@FruitNinjazz: Go
You can add it into the Foliage Table of the Zerus Tileset in the Data Editor. It's the best way to deal with these types of issues for low end PCs, since it's more reliable than just assuming models are set to low.
Also it allows you to remove those stupid flowers from the Agria Tileset >.>
Or you can set the LOD model to nothing at all for low as Nebuli suggested, but the risk there is obviously that people might still use a setting where it's displayed.
You could probably do both to be on the secure side.
@SheogorathSC: Go
I'd suggest you use the 3rd one to progress from. That one has potential to look impressive if you do it right.
I suggest you scale down the grass a slight bit more and use some generated foliage as well. Use some of the vines on the upper edges of the building, based on that camera perspective. See my last one with the tree in the corner for it.
Maybe you could take the upside-down crash car and replace that with the transporter you got in the front of the picture (it's the primary POI so it will automatically draw attention there) and put some vines on that.
The road you could try and use the one type of waterplant one. The flat one. The frontal grass cluster asset sadly looks like it's made of paper cutouts in it's current position, replace that one :)
Alternative you could use the bridge as an overpass running through the buildings you have right now and work from that one. I did something like that back in WoL, didn't look to bad, but since it was for a TPS view, it didn't work out very well (no backfaces... see-through bridges are stupid).
You should also try to show more of the building tops. If need be fake the city backdrop with scaled buildings.
Also there still isn't any fog in sight. Just a slight bit, since it's daylight. If you want to go all out, you could mess around with Depth of Field and Bloom a bit.
Also if you really want to bring out those luminescent flowers and their glow, make a really, really dark lighting. So that the flowers are basically most of the lightsources in the picture. But obviously that requires you to use more of them to show the environment you made and custom light the intensity of the whole thing.
Ye, I think that is all I can come up with for now. Try around with those ideas, I'd say.
After lots of failure I now am 5 hour uploads away from putting up the video. Joy oh joy.
@SheogorathSC: Go
Currently that lacks any kind of POI. I'd suggest putting a car or something like that in the middle and making it overgrown with plants. Or maybe try to build something out of assets growing out of that roadcrack.
Also I'd suggest adding small vines (should be a cliff doodad) to the buildings. There is also brambles you can use to make vines that crawl up on the building side :)
A slight fog at 0.025 could also help it.
Also you could try to reduce the UV scaling a little, so the textures match the scale.
@Scbroodsc2: Go
Yeah. The sorting by terrain set doesn't even work properly at all, because Blizz lazied out on sorting the assets properly and a lot of space platform assets and such are just available to any tileset. Compared to how orderly WC3 was, this is pretty awful.
It has come down to me going through every file roughly by my head categories for search terms and placing all of the assets I need on the map (see pic I posted on page 1 for the ice stuff).
I feel like the fog is a little bit too much here, looks like it fits an icy terrain more.
Ye, it's not just fog, the lighting needs work as well. But really, I don't have the patience to do all that detail work for something that isn't used as a final product for people to play on. I just made it because Moza's Avatar looks at me like I did something unforgivable :P
Also, when are you guys going to put out a Multiplayer Beta for SCU? Kinda need something to play with friends besides Trials of Zeal :)
And here is a different one with less fog and if you can spot the baneling in the 2nd picture you get internet points.
@Mozared: Go
I couldn't make anything with Zerus, because I am bound by laws to not make something so amazing that it leads to people going blind. So I made something else instead :P
Not my best work ever done, but it's pretty okayish for the fact that I didn't spend any time properly lighting this. Could probably improve upon it quite a bit still, by putting little ice cliff doodads on the building edges, the tubes and other places, not to mention adding little powerlines between buildings and all that. But screw that, this was a test for something else, no point going full on Xara-Detail-Mode.
Also, all my hate for there being no volumetric fog in SC2. Seriously.
I wouldn't really call my walkway "new tech", just new cliff graphics and some cliff doodads to hide the giant gaping hole in the world mesh.
Though we can now make custom collision boxes for each asset with the Art Tools, as I recall, so it's not impossible to make better pathways without trickery.
Nice work though. But ye, as I said, pretty much anyone can now make pretty stuff with Zerus. Which is good, because we have way too much awful Terrain around.
Also, I found Zerg walls. Those who still know who I am and didn't come around later now can imagine me rapidly clapping my hands in excitement.
@FruitNinjazz: Go You can add it into the Foliage Table of the Zerus Tileset in the Data Editor. It's the best way to deal with these types of issues for low end PCs, since it's more reliable than just assuming models are set to low.
Also it allows you to remove those stupid flowers from the Agria Tileset >.>
Or you can set the LOD model to nothing at all for low as Nebuli suggested, but the risk there is obviously that people might still use a setting where it's displayed.
You could probably do both to be on the secure side.
@FruitNinjazz: Go Foliage only displays on higher settings as I recall. So if you use that to fill, it won't lag much for them hopefully.
Uploaded the whole thing, put it over here: http://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/development/terrain/50109-the-sleeping-beast-timelapse-video-workflow-from-wte/
@SheogorathSC: Go I'd suggest you use the 3rd one to progress from. That one has potential to look impressive if you do it right.
I suggest you scale down the grass a slight bit more and use some generated foliage as well. Use some of the vines on the upper edges of the building, based on that camera perspective. See my last one with the tree in the corner for it.
Maybe you could take the upside-down crash car and replace that with the transporter you got in the front of the picture (it's the primary POI so it will automatically draw attention there) and put some vines on that.
The road you could try and use the one type of waterplant one. The flat one. The frontal grass cluster asset sadly looks like it's made of paper cutouts in it's current position, replace that one :)
Alternative you could use the bridge as an overpass running through the buildings you have right now and work from that one. I did something like that back in WoL, didn't look to bad, but since it was for a TPS view, it didn't work out very well (no backfaces... see-through bridges are stupid).
You should also try to show more of the building tops. If need be fake the city backdrop with scaled buildings.
Also there still isn't any fog in sight. Just a slight bit, since it's daylight. If you want to go all out, you could mess around with Depth of Field and Bloom a bit.
Also if you really want to bring out those luminescent flowers and their glow, make a really, really dark lighting. So that the flowers are basically most of the lightsources in the picture. But obviously that requires you to use more of them to show the environment you made and custom light the intensity of the whole thing.
Ye, I think that is all I can come up with for now. Try around with those ideas, I'd say.
After lots of failure I now am 5 hour uploads away from putting up the video. Joy oh joy.
Uploading a time lapse of this right now :)
Edit: Okay, RENDERING. Because appearently 1 hour videos down to 20 something is really having a lot of impact even with a i7.
Hrm, I got one more fancy idea for this one. Might make a small tutorial out of it.
@SheogorathSC: Go Currently that lacks any kind of POI. I'd suggest putting a car or something like that in the middle and making it overgrown with plants. Or maybe try to build something out of assets growing out of that roadcrack.
Also I'd suggest adding small vines (should be a cliff doodad) to the buildings. There is also brambles you can use to make vines that crawl up on the building side :)
A slight fog at 0.025 could also help it.
Also you could try to reduce the UV scaling a little, so the textures match the scale.
@Scbroodsc2: Go Yeah. The sorting by terrain set doesn't even work properly at all, because Blizz lazied out on sorting the assets properly and a lot of space platform assets and such are just available to any tileset. Compared to how orderly WC3 was, this is pretty awful.
It has come down to me going through every file roughly by my head categories for search terms and placing all of the assets I need on the map (see pic I posted on page 1 for the ice stuff).
It's annoying as hell.
@Mozared: Go
I kinda felt I should make up for the fact that I stopped doing any SC2 work back when I did the Melee Map with the Dams ;)
Ye, it's not just fog, the lighting needs work as well. But really, I don't have the patience to do all that detail work for something that isn't used as a final product for people to play on. I just made it because Moza's Avatar looks at me like I did something unforgivable :P
Also, when are you guys going to put out a Multiplayer Beta for SCU? Kinda need something to play with friends besides Trials of Zeal :)
And here is a different one with less fog and if you can spot the baneling in the 2nd picture you get internet points.
Here Moza. NOW STOP STARING DISAPPROVINGLY.
@Mozared: Go I couldn't make anything with Zerus, because I am bound by laws to not make something so amazing that it leads to people going blind. So I made something else instead :P
Also I totally didn't see that :P
brb, making Zerus.
Not my best work ever done, but it's pretty okayish for the fact that I didn't spend any time properly lighting this. Could probably improve upon it quite a bit still, by putting little ice cliff doodads on the building edges, the tubes and other places, not to mention adding little powerlines between buildings and all that. But screw that, this was a test for something else, no point going full on Xara-Detail-Mode.
Also, all my hate for there being no volumetric fog in SC2. Seriously.
Though we can now make custom collision boxes for each asset with the Art Tools, as I recall, so it's not impossible to make better pathways without trickery.
Nice work though. But ye, as I said, pretty much anyone can now make pretty stuff with Zerus. Which is good, because we have way too much awful Terrain around.
Also, I found Zerg walls. Those who still know who I am and didn't come around later now can imagine me rapidly clapping my hands in excitement.
Zerus is a pretty cool tileset, but probably right now also the easiest to work with, since it's a jungle. Those are usually easier.
The ice stuff should be interesting to work with. Korhal Wastes looks like something from the original SC1 Mar Sara stuff.
I am going to try some ice stuff. Let's see ... what can I use ... Well all of this! :p