Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[Tomas Neto]

Your MD is truly magical!!! Impressive and magnificent update my friend!!! Awesome!!!   
I also loved your statistics!!! Congrats on the 50th update!!!   

[threestooges]

I wish I had more time to leave a more complete comment here, but let me just say, this update was amazing. The clearcuts are a great idea, and wonderfully executed. I may look into the scrub brush thing as those pics of yours remind me of some Weyerhauser areas I passed when I was up in Washington a few weeks ago for a fishing trip. The overgrown brush and the few trees left are almost dead-on what I saw. The only thing I would suggest to improve it would be a few stumps and/or partially standing trees (though I know those are things we don't have... yet). The rock slide is a great touch, and pretty well done. There are only two nitpicks I have for it: that the color of the rocks doesn't match the color of the cliff just above the area in the pic, and that there are no other rocks visible in the area around it. 50-28 is a good example of this. One or two boulders or even just regular rocks would help blend in the rockslide with the rest of the scene. 50-36 turned out great and I'm not just saying that because of the telephone poles (though it's always fun to see something you made in use) and you did a great job of blending the lot into the scene. In 50-40, what's the smoking thing up in the top right? I don't recall that area. Great overview. the village, or whatever you want to call it, looks great nestled in the trees there. I may "borrow" a few of these ideas here in the future. You do a great job of working with the game.
-Matt

[Battlecat]

Xixiz: Glad you like how the clear cuts came together!  The landslide was a last minute addition, but it came together pretty nicely.  It would be nice to see them on streets, but at least this way I can control where the power poles are pretty carefully.  I'm not sure I'd trust SC4 to handle them properly, even with some careful T21 modding.  Thanks for commenting!

Vivien (Earth quake): Thanks very much for your kind words!  Glad you enjoyed the update!

Bernhard (Nardo69): Railway branch lines are pretty common, but they're something so easy to forget about.  My only frustration is wanted to build bigger rail yards and industrial sites.  I've got to restrain myself since I haven't gotten to the more urban parts of my region yet. 

Interestingly enough, the forest is actually mostly a single tree controller, a mayor mode tool called the west coast rainforest.  It's an amalgam from one of the large tree controller packs on the LEX.  There are three tree controller sets in total, one for each of Cycledogg's terrain mods.  Thanks for stopping by to comment! 

Joe (JoeST): Thanks very much for your enthusiasm!  Glad you like it!

Ethan (ecoba): Welcome to Adara!  No worries that you haven't commented till today, I certainly appreciate that you've been taking the time to check up on the project all this time!  It's actually not surprising that my region resembles yours, my inspiration comes from the Pacific Coast of North America as well, primarily British Columbia of course.  :-)  Thanks for your comments!

io_bg: Thank you very much for your kind words!  I was really happy when I found the automata generators on the LEX, they are really nice to have around.

kbieniu7: Thanks very much, I'm glad you enjoyed this update!

Dreamcat: No apologies necessary at all!  Life happens to all of us!  I really like to showcase the efforts of the modders and batters in the SC4 community as much as possible.  There's far too much work out there to pass up on it! 

Honestly, I was cringing a bit when I put those roads together as well, I'm glad it turned out as well as I did.  Every once in a while I've seen something just about as bad, it's usually a result of a land owner blocking road construction through his property.  Thanks for stopping in!

danielcote: Thanks for stopping by!  Glad you enjoyed this update and the step by step process.

Zack (woodb3kmaster): Well by comparison, this puts my 25th update to shame as well!  Thanks very much for your enthusiasm, and for your kind words!

metarvo: Thanks for stopping in!  The power lines are invaluable for realism, glad you enjoyed the results!

Bobbi: Thanks very  much! 

Guillaume (Sciurus): Thanks for your kind words!

djvandrake: The clear cuts are a huge challenge for exactly the reasons you point out.  You are right that the reality is far less pleasant that what I've created under most circumstances.  I'm glad you think I've struck a reasonable balance here!  Thanks for all your other kind words and comments! 

Tomas Neto: Thanks very much for your enthusiasm and the congrats!

Matt (threestooges): For an incomplete comment, you've got a lot of stuff here!  Glad you liked the update!  The only headache with the stumps and deadfall tree models available is that they're a bit finicky to place, particularly peg's models.  I'll look into playing around with them more in the future though!  You're right about the rocks, I'll probably have to work a bit more on my techniques with rocks.  I've got another shot using rocks planned for a future update. 

The smoking thing in 50-40 is the mine, it seams to produce large quantities of steam on occasion!  It was a bit of a surprise, but at least it keeps the mine from disappearing in the trees.  Ideas are free, I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with them!  Thanks for all the questions and comments!

Update 51
Jackson Pass – Delmar Junction Boundary

As you might guess from today's title, among other things, I'm going to be taking care of the boundary with the Delmar Junction tile today.  Naturally, this means I've got a few cross border shots ready to roll! 

51-1: Before we get to the cross border shots, first I need to review and modify Delmar Junction a bit.  The border between Delmar Junction and Jackson Pass is mostly dense forest.  This is the only area where something more is going on, just above Jackson Lake.


51-2: When I originally did this, I didn't have the trees marked out for the hidden river as carefully as I could.  So I've got to bulldoze the trees down here and replant to ensure a consistent transition.


51-3: I decided another waterfall would be a great addition to this valley as well.


51-4: Once all the trees are replanted, this is what Delmar Junction looks like.  This shot is one of the two that will be used to make a composite.


51-5: And this is the other shot that will become a composite by the end of this update.


51-6: Before I make the composites though, first I've got to work on Jackson Pass.  Here's the upper end of the valley before any work is done.


51-7: First, I trace out the pathways for the hidden rivers on this tile. 


51-8: I've added a couple of streams that weren't on the original map of this tile, but that's about how things work.  You'll be seeing a lot more of these hidden streams in the next couple of updates. 


51-9: On the highway just past the border, this seemed like a good location for a viewpoint.  At the very least, it adds a bit more variety to the area!


51-10: Here's the viewpoint from another angle.  As you can see, the last of the trees are in place now.


51-11: Here's the border with the first band of trees done from one angle.  This shot will be matched up with one of the Delmar Junction shots.


51-12: And the border from another angle.  No surprise, this one matches up with the other shot along with a second one that I'm not showing you here!


51-13: To wrap things up for this update, here's the first cross border shot assembled together. 


51-14: And the second one.  If I'd had more time, I would have finished detailing this second shot, but time did run out on me for this one. 


And that's all for today.  Fortunately, there's more coming very soon!  Thanks for all the comments!

[djvandrake]

A beautiful and realistic landscape. 

[Earth quake]

Wonderfull landscape.
The river is really nice and realistic.

[danielcote]

Great update! I love the view point and the highway and the lake with the water fall looks fantastic very creative.

[Dreamcat]

Battlecat, I know you could never hold it against me for missing a few updates...but it does make me feel better about myself 

I really like the way you're so meticulous about your border crossings...very well done! 

[Tomas Neto]

Fantastic, my friend!!! Really awesome landscape!!! 

[BarbarossaS]

Nice work in letting the 2 landscapes flow together. Your eye for detail makes it look very good! 
I love that viewing point, it's in exactly the right spot.

Can't wait for the rest of Jackson Pass!

-Stijn-

[Nanami]

What a realistic landscape

[Bobbi]

Beautiful scenery.

[Yan077]

it reminds me Alaska!!  Very nice mix of trees, and superb landscapes 

[ecoba]

Wow, great work Battlecat!

Those hidden rivers are quite an imaginative idea, a good way to represent tiny streams.
We've got plenty of those down here....

Do you do all of your trees in mayor mode?

Yes, now that I think about it our regions, where they're supposed to be set, aren't far away really at all, but maybe I'll move it a bit to the north, because right now it's NE California for inspiration when I feel it should be Oregon, or Washington.

Great work, and I can't wait for more.

Ethan

[JoeST]

oh WOW


you are obviously magical


Joe

[Battlecat]

djvandrake: Thanks very much!

Vivien (Earth quake): Thanks for your kind words, glad you like it!

danielcote: Glad you enjoyed the update!

Dreamcat: Considering how sporadic I am sometimes, I could never hold it against anyone here!    Glad you like the attention I pay, this one was relatively simple since there's mostly just trees here.  I expect future border crossings will be a bit more challenging! 

Tomas Neto: Thanks very much for your kind words!

Stijn (BarbarossaS): Glad you like it!  The payoff really comes when I add the next tile onto the regional composite image!  Jackson Pass is actually coming together reasonably fast!

976: Welcome to Adara!  Thanks for stopping by!

Bobbi: Thanks very much!

Yan077: Glad you like it!  It's interesting, Ethan (ecoba) was saying much the same thing.  It seems to me that most of the west coast of North America has a lot in common in terms of the landscape and foliage. 

Ethan (ecoba): Thanks very much!  I wish I could take credit for the idea of those hidden streams, but David (Dedgren) first played around with that idea in the 3RR project.  It does work out well though. 

Yes, I do all my trees in mayor mode; I find it gives me better control over the placement of the trees since the God Mode controllers can behave a bit oddly at times.  Helps that I'm fairly patient with that as well!  As I mentioned to Yan077 above, it is interesting that a lot of the ecosystems on the west coast of North America carries a lot of similarity! 

JoeST: I'm not sure it's so much magical as it is a bit obsessive!     Thanks very much for your enthusiasm, hope you enjoy today's update!

Update 52
Jackson Pass – Greenspace

Hey look, a new update already, and it's only been two days!  I think it's been quite a few months since I managed to pull that off.  Best part is, I can already promise one more update this week, probably Friday or Saturday.  Today I'm going to play around with green space a bit more and continue filling in the area near the Delmar Junction Border. 

52-1: Over the course of the next two updates, I'm going to fill in this block of land between Delmar Junction, Jackson Pass and the Mt Garibaldi Ridge. 


52-2: Going right down to the micro scale, I think this area needs a small pond right about here. 


52-3: First, with the grid on, I trace out the rough edges with quarter sized Tahoe Water (by Pegasus). 


52-4: Using the sand shoreline, some of Pegasus' new grasses, I've begun to establish the basic details of the area.  I'm also playing around some more with the rocks, this one is meant to be a fairly old rockslide. 


52-5: Zooming out a bit, now you can see how the rockslide fits into the area.  A flower and grass filled scar is dotted with a handful of aspen trees (very enthusiastic colonizers). 


52-6: Continuing at the further zoom, there's a trail to this small lake.  A couple of picnic benches are on the edge of the hill above it. 


52-7: And then with great enthusiasm, I pull out all the other floral tools and fill in a large meadow around the edge of the lake. 


52-8: Here's the pond from another angle.  As you can see, the picnic tables are just at the edge of the meadow, they'll have a pretty nice view of the lake. 


52-9: Before I wrap up today, I'm going to fill in the wedge between the pond, the hidden stream and the highway.  After all, that trail has to start somewhere. 


52-10: And there's always room for another campground.  This area will be just inside the border of Jackson Lake National Park when I draw out the map.


52-11: Finally, to wrap things up, the area needs trees.  Lots of trees!


52-12: And one more slightly closer view to get a better look at the pond, trail and campground. 


That's all for this update, but don't worry, there's another one coming right on the heels of this one!  Hope you enjoyed it, see you all soon!

[Tomas Neto]

Every update you make is like a lesson in how to properly play the SC4! Impressive update again!

[Earth quake]

Excellent update.
Your tutorial is very well accomplished and interesting.
Bedside, the camping (or campground) is really nice and the overview of this forest is impressive.

[threestooges]

The rock slide looks better in this application, and the flowers behind it are a great touch. I'm not sure what options you have, but the actual rocks in the slide looked a bit uniform. Perhaps feather out the top with a few smaller ones if they're available and have a bit of one of those gravel plops that I think Peg has. Aside from that, the pond looks good, the campground is a nice touch, and I like your tree selection. Those mossy CP Pacific Northwest type trees always look great, but I've yet to find a good space for them in Greenacre, though you're making want to try more and more. Looking forward to what's coming next. How goes your swordfighting (or at least your practice)?
-Matt

[Dreamcat]

Nice campgrounds you have here, Battlecat.  You're still using the Olympic Tree Controller, right?  The trees look fantastic.  Nice little pond there, as well.  You do such fantastic work with the RRP tools...that meadow next to the lake is RRP material, amiright?  You make such amazing nature.

Have a wonderful day. 

[BarbarossaS]

Wow, we're getting spoiled this week 
I love your attention to detail. The way you make it look like there's really been a rockslide with the little space between the trees is so realistic!
It has become a beautiful lake, with the trail, picnic area and campground! You've done a great job with it. 

Love to see a composite image the next update, to see how everything fits together. But don't rush it on my account 

-Stijn-