This is getting to be quite a civilisation :)

Thank you, dagorhir and Jim :)

I think a lot of the sweetness of the style was contributed by the water, so I've put an RGB Matrix Process on the default blue water and turned it considerably more murky. I've also started work on the tiled houses of the set.

Using sheets is probably the best way if you are quite happy to draw the shaded extent as a polygon shape.

The global sun only affects:

• how CD3 buildings are shaded, and
• which direction the shadows fall from objects on sheets with Wall Shadow, Direction sheet effects.

It doesn't affect the artificial shading you add using a sheet with black polygons on it. That sheet might have a Blur effect, and then a Blend Mode effect that is set to multiply. Transparency is controlled from within the Blend Mode.

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An alternative that isn't quite so flexible is to use a Bevel Lighted on a sheet on which you then draw polygons of texture or one of the semi-transparent fills. If you adjust the bevel to a huge width and use masses of smoothing you can get recognizable hills. However, the width of the shading won't vary.

Help?

I hope you will be surprised in the end. Darkness is all the more frightening if it masquerades as light. But of course there will be varicolour ;)

Hi Everyone! :)

In tomorrow's live mapping session Ralf will be creating a floorplan in the style used in the Cartographer's Annual 2007 "Gothic Cathedral" issue.

Come along and see how to use the style, and join in the chat.