Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[noahclem]

The is turning out wonderfully, especially the roads like you mentioned (and rails)!!    The area by the dam looks really nice too. Congrats on 150 updates by the way!

[canyonjumper]

Dunster Lake looks great! I'm looking forward to seeing the detailing on the other side of the culverts

                Your friend,
                               Jordan

[travismking]

absolutely beautiful. I draw a lot of inspiration for my rural areas from your MD, and I thank you for showing me how good SC4 can look

[bat]

Fantastic work on the lake and the village next to it!
The pictures are beautiful!

[cubby420]

This tile is coming along quite nicely. Those culverts are very cool as well...may I ask where you got them?

[samerton]

Brilliant. After so many amazing updates, I'm speechless... Great! 

[penguin007]

Awesome update again great to see the lake almost done!!

Will

[sumwonyuno]

The lake is coming along nicely!    I'm anxious to see how it goes beyond the culvert.

[Battlecat]

Tomas Neto: Thanks!

noahclem: Thanks very much! 

Jordan (canyonjumper): I'm looking forward to it as well.  Not going to happen today tough, something else to take care of first.  Glad you like it!

bat: Thanks very much for your kind words!

cubby420: As I mentioned in the PM, those culverts are part of Peg's Tahoe pond set and can be found here.  The only frustrating part about them is the water being embedded in the model which prevents them being used with other water styles.  They still look nice though. 

Sam (samerton): Thanks very much, glad you've enjoyed your visits! 

Will (penguin007): I'm glad to be pretty much done it as well.  This tile has taken a long time!

sumwonyuno: Thanks!  I'm looking forward to getting down there as well.  That will be in a later update though. 

Update 152
Dunster Bend – Valley Flood Fill

I made some good progress this weekend, finishing the entire valley on the other side of Dunster Lake.  Let's get this show on the road!

152-1: Here's the valley in question.  My goal here is sparse farming mixed with exurb residential.


152-2: First things first though.  I want to add a little detail on the rail side here.  This is a result of Robin's comments a few weeks ago. 


152-3: A narrow  road, a siding and a small rail platform make the foundation of a railway works yard.     


152-4: This isn't a heavily used facility, but there is a gravel and stone supply for emergency works. 


152-5: Now on with the main valley.  I spent a lot of time tweaking the roads here, so things may change abruptly as development goes forward. 


152-6: One particular change was pushing the gravel road back further from the crossroad location.  The diagonal sidewalks are much more subtle and don't show up badly enough to be an issue in a rural area. 


152-7: Here we have the first swath of development.  Since these are exurbs, I don't need to bother making any of these buildings historical.  I might revise one or two of the farms and I've discarded one of the ones up at the top end of the valley already.


152-8: Now for my favorite, some before and after pictures as I apply the final details.  First we have the area near the gravel pit. 


152-9: I really like homes in dense forest.  By the way, I decided that the powerlines in this area would be impossible to see under the high canopy, so I left them out.  They'll just disappear shortly after crossing the dam holding back Dunster Lake.   


152-10: Second area to be tweaked is this farming area at the end of one of the valleys. 


152-11: Nothing fancy here, just another swath of trees. 


152-12: This area needs a bit more attention, especially with the high tension power lines right there.


152-13: The usually coarse grass texturing under the power lines will add detail and keep trees from being placed below them. 


152-14: One more quick bit of work to add trees.  I think I'll be quickly revisiting this area on the next update, looking at these pictures I can see a few things I need to fix. 


152-15: Pulling out a bit, here's a look at the completed valley. 


152-16: Of course I can't leave an update this large without a revised composite image. 


And that's a wrap!  See you next time!

[nbvc]

Great work.

[lak47]

Grandisimo 

[RickD]

Looks great. The rail works facility is a very nice detail.

[Reikhardt]

Very interesting update, I'm a sucker for rural/ forested areas!

[dedgren]

That!

Best SC4 detailing I've seen in quite a little bit.


David

[Tomas Neto]

Awesome work!!!

[samerton]

 

This MD gets even better after each update... always getting more and more realistic. Purely outstanding.

[io_bg]

I gotta agree with David - great detailing! Looking forward to more!

[sumwonyuno]

Heh, I thought it just be me liking a quarry.  It certainly is nice and detailed.

[cubby420]

The tiny stone supply concept really is so brilliant and the oh so perfect rock mod certainly didn't hurt either. Beautiful work.   

The composite of this tile is coming along nicely as well. I appreciate this most about Adara I think. You always keep an eye out for the tiniest element or detail, and create living breathing scenes; yet you manage to maintain this pitch perfect perspective on how it will all fit together. More applause now   

Enough gushing.    Get back to work...I need more!

[Battlecat]

nbvc: Thanks!

lak47: Thanks very much!

RickD: Glad you like it!  I owe Robin (rooker1) for making the suggestion that expanded the idea. 

Reikhardt: Thanks kindly, glad you enjoyed it!

David (dedgren): Thanks very much!  High praise considering how much inspiration I've taken from 3RR! 

Tomas Neto: Thanks!

Sam (samerton): Glad to hear it!  I'm always striving to improve, so it's nice to hear I'm achieving that!  Thanks for your kind words!

io_bg: Thanks very much!  Hope you enjoy this next update; I had fun putting it together.

sumwonyuno: Glad you like it!  I'm really pleased with how it came out, and I plan to do other projects similar to that in the future as a result. 

cubby420: Thanks very much for your effusive praise!  I'm constantly pleased with how well the rock mod works for my region and its details like that quarry that really make the difference.  Heh!  I'm working as fast as I can, at least I've been able to consistently post once a week!  Glad you're enjoying it!

Update 153
Dunster Bend – Swamp

Today's update focuses entirely on the stream below Dunster Lake.  As suggested by the title today, the area is going to be quite swampy.  I hope it turns out nicely.

153-1: This is the area where I'm starting.  I'll be working down right to the map edge from here.


153-2: I'm shooting for a meandering river in the middle of some swampy land.  This area is a natural wetland, preserved for bird migration. 


153-3: First up, the retaining wall needs to be finished. There is more exposed rock on this side because the water is actually higher on the lake side of the culvert. 


153-4: Sand and grass are the textures of choice for the first pass on the river edge.  This is just to clean up the appearance of the water.  It's subtle, but I've added more sand on the inner side of the meander curves than on the outside.  I'm trying to give the subtle feel of erosion on the outside of the loop and deposition on the inside as the meanders slowly migrate. 


153-5: The next layer of details is bulrushes all along the river edge and a couple of abandoned meander loops that are now swamps. 


153-6: Here's a closer look at one of the swamps.  This one is older, using the RRP marsh texture. 


153-7: And the other swamp, a younger one this time.  This one uses the brown transparent plopable water. 


153-8: And then it's time for a swath of trees.  Here's the first swampy area.


153-9: And the second one with trees. 


153-10: A quick tiny little side trip.  These new exurbs need one little additional detail.


153-11: Namely a diagonal filler to smooth the jagged feel of the diagonal streets.


153-12: Final pictures for today.  A train makes its way towards the tile edge beside the marsh. 


153-13: A closer look at the details at the north end of the brown TPW marsh. 


153-14: And finally, the other marsh, filled with bulrushes.   


153-15: And here's the latest composite.  Hmm, I've just noticed that the plopable maxis rocks aren't rendered at this zoom level.  I'll have to see if I can fix that. 


And that's all for today!  See you next time!