August/September 2017 Challenge: O'Gray's Pearls

[Falconius]

I think it's looking pretty spiffy. Nice work.

From the thumbnail those grain silos look like nuclear cooling towers. Which raised the question for me (though I'm sure you've probably covered it earlier), what sort of technology level are these folks at?

[Mouse]

Thanks Falconius

I'm thinking in terms of circa 1850s, so lots of nasty things, but no nuclear warheads. Maybe the silo's are a bit huge. I mean - how are they supposed to load those things full?

(Good question Mouse! *Rolls eyes at self... again*)

They can't very well have steam power, or that would just eat the available fuel up, so it will have to be some kind of mobile treadmill powered conveyor belt thing - like you would get in an old style British power station. I remember seeing them in documentaries raising the coal into the thingumajig that crushes the coal to dust before blowing it into the furnace. I could adapt it to be powered by a couple of ox.

I think I need to adjust the scale of those silos just a bit.

[Mouse]

While I don't stand a chance of finishing this before the end of September any more, I'm still pottering about with the Nexus map.

I took ages building a church (modelled on the front half of Christchuch Priory) and replaced the oversized grain silos.

I did even more work sorting out the shadows after some good advice from Francissimo about blending different kinds of exported image together from Sketchup, and I'm happier with the overall appearance.

[Falconius]

While I don't stand a chance of finishing this before the end of September any more...

I think a few of us may be in the same sinking boat.

I think that image looks really excellent now though Mouse. The farm buildings and that cathedral type thing are really nice.

[Azélor]

While I don't stand a chance of finishing this before the end of September any more, I'm still pottering about with the Nexus map.

What matters the most is : having fun and learning stuff.
I think your doing it right.

I think a few of us may be in the same sinking boat

At least it's a pretty one.

[Mouse]

Oh no! Not you as well, Falconius?

I really do hope not. Your 3D models are just gorgeous. They really do put mine to shame - and I'm so looking forward to the final map

I think I can finish the city of Nexus by the end of the month, but it will be at the expense of the rest of the pearls.

This is a close up of the church - showing the curse of going into too much detail with these very tiny models. Though it is a grossly simplified version of the original, having no gargoyles or any kind of ornamentation, it took me 6 hours to bring just half the Priory to this level of detail (which is why I only modelled half of it)



And this is the image I was working from.

These (below) are the new buildings I've been working on just today, so even though I know I just can't get there in time now I'm working, I'm still having a bit of a race with myself just to see how far I can get



EDIT: And I take far too long preparing a post these days! Ninjad by Azelor

I quite agree, and messing around with Nexus is helping me to keep the inevitable stress of starting a new job at bay

[Redrobes]

Both images here are really cool. The church is really well done. 3D stuff always takes a lot longer to do, sometimes it can make other processes easier - like shadows for example. You just have to decide whether its all going to be worth it or not in the long run.

[Mouse]

Thanks Red

I get a kick out of making these little models - and it doesn't even cost me a beer, so its worth it

I'm getting a lot more out of it since Francissimo pointed the way to making the renders look more realistic. The shading and shadows in Sketchup aren't that great, but if you export everything separately (shading, sunlit textures and unlit textures) then combine them carefully in GIMP with the right blend modes it looks a lot better.

Next time I do an update I'll do it at a larger scale.

[Mouse]

Its just gone 3.30 am over here, so I'm wrapping up for the night, but as promised - a larger scale update for you with a few more houses. There's a lot of work to be done on the GIMP side as well as the Sketchup side. The hedges are probably the worst bit right now...

[- JO -]

This is amazing stuff !! The amount of details is just insane... And it's only in one of the bubble !