Again another city doodle, using a Watabou Medieval City Generator map. Here I am using the SS5 City style. The map looks fine on my CC3+, but looks all gritty on the png - anyone help me here.
That's the resolution and size of the PNG. Have you used any antialiasing in the export? I recommend a minimum of 20%, and usually use more like 67% myself.
That seemed to work, but massively increased the file size. I'll leave the maps up as they are to see what other input i get. i have never had this problem before. it is the first time I have used SS5
Its not related to SS5 in particular. Antialiasing is what is used to soften the ultra-sharp edges of the pixels by blending them very slightly with their neighbours. It's basically controlled fuzziness to allow for the fact that human beings actually have really poor vision - compared to a hawk. The image without antialiasing is too sharp for us to see it properly, so it breaks down a bit as the brain struggles to cope with interpreting something it can't really focus on.
How the antialiasing is done is by exporting a larger image than requested, and reducing it using an antialiasing algorithm. Not sure why the resulting file should be bigger in MB, but it may be down to the fact that blending pixels will tend to increase the number of colours in the image overall.
For file size, I've noticed that ImageMagick (the tool CC3+ uses for final processing) isn't always the best at producing small files. For .png images, simply opening the image in an image editor and re-saving it without making any changes at all can often cut the image size in half or more, without any effect on quality.
Some further progress on this city. So far, about 4 hours work. Could my best critics, Monsen, Sue, Wyvern (and Dogtag if he's listening) please jump in and tear this to pieces before I add the finishing touches.
Well, Quenten, I might be mistaken because I've only just woken up, but I can't see anything wrong with the city itself.
But I am wondering if you changed the scaling of the fills in any way? The grass and the fields are both pretty badly affected by texture redundancy, which is where the repeating pattern of a seamless fill becomes uncomfortably obvious because of the number of times it is being repeated across the image in both dimensions - that 'squarey' look it has.
Here are the fields zoomed in. The horizontal fields i have doubled the scale, the vertical ones halved, and the same for the grass. Which is better IYO, and what should I do?
Assuming that they are at High or Very High res in this last image, I would say they all need to be about 10 times bigger than they are. So if the texture scale is 5 make it 50. That may be too large, but they are definitely far too small right now.
The outskirts of the city, especially the top left of the map look unnaturally empty, unless it is cultivated land (which it doesn't seem to be), there should be some wild growth there. And that compose rose would look much better up in the corner, instead of along the side of the map.
Sue's already mentioned the fills, but let me add the river fill to her list.
Nitpickery, but move your map title a few map units, right now it has a small overlap with a building, but there is enough space that it doesn't have to.
I'm not too fond of all that grey inside the city walls. It makes it look like they have poured gravel over every square inch, and are really dedicated to keep it that way (which is expensive). Cities of old was often more dirt than anything else, not the concrete/asphalt jungles of today.
Thanks for all that - just the type of comment I want to hear. the top right will have a coat of arms and motto, and the other empty areas will have forests and grazing lands. There may even be a lumber yard. Consider the title and compass moved - I would not have seen this without your comment. i will ponder the city fill - it is meant to be cobbles inside the walls, but I may make some of it dirt, and also try to fix the cobbled fill along the lines of the rest of the fills.
And exactly what do you have against the exquisite beauty of our soaring steel and glass pinnacles raised to the Glory of Mammon, and the fairytale quality of not a concrete jungle but an asphalt woodland. Really, Remy!
Actually, I do like modern cities, as long as no-one forces me to actually live inside of them.
Posted By: Quentenit is meant to be cobbles inside the walls
Cobble, gravel, same thing really. Still makes things look a bit odd to me when the city is filled up with it. Of course, the actual setting affects this. I always prefer to have a real-world medieval look on things, but of course that is not the basis of all fantasy maps.
I agree with you even about cities - which is why I live on a smallish island, off a bigger island off the smallest continent, which is kilometres from anywhere!
All I can afford is to stay put in on the fringes of a town. The rich kids have moved into the rural areas in my county and its become 'the' place to live, meaning people born here like me can't afford to live in the rural areas any more.
The city is finished -- at this stage. I will leave it 2 days before submitting it to Monsen for the Atlas. PLEASE tear it to pieces before I submit it. Thank you to those who have - the map is better for it.
Wow, i didn't know you were so sporty, Sue - swordfighting, hurdles, discus, high jump, football - what a woman! My breath is taken away,and I fall to the ground in joy and laughter at finding someone as gifted in sports as I am.
Here is the REALLY final version. I have added the tower of the Great and Terrible Wizard of Id, and enlarged the Danieleus Stadium, as well as indicated the position of the rollicking ol' Aneleskin Inn. Let me know what you think, and if there are any glaring errors.
The compass has been altered to match the correct direction for placing the map in Banjar Province of Kumarikandam. Please take note, Oh Great and Terrible Wizard of Mons!
![[Deleted User]](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c75d9a245b74d9c59be0999ea81ca541/?default=https%3A%2F%2Fvanillicon.com%2F92add7f8c954488718110edc4896ad39_200.png&rating=g&size=200)
Comments
How the antialiasing is done is by exporting a larger image than requested, and reducing it using an antialiasing algorithm. Not sure why the resulting file should be bigger in MB, but it may be down to the fact that blending pixels will tend to increase the number of colours in the image overall.
I currently use Corel Paintshop Pro just to reduce the number of colours to 64K, which can reduce the file size by about 50% again.
Could my best critics, Monsen, Sue, Wyvern (and Dogtag if he's listening) please jump in and tear this to pieces before I add the finishing touches.
But I am wondering if you changed the scaling of the fills in any way? The grass and the fields are both pretty badly affected by texture redundancy, which is where the repeating pattern of a seamless fill becomes uncomfortably obvious because of the number of times it is being repeated across the image in both dimensions - that 'squarey' look it has.
Sue's already mentioned the fills, but let me add the river fill to her list.
Nitpickery, but move your map title a few map units, right now it has a small overlap with a building, but there is enough space that it doesn't have to.
I'm not too fond of all that grey inside the city walls. It makes it look like they have poured gravel over every square inch, and are really dedicated to keep it that way (which is expensive). Cities of old was often more dirt than anything else, not the concrete/asphalt jungles of today.
And exactly what do you have against the exquisite beauty of our soaring steel and glass pinnacles raised to the Glory of Mammon, and the fairytale quality of not a concrete jungle but an asphalt woodland. Really, Remy!
All I can afford is to stay put in on the fringes of a town. The rich kids have moved into the rural areas in my county and its become 'the' place to live, meaning people born here like me can't afford to live in the rural areas any more.
I had to laugh at the stadium name! :P
If you could see what a 'sporty' person I am you would laugh as well!
ROFL!
(with the emphasis on the "roll")
I'm a little barrel shaped person :P
The compass has been altered to match the correct direction for placing the map in Banjar Province of Kumarikandam. Please take note, Oh Great and Terrible Wizard of Mons!