405 réponses à ce sujet

[Estelindis]

Great to know that you'd both use it, Andarian and Nevercallmebyna - whoops, barely dodged a bullet there!

In a similar vein, WoC_Builder, I'm delighted that you're using CTP Babylon. That set was a labour of love for all of us. Bannor made the Hanging Gardens as a gift for me, and the huge palace cost both of us more hours than I care to remember. Of course, if no one then uses the tileset, it's a bit of a bummer, so it's always very gratifying to hear when people do use it. Your particular use of it sounds extensive and very flavourful!

[Mecheon]

Count me as another who uses CTP Babylon, though it does remind me I should drag my slightly expanded Black Desert out. Or just release Mech's Modified Tilesets

Loving the work so far on these tiles. Any project in particular they're for?

[Oseryn]

Estelindis, that is just beautiful work.

[DM_Vecna]

I love the structures that you have created. I could see them easily added to the newly enhanced forrest tileset. As there is already some simillar structures and a forrest canopy.I can post pics of an area I put together if requested.

[WoC_Builder]

Estelindis wrote...

Please *do* post any other images that inspire you, as they could inspire me too.

I spent some time today trying to decide what it is about a High Elven cityscape that distinguishes it from its cousin the Wood Elf city, and more importantly, how I can describe my vision to you.  Now, please...take that for what it is worth; my vision.  At the end of the day you are creating because of YOUR vision, so do not let my interest in your project sway your judgment overmuch, or push you so that a labor of love becomes...well, just labor.    As well, knowing nothing of modeling, I can only speak of what my mind sees, but have no concept of the work involved to bring that to fruition.  So if I say "This would be nice", do not take it amiss, or think that I am asking you for the moon, if that generates the obvious (to you) comment in your mind and you say "Yes, but one tile would take me 18 hours to construct, and there would need to be 24 tiles to cover all the possibilities". 

So...onward.    I know originally I spoke of Gondolin and Tirion-upon-Tuna.  Yet the imagery that I found there turned out to be too much city, if you understand my meaning; certainly more than what the Elves of our world would use, or want.

I think, for me, what best represents a High-Elven cityscape is that they embrace the use of stone (over that of wood, yet not exclusively), but only as far as it blends within the natural surroundings.  They achieve this by using graceful, sweeping lines, and curves more than straight edges; slender towers, delicate-seeming archways, pale stone whose color complemented (if not matched) the surroundings, graceful rounded domes capping structures; shapes found in nature.  They also seem to place their structures in harmony with the natural setting, using the natural elements of the world to accent or highlight their own, and not vice-versa.  It is in the blending that the true beauty of their cities is achieved

In most of the pictures I was able to find, the High-Elven world of Tolkien seemed to give the best representation.  That is not to say however it provided the only imagery.  Also, some of the best imagery of the Tolkien High-Elven world was found in Rivendell.  However, I don't want it to seem that High Elves only built in the cliffs.    I just saw some of the best examples of the architecture there.    I would think though that Raised terrain would be an important part of it, and the ability to build right up to it, as well as upon it, so that the visual would be one of layers upon layers, flowing both up and down, rolling like a hill, but not so much "stepped".  Water also plays a very large part in their cities, especially flowing water.

I am going to give some picture examples, and small descriptions of what I am talking about.  You did ask for some if I found any (and must admit, immediately sent me searching ), and as they say..."A picture is worth a thousand words".  This should convey the common design elements of what I am envisioning.

DISCLAIMER: Please...TAKE THIS FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH!  IT IS NOT WHAT I AM EXPECTING YOU TO PRODUCE!!  o.0

Rivendell

An excellent representation of pale stone, and the domed structure in the foreground (too elegant to call it a gazebo, but that is what my mind dredges up) is a perfect example of "lacy" or "delicate".  The arches in the background where the stream exits is a good representation as well.

Elven Walls

While the setting is not what I am trying to show (heavily forested), the construction of the walls most certainly is.  This is about the best example that I saw of walls (those that were not just blocks of stone, smooth and featureless).  Especially interesting is how the artist used both straight and curved elements.

Mithlond

A good view of layering, and the combination of natural and constructed elements.


The Grey Havens

Another good distance shot, but this conveying mostly stone.  However, it fit the setting portrayed.  As well, it shows good use of towers, spires, and arches.


Elven City Exterior

This was a pic that showed some good close up detail of Elven City structures.


Elven Dome

A beautiful rendering, had to include.


Elven Watermill

A scene showing a watermill; wonderful use of texture and architecture.


Elven Inn End

Yet another great shot of Elven architecture; this a close-up of one end of an Elven Inn.  This (and the watermill, and glass-topped dome) reminded me very much of Zwerkule's work. 

Modifié par WoC_Builder, 10 décembre 2013 - 07:48 .

[Zwerkules]

WoC_Builder wrote...

...

Yet another great shot of Elven architecture; this a close-up of one end of an Elven Inn.  This (and the watermill, and glass-topped dome) reminded me very much of Zwerkules' work. 

My inspiration for future elven buildings comes from pictures that someone, who creates incredible models with an amazing level of detail from wood, put here:

Rivendell

The elven houses in my rural tileset already resemble some of those buildings even though I only found those pictures after I made the models. So new elven house models will use the green roofs and some wood like the models I already made, but will also resemble some of the buildings in those pictures, especially those with
buildings with turrets.

Edit: At the bottom of those pictures it says 'gidian-gelaende.de'. I just looked at that website and a few of the fantasy models (only a few because there are so many) and they are a great source of inspiration. What those people built is simply amazing!

Modifié par Zwerkules, 12 décembre 2013 - 03:51 .

[Tarot Redhand]

In case anyone needs a couple more inspirational pics, here are a couple that I've got from deviavtArt.

far_edge_by_nm_art-d5wlg35


and shangorila_by_camilkuo-d64nal3


Hope these are of use to someone for ideas.

TR

[Nevercallmebyname]

Tarot Redhand wrote...



TR

I want all of these things as tile groups.

[Estelindis]

Mecheon: the tiles are half because I wanted a decent elven treetop city for some of the Yuirwood areas in my module and half because I played The Prophet series a couple of months ago and was really impressed by the elven tree city there (Bloodmonkey's Rocky Mountains could do with some updating graphically but those modules show just how versatile it can be).

Thanks for the beautiful images of inspiration. This is just the kind of thing I like to see. I've been having some trouble deciding what approach to take to the building terrain and these have given me some ideas.

[Nevercallmebyname]

If you're after suggestions/inspiration then could I get a couple even buildings built half in the water for my elf character's hometown?

[Estelindis]

I wouldn't rule it out! No promises on when it might be done, though.

[Estelindis]

Current status: working on a building terrain inspired by some of the images posted above.

Overall, I will work on getting the treetop version of the tileset into a releasable state and then focus on a stone version. It's going to take a fair while, but at the very least I should make a fair bit of progress over Christmas. Whenever I have nice-looking screenshots to share, I will, though there are no new ones quite yet.

[henesua]

*rubs hands together in anticipation*

looking forward to it, Este.

[Bannor Bloodfist]

Estelindis, that set looks great already!

I won't make a formal promise just yet, as I am still attempting severe restoration on my pc, IE reinstalling 3ds, and I will have to search through about 300 or so cd's I have on 25 piece spindles, so to find original nwn cds, and the associated keys will likely take me a bit of time. I also have to clear space on what hd space I have left.... anyway, without that formal promise, send me a copy of the set and/or a skydrive link to it, and I will see what I can do to create some fences for you. Most likely I will use a completely solid style object and texture as I am nowhere near as good at texturing as you are. No more that two different wall types, and no connections to buildings unless you are willing to wait considerable time for that. Depending on raise/lower issues I may or may not create fence tiles for all of that as well. Just depends on how long I can last building for NWN again.

Up to you of course, and I will NOT force the issue either way.

[Estelindis]

Thanks, Bannor. That is really generous offer! Let's not rush anything, given your PC issues. Let me know when you are in a relaxed situation with your system just as you like it. Then we can talk ideas.

Anyway, it's been a much busier holiday period than I was expecting, with a few PC issues of my own, but I can at least post a picture of a couple of tiles from the building terrain I'm trying out. The roof is a placeholder while I figure out what I want it to be. At the moment, the key thing for me is to decide how much variation should go into this terrain vs. how much of a uniform look I want it to have. The house crosser is quite uniform, leading me to think that a bit more variation would be good with the building terrain.

[Master Jax]

Beautiful. I didn't think it would turn out so... artistic... 0____0

[DM_Vecna]

Love love love it!

[Estelindis]

Thank you!

[WoC_Builder]

*sighs in contentment* That is beautiful. I'm sitting here like Mr. Burns and rubbing my hands together saying "Excellent".

[Athain]

Oh, my goodness. I always wondered why it took do long for a High Elven city tileset to happen to NWN. Thanks for filling this conspicuous absence, Estelendis.

[Estelindis]

Anyone who wants to play around with the current tileset may download an alpha version here: http://sdrv.ms/KV3Fvo  Please be aware that it's very bare in terms of groups and features at present, the building terrain is just a placeholder, there are plenty of bugs that still need to be squashed (have a mental list of 'em), and I haven't even touched shadows yet.

Modifié par Estelindis, 14 janvier 2014 - 12:04 .

[PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

Cultural differences in architecture, clothing, etc are always very useful when indulging in Modules spanning assorted realms, or even worlds, as mine tend to do.

No matter what retextures one puts on existing Tilesets, they invariably retain more or less the same architecture, even when one goes into the models and hits the said architecture with a huge brick.

This nascent beauty is something entirely new and different and, although I have as yet little or no idea of exactly who or what I may assign the architecture to in terms of species (there not being any Elves, Dwarves, Halflings etc in "traditional" terms in my Demoness Tales series) it's definitely going to be used.

Many thanks in advance for what is certain to be a decidedly useful thing (not to mention a very attractive piece of art) when it's finished. Or as finished as these things ever get, what with the constant desire to go back and tweak details for the rest of eternity...

Modifié par PLUSH HYENA of DOOM, 14 janvier 2014 - 12:31 .

[Estelindis]

PLUSH HYENA of DOOM wrote...

No matter what retextures one puts on existing Tilesets, they invariably retain more or less the same architecture, even when one goes into the models and hits the said architecture with a huge brick.

Exactly, PHoD.  This is why I'm aiming for a majority of the content to use new geometry rather than just reskinning Bioware's stuff.  It does mean the tileset won't be as huge as it could be, but if other people want to change that then they can do it in their own time, in their own version.    Thanks for the compliments!

[PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

I've twice tried modifying the geometry of the BioWare city and in both instances, though assuredly different and completely retextured, there's still the familiar feel to it somehow. Others have done the same, only with greater skill, and still the same old feel haunts the streets.

Rare is the bold soul who decides to start a completely new settlement from the ground up.

(Rare digitally anyway - all too easy in the real world on any green space available. Might even actually be easier (with money) to build an Elven town for real than squinting at gmax or whatever... not that I'm suggesting you go out and start plonking huge, pointy sheds all over Phoenix Park or anything.)

[cervantes35]

Just a quick note you have 2 DDS textures which where saved in the wrong format thf01_wood01 and thf02_gradient they render fine in the game but when you go to view them they are scrambled probably exported from the GIMP would be my guess in the wrong format.

This a very stunning tileset I will have to come up with some good ideas hopefully.

Modifié par cervantes35, 14 janvier 2014 - 05:06 .