Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[canyonjumper]

Awesome updates Battlecat! Keep up the 'rapid-firing'

              Your friend,
                             Jordan

[threestooges]

I like the revisits. It's always interesting to take a look back at where things have been and what can be done with the state of developments these days. Looking at those pictures, I would have thought they were excellent, but you've found ways to continue to improve them. That's part of the reason I enjoy your updates. You're always pushing the limits of what can be done with the game.
-Matt

[Gringamuyloca]

.....Looking at those pictures, I would have thought they were excellent, but you've found ways to continue to improve them. That's part of the reason I enjoy your updates....

I agree... your 'tweaking' is one of the reasons I keep coming back!    It has been enlightening to watch your 'voyage'.

Always looking forward to more..

[Cyclone1001]

Nice, I always like composites.

[cubby420]

Looking great! Your tweaking is making great pics even better.

[Battlecat]

Jordan (canyonjumper): Rapid fire for one week, then we'll be back to one or two updates a week.  I really didn't want these tweaks to take a full month or two. 

Matt (threestooges): Thanks, glad you're enjoying the revisits!  There are probably a lot more things I could do if I started mass replacing things but I'm really trying to just apply a bit of polish to the regional views.  That combined with some photo editing seems to be doing the trick quite nicely in the first steps of building the new region composites. 

Gringamuyloca: Glad to hear you are enjoying the tweaks.  I was worried that it would be a bit boring.  I'm really hoping the next stage of the 'voyage' takes less time than Greenwood did!

Cyclone1001: Well this will be an enjoyable week for you then!  I'm pretty much redoing all the composites except for Ellison Flats, the only tile that doesn't need any tweaks at the moment! 

cubby420: I certainly hope so!  I've been working on some other small details to improve the final regional composites as well.   

Update 134
Adara Rapid Fire Revisions – Vavenby and Jackson Pass

Day three and we're on to Vavenby and Jackson Pass.  Even if it is later in the day than I usually like to post.  I'm running behind on assembling the composite images!  Vavenby was so easy it was hardly worth taking a screenshot since all I had to do was add trees.  Jackson Pass has some more interesting additions that I'll be featuring today though

134-1: Since Vavenby was so easy, let's start off with a bang!  Here's the revised zoom 1 composite of Vavenby.


134-2: And the revised zoom 2 composite of Vavenby! 


134-3: Now on to Jackson Pass.  Other than updating the trees which I won't show here, this is my main focus.  Way back when I was working on this area there were several comments that I should use roads instead of RHW2 for this scene since there weren't wide radius curves for RHW2. 


134-4: Well that was way back before the most recent release of the RHW project.  So many more options, I've hardly scratched the surface so far! The intersection made it necessary to shift the highway one tile to the right but otherwise there aren't any major changes. 


134-5: Once the trees are re-instated, here's the updated scene.  It looks a lot cleaner now! 


134-6: With those details out of the way, here's the revised Jackson Pass Zoom 1 composite. 


134-7: And the revised zoom 2 composite as well!   


That's a wrap for today.  Tomorrow we'll stop in and revisit Winfield.  Friday we'll move on to regional composites including a review of Greenwood's context in the region.  I also have at least one surprise ready for Friday! 

[nbvc]

Nice landscapes with the winding river.

[Girafe]

I like the trees  mix of rural and natural landscapes is really good and water reserve is a good idea 

[canyonjumper]

Awesome stuff Battlecat! I like the use of RHW-2 there, it works really well.

                Your friend,
                               Jordan

[Cyclone1001]

Very nice, a guy could get used to this.

[Schulmanator]

Looks great... reminds me of home

[calibanX]

Wow, I love how you're going back and revisiting your tiles with the new game tweaks and tricks. I've thought about going back and rounding out those sharp corners with the RHW or applying some of the tricks I've learned along the way to the tiles I started on way back when....but alas, I'm far too lazy! I'll just enjoy watching you do it. Keep up the great work!

Geoff

[TiFlo]

Nice and sweet, as usual. Great to see you managed to squeeze some gaming time in there!

[Tomas Neto]

Wow..., awesome update again my friend!!! 

[cubby420]

Woot! More rapid fire updating! 

Great overviews again - can't wait to see more.

[Battlecat]

nbvc: I really like the winding rivers as well.  Someday soon I'll be working on another tile with that type of terrain.  Thanks for stopping in!

Girafe: Thanks very much!

Jordan (canyonjumper): The new curves really make all the difference for the RHW2.  Thanks!

Cyclone1001: Glad you're enjoying it!  Wish I could keep it up beyond Friday, but next week we'll be back to a slower update schedule. 

Schulmanator: Thanks, glad you like it!

Geoff (CalibanX): Initially I mainly intended to fix the tree issues along the boundaries but I figured since I was already working on the area, I might as well do a few other things.  There are a lot of other things I could change, but I'm pretty satisfied with the general look of the older tiles, especially now.  Glad you're enjoying these quick revisits!

TiFlo: Yeah, I was pretty lucky this week!  I'm hoping to have more time in the coming weeks so that the next tile doesn't take quite so long.

Tomas Neto: Thanks very much!

cubby420: Yup and there is one more rapid fire update after this one.  It's easy to do this stuff relatively fast.  Getting the next tile off the ground is a bit more time consuming.  Glad you enjoyed it!

Update 135
Adara Rapid Fire Revisions – Winfield

Welcome to day four of rapid fire revisions.  Today I'll be putting the finishing touches on Winfield.  Trees and highways are the order of the day today. 

135-1: This image is a pretty good example of the problem.  The trees just aren't consistent along the border and the density drops off too close to the boundary as well.


135-2: Liberal use of the tree controllers fixes things up pretty fast.


135-3: The highways are the other change.  The wide radius curves are actually quite challenging to place when you've already developed an area. 


135-4: The road intersection needed to be shifted on tile over as did the point where it widens to RHW4. 


135-5: This farm was particularly challenging.  Here's a shot after I finally managed to get the wide radius curves stuffed onto the map.  It should give you an idea of how much needed to be bulldozed to make the space. 


135-6: A quick bit of polish and details added back in and it's as good as the day it was first created once again! 


135-7: The rest of the tile is under control by the standards I'm using for this project.  So without any further ado, here's the zoom 1 composite of Winfield.  Click as always for the larger image!


135-8: And here we are with the zoom 2 composite!  By the way, if you look at the left and top edges of these composites, you might notice another change I've made to the composites.  Like I've done in the past with cross border mosaics, I'm removing all the fragments of the black background showing through the trees.  There won't be a single fleck of the black background when I stitch together the regional composite.


And that's it for Winfield!  Tune in tomorrow for the final payoff of all the work this week!

135-9: Wait, I think there's one more thing missing to finish this up.  Ahh yes, the zoom 2 composite for Greenwood.  It's ready; I might as well post it today.  Wouldn't want it to get lost among the regional composites tomorrow!  So here you go as a bonus: 



Also you might be interested to know that I've reduced the preparation of these zoom 2 composites to less than 15 minutes.  It's been an educational week to say the least!  See you tomorrow!

[cubby420]

Well now I'm really excited to see how things are gonna wrap up in the regional composite 

[Cyclone1001]

Wow, Greenwood is amazing.

[canyonjumper]

Awesome composites Battlecat! I'm looking forward to the region shot, I'm sure it will be very interesting

                Your friend,
                               Jordan

[calibanX]

Keep up the rapid fire format. I'm liking it. I'm really looking forward to that big region shot.

Geoff