Art Requests - all non-modding requests

[m_1512]

@ m_1512, While I'm still on it, can you tell me if you're satisfied so far with the WIP below?

This looks awesome. But I am concerned if the request is too time consuming.

[Akar]

@Imperator Majora

That's super professional looking, nicely done!

@Majora, let me take a look at some stuff and see if I can't knock out that TMC thing for you. I'm glad you took my suggestion and posted your requests here.

@Lifthrasir, That map looks amazing dude!

[Lifthrasir]

@ m_1512, no worries All small islands are done and I'm on the Scottish side which is probably the part requiering the biggest part of work due to its form on the West side.
I'm doing my best to give you at least one of the maps this week-end.
I'm more concerned by the settlements and regions borders. Are you happy or should I make the regions one thicker

@ Akar thanks Mate

[m_1512]

I think they look satisfactory. What do you think? Are they differentiable?

[Lifthrasir]

The current size of the pic is 3600 x 4500 pixels. If you work at its original size and/or down to 35% of it, that should be ok. If you want to reduce it more, I'm not so sure. But as I'm also creating the map, it's quite difficult for me to make an opinion. I know more or less where the borders are, no matter if they are provincial or regional
Any input from "outside" is welcome before I start to implement them on the main part of the map

[Kilo11]

The WIP looks great Lifth! Seriously! And I would love to know how you got the lines so smooth on those rounded edges... Is it just because the image is so huge, so the pixelation is not visible when it's shrunk a bit?

Regarding your question about the difference between borders, it is pretty clear to me that there is a difference between the lines. A couple of spots make me hesitate for a moment, but it is more about the geography rather than the map itself (e.g. the borders in County Kerry confused me for a sec, but mainly due to the lake spazzing my brain about the lines). If you are still unsure about the difference in the lines, the only suggestion that comes to my mind would be to make the interior borders dotted or something. You could have the thinner line still present, but a very light gray (might be helpful for purposes of painting the map, if the different segments have a solid break), but then overlay a dotted black line on the thin light gray line. I don't know how much work that would add, but that would be my intuitive solution for making the lines very clearly different while keeping the paintability of the map intact.

[Lifthrasir]

There's no magic trick actually. For the land strokes, I've used the stroke function of Photoshop. I select all the land part, fill it in white and then add the strokes in black (Edit + Stroke). Same principle for lakes except that I actually remove the white from the land part. Actually the longest part is to get the lands alone
For the Provinces and regions borders, I use the pen tool associated with the stoke path function. This allows you to use any kind of brush and pencil tools you have in your Photoshop. Once you've done the line with the pen tool, press escap and right click. Select Stroke Path. It will drawn the line with the brush/pencil you have previously set

For the rest, it depends on m_1512. He's the customer

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

@Imperator Majora

You know, mate? That'll do. Thank you.

[m_1512]

@Lifth @Kilo

I am happy with the WIP, and also amazed at it after my own struggle. You guys should think about writing a tutorial on mapping. Just a suggestion.

[Kilo11]

@m_1512: I actually have a thread with some tutorials and mapping resources (see link in my signature). It is nothing too fancy, and the way Lifth is doing things gets better results than my methods, but mine is fairly simple and utilizes only free programs. At any rate, if you check it out, you'll have at least one method at hand. But I agree that Lifth should create a guide of his own! He does things in a more elegant way, and I for one would be interested in seeing the methodology of it all spelled out in a nice linear fashion!

[Akar]

Okay, so this is what Lifthrasir is doing.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Start by selection the "Pen Tool"



With the pen tool, we are going to draw a crude path around the equally crude circle I've drawn to serve as an example "province". Once that is done, right click and select the "Stroke Path..." option.



Once you've done that, you will be prompted with a menu asking for you to select what tool you want the stroke path to use. If you select "brush" it will use what ever brush option you have currently selected, so be sure to have that selected before going ahead.




Once you've done that, you'll witness the wonder (or horror in this case) of your creation.



You can do this another way as well. Right click and select "Make Selection..."



When doing so, you will be prompted with an options menu. It's usually a good idea to choose some amount of feathering, depending on how precise your pen tool work is.




With that done, select the selection tool and right click and select the "Stroke..." option from the drop down menu.





Selecting this will open another options menu.





And here is the result.




It's a very crude example of the fine work Lifthrasir is doing, but this tutorial should outline the basic process that he is using to achieve the effect. The image I used is very low res, obviously the higher resolution you work with the better the results will be.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

[Cookiegod]

@m_1512: I actually have a thread with some tutorials and mapping resources (see link in my signature). It is nothing too fancy, and the way Lifth is doing things gets better results than my methods, but mine is fairly simple and utilizes only free programs. At any rate, if you check it out, you'll have at least one method at hand. But I agree that Lifth should create a guide of his own! He does things in a more elegant way, and I for one would be interested in seeing the methodology of it all spelled out in a nice linear fashion!

Gimp has a stroke function as well iirc.

[Lifthrasir]

@ Akar, yes, that's basically the principle with Photoshop. I need to check but I think that once you have chosen the Stroke Path, if you right click a 2nd time, then you can directly choose the size of your brush/pencil.

[Akar]

Here's the finished version for Majora.

Here's the large version,



And then the image when it's actually in use,

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

A most excellent graphic.

[Akar]

I'll get the images and this is for a youtube thumbnail yes

Still waiting for this.

Also, is there a reason you haven't used the signature you requested I make for you?

[Lifthrasir]

@ m_1512, here is the 1st map requested. The current format is .png but I can change it if needed:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Let me know if I need to modify something

I'm implementing the settlements for the 2nd one now. Do you need only the location or the names as well?

[Akar]

That's so good Lifth, nicely done dude.

[Lifthrasir]

Thanks Mate

[Kilo11]

I have a question, and depending on the answer, a possible request for something. The question is the following: Is it possible to make a moving text gif which has transparent holes in it that also move? Basically, I am wondering if it is possible to make an image of text where the text is spinning, and the gaps between and inside letters are transparent? The request is in relation to something I am working on with gggg, and I am wondering if I could have made something that says "Breaking News" in the style of a news channel, with the breaking news text fixed to a rotating cube or something.

Sorry for the slightly rambling request and explanation. Let me know if anything is unclear.