Photo Critiques

[rooker1]

Awesome pic, marcszar, I'll give you a 9.5/10.  The colour is fantastic, overall realism works for me.  I may suggest you get a sidewalk modd so they all apear the same.  I personelly hate the red sidewalk.

Robin   

[Russell]

I agree about your picture, Marcszar, it's tremendous. 

[thundercrack83]

That is a fantastic shot, marcszar. I lvoe the refinery and the sunken highway.

[Russell]

Finally the regime governing the city of Bliss has decided to grant its subjects the permission to use electricity at night.

[rooker1]

Russell, great night pic.  I like the use og the canal set in such a well built down town core.  I do see a few buildings that are repeated too many times for my liking.  Even though, Great picture over all!


Robin   

[thundercrack83]

Looking good, Russell. I love your use of the canals, and the nightlighting looks fantastic, too! Great job!

[guurgkud]

Very nice night picture. Looks like a fun downtown!

I love the use of the canals; however, as stated above, some buildings are repeated a few too many times. I dont know if you plopped or not (I personally plop everything.. hehe  ) but since in SimCity is hard to not repeat, try to spread the buildings apart some more. Other than that it looks fantastic!

My turn! From my soon to come CJ, which is still untitled.

[rooker1]

guurgkud, I like what is in the picture and by this I mean the houses, the layout, the park, water, but I don't like the names on the raods/streets, the palm trees don't look right with the other trees and I personelly don't like the effect on the picture.  Maybe it's just the water.  Just my opinion though.
It looks like a nice place to live.

Robin   

[Masochist]

Okay, I've been neglecting this thread too much, and I'm sorry for it !  But here I go:

marcszar: I love that dulled out effect you put into your mosaics!  I think it really helps to convey the mood it seems you're trying to send.  Not to mention your city-building skills are top-notch!  Gotta give that one a 10/10!  I seriously can't find anything I don't like about it!  Nice job! 

Russell: Interesting picture!  Love those canals all around, and that thin strip of land towards the left side!  That's also a very nice choice for a central, dominating tower  !  Ahh...quite a bit of repetition...and so many streets for such a high-density area!  Traffic must be...L.A.-like!  Anyways, I like the picture overall, but yeah, lots of repeating buildings and such...7.25/10

guurgkud: So bright!  I like that intersection plaza on the left side!  This picture seems very Miami-ish to me, for some reason...it may just be the colors and such, but that's the vibe I get (that's a good thing !).  Not that it's a big deal in this picture, but next time you may want to turn off those "U-Drive-It" indicators.  Also, I like the particular mix of plants, but there are quite a bit of the one type, and it goes all into the streets and such.  That might give your Sims a hard time.  All in all, though, I'm liking the warm, sunny feeling I get when I look at your picture...like sun shines right through the monitor !  8.25/10


Ahh...I have a picture to offer.  Say what you will about it:

[Frankie]

i like the look of that picture masochist it's quite nice! however that station wagon is breaking the law by blocking that crosswalk  I love the EL tracks wrapping around those avenues, and the buildings blend well! 9.2/10 Great Job!


I'd like to throw in one of mine, I'm not very good at making cities, but I try. This one comes from a possible MD..but I dunno yet. It's inspired by the city of Augusta, Georgia, USA. However, it does not really reflect the city, only the style of buildings and layouts of rail and such. Please, tell me how i can make it better, and a fair rating would be nice



YES i know there are UDI bubbles..ignore them please

[Yoman]

[KANE]

Frankie: Lovely picture. It's quite a realistic downtown area. 9/10 without UDI Bubbles with them 7/10 as they really ruin the image and atmosphere.   

Yoman: Very European. I love the path on the bottom. 8.5/10 because personally I don't think the New York City homes really fit. But thats just my personal opinion. 

Masochist: Nice urban pic. The EL Train adds a Chicago-like atmosphere. 7.25/10 because it could use some more custom content. I simply cannot stand Maxis buildings.

[Masochist]

Yeah...I suppose this would count as a bump...to a thread that I started, no less.  That looks bad, I know...and I'm sorry.  But anyways...I have this mosaic.  It's the only one I've ever done.  I'd like some critical feedback on it, if you please...about anything, really:












Thanks in advance!

[Travis]

Awesome mosaic Masochist, a bit to much open space for an urban area, but that's just my preference. I have a habit of
filling every tile in sight.  Anyway, 7.5

One of mine...

[threestooges]

Masochist: I agree a bit with Travis on the open space thing. I think for me though, it's that the open space seems to be left open for no reason (there's nothing special about it...) no trees, no parks, nothing that would otherwise impede construction. It seems likely (at least for the majority of what I have seen) that vacant space will be built on before other spaces soar higher.
-Also, the roundabout at the top seems to have no purpose (perhaps it is for future development or something).
-One other thing, about 1/2 way down the mosaic, there is a tennis court which seems to be out of place.
Other than that, it looks pretty darn good and shows good planning in terms of the way the roads and rail inter-twine.
8/10

Travis: It looks good. A bit cold; but good. (some interesting shadows, but I doubt those can be helped)
9/10

Good pics all.

[Ennedi]

Hi guys, I don't know how it happens I missed this topic - the next good idea of Masochist  I like it very much!

Travis: I really like this picture, I saw it in the competition. Your idea was very good. Ploppable water an Rayden's snow are excellent and very useful, but they are difficult to use in many cases, especially if you are going to make a closeup.
Some sharp edges look unrealistic. Some shadows also look strange. But the reason is not your execution, but the nature of these ploppable pieces. I think such thing can be done, but in slightly different way (maybe I can make some experiments, if I will succeed, I will show it).
Anyway, nice couple of trees, this building fits very well here.

Masochist: I like your work and I am sure your skills are better than mine. But It seems to me you need a constructive information  - so here is it:

1. Roundabout: OK, nothing against it. But if you don't provide any additional roads in this place, make the last bus stop and some small commercials here, and maybe a walkpath to the city border (who knows what is there?   )

2. Roads on slopes: try to soften transitions from flat terrain to the slope. I know very good you haven't enough space - especially near the bridge base, but you are a talented engineer, aren't you? 

3. Rock mod and beach: This Red-Brown Granite is one of the best rock mods IMO. It looks good on general views and on closeups. But the beach mod you use is completely different and looks very strange with this rock.
If you want to use Red-Brn Granite, try Olympic Beach (Moab Beach is too reddish to this rock). If you want to use this beach mod, try to use Jeronij's version of PEG Limestone, or another bright one.

4. Convention center: Good place for it. But trucks will not be able to drive out from the parking 

As you see I analysed only the upper part of you mosaic - I didn't want to make my post longer than it 
I hope these notes will be useful for you 

OK, now i ask you for an analyse of this picture - be hard on it!

[Mulefisk]

Ennedi:

For a fantasy-city you managed to make it look incredibly believable!
It looks to me like it's mainly a commercial CBD. So i'm thinking, if it's a big centre with lots of jobs, the land around it will probably be very valuable. Therefore, even though it looks good, it doesen't make much sense to me that so much space should be left open. I think it would look a lot more realistic if you filled in that open space with some new towers, or maybe some mid-rise.
Also, because all the other buildings are modern, the high-school looks a bit out of place.

Other than that, it's perfect! Great work. 

[CabraBuitre]

Masochist-   I agree with the others, there are open spaces that appear to be there for no other reason than to be open.  In most cities, all spots of land are snatched up and used.  Perhaps you might want to either make it into parkland, or fill it in with some trees.  I use Cyclepuppy's but any would work quite well.

I also prefer plazas and parks I make myself, but that's just a personal preference, I guess!

One last thing... in a couple of the spots, it appears that the railroad tracks curve unnecessarily.  Cars and trucks can maneuver and houses and buildings can be torn down and moved, but trains don't weave very well, so you might consider straightening up the straightaways and making the turns more gradual.  Overall, it's a great mosaic!  I love the way you've planned out your road system as well!!

Travis-   I agree with the other comments that a few of the effects (the shaddows, etc) are a bit out of place, but there isn't much you can do with that!  I'm glad there's a fire in the cabin, 'cause it looks cold!

Ennedi-  Can you show us some more up-close pics?  It looks good overall, but it's a bit tough to see the details!

[Ennedi]

Mulefisk: Thank you very much for your critique!  It is very helpful, it shows me how other people look at my pictures.

Of course you are right. I agree about empty spaces, they will be filled. Some reasons of such situation are:
1. I developed some residential areas first to have enough citizens (also in neghbour cities). Than I started to build the center (of course I had main roads earlier).
2. In the center I made some experiments with composition, I also tried to make a good skyline an I didn't want to put a lot of skyscrapers on a small space. I rather wanted to set off existing buildings - they are worth of it.
3. Because of  point 2 I looked for some midrises wchich would fit here - but it was some months ago and I hadn't enough of them. Now I have and I can build (it is still difficult because there is quite steep slope behind the center  ).
Of course I agree about high school - I must think about it 

Cabra Buitre: Thank you for your comment  . I think the purpose of this topic is to show only one picture. I put some closeups of the area showed on my picture in:
"Show us your Downtowns & CBDs" - page 17
"Show us your intersections" - page 3
And... Maybe Masochist will not be very angry if I will put 2 of them here:





Btw - I agree with your comment for Travis 

Edit: Of course I ask for our opinion about these pictures too!

[CabraBuitre]

Ennedi,

What I like about these shots are that you've planned out each little bit of the shot.  They're full of "something" practical, even if it is just a few trees.  One thing I have done is to use the maxis tree replacement mods that are here on the LEX.  I just think the trees created by other SC4 members are better, but that's just my opinion.

I also really like your decision for the path tile.  It goes very well with the rest of the buildings surrounding it in the pictures!!