Cabra's garden

[CabraBuitre]

I'm looking for some opinions about about a park/garden that I'm building.  I'm looking to make a similar but modified version of this lot:



The base (the yellow, orange, and red portion, in addition to the paths immediately outside of it) was a lot I found on the STEX several years ago (and, incidentally, haven't been able to find again after a hard drive crash two years ago).  I'm looking to recreate it... but I think I want to use both the new (well, new as in not 4-5 year old) paths that are out there and seasonal flowers.  This originally was a 4x6 lot that included the paths immediately around...

Here's a test lot on a 2x4 lot I did with some of SG's seasonal flowers:



I wanted to see what it looked like with just the flowers... but I didn't like the outcome... the colors were too similar with the ones I originally choise.  I also hadn't done anything with the paths yet...  (the outside paths in the pic above were just plopped to give a sense of scale).

so I came up with some different tests.  Which do you like the best and why?



The most obvious changes would be in the corners... but it really affects how the paths interact with the flowered portion.  It could really change the shape.  Also, I'm not tied in to the 4x6 lot size... I could go bigger and integrate more with the centerpiece.

Whadda ya think?

[BarbyW]

The problem with commenting on anything like this, Cabra, is that park lots like this are very much personal things. If you like something, then carry on and make it.

I like the changed paths arrangement and think you could find some interesting flower groupings. Remember, however, that individual flowers will soon mount up in terms of prop count and if you aren't careful you will start to lose props and/or textures from the lot.

I look forward to seeing how you develop this.

[CabraBuitre]

Barby,

Thanks! 

With the size of the lot and the number of props, I don't think I would approach any type of maximum... (not that I would know what that is, of course...!).  I think I've made bigger lots with more props and not had a problem.

Do you have an estimate as to how many is too many?

[CabraBuitre]

Here's my next iteration.  I realized that I was making paths not straight simply for the sake of not being straight... didn't make a whole lot of sense and it really got away from the clean look I was, well, looking for!



The upper left-hand corner of the previous pic was the least cluttered, so I had that on all four corners... and I was trying to decide whether to stay in close or weave in and out... and I decided to do neither!  The left-hand side is what I ended up with... a bit of a dip in... but it ultimately left me with a huge open space in the middle.  I am going to fill it up... but it was too big a space to put what I'm thinking... so I had to fill it in and that's where the inner ring came in.  Again, on the left side I made it swing back out... and it had some nifty little curves... but it was curving for curving sake and it looks sloppy.

I ended up with the right hand side after straightening out a few pieces... and I really like the outcome.  It's not done yet, but this is closer to the path that I think I want.

I'm trying to decide what to do with the outer-most lines.  I felt I needed to add them because I had wanted to include the the curvy T's in the middle on the left-hand side... and the outside edge wouldn't have matched up with the rest of the path sets (i.e. in the center).  But now that I'm looking at something like the right side, I might be able to get rid of the outside lines altogether...

[ponnie]

As a fan of large parks I like where this is going  . I'll definitely be keeping an eye on your project.

[CabraBuitre]

Here are a couple more initial iterations... just trying some things out...



You can't really see the true preview on the left... but this takes some of the ideas from previous versions to see how they'd work... and though they might work for something different, it isn't the way I want to go with this one.



I'm trying some things out in terms of filling up the park now...  Again, this isn't the way I'm going to go, but it gives me some ideas for later...



This is how things stand right now.  This is probably a lot more busy than I want to be... but...

[CabraBuitre]

Here are a few shots of different versions...




Right off the bat, I noticed that I have the wrong grass texture in the center.  This will be covered up... but still, it should be corrected!



I didn't end up going with any of these main designs... but they're all possibilities in the future.



There are a few small changes with this one versus the one I showed earlier... just trying out a few different ideas.



Well... it's getting bigger!  I didn't like the cramped look for D66's "Butterfly garden" prop, and the corners really didn't look that finished.  The lot is now 8 tiles wide by 10 tiles deep.





These last two shots show some more detail of the top and bottom halves.  I still haven't done the main centerpiece yet...

Here's the original image to kind of get re-focused!



Now, this lot had been 4 wide by 6 deep... the other lots around it are just fillers or slightly modified pieces of SG's original path set (or canal set, as the case may be).  I still am going to try to recreate some more aspects of this (other than the centerpiece, which, like I said, I haven't really started on yet).

I do need to make sure that I don't get SO big that I will lose props or textures.  I've only had that happen on a few lots of mine... but with the added size, each tile has additional base and overlay textures, plus the props.

[ponnie]

Wow, great work so far. Keep it up  .

[CabraBuitre]

OK, I've made a little progress...  Some of this is really slow going but I think many of these changes are a step forward.


Here's the first one... I fixed the grass texture and it looks much better.



This is one of the bigger changes to date.  I'm not 100% sure about recreating the centerpiece of the other one... and I kind of like some of the things that BLAM did a few years ago over at Simtrop with some of the overlays... so this is a test.



And some more changes...

The right side is more what it will look like... I straightened the outermost path because it fit better with the "formal garden" look... and it allowed me to put some hedges along the paths too.

I also changed the paths on the top.  I made them more rounded and brought them back towards the midde.




And from a different angle...

[CabraBuitre]

So... it's almost 1 year from the day of my last post, but I've finished this garden and I wanted to show it to everyone!


First, here's an iteration I didn't decide to go with but I thought was interesting enough to create another garden based off it:




And here's the final product!










Oh, and here's the other garden I made based off the first one... I can't decide which way I like the cavalryman pointing...  It may just depend where I put it.

[kwakelaar]

I think the strong point of the park lot you started out with as a reference is the simple geometric pattern. Although I am not a strong believer that "less is more", in this case your park will come out much stronger and more interesting if you limit yourself in terms of shapes and colours.
I think the small garden you showed in your last pictures is more convincing because of the limited pallet of colours.
It is very interesting to follow this and see how you have developed this over such a long period.

[CabraBuitre]

I see what you mean about the simple geometric pattern... It has gotten really pretty complicated and busy.

I think part of what I was trying to do is to recreate some scenes like I had in my old MD...:








A lot of work went into those creations... but they weren't just one large lot, they were many smaller lots pieced together.  The repetitiveness works... it is more orderly and though there is a lot of "stuff" in-between the paths, it's all in its own place, confined there.

So, it's kind of like exhibits at a museum...  Each exhibit has it's room, but the rooms are separated and you can get to any of them easily, but once you're in a room, you're focused on the room.

Museums aren't set up with every exhibit in the SAME room... and I think that's kind of what I was/am doing with this lot.

It's pretty much finished at this point... but I've learned a lot and I've experimented with a lot of different tools that I wanted to...  and I think that will help get the creative juices flowing for the future!

[CabraBuitre]

I think the strong point of the park lot you started out with as a reference is the simple geometric pattern. Although I am not a strong believer that "less is more", in this case your park will come out much stronger and more interesting if you limit yourself in terms of shapes and colours.
I think the small garden you showed in your last pictures is more convincing because of the limited pallet of colours.
It is very interesting to follow this and see how you have developed this over such a long period.

So I had been thinking about what you said... and I felt like I was putting too much detail or complexity... and I also thought about how I had done my other gardens... piecewise.  It's just small puzzle pieces put together.

So I came up with this:




This is the inner-most portion of the garden above, but without all the stuff around it.




The one on the left is actually four pieces, put together.




Ditto on this one:




And this is trying to use the different pieces in other ways too.




The more I'm thinking about it, though... I am understanding what you mean, now about simple geometry.  With the original I had done several years ago, there were interesting designs in the middle... but it was all in a square.  That gave it a clean frame, whereas this... it might be able to be used some places, but it can't be used on a grand scale... it would stick out too much.

And the orange/yellow crescent (plus red) is getting way too repetitive itself.  These are just test lots... but I have to come up with something different if I want to use this type of idea on a broad scale.  It just sticks out too much.

That can be good as a centerpiece... but not when every other piece sticks out!