A Heartly Homecoming

[Celaquil]

Since everyone else are going to post their entries for TC15, I RECKON I MIGHT AS WELL.

So, here's mine. It's based on "Tension" and by total coincidence it also portrays the
first scene in my little fan-fic over in the Screenwriting forum. Sneaky, sneaky coincidence...
- And advertising.

 

[Gilles]

Things I like: The angle is great. The tree on the right is well placed. I like the moon thing. I like the mist with the ships in the background.

Things I don't like: The one thing I would definitely change is the lighting. Right now the brightest spot is the path. Remember that the eye is drawn to the brightest area first, so that's what pops out. There's nothing interesting there, and it takes away from what is interesting (boats, body, etc.). I'd change that somehow. Change the focus by darkening the path and brightening somewhere else that you want to be focused.

Also the foreground seems too clear of fog. The back looks like it's really thick, while the foreground is bare. I also think the theme demands more fog in the foreground.

Picky: You have really varied trees. While that certainly is the case in many forests, I don't know if I like it. Also there are dead trees/bare trees on the left, and full green trees on the right. Seems odd, but it doesn't really affect the terrain that much imo.

 

[Celaquil]

For competitive reasons I'd be wise to follow your directions and change the things around
like you say, but I won't say that I completely agree with you regardless.

I find the lighting to be very natural, and not really misdirecting at all. Yes, the foreground
is bright, but I don't find it brighter than the area surrounding the middle ship, which I
constructed plank-by-plank for a more pleasing outcome. I did fool around at one point
with having a silhouetted character very close to the camera, but a lack of good unit
models and the mere weirdness of silhouetted characters I opted to omit that idea.
I still don't find the foreground completely dull and unpleasing, though.

It'd be hard to add more fog without screwing the background, as the normal fog affects
everything and would make the background even dimmer, and using cloud/glow models is
also hard when working so close to the camera, as they weirdly disappear at random.
I don't know if I'll look into that, but I might. And about the trees, I might agree slightly
when it comes to the green leaves on the right side, they're a bit too colorful, but I'm
not sure I can find another tree model with the same level of detail that'd fit so close to
the camera to change it out with. And in relation to the combination of living and dead
trees and brushes, well, it's blight and blight only affects those areas where the blight
is. So I guess it's justifiable in that regard.

Also, there is a mix of living and dead trees on both sides, there's the fir tree on the left
and the leaf tree on the right, then there's the dead tree on the right, right in front of
the camera and the two dead ones on the left side, one below and one on top of the
arch. I find the mix to be... Natural. Thanks for the pointers, though, I might look into
some changes.

 

[Naze]

It'd be hard to add more fog without screwing the background, as the normal fog affects
everything and would make the background even dimmer, and using cloud/glow models is
also hard when working so close to the camera, as they weirdly disappear at random.

Well I don't think that the lack of fog in the foreground is really a problem. The only thing that blocks me from getting into the terrain as something credible/believable is the fact that the fog starts too abruptly. Things that are beyond the boat seem to vanish from the view, while things right before the boat are clearly visible.

I can't think in a surely effective way to smooth the fog progression without losing visual content. And, as you said above, the normal fog effects does not help too much. But I guess tinting doodads a little darker (to a hue close to the color of the fog) might help. Also using a darker dirt tile in the midground would be a good add, because if you look well, the midgound dirt is brighter than the foreground dirt - and it is kinda weird.

Btw, good terrain! I like the forground tile variation and the overall vegetatin. Also, as Gilles said, the angle looks great.

 

[Celaquil]

Also using a darker dirt tile in the midground would be a good add, because if you look well, the midgound dirt is brighter than the foreground dirt - and it is kinda weird.

It's the same dirt tile, actually. Only the midground tiles are lit by the usage of a "light" doodad, same goes for the ship and the rocks surrounding the ship. So I'm kind of torn between two evils here, either I remove the light to make the transition more fluid, which'd make the focal point definitely being drawn to the foreground, or I keep it as is to maintain the focal point where I want it but I still have somewhat of an unnatural transition.

I see your point, I just don't think it's too much of a big deal to shift the focal point for.

 

[fladdermasken]

Figured out what was bothering me with the remains. The way it's so easy to tell it's the same model everywhere. Like everyone died the same way, collapsed in the same position and the carcasses decomposed at the same pace. A combination of skulls, some blood stains, body parts (e.g. bones, rib cages) and some battle props e.g. swords, shields, helmets etc, would support the art integrity more than those spammed carcasses. Also maybe some of these.

The eclipse idea is really smexy, the cloud/sky combination is awesome and I like the choice of trees/foilage. I know you love to use that birch model, but you could fit it better to the scene if you tinted it red/brown. Alternatively just darker so it looks blight affected.

It's the same dirt tile, actually. Only the midground tiles are lit by the usage of a "light" doodad, same goes for the ship and the rocks surrounding the ship. So I'm kind of torn between two evils here, either I remove the light to make the transition more fluid, which'd make the focal point definitely being drawn to the foreground, or I keep it as is to maintain the focal point where I want it but I still have somewhat of an unnatural transition.

You can also add a visible light source there e.g. a travel lamp or a torch, and the unnatural transition would be reasonable.

 

[Celaquil]

Figured out what was bothering me with the remains. The way it's so easy to tell it's the same model everywhere. Like everyone died the same way, collapsed in the same position and the carcasses decomposed at the same pace. A combination of skulls, some blood stains, body parts (e.g. bones, rib cages) and some battle props e.g. swords, shields, helmets etc, would support the art integrity more than those spammed carcasses. Also maybe some of these.

Those are lovely, let me discredit myself and reproach this terrain, I'll get to it. And I agree.

You can also add a visible light source there e.g. a travel lamp or a torch, and the unnatural transition would be reasonable.

Say what..!

Admittedly, I did fool around with the idea of having the second travel lamp dangling from the bow of the crashed ship, but then I decided that might not realistically fit with the... Crashed ship.

Also, let me add that I hate you for this fladd, you know how much time is invested in having to wait for the opportune moment to capture that damned galaxy sky...
- Now I've got to do it all over, always a pleasure being tortured Mr. H

 

[Celaquil]

While certainly not the most noteworthy changes, I've updated this terrain.

- Fooled around a bit with the background skeletal piles, hopefully they don't look so similar
now.
- Added a sitting skeleton to the foreground, instead of the tilted skull at the base of the
dead tree.
- And some other minor details.

 

[Gilles]

I still feel like the foreground is lacking, but obviously we've been over it. It's still a good terrain nonetheless.

 

[tobyfat50]

Hmm... Changing light in wc3 is difficult next to preposterous, I mean it's hard to get the right light in complete darkness when the wc3 light dyes out on you if you put to many and it doesn't really work well. The fact that Keiji captured the right atmospheric light by darkening some parts of the terrain Background and sky is worth praising. I'm really not a fan of classical wc3 terraining especially when it fails me and I have to work 2x as hard to get results. I am amazed how you guys are able to do it, Not that I can't but I don't do it anymore! This would look twice as atmospheric and awesome with some dynamic shadows. Wish this terrain was mine I would of haraset it how I wanted.

I like the blue color a lot, it seems to start from a blue at the top towards a green at the bottom which is a very pleasant combination.

I'm really glad you decided to change the wood tiles, although they weren't looking particularly bad, they were out of place!

The 2 lanterns have so much potential, to bad wc3 isn't a more performant game, a more dynamic light would have made some nice shadow plays.