for a technique, though with no luck. I think I might put this on hold for a while, and get my creativity fix on another map.

If you really want to make a pattern fit three-dimensionally then it is possible but it is extremely time-consuming and tedious. I wouldn't recommend it but would suggest something like SketchUp instead. Also, something like shingles getting smaller as they get further away (ie closer to the ground) wouldn't really be noticeable at this scale. But it can be done and here's how:

1. Start with a new white layer and put a layer style of pattern overlay on it. Set the scale to what you need. Create a new layer, link it to the pattern layer then move the empty layer below the pattern layer then click on the pattern layer and merge down. This gets rid of the layer style and puts the pattern on it's own layer so that you can rotate it and what not.

2. Use the rectangular marquee tool and make a selection large enough to cover 1/2 of your roof. Hit edit-copy, then edit-paste to put this selection on a new layer. Hide the old layer.

3. Move this section over your roof and hit edit-transform-perspective = grab a corner, hold down the shift key, and pull it in a little bit, then click on the check mark at the top of the screen.

4. Hit edit-transform-rotate and rotate it to fit. Now erase the parts that stick out beyond the roof. Make sure that you fit it to just half of the roof. Duplicate this layer, hit edit-transform-rotate 180 degrees, then merge down. Duplicate this layer again and rotate it 90 degrees. For rectangular houses you will need to do more erasing. When done merge down.

5. Now do this for each and every roof.

Terribly, terribly time-consuming and really not worth it. I've done it and it sucks. Instead what I do is to make my buildings aligned to the cardinal directions so that the patterns line up properly, then do the "merge-to-empty-layer technique" to get rid of the layer styles, then rotate the whole building to fit the street. This goes 100 times faster but you do lose the perspective but, like I said, it isn't even noticeable at this scale. On an encounter map (say like a few huts) where the roof is much larger then this technique only has to be done a few times in order to do all the roofs needed so it's not so bad.

For what its worth, I think your map looks fine so far and doesn't really need that level of micro-managing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daelin

I need a way to put textures on my buildings that will warp to fit the beveled shape of the roofs, I'm really not an expert with Photoshop, so I've been scouring the interwebs for a technique

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I see you use GIMP. If you have those roofs as a heightfield (in a pinch a angular shapeburst gradient will do) I made a thatching script using the techniques from the "Thatching for dummies" thread. It works well with shingle type tiles as well as thatch.

-Rob A>

To Ascension:
This is more or less exactly what I've done. Cut out individual segments of texture and transformed and rotated it to death to fit each angle and shape of rooftop. Takes forever, especially because you should really only rotate a segment once. If you keep rotating one piece of texture 5-10 times, it will become too blurred. So it was like "rotate 68,5 degrees->no, doesn't fit the angle quite right->undo->rotate 69 degrees". And like you said, the eventual result is crap.

To RobA:
No, this map is done in Photoshop, so the houses are done with the a standard bevel style applied to a masked layer. But I really like that script, it seems just like the think I'm looking for. I'll see if I can't get what I have to fit into GIMP.