Recommendations on giant tree map?
MstrCat
Newcomer
I'm trying to create a map based around a very very large tree (120' thick or so, branches 20-30' wide at the base). The map isn't of the inside of the tree, but rather of the branches on the outside. I envision that the tops of the large branches have become worn nearly flat, and that rope bridges connect at various places. I have put a screen capture of my first doodles.
I'm struggling with some of the various bits I have in mind, so I thought I'd see what you all would recommend for a few things.
To explain, the black blob (lower left) is the horizontal silhouette of the tree trunk. From the trunk, I've drawn a couple of branches, tried to add some grain marks (these I like), and a green blob out at the end (leaves, the current texture I don't like). Also shown are some doodles of rope bridges, just to see if I could use 'Symbol along a path' to make them.
I would like so suggestions on :
1. Better fill for the leaves (or more probably, a better technique than just a closed polygon with a fill)
2. An easy way to outline the branches with a wide section of rough looking very dark brown (bark covering the branch where it's too steeply curved to be able to safely walk).
3. A version of 2 which would go around the tree silhouette which fades to black on the inside edge (I'm thinking this is a sheet effect of some sort).
4. Suggestions for the wood fill which represents the walkable sections. I'm currently using Dark Horizontal grain wood, but I think I'll go with the pine wood fill (much lighter, no grain).
Thanks in advance,
Bryan
I'm struggling with some of the various bits I have in mind, so I thought I'd see what you all would recommend for a few things.
To explain, the black blob (lower left) is the horizontal silhouette of the tree trunk. From the trunk, I've drawn a couple of branches, tried to add some grain marks (these I like), and a green blob out at the end (leaves, the current texture I don't like). Also shown are some doodles of rope bridges, just to see if I could use 'Symbol along a path' to make them.
I would like so suggestions on :
1. Better fill for the leaves (or more probably, a better technique than just a closed polygon with a fill)
2. An easy way to outline the branches with a wide section of rough looking very dark brown (bark covering the branch where it's too steeply curved to be able to safely walk).
3. A version of 2 which would go around the tree silhouette which fades to black on the inside edge (I'm thinking this is a sheet effect of some sort).
4. Suggestions for the wood fill which represents the walkable sections. I'm currently using Dark Horizontal grain wood, but I think I'll go with the pine wood fill (much lighter, no grain).
Thanks in advance,
Bryan
Comments
1. I might look for symbols of fronds to use instead of a polygon. Maybe the CSUAC has something you could use? I remember there being ground cover plants and climbing plants that you could use in combination.
2. A dark glow set to inside on the sheet with the branches might lend the illusion of curvature if you adjusted it till it looked about right. Using more than one similar glow with different blurs can help. The roughness you would have to add by fractalising the outline.
3. I would have the trunk on its own sheet separate from the branches with it's own effects, and then a second copy of it on a new sheet that overlies the first where the shape has been turned into a solid fill polygon coloured black. An edge fade inner effect on that sheet would fade the edges away to show the underlying sheet around the outside.
4. Since the branches are not straight like floorboards I would be tempted to go with a non-linear fill like a dirt fill of some kind. The lines you have drawn will then be the only lines on the branches, instead of confusing the issue with all those dead straight up and down lines in the texture.