Let's share our hate of forests

[ThomasR]

ChickPea, thanks a lot ! I'll look into it and try it. I'll see if it floats my boat.

@ GamerPrinter : I work with PS. I can see what you mean and it might be the method to go, thanks. I know that placing individual tree on such a huge scale is way more efficient than using groups of trees but it was my first try and I guess that what I lost in efficiency and time I gained in precision and I think my forests are more organic that way. But I keep the group method in mind, it will help me a great deal on the next map !

To finish, I'll roughly quote the god I was trying to summon (it was Max that has produced wonderful maps with individual trees ... numerous ones). Betraying his words but not his thoughts, here's the quote : "Get down to it you lazy bastard and draw each and every one of these trees by hand !"

I dunno what you think of it but my respect for him gained one level and it's no small feat ...

[ThomasR]

In the process of making another map, I said to myself (yes, one often talks to oneself when one loses one's mind) that it would be nice to add a little note to this thread. You always have to save some of that hate for the mountains (the actual piece is 4 times that size). My hand hurts but my heart sings (heavy metal of course).


Edit : do not miss the next episode "Let's share our hate for rivers" ... as there will be a lot of them to match those mountains.

[ChickPea]

Ouch! I hope your drawing hand is feeling better! If it's any consolation, the mountains look great.

When do we get to "Let's share our love for beautifully coloured oceans"... cos you've got that nailed!

[ThomasR]

Thanks CP, it wasn't that much hurt but a little bit of steam out is always nice About the oceans, they're easy peasy and you gotta love your time spent by the sea !

[Ramah]

Hey, I know this is well and truly necroing this thread and sorry if this is common knowledge but I've only just seen Thomas' question regarding the overlapping of brushes and I've dragged a method out of the vaults of my memory that no-one seems to have mentioned here...

I cannot remember who originally came up wirth the tip but you can use the Clone Stamp tool (talking PS here) to act as a multi-layer brush.

Make yourself a palette of brushes out of the way, with space between each one so you can select them one at a time. They need to be drawn as you want them to be pasted. So a transparent background, and the brush opaque. Make sure you have the Clone Stamp set to "Current and Below" for the layers and have "Aligned Sample" unchecked. Also make sure opacity and hardness etc. are ramped up to 100%.
Then simply alt+click on the brush you want and then pop some where it needs to go. To change brush simply alt+click on a different one on your palette. Because the brush is opaque there will be no previous brushes showing through.

I'm pretty sure I used this technique myself on one of my earlier maps.

Anyway, hope this helps anyone who still has this problem.

[ThomasR]

Hey, I know this is well and truly necroing this thread and sorry if this is common knowledge but I've only just seen Thomas' question regarding the overlapping of brushes and I've dragged a method out of the vaults of my memory that no-one seems to have mentioned here...

I cannot remember who originally came up wirth the tip but you can use the Clone Stamp tool (talking PS here) to act as a multi-layer brush.

Make yourself a palette of brushes out of the way, with space between each one so you can select them one at a time. They need to be drawn as you want them to be pasted. So a transparent background, and the brush opaque. Make sure you have the Clone Stamp set to "Current and Below" for the layers and have "Aligned Sample" unchecked. Also make sure opacity and hardness etc. are ramped up to 100%.
Then simply alt+click on the brush you want and then pop some where it needs to go. To change brush simply alt+click on a different one on your palette. Because the brush is opaque there will be no previous brushes showing through.

I'm pretty sure I used this technique myself on one of my earlier maps.

Anyway, hope this helps anyone who still has this problem.

First, do not worry about the necroing, I do it all the time when I need to rant about some geographical repetitive feature

Second, HOLY $hit ! Thanks a lot ! I used your trick with a modification, just current without the below and it worked wonders ! You'll save me a lot of time for some future maps ! Thanks a thousand time !

[Ramah]

No problem, Thomas, glad it helps.

The "Current and Below" suggestion was assuming you would be placing your mountains/trees on a new layer above your brush palette. I guess you were placing them on the same layer as your palette though which is fine. Just having it on a different layer allows you to hide your work etc. and still have your palette available which can be useful.

[ThomasR]

In fact, I just had a white background and the stamp brush was copying it too.

[Naima]

My problem with forests is to find a way to not have them "hide" the under features of the hills, mountains, plains or else.

[Gamerprinter]

I have no real issues with forests, sure sometimes they are a bit more difficult than other kinds of terrain, but I use them a lot, so I guess I expect the problems and work around them.

GP