More food for the wolves...

stuh505 · Sat 16/10/2004 18:14:28

I'm not sure how to improve the water's realism...paint-overs desired!

Blade · Sat 16/10/2004 18:18:19

Great BG. I don't know really, but isn't it a little too dark for water? (and maybe to dark for the whole BG) I would add some lighter strips in shape of waves.

Damien · Sat 16/10/2004 18:21:43

Wow, beautiful work. The only suggestion I have is to give the hut a third dimension, it looks kinda flat now.

PS: You might want to use one thread for your work instead of creating a new one for each artwork.

stuh505 · Sat 16/10/2004 19:40:31

The water is supposed to be thick, black, mucky, stagnant (no current and no waves), brackish...almost like a tar pit.Ã,Â Think of the swamp from the Never Ending Journey.Ã,Â You're right, the hut does look one dimensional...but I'm not sure what to do about it.

Damien that could be a good idea...I could just keep editing the pictures out and swapping with new ones on the front page so that at least some people might not see all the BGs from my game before its out

Scummbuddy · Sat 16/10/2004 20:30:31

I hope the doorway is an animated object, flapping in the wind. Even with flapping, I would still get the feeling of a dead scene.

Darth Mandarb · Sat 16/10/2004 21:20:51

I didn't, at first, realize it was water.Ã,Â I think it needed a reflection (even if only real subtle).Ã,Â Like this:

I didn't, obviously, have the original file so some of the lines aren't very nice, but you see what I mean.

stuh505 · Mon 18/10/2004 00:12:08

better?

ok, tried to fix up that water...tried to add some depth to the hut..tried to make the hut look like it was on a bit of a hillock

Neutron · Mon 18/10/2004 01:07:25

the third one's looking pretty good, but i don't think your reflection goes quite deep enough. from the base of the structure, make a reference point about a half an inch down, or wherever water level would be if you went in a straight line down through the ground, measure the distance from that point to the top of the structure, then flip the line over at the reference pont, and that will be the length of the reflection. also, you may want to put some suggestion of ripples as lighter colored lines. and depending on the turbulance of the water you may want to mix some sky colors with the board colors in the reflection.

stuh505 · Mon 18/10/2004 02:40:38

Neutron,

where on Earth did you get that method for reflections? It really doesn't make any sense! The length of a reflection depends on more than just the height of the object, like the angle that the water is being viewed from, and the distance that the object is from the water's edge. The reflection could be zero if either of these paramaters are adjusted, regardless of how tall the object is. Since the hut is 7 or 8 feet from the water's edge, I was trying to guestimate all this stuff...I guess I undershot.

I have done a new attempt, this time I have got separate reflections for numerous different planes of distance from the water (4 or 5) which I hope looks a little more real.

I know what you're talking about with the specs of bright light from the sky reflecting into the water...I wasn't sure how to do this, but spent a bit of time and a lot of filters and managed to come up with this by using noise, difference clouds, ripples, etc...I'm not sure if it helps or hurts (I'm talking about the white specs in the water).

Neutron · Mon 18/10/2004 02:41:45

well i didn't spend much time making this pretty so excuse the crudeness but I cranked some ray mirror and some distortion on a plane and tossed some primitives around.

<edit> just saw the update. looking good.

stuh505 · Mon 18/10/2004 03:30:22

Ok I get what you're saying now

Janik · Mon 18/10/2004 04:22:52

Looks great - but with that nice reflection of the hut you'll need to have the character be reflected in the pool too! :o
Not impossible, but I imagine you'd have to make new views with all the sprites flipped up/down, and that would be a pain...

buddha · Wed 20/10/2004 01:09:35

I think the last update reflects reality the most.
Although having a reflection might bring problems with the character later (like Janik said), it really adds to the realism of the image compared to the first image in this post.

About the little speckles, I don't think they really add anything to the realism of the water but that could just be me.

btw I love that sky, so simple yet so powerful... it gives the scene a really cool atmosphere!

Good luck

sergiocornaga · Wed 20/10/2004 04:42:59

Looks good now, but the reflection could be a bit more subtle. The water might look better if it was sort of sludgy.

stuh505 · Wed 20/10/2004 06:01:59

Thanks for the comments, guys. I have many more backgrounds to go so I've just got to let go at some point, and I'm happy with this one now. Certainly wouldn't have got it this nice without your advice, though.