I seldom see people setting custom color to their doodads and I think it's such a nifty little feature that have alot of potential. I fear that alot of people simply don't realise it's there. By using different colors on similar doodads you can make a subtle difference that I think greatly enhances the terrain. It also opens up the possibility to "overuse" a terrain theme since you can recolor the doodads to make it look fresh.
I'll show you. Here is a terrain with 1 variation type of the Aiur tree. I positioned them so it doesn't look to boring but it still feels kinda uninspiring
Here I have tinted all the trees in a green custom color
And here I selected a random portion of the trees and painted some of them yellow and some of them orange
In my opinion it feels much more vibrant and alive now. I think that having subtle differnces in the color of the doodads make the forest have more depth, even though there are just one type of variation of a single doodad type.
And I have only used these three colors.
Now, the example terrain used above is quite boring so I have taken some screenshots from a map where I have used this feature widely. The forest in the screenshots below are basicly the same forest covering the whole of the map but by using custom colors I have made different themes at different areas. I am hoping this will make the forest feel more interesting for the player without breaking the "theme" of the map, which is an untouched greenish temperate forest.
Nice post - I feel doodad colouring may be a bit underused. The issue is, the regular are already relatively interesting and non-bland and the difference from simply using variations of the regular type and highly specific colours is very small - which is why I'm assuming the technique is rather unused. That said, if you really want to do some hardcore terraining and extreme detail focus, you can go as far as to create a forest where every single tree has a slightly different colour, size, variation and facing direction. I've done it before in some of my serious projects as I usually can't even be bothered with this for even showcases. It's a lot of work, but it does pay off when the whole thing comes together.
For an example, here's a forest I did for Starmon.
I think your right that the need for this is might not big with the large amount of doodads variations available . Still, I often prefer to boil down the number of doodads and the variations of the doodads I use to a select few. I feel that I can create a more clear and distinct enviroment using relativly few variations and instead add color and lightning to the doodads to avoid the terrain being boring. At least on natural terrain.
I'll upload an example later, I am on my cellphone at the momement.
I agree that this is definitely an underused feature. I've also started to use this feature to some degree although I haven't really made a map which focuses heavily on using custom colors. I should try it more though, as it really seems to make your trees look more varied and realistic. I think it works better on certain tiles though, where the trees look a lot alike. Zerus for example, has a lot more variety in trees but I guess you could make something from it.
This thread has at least inspired me to try it out more.
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That's some nice work there Njordys; it's almost like a new tileset - a more 'temperate' jungle.
That said, one thing to note is that there's also a downside to the custom coloring that's quite visible in your first screenshot. Normally, because trees all have roughly the same colour, a treeline is seen as a bit of a 'unified' boundary that allows players to see where they can and cannot walk without consciously looking at it. When you custom-color everything, you give up some of that unity for some realism. The result is that your forest is a less 'unanimously unpathable area' and more of a strain on the eye. This is why I'd usually recommend that, if custom colours are used in a treeline, they are applied gradually to keep the unanimity in-tact; so rather than making every tree a different shade of green, work your way towards an area by making each tree ever so slightly green-er than the previous. You can see some of it in this screenshot I took of the Starmon terrain, where 5 decoloured trees in the top right area are visible.
Typically when I make a terrain, most of the doodads end up tinted in some way or other. The rocks are often all tinted the same color, as is the same for plants and various other types of doodads. It helps to build up a certain atmosphere.
Thats a very interesting point which I haven't thought about but I can definitely see it. I guess it will work better the way you suggest, to paint the color on the trees gradually instead of placing the color randomly. I'll have that in mind in the future.
I didn't notice that. I still felt that the trees, even when custom coloured, were usually quite distinctive boundaries.
I don't really tint things much, as I usually work with either mechanical atmospheres, or dark atomospheres - and custom colour, for whatever reason, only works with light colours.
I'll expand on this with a trick I use for adding variety to larger areas:
Rather than manually tinting the doodads, you can use lighting regions with a low-intensity brush and a dose of the Blur tool to create large, sweeping gradients and patterns in the colors of your doodads. It works particularly well for forests and large areas of heavy vegetation, and can be used in moderation to add some more variety to your ground textures.
You just have to be careful not to overdo it - especially in places where units can move through the different lighting colors.
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I seldom see people setting custom color to their doodads and I think it's such a nifty little feature that have alot of potential. I fear that alot of people simply don't realise it's there. By using different colors on similar doodads you can make a subtle difference that I think greatly enhances the terrain. It also opens up the possibility to "overuse" a terrain theme since you can recolor the doodads to make it look fresh.
I'll show you. Here is a terrain with 1 variation type of the Aiur tree. I positioned them so it doesn't look to boring but it still feels kinda uninspiring
Here I have tinted all the trees in a green custom color
And here I selected a random portion of the trees and painted some of them yellow and some of them orange
In my opinion it feels much more vibrant and alive now. I think that having subtle differnces in the color of the doodads make the forest have more depth, even though there are just one type of variation of a single doodad type.
And I have only used these three colors.
Now, the example terrain used above is quite boring so I have taken some screenshots from a map where I have used this feature widely. The forest in the screenshots below are basicly the same forest covering the whole of the map but by using custom colors I have made different themes at different areas. I am hoping this will make the forest feel more interesting for the player without breaking the "theme" of the map, which is an untouched greenish temperate forest.
I hope someone will find this useful :)
Nice post - I feel doodad colouring may be a bit underused. The issue is, the regular are already relatively interesting and non-bland and the difference from simply using variations of the regular type and highly specific colours is very small - which is why I'm assuming the technique is rather unused. That said, if you really want to do some hardcore terraining and extreme detail focus, you can go as far as to create a forest where every single tree has a slightly different colour, size, variation and facing direction. I've done it before in some of my serious projects as I usually can't even be bothered with this for even showcases. It's a lot of work, but it does pay off when the whole thing comes together.
For an example, here's a forest I did for Starmon.
I think your right that the need for this is might not big with the large amount of doodads variations available . Still, I often prefer to boil down the number of doodads and the variations of the doodads I use to a select few. I feel that I can create a more clear and distinct enviroment using relativly few variations and instead add color and lightning to the doodads to avoid the terrain being boring. At least on natural terrain.
I'll upload an example later, I am on my cellphone at the momement.
Here is the example.
I agree that this is definitely an underused feature. I've also started to use this feature to some degree although I haven't really made a map which focuses heavily on using custom colors. I should try it more though, as it really seems to make your trees look more varied and realistic. I think it works better on certain tiles though, where the trees look a lot alike. Zerus for example, has a lot more variety in trees but I guess you could make something from it. This thread has at least inspired me to try it out more.
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@njordys: Go
That's some nice work there Njordys; it's almost like a new tileset - a more 'temperate' jungle.
That said, one thing to note is that there's also a downside to the custom coloring that's quite visible in your first screenshot. Normally, because trees all have roughly the same colour, a treeline is seen as a bit of a 'unified' boundary that allows players to see where they can and cannot walk without consciously looking at it. When you custom-color everything, you give up some of that unity for some realism. The result is that your forest is a less 'unanimously unpathable area' and more of a strain on the eye. This is why I'd usually recommend that, if custom colours are used in a treeline, they are applied gradually to keep the unanimity in-tact; so rather than making every tree a different shade of green, work your way towards an area by making each tree ever so slightly green-er than the previous. You can see some of it in this screenshot I took of the Starmon terrain, where 5 decoloured trees in the top right area are visible.
Typically when I make a terrain, most of the doodads end up tinted in some way or other. The rocks are often all tinted the same color, as is the same for plants and various other types of doodads. It helps to build up a certain atmosphere.
@Mozared: Go
Thats a very interesting point which I haven't thought about but I can definitely see it. I guess it will work better the way you suggest, to paint the color on the trees gradually instead of placing the color randomly. I'll have that in mind in the future.
I didn't notice that. I still felt that the trees, even when custom coloured, were usually quite distinctive boundaries.
I don't really tint things much, as I usually work with either mechanical atmospheres, or dark atomospheres - and custom colour, for whatever reason, only works with light colours.
I'll expand on this with a trick I use for adding variety to larger areas:
Rather than manually tinting the doodads, you can use lighting regions with a low-intensity brush and a dose of the Blur tool to create large, sweeping gradients and patterns in the colors of your doodads. It works particularly well for forests and large areas of heavy vegetation, and can be used in moderation to add some more variety to your ground textures.
You just have to be careful not to overdo it - especially in places where units can move through the different lighting colors.