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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 9, 2013 16:35:02 GMT -9
I've been pretty quiet around the forums for the last few weeks, but I've not been idle.  Following my adventures promoting my products at shows and conventions and talking to a lot of people out there, many lessons were learned and they've changed up a few of the ideas and long term strategies I had. The most important of those lessons is that it's clear that I overrepresent on the dungeon tile scene and currently don't have enough stuff outside of that spectrum. I cater very little to the wargaming crowd, and virtually nothing in my store caters to the modern or sci-fi scenes. I spent a fair bit of time toying with various ideas on how to correct that and eventually decided the best solution was to get some outdoorsy stuff going. I've been busy putting together all sorts of pieces and building up new texture libraries, but mostly I've just been trying to create some sort of long term strategy... What I came up with in the end was a massive range of highly customisable, modular outdoor pieces including basic tiles, hills and associated props. The outdoor stuff, being organic and not man-made, has proven to be lot trickier to create than the dungeon stuff, but it's gradually approaching a point where I'm quite happy with the way it's looking.   Doing some things differently with this new wave of products. The first set released will include tiles sized to 6x6, 9x6, 3x6, 9x3, and 3x3. They will be set up in a way that will allow anyone to use them in a way that's most comfortable for them, or can be stuck together to form a large poster battle-map. From there I'll add prop sets (along the lines of the Dungeon Furniture Pack), 3d hill sets, and a few buildings and ruins. I'll also add more tile sets as I go to add variety to the base set, and will put out an upgrade pack to the Humble Hovel to make it fit more comfortably with the new outdoor tiles. Also starting with this wave of new products, I'll be pre-releasing WIP sets on Papercraft Dungeon. In the next day or two, an early version of the first tiles set will be available to download. It won't have the full features or the instructions, but it will be quite usable and will be only half the price of the finished set. Purchasing the preview will give you full access to the finished version and any intermediate releases of it as they become available at no additional charge! This is a little experiment, but if successful I'll be doing that with all future releases so that my dedicated fans do not need to wait quite as long to get their hands on my latest works. |
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Post by WackyAnne on Sept 10, 2013 2:45:36 GMT -9
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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 10, 2013 9:24:38 GMT -9
Not sure how to read that expression...  |
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Post by WackyAnne on Sept 10, 2013 9:50:13 GMT -9
Very, very excited. Speechless for the moment (didn't mean for it to be for hours, but my lil' guy fell sick. :/ )
I _love_ the look of your tiles, and as a big fan of overland adventures (witness my nascent project, Picnic Adventures!) I'm thrilled to see some new tiles and terrain.
I have the Fat Dragon terrain (FD being my entry into the entire hobby), and I've admired but not bought the Worldworks stuff, so I know there is some competition in the RPG field, but with the caliber of your work so far (which I have most of), I've no doubt you'll do well. I really like what I'm seeing, particularly the colour/texture/geometry of the hills, and will be happily backing you at the WIP-level.
Aiming for the wargamers as well is a great idea; much of the stuff I've seen catering to them is nowhere near as nice as this. Does this mean you'll aim at creating sets scalable from 15 to 25-30mm?
I have some idea how challenging it can be creating outside tiles, even ignoring any 3D aspect, since you've not got the hard angles nor the constricted spaces of interior dungeons and caverns. Then the vastness of variety of textures for various environments and terrains...
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Post by wyvern on Sept 10, 2013 10:21:47 GMT -9
I doubt you'll need anyone to add to your potential ideas list, but I'd be REALLY interested to see anything you come up with for 3D trees, hedges and bushes. I have some from Worldworks, 2.5 and 3D, which are OK up to a point, but looking at the care in design with others of your 3D products, I suspect you could come up with concepts to improve upon those.
Also, if you're going further along the wargaming route, it may be worth thinking about modular wargame forests - of the style of textured "boxes" with removable lids, say (hexagonal?), and which will work equally for 30mm down to 15mm or even 10mm figures when scaled. I've experimented like this with card hex boxes using free woodland photo textures, which are OK, but still aren't completed. So, good point to pass the notion on, maybe...
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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 10, 2013 10:56:03 GMT -9
I _love_ the look of your tiles, and as a big fan of overland adventures (witness my nascent project, Picnic Adventures!) I'm thrilled to see some new tiles and terrain. I have the Fat Dragon terrain (FD being my entry into the entire hobby), and I've admired but not bought the Worldworks stuff, so I know there is some competition in the RPG field, but with the caliber of your work so far (which I have most of), I've no doubt you'll do well. I really like what I'm seeing, particularly the colour/texture/geometry of the hills, and will be happily backing you at the WIP-level. Thanks! Always very appreciative of any support and compliments I get Aiming for the wargamers as well is a great idea; much of the stuff I've seen catering to them is nowhere near as nice as this. Does this mean you'll aim at creating sets scalable from 15 to 25-30mm? I've always designed my stuff to work well with GW and Reaper miniatures, because the majority of my collection is produced by one of those two companies and because most mini companies produce stuff to be compatible with those two. I'll likely continue on that path because part of my design philosophy has always been to create stuff that I, myself, would actually use. That said, most of my stuff does actually scale down pretty well to 15mm by printing it out at 50% on a slightly thinner paper, but the more complex builds would be very tricky at that scale. I doubt you'll need anyone to add to your potential ideas list, but I'd be REALLY interested to see anything you come up with for 3D trees, hedges and bushes. I have some from Worldworks, 2.5 and 3D, which are OK up to a point, but looking at the care in design with others of your 3D products, I suspect you could come up with concepts to improve upon those. Also, if you're going further along the wargaming route, it may be worth thinking about modular wargame forests - of the style of textured "boxes" with removable lids, say (hexagonal?), and which will work equally for 30mm down to 15mm or even 10mm figures when scaled. I've experimented like this with card hex boxes using free woodland photo textures, which are OK, but still aren't completed. So, good point to pass the notion on, maybe... Trees, bushes and forests are all going to make an appearance, and yeah, do I plan to outdo the WWG efforts. Got the prototypes already, but I'm still thrashing through the texture design to make them as attractive as possible. Trees and bushes will probably show up in either the first or second accessory pack, depending on how quickly I can get them looking the way I want them to. Forests are a little more long term. Got some ideas about how to handle those, but I'll wait until I've figured out the art of trees before I decide to tackle that. Forests will probably start showing up following stage 5 or 6 of this wave, after the first tiles sets, accessories sets and a hill set or two. |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 10, 2013 20:02:57 GMT -9
Pre-order preview of the Meadow Tiles is now up!  This preview copy is going for $1.49, half the price that the finished version will be going for. Purchasing a copy of the preview now will allow you to upgrade to the full version when it's released at no additional charge. Though just a preview, the set is already quite usable with the ability to create a few hundred completely unique high-quality 6x6 tiles. Meadow Tiles 0.1Includes a single 6 x 6 tile on a single page with 17 detail layers, and 6 grid layers. Detail Layers: - Dirt patches: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Right, Bottom Left - Clover patches: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Right, Bottom Left - Leaf Scatter: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Right, Bottom Left - Rock Scatter: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Right, Bottom Left - Flowers and weeds Grid Layers: - White Stars: 1 inch, 1.5 inch, 1.5 inch offset - Black Lines: 1 inch, 1.5 inch, 1.5 inch offset
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Post by WackyAnne on Sept 10, 2013 22:43:33 GMT -9
Bought, downloaded, played around with, test-printed with a range of options selected (now will check that).
Really quick thoughts:
1) Love the base layer, it has realism yet subtlety, and is the best base I've seen yet for outdoor texture.
2) Main comment would be to have the overlays blend to match that balance a bit more
2) Respectfully request a more subtle gridline, something half as prominent as the current blackline (as additional, not replacement)
3) Assuming flower level is most WIP: keep the small yellow flowers, keep the creeper but move to its own layer, and skip those particular larger flowers (they are exotics now domesticated for urban garden consumption, not to be found in the wild). Flowers are most difficult because they are very seasonal, and their season may last only days or weeks... but go for smaller wildflowers, in broader swaths if you like.
All-in-all, quite happy with the first release, and can definitely make use of it right away!
More later...
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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 11, 2013 2:29:56 GMT -9
Bought, downloaded, played around with, test-printed with a range of options selected (now will check that). Thanks for your support there! Main comment would be to have the overlays blend to match that balance a bit more Yeah, this is something I've been working on. You should see improvements as I get closer to the finished product. Respectfully request a more subtle gridline, something half as prominent as the current blackline (as additional, not replacement) Wasn't planning on doing this, but it's easy enough so I'll happily add it in Assuming flower level is most WIP: keep the small yellow flowers, keep the creeper but move to its own layer, and skip those particular larger flowers (they are exotics now domesticated for urban garden consumption, not to be found in the wild). Flowers are most difficult because they are very seasonal, and their season may last only days or weeks... but go for smaller wildflowers, in broader swaths if you like. You assume correctly. The plants layer will be broken up in future releases, so it won't be an all-or-nothing kind of thing like it is now, but I'll also be fine tuning that layer and replacing a lot of the stuff that's on there at the moment. I dislike almost all of the stuff on there right now, except the ivy which actually looks quite good. I kept it in the preview in its WIP state because it's one of the few layers with nice bold colours, and despite its flaws it does add some visual interest, but that layer is definitely going to change completely before I'm done with the final version
This experiment's been pretty successful so far... Thanks for all of your support guys! I will probably add a few more long-awaited sets to the pre-release section soon! |
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Post by WackyAnne on Sept 11, 2013 3:21:15 GMT -9
Checking out the print version having selected Dirt TL, Clover TR, Leaf Scatter BL, Rocks BR as the only options, which not only showcase each of the most finished layers, they actually work quite well together.
The detail is amazing, I even blew it up by 33% (for 8x8" tile) and it's very nice. The concern I had about too high contrast between leaf and shadow for the clover disappeared, and it looks great. The rocks come out crisp and clean, although a little more shadow would still be nice.
The scattered leaves look too similar to rock fragments in colour hue and value; I think you'd do well to choose a darker, more saturated base colour for the leaves.
The dirt, on the other hand, printed out even darker than I feared, and looks almost black. IRL soil exposed to air dries out quickly in the sun, and because of its rough texture it has a higher light scatter/reflectivity, and so appears lighter. Try lighter tans, ochres, burnt umbers, or greyish, dull browns.
Now, when I print things off using my HP LaserJet CP 1025nw, everything is dark and supersaturated with colour, so my experience will be different than others. I've been importing other terrain tiles into GIMP, and lightening them up in order to use them. Sadly can't test on my inkjet for the time being, one of the cartridges has been hidden I know not where.
Gotta go, lil' one is home sick and needs me to put on Rescue Bots...
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Post by squirmydad on Sept 11, 2013 12:05:55 GMT -9
Got it, I'll give it a look-see soon. I'm looking forward to things like rocky outcrops, bluffs, elevations, cliffs. |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 11, 2013 13:52:32 GMT -9
Checking out the print version having selected Dirt TL, Clover TR, Leaf Scatter BL, Rocks BR as the only options, which not only showcase each of the most finished layers, they actually work quite well together. The detail is amazing, I even blew it up by 33% (for 8x8" tile) and it's very nice. The concern I had about too high contrast between leaf and shadow for the clover disappeared, and it looks great. The rocks come out crisp and clean, although a little more shadow would still be nice. The scattered leaves look too similar to rock fragments in colour hue and value; I think you'd do well to choose a darker, more saturated base colour for the leaves. The dirt, on the other hand, printed out even darker than I feared, and looks almost black. IRL soil exposed to air dries out quickly in the sun, and because of its rough texture it has a higher light scatter/reflectivity, and so appears lighter. Try lighter tans, ochres, burnt umbers, or greyish, dull browns. Now, when I print things off using my HP LaserJet CP 1025nw, everything is dark and supersaturated with colour, so my experience will be different than others. I've been importing other terrain tiles into GIMP, and lightening them up in order to use them. Sadly can't test on my inkjet for the time being, one of the cartridges has been hidden I know not where. I have the same printer... Love the print quality I get from it I've enhanced the ground somewhat. It's still fairly dark, but it has a lot more depth and granularity to it now. I've also really enhanced the leaf scatter. The colours are far richer and the shadows are tighter and they look a lot more like scattered dry leaves now. I agree that the rocks can use some enhancement, but I'll tackle that a little later because I have some plans for them that I don't want to rush, and they're not looking too bad right now... Will probably tackle the flowers layer around v0.3. Version 0.2 is looking pretty good so far... A big step up from the initial version. I've added in 4 foot paths. My original template artwork has something like 20 possible paths that can be combined to get some really interesting tiles, but I'm adding them in slowly for fear that too many layers may render the PDF unusable... Definitely going to exceed my previous layer record by a massive margin on this one! I've also started work on the basic layout with the layer control buttons, and have included a placeholder 6x3 tile at the bottom of the page. That should be online in the next few hours, so watch this space! Got it, I'll give it a look-see soon. I'm looking forward to things like rocky outcrops, bluffs, elevations, cliffs. Thanks for your support Eric! I actually began work on the hills first, and there's some exciting stuff going on there. Decided I needed to get some foundation stuff going first and tackle the hills properly once I had a good landscape to put them on. I'm really looking forward to the accessory packs most of all... Got some really fun ideas for those that I'm itching to get moving on. |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 11, 2013 17:07:53 GMT -9
Meadow Tiles v0.2 has been uploaded. If you've already purchased a copy, the instructions for upgrading are in the readme file. If you don't already have a copy, now's a great time to grab one!
Changelog:- Redid layout of first page to include a placeholder for 6x3 tile and preliminary layer controls - Added layer control macros - Refined Leaf Scatter textures to have a more prominent colour and better shadows - Refined Dirt Patch textures to have more depth and detail - Added new detail layers: - Dirt Path: Vertical A2-G2, Vertical A5-G5, Horizontal B1-B6, Horizontal F1-F6
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Post by squirmydad on Sept 12, 2013 10:12:26 GMT -9
I'll wait to print, I like the rough work I'm seeing though. My one major complaint was about the leaves, they didn't look like leaves to me, and it sounds like you've already addressed that. |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 13, 2013 4:53:42 GMT -9
I'll wait to print, I like the rough work I'm seeing though. My one major complaint was about the leaves, they didn't look like leaves to me, and it sounds like you've already addressed that.  A quick cap from the newest version, showing off the new leaves, enhanced dirt and the path overlay. v0.3 is coming along nicely and should be up soonish. |
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Post by okumarts on Sept 13, 2013 6:38:05 GMT -9
NO grid would be my vote. The textures are too nice to hide under a grid.
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Post by squirmydad on Sept 13, 2013 9:50:52 GMT -9
NO grid would be my vote. The textures are too nice to hide under a grid. One of the cool things is that you can turn the grid off in the layers palette. And there's a bunch of different kinds of grids to choose from. I'm a fan of no or unobtrusive grids myself. |
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Post by WackyAnne on Sept 13, 2013 12:54:41 GMT -9
Printed off a tile with all the paths turned on, forgot to test the deeper-coloured leaves. The new, layered-texture paths look terrific, and print out nicely. Unfortunately one of my inks is lower than the rest, and my grass is bluer in parts than others, so my tiles and test results and consequent opinions aren't quite as useful as we'd hope. As to the grid, I've put in my request for a lighter, more subtle grid-line already  The textures are indeed too nice to hide, but a hint of a grid is good for utility's sake. The best example I've seen so far in Crooked Staff Publishing's Into the Wilderness map series - the grid is a translucent, slightly-distortive fine overlay.  |
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Post by cowboyleland on Sept 13, 2013 14:41:46 GMT -9
I saw somewhere tiles where the grid was defined by rocks, twigs etc. It looked really good, but I don't know who did it |
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Post by WackyAnne on Sept 13, 2013 18:27:49 GMT -9
I saw somewhere tiles where the grid was defined by rocks, twigs etc. It looked really good, but I don't know who did it The Illustrious Billiam Babble, of the Fair Inked Adventures does a wonderful job of demarcating the grid in that fashion... I'd love to post a pic, but I'm not on my computer at home. It has been a deeply weird day... EDIT: Ok, found a couple of examples of how he used it, from his deviantart page: 1) Vexing Sands: here you can see it a little bit in the emphasis on what would be the grid intersections, but doesn't really interfere with the sandbar pattern, etc. 2) one of his unpublished (or rather, not for sale) items, a forest floor tileHis work is all hand-drawn (then scanned, and minorly manipulated and usually coloured digitally), so it's a little different than the layered digital creation process of bravesirkevin and most others, and this technique may be less translatable than most... EDIT#2: I _adore_ Inked Adventures, and own nearly all Billiam Babble's published works, so the above should have included at least one  ... again, weird day, not coherent, apologies o.O |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 13, 2013 19:37:57 GMT -9
 Meadow Tiles v0.3 available now! Above you can see a few examples of tiles that can already be made with the set in its current form. As of the next version, 0.4, which will be up in about next 48 hours time the price will go up to $1.99 as the set approaches full functionality, so grab a copy now while it's still at it's current super low price! Purchasing a copy of the preview allows you to use the product early, and gives you a full upgrade to the completed version when it's released, along with any updates to the preview in the interrim at no additional charge!
Changelog:- Separated Ivy from Flowers Layer and temporarily removed the latter - Added new detail layers: - Dirt Path: Vertical A2-G5, Vertical A5-G2, Horizontal B1-F6, Horizontal F1-B6 - Add Hex Grids in 2 styles: White Stars and Black Lines |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 15, 2013 18:34:55 GMT -9
Busy tying up some loose ends on v0.4, including a new more subtle grid, brand new flowers layers (which are looking very awesome!) and added layers to customise the 6x3 tile. Delaying the release a little longer to make sure the page is finalised enough that when it does arrive, you guys can feel confident in printing and using it... The good news is that the current $1.49 price tag on the preview is still in effect for a few more hours, so hurry up and take advantage of it!I've also added some new free alternative bases for my paper minis that feature the Meadow Texture: 25mm Round 50mm Round |
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Post by WackyAnne on Sept 15, 2013 21:46:40 GMT -9
Looking forward to checking out the flowers Oh, and for those wedded to their current basing method, fear not, as the 6x3" tile can also be used to cut out the tops for bases in other styles, such as One Monk, Reivaj's variation, or something completely different! |
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Post by squirmydad on Sept 17, 2013 8:49:31 GMT -9
Re-downloaded, very cool. I'm particularly fond of the white star hex grid layout. I've never been a fan of heavy black grids on top of a lovely ground tile-the black grid always chopped up the art to me and looked unnatural in an outdoor setting. They don't bother me as much in Dungeon environments with flagstones and such. I assume there's more functionality coming for the 3x6 segment? Will it have it's menu of buttons or will it "piggyback" off of the choices for the main tile? |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 17, 2013 13:31:29 GMT -9
Re-downloaded, very cool. I'm particularly fond of the white star hex grid layout. I've never been a fan of heavy black grids on top of a lovely ground tile-the black grid always chopped up the art to me and looked unnatural in an outdoor setting. They don't bother me as much in Dungeon environments with flagstones and such. I've got something interesting going for a subtle grid... Hopefully you guys will like that! Yes... It will have it's own controls and will be customisable independently of the 6x6 tile. Getting the 6x3 tile up to scratch is the major delay in the release, because for the page to be print-safe that tile needs to be functional as well. I'm almost there, so it may up soon |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 18, 2013 18:34:28 GMT -9
Meadow Tiles v0.4 has been uploaded! Available now for $1.99.  Some awesome new features on this release... Changelog:-Added new detail layers to 6x6 tile - Dirt Path: Diagonal A2-F6, Diagonal F1-A5, Diagonal G5-B1, Diagonal B6-G2 - Flowers: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Right, Bottom Left -Added new detail layers to 6x3 tile - Dirt patches: Left, Right - Clover patches: Left, Right - Leaf scatter: Left, Right - Flowers: Left, Right -Added new grid layers to both: -Subtle: 1 inch, 1.5 Inch, 1.5 Inch Offset, Hex This page is safe to print and use now... The only changes I'll be doing will be the addition of a couple extra layer options and a cosmetic overhaul of the buttons and page layout, neither of which will interfere with the current tile configurations. There will be at least two other pages added to the set before it's released officially, and the first iterations of those should make an appearance in the next preview release.
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Post by WackyAnne on Sept 18, 2013 18:34:58 GMT -9
W00T! off to download again!
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Post by okumarts on Sept 18, 2013 18:56:37 GMT -9
Is there a no grid layer option?
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Post by WackyAnne on Sept 18, 2013 19:33:51 GMT -9
It's beyootiful... I found my Hero in Okumarts' latest set (viley mislabeled as a "retainer") and now I've found my Erana's peace But seriously, I love the diversity of paths available, the abundance of flowers (not what I was expecting, but I like it!), the increased richness of colour for the leaves (neglected to comment on MTv.3), and the EXCELLENT subtle grid which gives us a hint of where we need to be without obscuring your beautiful, hard, work on this terrific set. I would even happily print it off at 400% and use it - the quality persists at such a deep level on this tile.... So this tile is all but done, and you are working on another? I think you say that it will be a new "page" but would you consider making it a separate PDF instead? I believe Okumarts found that two pages to one layered pdf was tricky with his Beast&Barbarians set. Me, I find that it takes my processor if I have too much going on, re-displaying every layer if I've got it at a high enough mag that moving to view the tile bring a new part into view. That can take a little too long to be negligible... P.S. I'm glad that the ivy not only remained, but got it's own layer. I love the way it can be tucked into the rocks; in any case it's a great focal point. |
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Post by WackyAnne on Sept 18, 2013 19:35:58 GMT -9
Is there a no grid layer option? Yes, there is no grid, black grid, white star, subtle grid (i.e. semi-translucent) available in 1", 1.5", 1.5" offset, and 1" hex. But why don't you check it out for yourself? |
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The textures are indeed too nice to hide, but a hint of a grid is good for utility's sake. The best example I've seen so far in Crooked Staff Publishing's
... again, weird day, not coherent, apologies o.O