- Joined
- Nov 24, 2007
- Messages
- 4,421
A wild, very late and slightly overdue judge appears..!
(Probably even drunk)
Yeah, yeah. I know it's taken forever.
This is why I shouldn't really judge contests,
I suck at being quick about it. Anyway, here they are.
Cry, enjoy, rage-quit, abuse me and rejoice!
- Your judgements are here:
(Probably even drunk)
Yeah, yeah. I know it's taken forever.
This is why I shouldn't really judge contests,
I suck at being quick about it. Anyway, here they are.
Cry, enjoy, rage-quit, abuse me and rejoice!
- Your judgements are here:
Average. That’s really the most fitting word I’ve got for you, Azurot. And being a terrain by you, I’m a little disappointed. Everything seems decently done, and while I can honestly say I can see which preview image you chose it really doesn’t resemble the original much, not in composition anyway.
What this terrain lacks is more inspiring lighting and some sort of centre of focus, something to drag you in, and something interesting to look at. Instead, what I get is a terrain showing a pretty image of a random spot in a pretty forest where I imagine if you turned the camera around 180 degrees everything would look the same. All that aside, though, as I said it is a pretty terrain, I do like the attention to detail, but smaller trees with the bigger ones the professional way it’s all jumbled together, it’s just… It’s lacking that extra something to make it stand out, it really does have a very “seen it before a couple hundred times” ring to it.
What this terrain lacks is more inspiring lighting and some sort of centre of focus, something to drag you in, and something interesting to look at. Instead, what I get is a terrain showing a pretty image of a random spot in a pretty forest where I imagine if you turned the camera around 180 degrees everything would look the same. All that aside, though, as I said it is a pretty terrain, I do like the attention to detail, but smaller trees with the bigger ones the professional way it’s all jumbled together, it’s just… It’s lacking that extra something to make it stand out, it really does have a very “seen it before a couple hundred times” ring to it.
Since you never answered me about those cranes I wasn’t sure of whether or not to disqualify. But seeing as I am a very nice person, and the fact that this is a mini-contest and not a big-ass official contest, I thought I’d let it slip. That all said, there’s a lot that needs improving here.
As some of the other users said it’s got that “watery” look, and what they probably mean by that, or at least what I mean by that, is that the body of water takes up too much screen space, especially for being nothing more than… Water. Now, had you included some sort of submerged structures with lights and shit going on beneath the water, basically made the water interesting, then this choice of angle might have been a bit more interesting, though as it stands, without any subsurface details of interest… Yeah, there’s too much water.
That aside, the surface world doesn’t look all too appealing either. When doing a still picture like this, commonly named “Terrain Art,” the most important factor is how much the terrain is “eye-candy.” What that means is that it should be pleasing on the eyes. One defining factor in that regard is stretched textures, which you’ve got a lot of, they should be covered up, resized or varied by the use of smaller doodads with less stretched textures. You’re also lacking a hell of a lot in the lighting department, but I’m not going to hold that against you, mostly because there’s so much else being held to your face like a gun that I don’t feel the need of improving my arsenal with a couple death stars.
Lastly, while it’s kind of obvious which preview picture you chose, it doesn’t much resemble it. Neither in scale, construction or atmosphere. Overall, there’s a lot to improve here. Keep on terraining, though, nobody became a terrain star overnight.
As some of the other users said it’s got that “watery” look, and what they probably mean by that, or at least what I mean by that, is that the body of water takes up too much screen space, especially for being nothing more than… Water. Now, had you included some sort of submerged structures with lights and shit going on beneath the water, basically made the water interesting, then this choice of angle might have been a bit more interesting, though as it stands, without any subsurface details of interest… Yeah, there’s too much water.
That aside, the surface world doesn’t look all too appealing either. When doing a still picture like this, commonly named “Terrain Art,” the most important factor is how much the terrain is “eye-candy.” What that means is that it should be pleasing on the eyes. One defining factor in that regard is stretched textures, which you’ve got a lot of, they should be covered up, resized or varied by the use of smaller doodads with less stretched textures. You’re also lacking a hell of a lot in the lighting department, but I’m not going to hold that against you, mostly because there’s so much else being held to your face like a gun that I don’t feel the need of improving my arsenal with a couple death stars.
Lastly, while it’s kind of obvious which preview picture you chose, it doesn’t much resemble it. Neither in scale, construction or atmosphere. Overall, there’s a lot to improve here. Keep on terraining, though, nobody became a terrain star overnight.
Why o-fuckin’ WHY didn’t you finish this terrain? Seriously Hein, if you’d finished it in the same style as you started it, you might have taken the cup straight from under the nose of (not-going-to-spoil). I’m loving the constructions, I’m loving the atmosphere and while I’m not a huge fan of those rock doodads, I wouldn’t deny their fitting into this terrain. I won’t address the obviously unfinished parts and save for them I actually don’t have anything in particular to peel at, I just really like what you’ve got thus far. (Finish it, dammit!)
Overall, this terrain has a nicely done and “pretty” ring to it. Although there are some factors I don’t fully appreciate. For starters, I think the terrain is a tad too dark, not too much, but just enough to make it seem a bit too monotonous and lacking in details. (It kind of feels like there’s only green and water) The lighting is ok, the sky is ok, the water is a bit too glassy for my taste, you should have fooled around with some flat sky doodads, the waterplane doodad or even some wave doodads to make it a tad more murky or watery. I do appreciate those two birds though, adds a little life to the terrain 
As per usual, your terrain has the potential to become absolutely fucking amazing, but somewhere along the ride it seemed like you decided to jump train. This is decided by three main factors: Centre of focus, as there is none, lighting, which is near-completely absent and fog, FOG.
Firstly, you should really look into the fog option, while I get that not adding fog might make you think the terrain looks more natural, there’s also the old saying around here that goes “Natural doesn’t mean good looking.” And terrain art is ALL about the “looking good” part. Wait, actually, come to look at it again I see that you actually added a thin layer of fog. I guess I just got carried away by the… Will of wanting to inform you on the matter. But yeah, do me the favour of using fog in all your future terrains.
Secondly, centre of focus, while you’ve made a pretty terrain, actually a fucking pretty terrain, with the bridges and the clever use of those wonderful Sc2 doodads, you lack something to look at. Something to grab my attention. It can be something as banal and small as a lantern giving off some fancy light or it could be some kind of beautiful construction somewhere. The important part is that a terrain more often than not needs something to catch your eyes, something that pulls you in straight when you open the image. Without that, you end up looking around and thinking “what am I meant to look at?” I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing, it’s just generally a bothersome afterthought that creeps onto the subconscious mind when looking at it.
Thirdly, lighting. You’ve got a moon, nice, now scale that moon up a tad and use over 9000 glow doodads with very diminished tinting values, spam them across the screen in various sizes and intensities and experiment until your moon is a glowing beacon in the skies. That could even be your centre of focus right there, if you’d added some lighting details to it.
Firstly, you should really look into the fog option, while I get that not adding fog might make you think the terrain looks more natural, there’s also the old saying around here that goes “Natural doesn’t mean good looking.” And terrain art is ALL about the “looking good” part. Wait, actually, come to look at it again I see that you actually added a thin layer of fog. I guess I just got carried away by the… Will of wanting to inform you on the matter. But yeah, do me the favour of using fog in all your future terrains.
Secondly, centre of focus, while you’ve made a pretty terrain, actually a fucking pretty terrain, with the bridges and the clever use of those wonderful Sc2 doodads, you lack something to look at. Something to grab my attention. It can be something as banal and small as a lantern giving off some fancy light or it could be some kind of beautiful construction somewhere. The important part is that a terrain more often than not needs something to catch your eyes, something that pulls you in straight when you open the image. Without that, you end up looking around and thinking “what am I meant to look at?” I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing, it’s just generally a bothersome afterthought that creeps onto the subconscious mind when looking at it.
Thirdly, lighting. You’ve got a moon, nice, now scale that moon up a tad and use over 9000 glow doodads with very diminished tinting values, spam them across the screen in various sizes and intensities and experiment until your moon is a glowing beacon in the skies. That could even be your centre of focus right there, if you’d added some lighting details to it.
Congratulation! You’re the win--- Wait, where… Entry, I don’t even-
Did you pull your entry? Why?
You could’ve very well won this contest, if your entry hadn’t disappeared.
Did you pull your entry? Why?
You could’ve very well won this contest, if your entry hadn’t disappeared.
Well wretch. Here we are again.
I’m loving every little detail about this terrain, except the round ruin thingy closest to the screen. I don’t know what those doodads are, the ones you used for “roofing” but they are quite clearly overlapping and clipping, if that’s the term, and really ruins the otherwise “perfect” scenery. Other than that, you dirty bastard, I love the details, I love the lighting and I particularly love the magical kind of milky look of the water. Got milk?
I also like the added, though sneaky, plant-life, it kind of gives the terrain some much needed botany. Ta, mate, again. You’re my winner. (again...)
I’m loving every little detail about this terrain, except the round ruin thingy closest to the screen. I don’t know what those doodads are, the ones you used for “roofing” but they are quite clearly overlapping and clipping, if that’s the term, and really ruins the otherwise “perfect” scenery. Other than that, you dirty bastard, I love the details, I love the lighting and I particularly love the magical kind of milky look of the water. Got milk?
I also like the added, though sneaky, plant-life, it kind of gives the terrain some much needed botany. Ta, mate, again. You’re my winner. (again...)
Fladdermasken
