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

[Mouse]

Thanks Falconius

The landscape is a procedural terrain that I created in Vue, and textured with my own grass textures and a couple of rock textures from textures.com. I rendered it using a camera with the focal length set to 500mm (there aren't any true orthographic camera settings in Vue, so you just have to make it as close to isometric perspective as you can with the focal length). The reason I used Vue is because I get totally tangled up trying to texture paint models in Blender, even though Blender does actually have a proper orthographic camera setting.

Next I imported the render into that grid file I uploaded before, and trimmed the image to fit the equatorial plane. I then used GIMPs Filters/Map/Map object filter to convert a flat sheet of rock and a flat sheet of soil to spheres, and trimmed the spheres to create the fill beneath the landscape.

Then it was just a case of importing everything into the main file and scaling it down to fit the chosen bubble.

I'm going to draw each portal in a separate file and import them into the main drawing like I have done with this one, and if I don't like the arrangement I will switch them around.

This is only the draft just yet. I've a very long way to go...

[ThomasR]

Looks really promising !

[Tonnichiwa]

This is coming together nicely Mouse! It reminds me a lot of the movie Labyrinth, when the bubbles go blowing by and the heroin is shown dancing in one of the bubbles. Only in your case it is an entire world. Awesome stuff!

[Mouse]

Looks really promising !

Thanks Thomas

This is coming together nicely Mouse! It reminds me a lot of the movie Labyrinth, when the bubbles go blowing by and the heroin is shown dancing in one of the bubbles. Only in your case it is an entire world. Awesome stuff!

Thank you Tony

Don't think I've seen Labyrinth! I think I might need to redesign the 'bubbles' a bit to make them look more like force fields, of some kind... maybe add a bit of tech structure to them (even though I've no idea how to do that kind of thing)

[XCali]

This looks like a fun challenge. And nice going with the terrain Mouse, the mountains look lovely.

[Falconius]

Thanks Falconius

The landscape is a procedural terrain that I created in Vue, and textured with my own grass textures and a couple of rock textures from textures.com. I rendered it using a camera with the focal length set to 500mm (there aren't any true orthographic camera settings in Vue, so you just have to make it as close to isometric perspective as you can with the focal length). The reason I used Vue is because I get totally tangled up trying to texture paint models in Blender, even though Blender does actually have a proper orthographic camera setting.

Next I imported the render into that grid file I uploaded before, and trimmed the image to fit the equatorial plane. I then used GIMPs Filters/Map/Map object filter to convert a flat sheet of rock and a flat sheet of soil to spheres, and trimmed the spheres to create the fill beneath the landscape.

Then it was just a case of importing everything into the main file and scaling it down to fit the chosen bubble.

I'm going to draw each portal in a separate file and import them into the main drawing like I have done with this one, and if I don't like the arrangement I will switch them around.

This is only the draft just yet. I've a very long way to go...

And you thought my thing was complicated? Good lord. Gives you good result though so it's worth the effort.

[Wingshaw]

This is looking phenomenal, Mouse. As you say, the grass needs some work, but the shape of the land looks incredible.

Wingshaw

[Mouse]

This looks like a fun challenge. And nice going with the terrain Mouse, the mountains look lovely.

Thanks XCali

And you thought my thing was complicated? Good lord. Gives you good result though so it's worth the effort.

Thanks Falconius

The only reason its as complicated as it sounds is because the GIMP end of things is a bit tricky

I've seriously fallen out with Blender. I used to be able to texture paint terrains in that app, but they've gone and changed something and it doesn't work like it used to. I'm rather too short on patience right now to want to start learning it all over again - even knowing as I do that they will change it again in the very next update.

This is looking phenomenal, Mouse. As you say, the grass needs some work, but the shape of the land looks incredible.

Thanks Wingshaw

The grass will be done - closer to the end of the challenge once I've got everything else drafted in place

[XCali]

@ Mouse.
You got that right! GIMP is a bit tricky. My Gimp crashed soooo many times already...ugh.
But, having patience with it always pays off.

[Mouse]

A very handy tip that ChickPea gave me not too long ago, was to use a series of files like this (slightly modified/interpreted to aid description):

File 1: has all the layers to do with the basic background - the dirt, or the ocean floor, or whatever. This donates all its layers as one 'new layer from visible' to file 2

File 2: is based on the 'new layer from visible' taken from file 1, and on top of that has all the layers to do with creating the buildings/mountains (or whatever is immediately on top of the things in file 1). This file donates all its layers (including the one inherited from file 1) as one 'new layer from visible' to file 3

File 3: is based on the 'new layer from visible' taken from file 2, and on top of that has all the layers to do with creating the chimney stacks and smoke (or whatever goes on top of everything else).

That way, if you have a really large map you only need to have about 4 layers in each of those files, and you haven't merged a single one of them down in an irretrievable way. So if you discover that you made a mistake with one of the background layers in file 1, you just go back to file 1, change it, and cascade the change down through the files by creating a 'new layer from visible', exporting it, and importing it again into file 2, and so on - till you get back to the top file with an updated background.

Hope that a) makes sense, and b) helps prevent future crashing.