Wow!

That's amazing!

No worries @Loopysue!

Actually after another fresh install it works much better. I am not working much on it in the last days but it never crashed.

As mentioned I managed to go on a bit with the project adding some details here and there. But now I think I didn't use the best template: I found another map of, more or less, the same time with much clearer details. I may try to use it to fill the "holes" with proper content (which is in 90% of the cases just gardens ?).

Below how it is slowly progressing:

Hi everyone!

I started a new small project using the Ferrari's style. I will redraw some portions of old-ish maps (1600-1700) of the city I'm living in, Padova. I came up with this idea after seeing some maps cowering parts of the medieval walls and canals' borders while under restoration.

I really love this style (I should thank @Loopysue, right??), for which I am rescaling a bit the fills to fit better the small map's size. The style may look "easy" to use as the drawing tools are quite straightforward. But, because of that, I think it is really important to have a clear idea of what colour you want to put where. So I think it is a good style to train with on map's "color composition"... if you get what I mean.

There are still many things to do (as the fields borders, walls details, buildings internal gardens...) but I already like it. I am not sure where I will put the legend: bottom right seems a good place but I get intrigued by @daperdepa map composition with the legend on an external box on one side.

I may use it for a play with some RPG like Vampire, Lex Occultum, or maybe Vaesen.

If you wonder, the map shows the roman "Arena area" with the Scrovegni Chapel (where a famous Giotto painting is present) and the Augustinian "Eremitani" monastry, together with the surrounding canal's, parks and city.

Thanks @Wyvern for the comments and the suggestions!

I think I am almost done with this map. I did add a lot of vegetation, some mushrooms, details here and there and so on.

I tired to make the new ruins (persisting oxymoron) more 3d, moving different parts in 4 different sheets, all with slightly different effects. I don't dislike them. I also added some debris on top of the walls as Wyvern suggested. It helps a lot, especially at the edges of the walls.

My general feeling now is that it misses something in the central area. It is supposed to be a battle map, so maybe an open section may be good. However I feel something is missing. It is supposed to be an ancient magic circle built over a extremely ancient ruined city, lost in the middle of a forest (which is conquering more and more space).

Anyway, below the result so far:

I did some extra progress in the map managing to add moss and ruins here and there.

the result at a first glance is quite ok for me:

I wanted to tell how I did add the moss to the stones and ruins. I used 2 different techniques:

For the ruins I simply added on top of them a drawing using a bitmap I found in the CC3+ bitmap folder (thanks @Monsen for the "opendoc" command trick on the video on ice caves). It is on a separate sheet, with some transparency and fade and below the result. I think it works better on the narrow walls.

For the stones I tried something more consistent, using the "texture overblend" effect on the second sheet (the one without the bevel). I first (on the small stones) used the same bitmap as above, but it may look a bit to "realistic" or "photograph-ish" for a ss4 map. So I tried to use the dark grass from "Forlorn Cottage" and a RGB matrix to match the color (big stones). I am not sure which looks better on the map but i guess it is just a matter of personal taste. In both cases it is important to tweak a bit the size of the texture ;).

Finally I tried to add a bit of personality to the central paving. I tried to add a sheet with "ornamental tiles" with a "blend mode-color dodge" but the result I obtained is not great (but I admit I tried different effects without really knowing what they do).

I'll try to change the size of the bitmap and/or the bitmap itself. Maybe it is just not a good idea.

If someone has suggestions, they will be welcome!?