Topic: Empire Weapon smithy (trees)

I think she was referring to the blackland stones, not trees in the forum post you reference. Regardless, I can't find 3D stones neither. Sooo, it looks like we still have some modeling to do.

I see little people.

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Astuur wrote: ... I'm no more sure, where I have the information from, that Alexia did the Blackland trees -- Nasenbaer, I think in a PM.

Well, if Alexia still had any 3D Blender files, I am confident she would have made their existence known.

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Astuur wrote: Just realized that the trees behind the Epire Tavern are quite a bit better.
Can they not be used?

Of course they can! If not the whole trees, then certainly the textures can be used. In fact I will review all of the trees in the empire models and see if I can give Mother Nature an assist.

By the way, the answer to Astuur's earlier question, namely:

Also, where does the shadow on the south-western wall come from?

Can be found in this render of the blender model

I'll also see if I can improve the identification of the spears somehow.

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Astuur wrote: Wow --- Chuck, not knowing Blender, I need to ask you this question: How did you produce that picture?

I rendered the 3D model directly out of Blender at a resolution of 400x400. (That is the standard size we currently recommend for all renders from Blender. We subsequently re-scale those 2D images for use in the game.)

And how come most of the (very thoughtfully placed) details get lost?
It's not only the spears, it's the coal, the Z-structure on the door, the roof tiles, the anvil etc.

Ah, the vagaries of down-scaling! You yourself have often lamented the meagre number of pixels one has to work with in some of the game graphics. The small scale results in a lot of sacrifices. Coincidentally, having the 3D model available gives us the capability of manipulating the image to virtually any size, lighting or viewing angle. That is a great advantage over dealing with small 2D images where an attempt to up-scale results in pixelation.

Even those walls show some structure!
In Wideland that roof looks like a tin sheet painted red!
Well, you know yourself....
On the other hand, I wonder what that shadow on the roof is about, and why the walls above the lintels are all grey and not white like the rest between the windows? All bugs? Is Blender having so much problems rendering such models?

It is not a deficiency in Blender that causes those artifacts, but rather the technique the artist used in constructing the model. I highly suspect the points you observed are the result of overlapping planes. That wreaks havoc with the texturing. (It looks like I'll be tweaking more than trees and spears.)

I think, this also explains the "ice-creamy" look of Alexia's Blackland quarry stones! I bet they had a fines texture as the original model!

I bet they did, too! It is something to strive for.

Edited for spelling.

I see little people.

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Oh yes they are!!
The tavern trees still seem a little more crisp. The darker shades of green do them good.
But compared to the old trees, this new version is much better!
But it is definetely the roof that shows the change clearest!
I have included the png into the game, and for the first time I can really see
a roof tile pattern in those imperial red roofs. What an improvement!
I have no idea about how these tiles appear inside blender.
Are they each an object of its own? Or clones? Or is this a fill pattern?
Depending on the answer, it may be an idea to have those tiles appear not quite as uniform,
but with some variation in color? Maybe a script could be written to shift the color slightly
within some boundries?
It would emphasize the tile effect, and generally substract a little from that
"fresh-from-the-plastic-toy-factory-look"; but that is of course only my own impression,
and perhaps not welcome everywhere.

The spears are now much better identified. Perhaps we don't need that many?
They cover up the house shadow, and for some strange reason seeing that seems important for
the overall impression.
As for the above-lintel-grey: If this was by design, I don't think changing it in all the models is really worthwhile. You probably would want to do that to keep it consistant.
It does add some structure to the houses, even though it looks a bit strange and is not really explainable form the construction. (Should we assume, they have painted those sufaces?)
Or mayby I have misinterpreted the whole thing... the house may be grey, and the white parts are suppoprting pillars that protrude? That would make sense. I cannot clearly tell.
I am still very enthusiastic about the roof pattern; very, very nice!
I had not expected such an improvement!

Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills.
I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino).

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