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Tarkusian Cities (Update 107-08/23/2020-West Chemeketa Reconfig, Part 1)

Started by Tarkus, June 17, 2007, 08:31:07 PM

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FrankU

What is a 260th post worth? Not really a gold medal I suppose.
But as we all know, that is never the reason to post....
Tarkus, your work is very detailed and I like it a lot.

Beautiful map. Is there any kind of tutorial about how to make these things?

Tarkus

Hi everyone-

I'm back again with another update here.  As we saw the last full update, Grevano Drive was being torn up as part of a widening project. This is where we last left it:



Here's the map of the tile again for reference:



Here's more pics of the project site from Phase 2, between Cubit Lane and Ballast Drive:





You can see in this pic that Cubit Lane is being widened at the Grevano Drive intersection as well.
(Edit: Thanks, bat, for noticing the missing bracket.  The pic is now fixed as of 10:50am PDT, 1/15)



The road is now widened and following a much more direct alignment:





And now onto the really fun part . . . Grevano Drive's new interchange with the new Highway 4/61:

Work's already begun here.  You can see the vague outline of one of the ramps:



A few more houses had to be torn out for the right-of-way:



The ramps to Southbound 61:



An overview shot, showing some of the improvements to Grevano Drive as well as more of the interchange.  Obviously, there's still quite a bit of work to do here, but the most important parts are done.



And that's Update 20.  Thanks for all your continued support--I'm just thrilled to be in the Classics section now, and I couldn't have done it without all of you, so thanks!   :)  I'll be back with more work on the new freeway next time, as well as replies.  And maybe another surprise . . .

. . . like a mapping tutorial . . .

-Alex (Tarkus)




Pat

yes yes it is like a mapping tut lol... Alex fantastic update here Bud and I cant wait to see more and will be back for more too........

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bat

Quote from: Tarkus on January 15, 2008, 01:09:32 AM
(...)
You can see in this pic that Cubit Lane is being widened at the Grevano Drive intersection as well.

IMG]http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/724/u203ye7.jpg[/IMG]

(...)
There is missing a [ at this position!

And wonderful update there! Like the intersection!! :thumbsup:
Also congrats for being in the Classics! &apls


Haljackey

Its looking great, Tarkus (Alex)!  Awesome job with the gentle road and highway curves, they look like they are placed perfectly! Congrats on making Classics, too!

"Staying Tuned" for more,
-Haljackey

figui

wow, wow, another great update!

also looking forward for that surprise  ;)

mauricio.
first forums inhabitant from Uruguay..   first forums citizen from Uruguay..  first forums councilman from Uruguay..   first forums mayor from Uruguay..  first forums governor from Uruguay..
...i'm still the only one from Uruguay!

________

Filasimo

Great update Alex!   That interchange reminds me of some found here in the outside parts of town  :thumbsup:  Looking forward to what you got in the next update! BTW congrats on making classics!!  &apls &apls
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BigSlark

Excellent work, Alex. However, I'm still waiting for you tease us with new RHW pieces... ;)

Cheers,
Kevin

Shadow Assassin

Finally, an interchange, rather than just a non-stop state of construction.  ::)

I love the design, though.
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Jmouse

Amazing work with the transport system, Alex. Since very few cars are visible in the photos, I wonder if you've given it a good solid try in game. I ask because I've built some intersections which looked OK, but they didn't work out so I'm trying to learn from the masters.

Until next time...
Joan

woodb3kmaster

Alex, I've just finished reading through this MD, and I must say, your planning and attention to detail give me something to aspire to. If there's another thing we share in our playing styles, it has to be a Robert Moses-esque willingness to use eminent domain :D You've got me hooked now! I'll eagerly await the arrival of update #21, as well as (hopefully) a nice tutorial. Keep up the fantastic work!

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sebes

Thanks for showing this fabulous intersection.... but I am a little bit lost on where on the map this is being built... maybe time to put the planned/highway under construction with some dots on your map?
Check my MD:               
Rhenen,NN

EDGE4194

 :thumbsup: very nice update alex. i always look forward to the next construction project  :)

Tarkus

Hi everyone-

I'm back with another update here.  And to reveal the surprise . . .

As hinted at in small print at the end of my last update, and as requested by many loyal readers, I'm devoting this update to showing how exactly I make these maps.  And afterwards, we'll look at some new maps. ;)

I've learned a few things studying David and Emil's tutorials (dedgren and emilin, for those who didn't know), as well as getting some tips from Daniel (Shadow Assassin) and I kind of landed on somewhat of a hybrid of their respective methods.  Making a road map of your cities isn't difficult to figure out, but it can be difficult to master.  If you have any familiarity with graphic design, this may be a bit tedious, so my apologies in advance.

The first step, obviously, is getting the street network layout out of the game and into some sort of graphics software.  The method I use involves taking the in-game Camera, and simply taking a picture of the Traffic DataView.



After this, I go into The GIMP (a free, open-source program, found here), and I open up the screen capture I took in-game, and simply cut the Traffic DataView graph out, and place it into its own document.
Things are a bit small right now, so I upsize the graph, usually from the standard 256x256 up to either 1536x1536 or 2048x2048.  It'll get a bit pixelated after doing this, but considering what comes next, it's no issue at all.





After this, I close down The GIMP and open up another free, open-source program, Inkscape (found here).  Inkscape is a vector graphics program, and for those that don't know, vector graphics are essentially line-based, and it is a "lossless" medium (as opposed to conventional "raster graphics")--rescaling it will have no effect on quality. 

I open up my upsized Traffic DataView in Inkscape, and the remaining process involves just tracing the lines on the DataView with the Bezier Curve tool.  It works almost exactly like the "Line" tool in good old MSPaint (and most other image-editing programs), except it does have some other, more advanced features.



By default, the Bezier Curve tool produces rather thin-looking black lines at a 1px width.  Doesn't really look all that great.  But it's possible to edit the color and width, as well as other properties of the line quite easily.  All you need to do to bring up the "Fill and Stroke" dialog box, by double-clicking the little color swatches down in the lower  left corner.



The "Stroke paint" tab affects the color of the line--you can change the line either by using the color wheel, or by specifying a "web color" code in the "RGBA" box.



You can change the width in the "Stroke style" tab, as well as affecting various other characteristics of the line.

There are a few other little tricks I would like to share--namely, mapping bodies of water.  Typically, what I do involves tracing the shoreline all the way around, and then  connecting the ends to make a continuous line.  Then, I go back into the "Fill and Stroke" box, and under "Fill", I select the "Flat Color" box (the solid, filled-in square) and just specify the color.



The same method can be used for showing city boundaries, etc.

As far as adding text, it's just as simple as using the Text tool, and specifying the font and size.  Flipping and rotation is also easily possible--rotation by angles other than 90-degree increments is easily possible with the "Transform" option under the "Object" menu.  And because the text is in a vector format, there's no quality degradation from rotating it at an odd angle.

As far as smoothing things out on curves, the trick I usually do involves trying to conform to the curves as closely as possible simply by clicking new points to change the angle accordingly.  Upon doing this, I use the "Node" tool, which shows all the points on that line.  Then, I click each node on the curve and use either the "Make selected nodes smooth" or "Make selected nodes symmetric" (usually in combination--"Make selected nodes smooth" is just to the left of "symmetric") and it will make the line curve a bit more gently.  Sometimes, things will get a bit deformed, but it's possible to control the arc of the curve by using the little handles that now stick out from the node.  It'll take a little trial and error, but it can be done.



So, there you have it.  Obviously, if you have another software suite already that can handle both raster and vector graphics, like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro, those will also work nicely in place of The GIMP and Inkscape, though you can't beat the price on those two programs.

And here's our finished product, a map of the Delphi area, which is located about 7 miles north of Argentum.  It's relatively remote as well, and as you can see, Highway 61 is actually only a 2-lane highway here (an aptly named one, too ;)).



Here's an in-game overhead shot of the area.



Hope that was at least somewhat useful. :)

Now, to catch up on replies.

Ryan (Filasimo): Thanks!  I was rather pleased with how that interchange came out as well--it was a bit tricky to build because of how it was situated, but I think it was worth it.

jrone3:  Thanks for the compliments, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it!  I can't help but focus on my transit network--that's always been my favorite part of the game, and I'm always trying to find ways to improve the layout.  As far as "getting on the map", I do have quite a few streets and highways that need naming around my regions, so maybe. ;)  I'm also glad you're enjoying RHW v20. :)

Pat:  I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed the latest developments--thanks!  Hope you enjoyed the mapping tutorial.

Joan (Jmouse):  Thanks for the compliments!  Well, after catching up on Wildcat Junction, it looks to me like you have a pretty good grasp on things on the transit end. :)  As far as that freeway goes, when those pics were taken, it wasn't really connected up to much else.  The new Highway 61/Highway 4 alignment is being "progressively" phased in, as you'll see in the next few updates.  It should soon have a pretty healthy flow, at least, that's what I'm counting on. :D

Kevin (BigSlark):  Thanks, and you're more than welcome for the new road!  I really appreciate hearing that you're enjoying the maps.  As far as getting teasers of new RHW pieces in, well, that depends on how development on my various projects goes. ;)  I'll just say some interesting stuff will be happening with Highway 61.

Lollo:  Thanks for the compliments, and you are also more than welcome for the road!

Dustin (thundercrack83):  Thanks, I'm glad you've been enjoying my little "map teasers", and I hope you enjoyed this latest round. ;)

Daniel (Shadow Assassin):  Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the maps from the last couple go arounds, as well as the new interchange.  And yes, it does feel good to show an interchange, and the pace on them may pick up a little bit.  That's a really interesting idea you had there about the "Mystery Highway" proposal . . . you've got me thinking on that one.  I may just have to do an update on some of the options the DOT is looking at there. ;)

bat:  Thanks for the compliments on the map and the interchange, and for catching my little HTML glitch there!  It's very much appreciated.

sebes:  Thanks, I really am quite happy to hear you've been enjoying the maps, and I hope this tutorial update was useful for you. ;)  And that's an excellent suggestion about showing the location of the projects.  So, I have yet another map to show:

The little orange-and-yellow thingy roughly shows where the interchange was built last update.  And I've also drawn the proposed freeways as an overlay on here, so everyone can see where they line up with the existing ones (the proposed ones are the mauve-colored dashed lines, with the blue route markers).  There's a few other small updates on here as well.  This is all still quite tentative, but hopefully, it's of some value. 



Haljackey:  Thanks!  I'm glad to hear you liked the curve setup there.  It's fun finally being able to get a chance to really play with these toys we NAMites created.

FrankU:  Thanks for the compliments--I'm really glad you like it.  And as far as the map tutorial goes, hopefully, this update answered some questions for you. ;)

Mauricio (figui):  Thanks!  I hope the surprise was worth the wait.

woodb3kmaster:  Thanks very much for the compliments, and it's great to see more roadgeeks around.  I guess I have been getting a bit Moses-esque here.  I usually try to plan ahead with my transit networks, but the amateur highway engineer in me always wants to tweak things just a little further, even if it means knocking over a few buildings. ;)  Hope you enjoyed the map tutorial as well.

EDGE4194:  Thanks, I'm glad to hear you're looking forward to the next project.  I am too. :)

Well, that's it for this update.  Thanks for all your comments, everyone.  It's really appreciated.  More road construction ahead . . .

-Alex (Tarkus)

mightygoose

very nice technique friend, keep up the impressive roadgeekery :)
NAM + CAM + RAM + SAM, that's how I roll....

figui

 :thumbsup:
i'll try this method as soon as i can, thank you alex!

mauricio.
first forums inhabitant from Uruguay..   first forums citizen from Uruguay..  first forums councilman from Uruguay..   first forums mayor from Uruguay..  first forums governor from Uruguay..
...i'm still the only one from Uruguay!

________

bat


schm0

Tarkus: Great tutorial, but why didn't you continue to use the GIMP? It can do all the things you did in the other program.

Also, keep up the good work with your CJ! Very fun to read! :)
schm0

sebes

Thank you Alex for this tuturial - one day I will give it a try and follow your process as I think your maps are awesome!

Also thanks for presenting the Angstrom map with the planned highways ( I added a shortcut on my desktop to this masterpiece for easy reference for you future updates  ;) ) Mapgeek as I am I always wanna know where we are in the map  ?=mad)= .....

Check my MD:               
Rhenen,NN

dedgren

Alex:

A very nice and very straightforward tutorial.  It's easy to get lost in the micro-details of cartography- you've demonstrated that anyone who's willing to take the time with just a few simple tools can create output that can stand quite nicely on its own.

As an aside, and a user of Paint Shop Pro, I have to say that I'm quite impressed, feature-wise, by InkScape.


David
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