Hill Top Zone

Why, yes. Yes it does!

I very much like that tree. It's elegant and simple.

One more favor: Could you put it in the mockup of the two trees next to the swing so we can see how well it fits zoomed out?

 

My approval wasn't really of the bark texture insomuch as it was of the general style of the trunk in general. Making a pine tree's trunk that of a palmtree is just awkward and ill-fitting no matter how you look at it. Hamneggs accomplished a great interpretation of the idea, far surpassing the contrasting nature of the bark texture from before. That is what you should be using.

 

What about lava...


And Ill get on the other mockup as soon as I get free..

 

The realistic bark tree OBVIOUSLY shouldn't be used. That is why when I originally made it I tried making it more cartoony looking but it ended up looking more washed out and blurry than anything. I've always liked Test-Object's original trunk which is why I didn't even want touch on making a trunk in the first place. I'm going to go ahead and try to make another trunk that is without a mapped texture, and only bump mapped, and then do some photoshop work with it just to try it out.

Be noted though, staff has favored the beveled style!

 

The "meat" of the lava looks good. That's off to a great start.

Next things to work on:
- (Maybe) a more gradual transition to the surface.
- Add surface turbulence: bubbles, splashes, and the like.

Excellent Job, Hamneggs!



Staff Question: Is HTZ getting sexy effects like waviness above the lava from the heat?

 

So I slapped on my combination of T.O.'s trunk and Zemuli's leaves onto the see saw scene(to be exact, the one with the bark trunks), and got this:



It's definitely alright, although with a few obvious artifacts from the combination of the two pictures I had. (I had made a jumbled up set of layers in the original mockup)

But then I noticed, while cleaning up, that the tree tops had a slight glow/bloom about them. So I used Paint.NET's glow tool, and got THIS:



Much better I think with that subtle glow cast on the trunks. It aligns perfectly with the lighting on the cliffs in the background, and something I think the final trunk should take into consideration.

P.S. If anyone wants a perfect mockup, I'll toil and salvage through my original edit.

EDIT: made the glow more obvious than before. Last time it barely survived the upload.

 

Seconded. The glow really brought that trunk to life. However, in my humble opinion, it's just a hair bright currently.

 

I think hamneggs's Test-Object edit is kick-ass. The glow/highlight needs to be toned down a bit. I'm not sure how I feel about the off center highlight. Its interesting either way.

Here is a bevel design, mixed with a some square checker-like bevels, along with trying to keep it more of a cylinder shape. So a bit of a mash up.

 

Noted. Are either of these better?


Played with the settings of the blur, saturation, and luminosity curve.


Simply a less intense blur.


Probably a balance between these two, the answer is.

 

I think that the top two look the best.

However, if you think a balance would be better, a wee bit more contrast couldn't hurt.

 

Like this?

 

He also needs to remember that this will be animated, so unless it's just proof of concept I would suggest taking that into consideration. Also, yes, there will be special effects like that.

 

Not quite. The sides of those trunks are far too dark. Then again, I suppose the shade of the dark part isn't the problem. The problem is how thick the dark part on the sides of the trunk is.

 

Not sure how feasible this is, but... here goes. Take a look at this:
http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=22316
It's about a site with "Palette Cycling". If anything, we could try it on that lava just to see how it looks.

 

Interesting. I'm not sure how well it'd work for this either, but I'll ask around.

 

I was thinking about such things too. As a matter of fact, someone remade all of those images in Processing that were discussed in that other page.
A harsh reality must be realized with the lava, animating it will never happen, unless someone wants to waste a sizable portion of time, only to have it slashed on these forums, and to be forced to restart. (pah!)
I think an advanced shader would be much better suited for the lava. I'll hunt around for some examples of stuff like this.

 

Is everyone just going to give up on the beveled trunk then? It's a shame... I was a big fan of that one. I mean I don't think it looked that much like a palm tree trunk. Just looked like an interesting trunk to me :S. Especially when the shading was softened a bit. I mean, I think the "texture" on test-object's trunk is very nice. It's just when it's all put together... the shape at least looks a bit basic, and boring.

Actually, something about the whole tree just looks weird to me when it's put in a mockup next to Sonic. I think it's the perspective/angle or something. Does anyone else see that? It looks... just a bit off somehow. It's kinda disturbing :S... I mean alone, I actually quite like the tree (in certain variations). But put Sonic in the picture, and it suddenly looks a bit out of place.

I'll try to think of some way to make the "underleaves" look better though. In these latest mockups though they're blending into the rest of the tree far too much. They should be subtle and under the shadow of the rest of the tree. Although I realise they're not exactly the point of interest in those mockups anyway .

I tried a more obvious checker pattern like was suggested. But I don't think it's worth posting. It just makes it look too busy and messy. It needs to be subtle if anything - just enough to be barely noticeable if you look directly at it.

The lava in the static mock up looks reeeeally good. It's nice and soft, so it fits in almost perfectly.

That palette cycling stuff is beautiful too. I've got no idea how it all works, so that's about all I can say... Although it's probably more the artwork itself that makes it look so good!

Also, is that background final? I think I may have asked before. But the blue cliff/plateau things look a bit rushed compared to the rest of it. If it's open to suggestion, then I may have a go at tidying it up a bit? But I wouldn't want to clutter up the thread with even more things to talk about, as there already seems to be more than enough going on.

 

I really do think that it would belong more on a palmtree, perhaps because it was way too beveled.

Either way, the new one is looking very good now.