Faded Reflection

[Heinvers]

This is the final version. Feel free to criticize
After some thinking I decided to leave it as it is.
Update: Fixed the sky and moon a bit.
Edit: credits added.
==============
tobyfat50
ogre
Talavaj
UTM 3.0
B2M
All the people of which I forgot their names.

 

[Razosh]

The reflection looks to say the very least flawless, but the environment around it is really dull since there's only one house, a wall and two tress, I'd like to see you make more of the environment, that wall for example looks to fit perfectly for a church. And please put that image in a hidden tag so I don't need to scroll to the side every time I want to read a comment.

 

[Tickles]

Beautiful reflections and great setup for a nice seaside town. I think you should use a white cloud box below the terrain to show faintly through the water. The grass has some ugly lines in it which make it better used with more vegetation or other environmental objects, and Razosh's church idea fits perfectly. Don't forget to turn water waves off in options so the water edges look cleaner and more peaceful.

 

[Celaquil]

Is it meant to be playable or is it Terrain Art?
My suggestions kind of depend on that.

Though, in either case, you should look into tile-variation, adding some shrubs
and grass and probably finish that wall you've got rocking on the left side.
Oh, and, some height variation wouldn't hurt either.

I think you should use a white cloud box below the terrain to show faintly through the water.

I'm fairly certain a cloudbox wouldn't be the best option here, as they tend to be hollow below,
Blizzard never considered alpha tiles, it seems. Personally I think a cloudsphere would be better,
mixed with some glows to give it some faint blue sky-like feel.

 

[Razosh]

I'm fairly certain a cloudbox wouldn't be the best option here, as they tend to be hollow below

Having seen the cloud version I'd strongly suggest it to be honest, it makes it look a lot better.

 

[Heinvers]

It's mainly Terrain Art. Early attempts at reflections. Right now I'm adding cloud spheres and continuing with that wall I started. As for tile variation, seems fair enough that I diversify it. I will post an update later.

 

[Celaquil]

If it's terrain art, I also recommend you change around the camera angle.
Get a lower angle, with more view and add some background mountains and whatnot.
The current camera angle really looks too much like a "gameplay angle" - if you get
what I mean.

And widen the map-size, so that we don't see that horrible "boundaries" shadow

 

[Tickles]

Flipping a sky box gives you both the tinting from the sky color as well as the clouds. I like the fact that it doesn't interfere with doodad clicking or positioning.

 

[Celaquil]

Well, that works.

Also, neither does cloudspheres, if you disable model clicking >.>

 

[Heinvers]

Now here's an update considering Keiji's advice. It's just taking form so please criticize.
Edit: Deleted

 

[Razosh]

I like it but what radiation has caused your water to turn purple?

 

[Heinvers]

Oh that's the sky spheres and the water doodad tinting:C

 

[Razosh]

Alright then my mistake. But if you take a look at the top left corner of the water next to the hills you'll see that it ends in a very strange way you might want to fix that.

 

[Talavaj]

Not particularly sure if purple is the right color selection, but it looks actually very nice nevertheless.
Also keep on mind the angle you view it from also makes difference on how reflective it is.

 

[Heinvers]

Here's my second update. All suggestions are welcomed.

Update 2

 

[Gilles]

It's improving drastically with each update, keep it up.

I feel like there's a growing sense of magic and chaos. I'd love to see some sort of magic incorporated into the terrain.

 

[Celaquil]

Yeah, it's really taking form now.

Next, I think, you could add some fog to make the mountains fade better and to give the
terrain some perspective. You know how to enable terrain fog, no?

 

[Heinvers]

A 3rd update for the terrain. I hope you can give some suggestions.

Update 3

 

[Razosh]

Did you make this terrain using beryllium, gold and titanium because it's BeAuTi-full. (I have a horrible sense of humor I know but I just love myself to much to change anything about myself. )

But I'm still waiting to see what you're going to do with that wall. Also should you not work on making the walls and buildings casting shadows since we can see where the light comes from?

 

[Heinvers]

Here's my 4th update for this terrain. I would appreciate some feedback and criticism.
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Edit: Deleted

 

[Razosh]

Looks great though I must say I'm not all in on the idea of those purple crystals in the mountains but I like the purple lantern at the wall and I'm a bit neutral about the blue shard and the magic beacon on top of the wall. The new environment looks great however I like the new grass and trees.

Other than that it's just what I said last time, add shadows and finish the church, castle or whatever that wall is supposed to be part of.

 

[Strydhaizer]

I dont really like to see a plain water in the terrain. For me , the water looks like a mirror. Try adding thishttp://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/models-530/nebula-62595/?prev=search=nebula&d=list&r=20] to your water , tint it a lil bluer to give wave effect to it.

Edit:
@Update 4 : Oh hell , overspammed purple dust D: , Update 3 is much better , i like the smooth-glow feeling. Another , delete that "Endurance?" Aura , its not fitting at all.

Additional Suggestions:

-Tint those rocks a bit yellow-er.
-Minimize those crystals. ,
-Remove that green-ish floating crystal in the bottom right of the terrain , same also to that floating crystal in the middle.
-Place more woods trees in the left part of the terrain
-Blend the color of the moon to your terrain

 

[Heinvers]

I've improved a bit the terrain per StryderZero's hints.
Criticism is welcomed.

Update 5

 

[Razosh]

Looks great you've improved so much that I did not like and there's nothing new I have to say just what I've already said.

 

[Strydhaizer]

Edit: Okay , thats it , now add trees , mini structures and large-scaled grasses in your mountains. Also , add the Stormsphere to your map with a scale of "5" , then tint it to "0 , 0 , 0". If you're done placing the black ubercloud , fit the color of your uberclouds to the fog , maybe decreasing the color of red and blue a bit. [Ill be giving you another suggestion if you're done doing these things ]

Another : Sharpen your mountain , make them straight and add layers to it. Ill be giving you an example later.

-Try replacing your grass to "Ufergrass" then make 4 color variations of it. Okay , dont do that , i think your grass fit the landscape.

 

[Forsaken]

Really good work!

 

[Heinvers]

A 6th Update.
Suggestions are welcomed.

Update 6

 

[UgoUgo]

Very good. However I kinda feel that the river is becoming more like a glass floor.

 

[Heinvers]

No worries UgoUgo, it's far from finished.

 

[Celaquil]

I'd lessen the intensity of the purple glow a tad, and yeah, the water does kind of look like a mirror road at this point. I guess that's because of the crystal lamp that looks like it's "standing" on the water. Also, you might want to add another layer of waterplane doodads on top of the alpha tiles, to give it more of a "wave" look.

And yeah, remove those purple crystals, they're just eyesores. I also advice you add the rest of the roof behind the one you've already got, while it won't be too visible it'll give more of a depth feeling, as right now it's pretty noticeable that there's nothing there.

And then, I'd also advice you to add either another layer of mountains behind all the rest, or redo the furthest back ones so that they form more of a straight line all across the horizon, with only a little variation in height. Doing that will fix the depth of the terrain.

And the clouds up there in the right-hand corner looks off, try covering it up or spinning the cloudsphere a tad, so that the awful stretched part isn't visible.

Oh, and, would you mind uploading the next update as an attachment? It's easier to see everything with the auto-adjusting feature of attachments

 

[Heinvers]

A 7th update. Gosh it's so exhausting already. I hope you'll make some tips or criticize.

 

[Veritas 117]

I saw this one in your albums. It is looking better and better with each update. I don't even have any constructive criticism because it's looking so nice.

 

[Tickles]

Wow, what a huge improvement. The church turned out nice. How about adding a staircase going down (towards the direction of the mountains) from the top right of the church to fill in the area where there's no railing? You could also add a bridge going over the water in the foreground to better emphasize the water. The reflected sky in the water doesn't have any purple glow, so adding some would make it look like a more realistic reflection now that the sky has so much purple.

 

[Strydhaizer]

Did i just saw a floating Nebulas in the top of those rocks D:. Where are the Nebulas in the water D: It looks like a mirror again.

Edit:

-Try tinting the ferns a bit darker , blend it to your grasses. You should also find more variations of houses , it looks repeated.
-You might want to add fences to the roads.
-Also ,i dont think neon greens fit in the violet - themed terrain.

Edit : Okay , another one , tint those white clouds [At the water "reflection"] Since you're making a reflection , you must tint it to purple like the tint of your uberclouds.

More suggestions coming after this. There are still more things to improve. You should know that your terrain is not really "equal" in color.

Edit:
Please dont reply in my profile , you should reply in your own thread [Yes , this thread] . You almost flooded my profile D:

 

[Heinvers]

Okay then. I shall re-add the nebula's later plus some violet in that water-clouds. Don't worry. I just imported some fence models now for those roads.
Yeah those are nebula's on top of those rocks, a grave mistake:C
I shall post another update later.
Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[tobyfat50]

It looks great but the reflection is to mirror like. I remember making reflections by adding a skybox with a inverted side. To remove some of the reflection I'd use; Semi transparent alpha tiles (the ground texture was half transparent), a water plane over it, darker alpha tiles in some places so not all the ground was so reflective and some barly vizibble bilboarded versions of the models near the shore edges, It would even look nice in gameplay. Nice terrain by the way!

 

[Talavaj]

You can also make the water deeper, the depth of the water controls the alpha transparency value of the water texture. (unless you use the water tile doodad dealio)
Though I don't mind the water being too reflective, it is a man-made canal there is no reason for currents to be there anyway so the water should be perfectly still most of the time.

 

[Heinvers]

The 8th update. Again I fixed a bit that water.

 

[Razosh]

The shading still needs some work and I also don't see why that balcony on the keep does not have any handles at the end of it.

 

[Binsu]

Simply amazing with that 8th update. But I would have to agree to what Razosh said mostly about that balcony having no handles on the ends.

I would also suggest changing that machine-like structure's magical colors in the part of the terrain to purple to better blend with the terrain.

Click

Anyways, looks great and +rep.

 

[Heinvers]

I know Hell Master. I feel that it needs more.

 

[Chen]

This terrain is very awesome, and it looks Forsaken-ish.

 

[Celaquil]

I would also suggest changing that machine-like structure's magical colors in the part of the terrain to purple to better blend with the terrain.

No.

Oh, and, thicken the terrain fog a tad, and maybe look into giving it a slightly purple hue.
I'd also look into a different kind of grass doodad if I were you, either that, or flip the current
one around til all the "blackness" is gone, it kind of looks funny.

Coming together nicely, btw

 

[Heinvers]

I'll do it later or tomorrow. And thanks for the tips.

 

[Heinvers]

The 9th update. Slightly improved I hope.
I put two versions. One lighter and the other darker.
Edit: I'm sorry for the bump.

 

[Razosh]

The best one is in my opinion the first one, the dark setting firs well with the overall theme. And even though the buildings are shaded themselves the shade is still not reflected on the ground.

 

[Celaquil]

Definitely the darker one, though in either case I think you should still work the fog or the skies to make the transition between fog/sky smoother.
You might also now want to look into using the Glow doodad to give the moon and that magical thingie on the lake some natural glowing lighting.
I've heard the "Sun_Flare" doodad should also be good in regard to that

 

[Heinvers]

The 10th update for this terrain. Fixed or rather nailed some things.
Anyway, I'm open to constructive suggestions!
Edit: I know about that mistake at the lake.

 

[Chen]

That one is Great!

 

[Razosh]

As you said the blue light needs to be removed. Also there is still no hand rails on the end of the balcony and also now that you've added columns that block the purple lantern it's just kind of annoying to look at the sharp glow, if you intend to keep the columns I'd suggest removing the purple lantern.