OK, so here's an update...
I completely re-did the walls, roads and added bridges. I think they are much better now, though the bridges probably still need some work and the walls are kind of jagged when you zoom in to full resolution. I'm sure there's a way to fix it, but I don't yet no how.
Found a bunch of stuff on the Dundjinni forums (thank you to whoever it was that suggested that). While I still haven't figured out the whole crystal tower thing yet, I substituted a glass/crystal dome. I also added some other detail like trees, a building, a fountain, and a dragon statue.
Overall I think it is starting to look like I had hoped.
SEE LATER POSTS FOR UPDATED IMAGES
Last edited by Steel General; 07-30-2008 at 03:12 PM. Reason: Removed Image
My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
My Finished Maps
Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
My Tutorials:
Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
----------------------------------------------------------
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
How about something like this for the tower:
tower.png
-Rob A>
My tutorials: Using GIMP to Create an Artistic Regional Map ~ All My Tutorials
My GIMP Scripts: Rotating Brush ~ Gradient from Image ~ Mosaic Tile Helper ~ Random Density Map ~ Subterranean Map Prettier ~ Tapered Stroke Path ~ Random Rotate Floating Layer ~ Batch Image to Pattern ~ Better Seamless Tiles ~ Tile Shuffle ~ Scale Pattern ~ Grid of Guides ~ Fractalize path ~ Label Points
My Maps: Finished Maps ~ Challenge Entries ~ My Portfolio: www.cartocopia.com
I like it Rob, looks much better. I tried putting a shadow on mine, but it looked "funky" so I got rid of it.
So how exactly did you create it?
My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
I cut the dome out (I assume is a separate layer in your file) and rotated it so the lighting matched your map (NE). On a layer below, I drew a white circle around it to make the tower. Applied a slight radial gradient to it to it was darker at the bottom (outside) than the top (inside).
One more layer for the shadow, I used the pen tool to draw a bezier path like this:
shadow.png
Then I used the last technique in this post to create a variable blur, and dialed the opacity down.
So layers are:
-dome
-shadow
-tower
-ground
My tutorials: Using GIMP to Create an Artistic Regional Map ~ All My Tutorials
My GIMP Scripts: Rotating Brush ~ Gradient from Image ~ Mosaic Tile Helper ~ Random Density Map ~ Subterranean Map Prettier ~ Tapered Stroke Path ~ Random Rotate Floating Layer ~ Batch Image to Pattern ~ Better Seamless Tiles ~ Tile Shuffle ~ Scale Pattern ~ Grid of Guides ~ Fractalize path ~ Label Points
My Maps: Finished Maps ~ Challenge Entries ~ My Portfolio: www.cartocopia.com
Cool! Thanks, I'll give that try when I'm back at my office PC on monday.
Last edited by Steel General; 07-25-2008 at 04:14 PM. Reason: As usual, cause I can't type for nuthin'
My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
That dome is so cool, I've been wanting to do an elven city with this dome but never gotten around to it yet, maybe I'll just steal, er borrow, your map when done
My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Ok, here is a minor update for this one, I added a shadow to the main tower (thanks RobA - Not exactly the way you did it, but I'm using PS) and added a couple of other buildings as well as finished added the trees to the 'garden' ring.
SEE LATER POSTS FOR UPDATED IMAGES
Last edited by Steel General; 07-30-2008 at 03:13 PM. Reason: Removed image
My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
This is starting to look really good. I love the super-realism detail in the water, coast and buildings. I think for the scale it's do-able, and this is going to be a great example.
Just real fast on the PS vs. GIMP: at the bottom of Rob-A's tutorial there is a link and explanation of how to do the same with with a feathered mask in PS, so no excuses
On scale: that is a HUGE tower. Based on the width of the trees (presuming 20ft diameter of foliage) the shadow of the tower is about 500ft, or about half as tall as the empire state building. I'm stating this just to help out with scale, cause i think a HUGE tower in the center of the city is pretty dang sweet