Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[amapper]

What a nice job of terra-forming!  It looks so realistic I can almost smell the fresh air and hear the water gurgling. I've started using some of the new sand and gravel tools and they are really helpful. 

[Battlecat]

Ethan (ecoba): Thanks very much, glad you like the lake so far.  It's requiring a great deal of patience to detail the lake, but the results really do make it worth the trouble.  I'm always playing around with new ideas, such as this rockier canyon.  The hidden streams are as much just to simplify things in these dense forests.  The reality is, streams below a certain threshold just aren't visible from the air in west coast style rainforest.  But the subtle difference in the trees is visible!  Glad you like the touch!

As I mentioned in my PM, the green rocks (and a set of associated white colored rocks) can be found here on the LEX.  They are certainly in an odd state.  They were created by Jeronij but uploaded to the LEX by dedgren! 

The design of most of the low wealth maxis homes is actually well suited to exurb locations.  They really do give a nice impression of cabins when seen through dense trees.  Thanks for stopping in!

Joe (JoeST): Good to see you again, glad you stopped by!  Thanks for your kind words.  Also, I'm glad you found those new mods handy! 

Gjermund (kwakelaar): Honestly, some days I'm not sure where I find the time!  Seems like there's never enough time to do what I want to do.  Glad you've enjoyed the updates though!

The minute scale details seem silly at times, but in a lot of cases they're not actually that hard to do.  In the case of the bridges, it's just a case of switching from one rock brush to another.  The thing is, I'm constantly thinking about odd little things like that as I'm doing updates.  I came up with the idea that the road bridge was new as I was drawing the rocks under it!  When I come up with things like that, I always like to share them with you all!  Glad you enjoyed it!

Bobbi: Thanks very much!

Luke09: Welcome to Adara!  The sidewalk mod is SMP's Sandstone Brick style.  If you're referring to the SFBT mod I think you're talking about it should be compatible without any difficulty.  The mod does also change the roadside style in rural areas to a bright sand color.  I've tweaked it to remove that aspect myself. 

Additionally, if you're planning on working in urban areas particularly, sithlrd98 has created a number of mods for the wide radius curves and FAR textures.  They are all on the STEX and you can find links to them in this thread. 

djvandrake: Thanks very much, glad you like the results!

Geoff (calibanX): There are so many different ways to apply these tools.  The more you use them, the more possibilities show up!  Today's update is a small presentation about my approach to the Tahoe Style water!

Tomas Neto: Thanks very much!

amapper: Glad you enjoyed this update, I'm particularly proud of how that rural area came out!  I was pleasantly surprised by how well the ppond tools worked with the concrete texture.  I've got some other ideas along that line I might play with in the future!

Update 67
Tutorial – Tahoe Style Plopable Water

Today's update is a quick aside to have a look at Tahoe style plopable water and the quirks of detailing shorelines of that type since I'm using it so extensively on this map.  Keep in mind that while I might speak in definite terms, this is only one of many different approaches that can be taken to detailing with these tools! 

There are three core plugins I'm using for the details.  They are the RRP flora, Peg's PPond kit and Peg's PPond Terrain Prop Pack 1.  I'm not going to present the specific brushes in each of these packs, there is plenty of room for discovery here!

67-1: So with all that being said, here's how I'm dealing with the shorelines.  This is the area I'm going to use for this sample.


67-2: First of all, layout of a rough shoreline using the quarter sized Tahoe tiles.  These are guides for the placement of the other textures. 


67-3: The first texture acts as the base for the entire shore.  One key thing with these textures: use single clicks to place them instead of dragging.  Vary the quantities and sizes of the groupings.  In this case I'm using the coarse gravel texture from the original PPond Kit. If you wanted a grassier shore, the new grass and clover brushes from prop pack 1 would work out nicely.


67-4: The second pass along the shore is the secondary base.  In this case, I've chosen the small pebble style, also from the original PPond kit.  This one is nice because it can plop over and between the larger coarse gravel plop to help smooth the edges and break up the circular shape of the larger texture. 


67-5: Next, I add a highlighting texture.  I'm using one of the new sand brushes from prop pack 1 here, in very limited quantities.


67-6: At this stage it's time to start blending the shoreline in with the terrain.  Here I've done a fairly generous pass with the moss brush which is a darker green.  I push it quite close to the shore in some places to give the feel of greenery right on the shore in some places.   


67-7: Now I've added a variety of small shrubs to add some vertical depth to the shore.  Here I've added the two RRP shrubs and some Johnston Grass.  Make sure you avoid straight lines and even placement on a wild shoreline!  The human eye is amazingly good at finding patterns of that sort. 


67-8: In some places you should add additional vertical grasses in from the shore, but not too much or you won't be able to place other textures around them.


67-9: Now I've added some coarse RRP grass I'm using to further blend inwards from the gravel and to add some extra noise to the shore.  This one is quite visible, so choose your quantity carefully depending on the style you're looking to create.


67-10: And then on this pass I've added a fine coating of the RRP green rye grass.  Probably one of my favorite brushes because it's so thin.  It really nicely blurs the edge between the gravel and the terrain mod you're using.  This is also the time to start bringing any odd texture details down to the shore.  In this case, there's an underground powerline running through that cut through the trees. 


67-11: Finally, there are a lot more brushes available.  Create some little details to catch the eye and break up the patterns.  Dead trees, small patches of wildflowers and logs on the shore can be very effective.   


67-12: Here's a closer look at a few details I added at this stage. 


67-13: Now we need to close in the rest of the terrain details on each side.  This next step is subtle but important.  Take the quarter sized Tahoe and carefully fill in the gaps on the shore.  It takes a bit of practice to get used to exactly where the water is going to fall, but don't worry too much, you want it to overlap with your shoreline textures a little bit. 


67-14: Next do your first pass with the full sized Tahoe tiles.  Again, click by click your way along the shoreline to give you a good sized buffer.  The main reason to do this is to make it easier and safer to do the bulk filling for the rest of the area.  Granted, one nice thing about plopable shorelines in general is that you can bulldoze a small section and replace it without too much trouble.


67-15: I usually recommend filling in the water first. I find it helps put one in the mindset that this is a coastline which might help you spot any odd places that need taking care of. 


67-16: Once you hit this stage, the final step is to fill in your details right down to the shoreline.  In my case, this part of Adara is solid coniferous forest right down to the waterline.  In other locations you might want a wider beach, or a band of shorter trees before getting to this stage.  If you want development close to the water put it in FIRST!  When lots develop in SC4 any plopable feature on neighboring tiles may be deleted at random.  It's also probably a good idea to make housing near these shores historical once you have a building you're satisfied with. 


67-17: The result in the end should look pretty good at the closest zoom, but the further out you zoom, the better it will look due to the way the game treats the zoom levels. 


And that's a wrap.  There are many approaches to detailing shorelines, as evidenced by the wide variety visible in MD's these days.  While this is the approach I use, you could easily substitute other brushes along the shore just to see what happens!  Also, you could use rocks instead of grass to blend in the shore.  Don't be afraid to experiment! 

I hope you found this tutorial helpful.  I haven't decided what will be in the next update yet, I'll let you know when I get there! 

[Luke09]

I liked your tutorial  i rarely use PW,but i think i do almost the same way as you.

[Schulmanator]

Very nice!  I have got to get me the PPond and check this good stuff out 

[Tomas Neto]

Tutorial very well done!! Striking work, with the mark of the your great talent!!

[scott1964]

Nice 

[Nanami]

Great

[turtle]

Nice work on that tutorial. I will refer to it in the future for inspiration 

I like the setting with the small waterfall. The bridges are very well choosen and looks just great there.

[TiFlo]

Great tutorial!
Now I have no excuse not to start messing with ploppable water.

Thank you!

[canyonjumper]

Great tutorial!
Now I can actually make my shorelines look good

                             -Jordan

[threestooges]

Well done on the tutorial. I think I'll be adding these to my plugins. If you haven't already, I think this might make a nice "super-detailing" tutorial for the tutorial section. The points you make about avoiding straight lines and varying the widths and densities of textures are good points that can easily be missed. Would you be interested in copying it over? Perhaps for the Terraforming section of Playing The Game? Nice update as usual.
-Matt

[Dreamcat]

Very educational.  Thank you for the tutorial!

[Battlecat]

Luke09: Thanks, glad you liked it.  I've developed quite a fondness for plopable water, although I am missing the simplicity of game water at times! 

Schulmanator: They're some amazingly versatile textures and they complement the RRP very nicely!  Glad you enjoyed the tutorial!

Tomas Neto: Thanks!  Glad you enjoyed the tutorial!

Scott1964: Thank you! 

976: Thanks!

Thomas (turtle): Thanks very much, I'm glad you found the tutorial helpful!  I'm particularly pleased with how that little valley came together!  Just one of those instances where all the components came together better than I could have hoped!

TiFlo: Glad you liked it!  One thing I didn't mention in the tutorial, like most plopable water, the Tahoe water plays best with shallow slopes and perfectly flat surfaces.  Good luck with the plopable water!

Jordan (canyonjumper): Welcome to Adara! Glad you enjoyed the tutorial!  Interestingly enough, a lot of what I've written here about straight edges and diversity of textures could probably also applies to game water shorelines.  I'll have to look at that more carefully when I actually start working with game water. 

Matt (threestooges): I should be able to transfer it over to the tutorials section.  I think you're right about it being most appropriate in the Terraforming section of the Playing the Game forum.  Glad you enjoyed the tutorial! 

Eric (Dreamcat): You're welcome!  Glad you enjoyed the tutorial!

Update 68
Winfield – Bits of Polish

Today I've got a small update that will finish the shoreline of Williston Lake around to the bridge.  I had pondered something larger, but time just wasn't on my side this week. 

68-1: Here's the shoreline section I'm talking about.  This area below Westside just needs to be finished up. 


68-2: First of all, I'm going with the theme that this area already had a lot of exurbs that have been subdivided and sold.  Naturally those people who own these lovely waterfront lots are going to be resisting that plan!


68-3: They've got some pretty nice homes down on the waterfront. 


68-4: And of course the requisite lakeside docks!


68-5: There's an old lakeshore trail that will go right out around the point by the bridge.  I think the rest of this area is going to be kept as a park.  It would be a pain to develop anyhow. 


68-6: Speaking of trails, it seems sensible to add one from here to the boat launch as well. 


68-7: Rapidly detailing the rest of the area, here we are!  I went for a slightly grassier shoreline here just to be different.


68-8: Next, time to finish the trail.  This is a pretty straight forward batch of shore development.


68-9: See, that was easy! 


68-10: Looking from further away, the lake has finished up quite nicely indeed.  There's still a bit more to develop for Westside but that will be thrown into the next update.


68-11: One more thing for today, as you can see I've downloaded the sidewalk mod for road roundabouts.  This one removes all the grass from the edge which will be perfect for the places I plan to use it. 


68-12: One more improvement here though – transit enabling makes a big difference to the parking lot entrances.  I'm not going to worry about the restaurant though; it'll be fine as it is. 


Sadly, due to a shortage of time, that's all I have for today.  If things go well tonight, I'll have a normal update for Friday; otherwise I'll just be posting the tutorial I'm finishing up.  This tutorial will be on an improved method for photo preparation for cross border composites. 

[Luke09]

The lake is incredible,and nice work with your TEing lots 

[clearlypowa]

I like the effort you take detailling the water edges, and the result is very well done. 

Like also the transition between the parking and the roundabout

Great update 

[canyonjumper]

Another great update! I'm amazed at the detail you put into your shorelines. And nice TEing of the lots

                                            -Jordan

[ecoba]

It doesn't matter if it's a short update, it's still great.

The lakeshore has ended up very nicely, and I know the exurb lot owners will not want to sell their property! The overviews of the larger cities is getting really nice. I like the transit enabled entrance, unfortunately SC4Tool won't work on my computer...

Ethan

[Tomas Neto]

Wow, fantastic update again, and wonderful continuation of the tutorial!! 

[dsrwhat316]

Your work with ploppable water always amazes me, my friend! I saw your new tutorial today and it has inspired me to use ploppable water in the future for my cities.

Again, your using those private docks; a very nice touch that adds a bit of class to the neighborhood. It's also nice to see the parking lots TE'd, which give the pics a more realistic feel that just having the parking entrances stop short of the road.

One question; do you Network Enable your lots? Instead of the lots messing with your commute times, network enabling gives you the look of transit enabling without the traffic woes that can arise from it. Check out this thread to find out how to network enable your lots  

~ Dan

[sumwonyuno]

 

The tutorials as very useful, and I've already commented on that separate thread.  As for the transit enabled lots, that's giving me more inspiration on what I can do for some applications in my region rebuild.

And to dsrwhat316, thanks for that link!