shadowhide's mapping thread

[Shadowhide]

@RPGista:i too lazy to draw anything,so i a made a little concept with simple brushes right in DR,though i dont have a plan,story or even idea for a mission...

 

here what i end up with :

Edited February 18, 2013 by Shadowhide

[RPGista]

Quite nice, I like the colors used, and the physical openings that let out the lights coming from inside.

[demagogue]

That looks very atmospheric Shadowhide.

[Shadowhide]

thanks,glad you like it,though i didnt made any progress on it so far... i can upload it as prefab if somebody want it

btw

i failed everytime i tried to build a city (except 1 time i actually built a little city area i was happy with in DromEd,but it was long ago)

perhaps i could try to build relying on somebody's plan of city layout from above ? what do you think ?

maybe someone would even draw one for me,though i promise nothing

[demagogue]

You may be thinking about it too much.

Look at Baddcog's tutorial for making city streets & you can just copy that style, and it'll be a really good city map.

 

dl.dropbox.com/u/15441325/TDM_Street_Tut.zip

[RPGista]

Yeah that is a pretty good tutorial. The map I posted was actually used to design my mission, after a bunch of broad sketches, I had enough to draw in the details you see there. There are many good references in history of urbanism books and even rpg ones, they always have detailed maps (theres a map for tdm's city too). But to draw a map (or have someone draw it for you) of some sort you really need a storyline first, something concrete to inspire the creation of spaces.

[Shadowhide]

You may be thinking about it too much.

Look at Baddcog's tutorial for making city streets & you can just copy that style, and it'll be a really good city map.

 

dl.dropbox.com/u/15441325/TDM_Street_Tut.zip

 

its mostly about optimization and visportals,still not enough to inspire...

 

Yeah that is a pretty good tutorial. The map I posted was actually used to design my mission, after a bunch of broad sketches, I had enough to draw in the details you see there. There are many good references in history of urbanism books and even rpg ones, they always have detailed maps (theres a map for tdm's city too). But to draw a map (or have someone draw it for you) of some sort you really need a storyline first, something concrete to inspire the creation of spaces.

 

where can i look on TDM city map ?

and yes,you're right,storyline is must.To be fair i never had a story before i started to work on previous fms

[Obsttorte]

where can i look on TDM city map ?

City map

[Shadowhide]

very lowres

[Obsttorte]

I think it is from Springheel, so you may ask him for a high res version.

[Shadowhide]

finaly found some more or less inspiring picture

 

 

and after a few hours i recreated only 1 house and (still not happy with it though)

 

 

should i go on if i getting burnt out after creating a 1 little map piece like that ?

[Sotha]

Hm. If you build a few more, make them modular and retexture a few of those, you would have a set of pieces that would allow you to build a whole city section by simply copy-pasting the modules you built.

By 'making modular' I mean that the pieces could be compatible and easily combined: 1st floor + 2nd floor + 3rd floor + ceiling = one building. Then using only pieces 1st floor + ceiling would make another smaller building and so forth.

[Baddcog]

You could contribute it to prefabs so anyone can save some time and slap in it their map. I'd love to use that a space filler (large city streets take tso long)

[Shadowhide]

Hm. If you build a few more, make them modular and retexture a few of those, you would have a set of pieces that would allow you to build a whole city section by simply copy-pasting the modules you built.

By 'making modular' I mean that the pieces could be compatible and easily combined: 1st floor + 2nd floor + 3rd floor + ceiling = one building. Then using only pieces 1st floor + ceiling would make another smaller building and so forth.

it might be a good idea,but it will be tricky to make each scene look interesting and unique

Melan said that he tries to make every building unique and he is my idol when it comes to the city missions

You could contribute it to prefabs so anyone can save some time and slap in it their map. I'd love to use that a space filler (large city streets take tso long)

yeah,i'll do that when i drop the map

Edited March 3, 2013 by Shadowhide

[demagogue]

I wouldn't rely too much on inspiration. Most of mapping, or any creation, is very mechanical I think. Just build a little everyday mechanically as it seems right, and after a month or so you have a city mission. There no more or less to it. I mean inspiration is great to have when you have it, but when it isn't there you can still do stuff.

 

Here are Henry Miller's rules for writing; I think they apply to mapping too. I like the one that says don't keep adding fertilizer; at some point you just have to start adding concrete... And of course even when you can't create, you can still work.

[Obsttorte]

finaly found some more or less inspiring picture

 

 

and after a few hours i recreated only 1 house and (still not happy with it though)

 

 

should i go on if i getting burnt out after creating a 1 little map piece like that ?

I think the problem here is that you've only have one house here, standing in the middle of nowhere. It is, so to say, completely out of context. Maybe you should try to create a little street instead, with only the things out that are visible from said street. Some good lighting, awnings, support and other models will make it look quite interesting very soon.

 

If you want to make a street mission, don't map buldings, map sceneries.

 

 

The red part is the scenery, maybe the side street, too. Try to recreate this instead of every single building.

 

(These are advices, so please don't feel forced to do this).

[Shadowhide]

And of course even when you can't create, you can still work.

i dont get it

I think the problem here is that you've only have one house here, standing in the middle of nowhere. It is, so to say, completely out of context. Maybe you should try to create a little street instead, with only the things out that are visible from said street. Some good lighting, awnings, support and other models will make it look quite interesting very soon.

 

If you want to make a street mission, don't map buldings, map sceneries.

 

 

The red part is the scenery, maybe the side street, too. Try to recreate this instead of every single building.

yeah,good advice,i'll try that

[Obsttorte]

And of course, even if you don't create you can still work.

I don't get it

I guess what he has meant is, that even if what you are doing does not seem creative or good to you, you can still continue to work on. Just keep pushing on and sooner or later you'll come up with something good.

[Baddcog]

Yeah sometimes that building just needs erected to keep progressing no matter how badly you want to avoid it

[demagogue]

Yes, if you lack inspiration, just start adding streets, walls, doors & windows mechanically, without imagination. It's not really magic; a building is just simple pieces put together in the end. Then later you can fix some things if you get ideas.

[Sotha]

Yup, what has been said already.

One addition. Imagine if everything in the scene was built so that you could easily grab an existing piece, and reuse it elsewhere. The world is boxy brushes with detail pieces snapped onto it.

 

Then when you build a new area and you feel lazy and don't want to create something new, just clone something you built earlier and reuse that in the new area.

 

Griming things up is a chore. Imagine you have similar grime pieces that fit the pieces you had earlier. You only build a grime piece once per detail piece and the you could clone it around and adjust the grime texture alignment to make it look not repetitive.

 

Little tricks like this can make the mechanical building a lot faster. It lets you to pick, test and choose whether a certain piece looks good in a certain spot. Then when inspiration strikes, you can create new things. Just make sure those could be reused easily as well.