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Farms North of Grasmere () My SC4 MD Scrapbook

Started by Vizoria, October 08, 2014, 02:31:25 PM

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Gugu3


Girafe

Lovely update, so many pictures  ;)

I really like the way you did your foggy scenes  :thumbsup:
The Floraler

This is the end, hold your breath and count to ten, feel the earth move, and then...

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *    *   *   *   *   *    * 

manga rivotra

Superb update, as always!  :)
It is good to see the Griffith Observatory in action, and its environment is very aesthetic. I particularly like your way of "letting express" the Gobias ground texture and to highlight it by not completely covering it of MMPs, the pastures are therefore more realistic.
The rocky path through the landslide is a very pretty touch too. Great  &apls &apls &apls

Vizoria

#423
Replies:

metarvo: Thanks! Well those people can see enough to see what their feet are walking on.

Gugu3:thumbsup:

Girafe: Thanks a lot!

manga rivotra: Getting the balance between MMPs and ground textures is tricky. So I decided that any vegetation taller than the grass would be very dense, thus pasture areas would stand out even more. And thanks for noticing the rocky path, it's a feature often seen in the Lake District in England.

{---}

Highlights from Entries 1 to 10

I will be selecting 2 to 5 pictures from each entry which I felt looked the best, all of them will have a touch of GIMP applied to them. This is a brief recap of everything that I have done. Once this is done then I will knock up a video montage and that will be it for the MD/CJ. So enjoy the ride!

{---}

1.


Tamboria was the first city to be shown.


2.


I had gathered together about 4GB of plugins and decided to experiment with them; Tamboria was thus a testing ground for the buildings, lots and mods that I had downloaded.


3.


Back then I loved using Paeng's Industrial Grunge Alleyways.


4.


No fillers- just crammed in residential!


5.


One of the first parks I worked on.


6.


There was also a bit of MMP work too by adding in additional trees.


7.


The Lotus Temple.


8.


The mountain on the left is Fraizer's Point.


9.


Back then I was using the Zurich region, made by blunder, with Berner Oberland terrain.


10.


This was my first use of MMP paths.


11.


12.


This was also the first time I used MMP rocks and boulders too.


13.


But the rock MMPs I added by the path were far less convincing.


14.


The third city tile which I showed was that of Cranksville.


15.


This was a finished city unlike Tamboria, well there will still big gaps in the city tile but I felt it was finished at the time. It was in Cranksville that I developed my obsession with railways and railway mods.


16.


I think the use of CAM helped as it contained many distinctive and large RCI buildings.


17.


The CAM buildings are spectacular, however I stopped using CAM when discovering it had stability issues to it.


18.


And so began my journey with the use of fillers...


19.


Focusing so much on railways helped develop my sense of realism in SC4.


20.


The first finished CBD.


21.


22.


The first lake I created.


23.


It took many hours filling in the banks.


24.


{---}

My favourite pictures have to be from Fraizer's Point, the Berner Oberland terrain and the Arden Tree Controller worked brilliantly on blunder's Zurich region. So I didn't have to add much!

This weekend there will be highlights from Entries 11 to 20.

_Michael

While still undoubtedly fantastic, this flashback is great as it shows how far you've come in so many ways. The MMP, building choice and networks are all great, but are truly fantastic at highlighting how amazing you are now. :)

YouBet

Great flashback! I enjoy going back and reviewing how far we've come.

I like your industrial scenes. What is the large, grungy building in picture 3? Thanks.

compdude787

Wow, nice pictures! Some of these, like the lake ones, I have not seen before!
Check out my MD, United States of Simerica!
Last updated: March 5, 2017

My YouTube Channel

Vizoria

#427
Replies:

michae95l: Thanks for that, but in the earlier entries which showed ways of doing things which I had completely forgotten about!

YouBet: SFBT's Gusslov Foundry, very impressive industrial building! http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2925

compdude787: Thank you!

{---}

Highlights from Entries 11 to 20

Enjoy the highlights, once these have been done and once I have finished the montage video that's it! I have removed all of my plugins and the backups, the slate is completely clean since my focus is on story-writing.

{---}

1.


Part of the industrial area of Grendon.


2.


My basic industrial style has never really changed since Grendon: railways, green spaces and large industrial complexes.


3.


Grendon was also a great testing ground for all kinds of fillers: from grass, parking, grunge roads to highway supports...


4.


My first attempt at mixed residential zoning...


5.


I also extensively used diagonal texture extenders.


6.


And my interest in grungy SC4 scenes was born in this city.


7.


The layout is there but the textures are not quite unified. I cracked this about a year later and two years later I began using grass base texture unifiers.


8.


Also I began utilising different SAM streets to add more dirt and/or concrete to industrial areas.


9.


10.


One of the first detailed industrial complexes I designed, for some reason oil refineries are quite easy to put together- must be because of the large lots!


11.


12.


The first mosaic- I even extended the width to test out GIMP.


13.


Some urban decoration. This was in its infancy and it honestly took me a long period of time to create coherent, realistic areas.


14.


And some diagonals... Minus the diagonal housing!


15.


I also explored infilling residential complexes with parks and car parking.


16.


These next pictures come from Fernsville. This is where I began exploring MMPing, landscaping and agriculture.


17.


18.


Creating pasture scenes was quite easy, all it requires is a good terrain controller, fences and MMP animals.


19.


20.


But I still had to put in a lot of practice to get crops and MMP grasslands right, here it is all a bit ad-hoc.


21.


My first and only MMP vineyard.


22.


Most of the features on the terrain are MMPs.


23.


I used a surface painter to plop a bland water texture on the ground.


24.


Stonehenge.


25.


This is a meteor crater.


26.


27.


Exploring rock crags...


28.


This lake was created with PEG's MMP water.


29.


And this is where the landscaping comes in...


30.


31.


32.


33.


34.


I never kept this design for my first power plant complex in Treblane, I believe it was lost due to a CTD whilst saving, but the picture always looked good.


35.


Treblane's CBD and canals...


36.


Treblane was where I started working on detailed CBDs...

{---}

The highlights from entries 21 to 30 will have quite a bit from Treblane and some very distinctive images.

Akallan

"Doing god's work!" :D

Very nice update! I love your industries and the railways. You have a lot of imagination! :thumbsup:

What is this mod that you use for the texture of the streets as in image 6?
My CJ :


My european road textures project : S N T - v.2.1

compdude787

Oh wow, that looks quite nice!! I always liked those MMP farms; too lazy to do them myself. :P
Check out my MD, United States of Simerica!
Last updated: March 5, 2017

My YouTube Channel

kbieniu7

Haven't been there for a while...

Reviews... like michae95l said, they allow to show the progress that you've made... but even though, some theese shots are the same gorgeous, just like this industrial zone!  :thumbsup:

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img921/9918/o1rIN3.jpg

Thank you for visiting Kolbrów, and for being for last ten years!

Vizoria

Replies:

Akallan: Thanks a lot! As for the mod it is one of Jeronij's sidewalk mods- http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=36. This was about a year before I discovered Gobias' sidewalks.

compdude787: Those MMP farms were some of my most laziest work! To do them right takes a lot of filling in!

kbieniu7: You right about the purpose of the reviews, but they are also a means of wrapping up this CJ by going the highlights of the last three years. It incredible to see what I was doing really well in these early entries.

{---}

Highlights from Entries 21 to 30

Today's entries are from two city tiles: Treblane and Stokesley. In Treblane I continued to develop my industrial and CBD skills, whilst in Stokesley I heavily experimented with MMPs, landscaping and water.

{---}

1.


Treblane was the largest city I had finished and I tried to create a wider layout for the different building densities.


2.


The first power plant I created. I used Paeng's coal cheatsheet for some of the lots.


3.


Also around that time I began searching for other big industrial LOTs.


4.


5.


The first row of diagonal housing I created.


6.


Not sure why but there is something about this particular stretch of the waterfront.


7.


Diagonal housing forced me to be more methodical with suburban development.


8.


9.


But there was still more work to be done with the transitions between low to medium density.


10.


Treblane CBD's was the second one I created.


11.


Use of the canals made me focus like I had never before and the result was a rather coherent area, quite surprising giving this was early on in the first year of the MD/CJ.


12.


13.


My ad-hoc zoning method would produce interesting results though...


14.


But the canals and their layout still hold up.


15.


16.


I also began utilising large LOTs to create different themes within a downtown/CBD.


17.


I experimented with SFBT diagonal fillers and canals to create this small park which is the size of a small city block.


18.


This curved train station can be found here- http://www.bripizza.net/sc4/1208NAMCurveSta/1208NAMCurveSta.html. Japanese BATters and LOTters are crazy!


19.


I also spent some time, when I was building Treblane, finding more utility buildings on the STEX and LEX; especially garbage disposal buildings.


20.


Treblane also marked the first time I used custom electricity pylons, these would become a staple item in future cities.


21.


The next set of pictures come from Stokesley.


22.


In Stokesley I worked on developing MMP rivers, waterfalls and land bridges.


23.


It was also a chance to test out my rural MMPing skills.


24.


One of the land bridges I created using the "rain" terraforming trick.


25.


Yet another attempt at creating rocky terrain.


26.


It was Stokesley where I began creating MMP footpaths with Heblem's footpath textures.


27.


28.


29.


And yet more mountain work.


30.


This mountain I sculpted by hand, I wanted to emphasise the ridges and corries.


31.


And back to Treblane.


32.


33.


On display are a collection of LOTs from Paeng's coal cheatsheet.


34.


35.


The quality of some areas is on par with anything recent I have created, especially the night time shots.


36.


And a return to Stokesley.


37.


A small stream and marshland. The techniques I learnt here would be applied extensively in the Faverdale city tile- something I showed this year.


38.


39.


In the centre left is a scree slope, one of the first I designed and one of the first I felt I got somewhat right.


40.


41.


And we return to Treblane once more.


42.


This approach of seamless orthogonal and diagonal transitions became a huge part of this CJ/MD.


43.


44.


Some of my first experiments with transitions involving the RHW.


45.


{---}

For New Year's Eve don't miss out the highlights of entries 31 to 40! Here I made quantum leaps with MMP fields, industrial layouts and MMPs.

compdude787

This is really bringing back good memories!! Even today, all your stuff looks awesome!! You have truly been a creator of awesome cities. :thumbsup: &apls
Check out my MD, United States of Simerica!
Last updated: March 5, 2017

My YouTube Channel

Vizoria

#433
Highlights from Entries 31 to 40

{---}

Thanks compdude787 for that comment!

In these highlights there are three city tiles: Zooropa, Grethor and San Widge. These three cities are the big three which marked my transition into landscaping, MMPing and city construction with greater detailing.

{---}

1.


With Zooropa I actually started afresh with the plugins -- deleted everything! -- and rebuilt the plugin folder from scratch. The first thing I did was to ditch the CAM.


2.


With Zooropa I wanted to try out my low-rise skills.


3.


Though the eclectic RCI layout remains!


4.


My first ever use of retaining walls.


5.


I also discovered T Wrecks IRM fillers- every city since Zooropa has ALWAYS used them!


6.


It was in Zooropa that I stumbled across my method for creating fields with MMPs: choose one plant, then a second plant to complement it (thicken up the vegetation) and lastly lay down dirt MMPs.


7.


I also started using ionionion's OMCo Filling Gravel to dirty up the textures in my MMP fields.


8.


Zooropa was a very crucial stepping stone.


9.


The next crucial stepping stone is the industrial town of Grethor.


10.


To date it is the largest industrial area I have ever created.


11.


A large part of the area was the nuclear power plant I added in.


12.


13.


14.


Finally I was creating a concrete labyrinth which is exactly what industry feels like.


15.


16.


MMPing on the Lowkee Appalachian terrain mod. This is a VERY forgiving terrain when it comes to MMP usage.


17.


18.


19.


Good old black gold.


20.


I also utilised varying railway layouts in Grethor: orthogonal, diagonal and FA.


21.


22.


23.


It was in Grethor that I became more picky about <what> emerged in residential zones. It's strange because I focused first on realistic industrial layouts, then realistic commercial layouts and finally realistic residential layouts.


24.


I have always liked this picture. Must be the meadow.


25.


26.


27.


The town centre in Grethor is a little muddled when it comes to the residential layout.


28.


Even so, I did make more of an effort to filter out the residential buildings I did not want.


29.


30.


MMPs and Diggis ponds.


31.


32.


33.


Larger stadium layouts...


34.


35.


36.


37.


And now a few shots from San Widge.


38.


San Widge is a cursed city but I will explain more in the next entry.


39.


40.


I simple MMP landscape theme I created: adding ionionion OMCo filling gravel to add some variety to the woodland.


41.


And this is probably the earliest example of my current approach to industry: natural scenary, parking, fillers and space.


42.


43.


Smoothing out the diagonals...


44.


Concrete overload.


45.


46.



{---}

The next set of highlights will largely focus on San Widge, this is another important city as I focused a lot more on the CBD, railway networks, city parks and started to more clearly differentiate areas.


manga rivotra

I remember well of these superb fields made of MMPs.
It was actually the first time that I saw this and it is clearly a clever solution to reproduce all kinds of more or less flowery pastures and other types of cultivation.
The use of MMPs path ionionion adds further realism, specially with these distant views.  :thumbsup:
And your overall views were and are still extremely realistic and even more beautiful with this light photoshoping on brightness / saturation.
It's a pleasure to see all of this again.  :) Great!  &apls &apls &apls

compdude787

Being obsessed with freeways, I can't help but notice how good the Ontario RHW textures looked. I really miss them and I miss MandelSoft too! I had some great roadgeek conversations with him in the Simtropolis chat several years ago.
Check out my MD, United States of Simerica!
Last updated: March 5, 2017

My YouTube Channel

kbieniu7

Your diagonal layout of roads, rails and squares has always been the best part of your entries  :thumbsup:
Thank you for visiting Kolbrów, and for being for last ten years!

Vizoria

#438
Replies:

Alan_Waters: Thank you very much!

manga rivotra: I wasn't the first to use MMPs for fields, Paeng , Framley and Gigius76 had been doing this a year or two before, but what I added was the creation of MMP fields on a large, repetitive scale which emulated real life.

compdude787: I didn't know that! Then again I have installed, uninstalled and reinstalled the NAM so many times I have forgotten the different NAM setups I used.

kbieniu7: Thank you!

{---}

Highlights from Entries 41 to 50

And the journey through past entries continues! These selection of entries are quite important because I finally work out how to create some decent MMP scenes and I continue to develop my skills with the creation of city blocks and special areas.

{---}

1.


The city of San Widge. I completed this city in its entirety, sadly I had to battle prop pox to get the job done.


2.


I also made improvements with the spacing within city centres. Less packed skyscrapers and more plazas, parks and car-parking.


3.


One part of the World Trade Centre complex I created in San Widge.


4.


I wanted to raise the entire city block to further elevate the Twin Towers.


5.


6.


7.


At this point I began using Reddonquixote's BATs.


8.


It was also the first time I utilised Mas71's river banks and river pieces set.


9.


At the time best city parking set available was Hooha's parking sets, this was about two years ago before KingOfSimCity published his amazing parking sets.


10.


Another first in my city design was creating a sunken RHW highway. This took many hours!


11.


I also created some elaborate RHW interchanges AND decorated them too.


12.


I was also learning from experience how to place various BATs and LOTs together.


13.


14.


More often than not I was creating coherent scenes within the CBDs at this stage.


15.


16.


And back to Grethor.


17.


And yet more experiments with MMPs.


18.


This was the first farm that looked reasonably realistic, before than I had relied on the building and the lot it came in, however here I add to this with different buildings and fillers- such as FrankU's greenhouses.


19.


20.


This dark green grass came from Jeronij's MMP sets I believe.


21.


22.


Here I was practising my mid-rise urban development; I often feel mid-rise areas are hard to get right because they need a lot of varying fillers to make the entire area look good.


23.


24.


At the bottom left is a rather funny solution I found to the challenge of fencing FA roads. I decided to use Chrisadams3997's curved fence pieces to create a continuous fence, one which was not jagged or abruptly went from straight to diagonal. Whoever designs FA fencing deserves a Trixie or a spot in SC4D's Hall of Fame. Or both.


25.


This was a preview picture of Townshead, a very important city which helped consolidate my SC4 skills.


26.


And now back to San Widge.


27.


I basically went nuts designing intricate railways networks within the city, and sunken railway networks and detailed railways networks with tree fillers, fences and retaining walls.


28.


Here I combine Paeng plazas, Paeng parks and rsc204's diagonal filler set.


29.


I think one of the strengths of this MD/CJ was combining different filler sets together and discovering how they could help to create a unified look or detailed look within a city area.


30.


31.


The San Widge CBD at night.


32.


33.


34.


35.


36.


37.


38.


39.


40.


41.


42.


And now on to Townshead. When I focused on one particular area and became very selective about the buildings the quality produced was equal to anything shown in my more recent entries, say the last fifty.


43.


I even began experimenting with adding the right texture fillers to "expand" lots.


44.


While I took MMPing and natural landscaping within cities to a higher level, my own personal level that is, with Townshead.


45.


Bladerunner.


46.


There were still two problems: I still relied on sporadic RCI development and I did not have enough variety of fillers nor did I have the experience back then to really make the most out of what I had within the plugins.


47.


But my MMP skills were finally starting to produce some good, consistent results. By the end of 2014 I knew how to create convincing rocky areas and forested areas.

{---}

For the next set of highlights prepare for urban architecture, seaports and the first of my MMP artwork (inspired in no large part by Fasan back at the end of 2014).

Vizoria

#439
Part 1 of the Finale - Introducing the Gilling Plateau



During this month I have been working on the city tile above - the Gilling Plateau. I've covered about two thirds of it and the top third has some random experiments; that two-thirds is fully complete, seamless and VERY rural!

The rest of the highlights can be found on the Simtropolis version of this MD/CJ. Now this is my last city tile and its going to be broken down into eleven entries:

1. Introducing Gilling Plateau (This Entry)

2. Grasmere East

3. Grasmere Industrial Estate

4. Skeeby

5. Grasmere

6. Farms South of Grasmere

7. Grasmere West

8. Farms North of Grasmere

9. Brough and the Fields

10. Special Scenes (Penultimate Entry)

11. Newbiggin (Finale)



I will be posting entries on Tuesdays and Fridays, I will continue until I have posted everything that needs to be shown. By this schedule the finale will be on the 19th of May and it will include the thirty-minute video montage.

Starting from the 1st of this month, the Gilling Plateau came together very quickly. Two-thirds of a large city tile completed in two weeks. Basically the bottom and centre parts are finished, while the top part has some experimental scenes I created. My tendency with SC4 has been skewed towards rural scenes. With this final city tile I get to scratch that itch and I get to show to you all something very different- which is I feel the best way to end this CJ.

With all that said here are a selection of pictures which give a small taste for each area (minus Skeeby).

{---}

1.


An overview of: Newbiggin, part of Grasmere West (bottom right) and Brough and the Fields (top).


2.


Grasmere East.


3.


Farms South of Grasmere.


4.


Grasmere.


5.


Grasmere.


6.


Grasmere East.


7.


Grasmere West.


8.


Grasmere Industrial Estate.


9.


Grasmere.


10.


Newbiggin.


11.


Farms South of Grasmere.


12.


Farms North of Grasmere.


13.


Farms North of Grasmere.


14.


Farms North of Grasmere.


15.


Grasmere Industrial Estate.


16.


Brough and the Fields.


17.


Brough and the Fields.


18.


Newbiggin.


19.


Grasmere West.


20.


Grasmere West.


21.


Newbiggin.


22.


An overview of: Grasmere, Grasmere West and Fields North of Grasmere (to the right).

{---}

This Tuesday the detailed tour will start with Grasmere East. Enjoy!