You are just going to kill me for this, Storm, but I think you may need to adjust the glow so that it spreads a lot further from the base of each layer (that would be the "blur radius") but also reduce the strength of it again accordingly - increase one, decrease the other. That will help to create the same kind of depth that Xander achieves by making each level seem taller - like its casting a longer shadow over everything else.
Sorry??? No, this is good! I can tell it doesn't look quite right...and I will admit I've been wondering if my shadows were getting swallowed up in the darker fills... but I'm going to keep slugging away at it, until I figure it out
This looks pretty good LadieStorm. It certainly looks hot and nasty. It looks like the fighting arena is nearly at the level of the fiery lava. Not somewhere I'd want to take a wrong step during combat!
If I can make a suggestion, though? Perhaps consider replacing the wooden bridges with stone? Also, some of the bridges appear to be almost ramp-like, in that they seem to connect from the lava-level arena to much higher ground. One way around that could also be to place raised stone areas at the edges of the arena where the bridges connect, with perilous stairs cut into the stone. FWIW, I'd still recommend something other than wood, though.
I can almost feel the heat coming off this map. Very nice (and, you know, creepy)!
@ Dogtag - You may be right on switching out the wooden bridges for stone... I didn't think about that fact that wood would burn to a crisp here... although that may be the part of the point! lol...
As for the 'ramplike' quality, that these bridges are coming from the higher levels down... that's what they are supposed to be! those lines on the higher levels are the combatants in the arena... the poor tortured souls set to fight for their souls for eternity. They are herded down to the arena to fight, and the only want into that arena is from the bridges. It's meant to keep the combatants from escaping. I do see that they sort of seem to be floating a bit, though, so I will see what I can do about anchoring them.
@Sue - there actually are skeletons down there! For instance, that big dragon skeleton near the main fire! They may show up better on the bigger map, which can be seen, of course, at the guild.
Well a dragon is a magical creature, Storm, so I imagine that it... and anything else in its general vicinity... would naturally be completely preserved from the flames of hell. Maybe that's why its hell - because the presence of the dragon means that you live the eternity in pain without perishing.
So I finally had a breakthrough on my competition map for Shessar, and realized my breakthrough on that map... would make this map a whole lot better. So at 7pm last night, I restarted this map for the third time... and I've fixed (hopefully) a lot of issues in that map. I'm curious to see what everyone thinks...
I think those two places are where the pieces don't quite match the lines that make the frame. I tried to use the explode combine paths, but I couldn't click on the.middle, because they slightly overlap. So I created.the corners another way. If there is a different T way, I'd love to hear it!
That sounds like a lot of work. If you didn't do it already, you might want to try making the frame with the Box command, with an appropriate line width and the desired bitmap fill.
I see something similar when I move a wide line with the node edit commands. When one line overlaps another, it looks odd. I'm not sure how to describe it other than it looks one cut out of the other. It also happens when I cross a smooth line over itself. Which is the example below.
Comments
You are just going to kill me for this, Storm, but I think you may need to adjust the glow so that it spreads a lot further from the base of each layer (that would be the "blur radius") but also reduce the strength of it again accordingly - increase one, decrease the other. That will help to create the same kind of depth that Xander achieves by making each level seem taller - like its casting a longer shadow over everything else.
Sorry!!!
All you have to do now is adjust the settings until you achieve the optimum.
If I can make a suggestion, though? Perhaps consider replacing the wooden bridges with stone? Also, some of the bridges appear to be almost ramp-like, in that they seem to connect from the lava-level arena to much higher ground. One way around that could also be to place raised stone areas at the edges of the arena where the bridges connect, with perilous stairs cut into the stone. FWIW, I'd still recommend something other than wood, though.
I can almost feel the heat coming off this map. Very nice (and, you know, creepy)!
Cheers,
~Dogtag
Its a pity you can't have skeletons lying around. I think they would have cindered into powdery ash by now though!
As for the 'ramplike' quality, that these bridges are coming from the higher levels down... that's what they are supposed to be! those lines on the higher levels are the combatants in the arena... the poor tortured souls set to fight for their souls for eternity. They are herded down to the arena to fight, and the only want into that arena is from the bridges. It's meant to keep the combatants from escaping. I do see that they sort of seem to be floating a bit, though, so I will see what I can do about anchoring them.
@Sue - there actually are skeletons down there! For instance, that big dragon skeleton near the main fire! They may show up better on the bigger map, which can be seen, of course, at the guild.
I'll make one and post a png.
Here is the png and see if I can post the fcw to.