2.5D modular terrain

[ciabs]

ok, so I went on another of my furious hyperhyped paper-engineering sprees and got the beta for a new kind of very simple, very easy to produce 2.5D terrain that I'd like to share...

first of all, some reasons: I wanted to be able to use "something" as terrain that responded to the following:

it had to be modular;

it had to be fast to be prepared;

it had to be cheap;

it had to be really easy to put away and store in a small space;

so I brainstormed myself silly and came to the conclusion that I would have to go with:

something made of paper;

something that wouldn't be more complicated than just fold&glue (ie: 2.5D);

now I present a first untextured version of what I've prepared; I took blatant inspiration from the old Necromundan underhive - the one that came with the box of the game, made of paper floorings and plastic bulkheads - and developed something mine...

oh, this beta version is for 15mm miniatures, but I think it's half an hour worth of work to adjust the sizes to fit 28/30mm minis...

now onto the pictures..!



this is the basic modular "wall" piece; as you can see it has slots to connect it with other walls, or with other "stump walls", as I call them, in order to create a more Necromundan bulkhead if need be;



this is an example as how a basic structure is when put together; at this moment I cut out all the panels I've prepared, to leave more room and gameplay possibilities, but nothing forces me to leave the inner paper where it is, texturize the things differently and create actual walls; as for now I plan on texturing the things for sci-fi action, but the modular structure can be applied to any setting, given proper texturization...



here you can see how I designed roofs/floorings; as you'll probably already noticed in the previous pics, there are little slots on the top of each wall piece, as well as little voids corrispectively at the bottom (to be able to pile more levels onto each other and create more complex structures); this little slots also serve in order to attach roofs, which in turn have little L-shaped slots cut out of them, in order to be placed near the two connecting top-slots of each wall piece;

I know, words sound kinda messy, just look at the picture and you'll get it just fine





finally, a selection of some of the wall pieces I've prepared so far and a test build with some 15mm paper miniatures, so you can see what it could look like on the battlefield;

the whole thing it's still missing the "wall stumps" I was talking about before (they're basically two stumped walls that let a lone wall piece to stand upright on its own, and to create the L-shaped slot for any floor I want to put on it) and walkways to connect the various structures, but most of the work and calculating is done at this point...

truly, this kind of "thing" I've put together this time doesn't go well for anything; it can be used mainly for buildings, futuristic hive cities as in necromunda, or for war-torn cities full of collapsed structures, but with some minor modifications and custom pieces I think it could be adapted for anything that it's not a tree or a natural element, so I'm kinda happy with the result so far...
also, what else could a necromunda player want from his terrain..?

so, what do you think of it..?

ok, this is a take two after god's wrath descended on this thread (Jim: ), I'm adding to the first post the request for some advice regarding how to texturize this thing;

I already fidgeted around with dirt smudges and shadows using overlaying layers as Jim suggested me via private message and I must say they don't look one bit too bad...

what I'm still unsatisfied of is the foliage I added on this test, it looks kinda lame and I wanted to know if there's some way to add some ivy, vines, or some other kind of vegetation without having to draw it myself (I kinda suck at that ); you know, if anyone knows a source to get some .png files with vegetation already drawn on them, stuff like that

here's the preview anyway



obviously for this test I overadded stuff to an already small wall piece, but it's just to comprehend most of the effects I'd like to add here and there, I don't think I'll ever go on and print something so overflowing with stuff on it

so, once again, any suggestions..?

as a last input, if there's anyone interested in it, I could always provide people with either the blank template or the final textured version of this terrain (I could even go as far as to upscale it to 30mm if people are interested ), so let me know...

[WaffleM]

That's awesome! I really like the idea of a "knock-down", stored flat terrain system. Do you have any plans for a complete corridor set? Maybe a few larger rooms (cargo bays, command bridge, fighter hangers, engineering power plants, etc.)? Could you fit six panels together to make a hexagonal room (or eight for an octagon)?

Great stuff!!!

[ciabs]

maybe I do, but I can't quite see what you mean with "corridor set"

in fact though, you made me think about a proper ground floor for this, maybe I should scrap the bottom void and make them snug-fit tabs for pavements...

you know, just to avoid having to go inside an open structure and having to walk on dirt or grass even inside...

mmh... I think I need to retool my wall pieces a bit in order to accomplish that, at least for anything that's going to stand on the ground and not onto another structure...

[jabbro]

I like the abilty to convert everything to flat components. To be honest, that is the only reason I haven't gone for the whole EZ-dungeons setup from Fat Dragon: too much storage space.

I'll allow for small 3D items like furniture and crates, but I prefer not to have a giant box-o-walls. This kindda eliminates that need. Very nice. You can actually apply this to trees and stuff (I have a bunch of bush and trees in the same slot design).

I like the overall concept. Keep up the good work, Ciabs.

btw, depending on the paint program you use, you can get dome leaf brushes and scatter paint them. PS allows you to vary the hue, direction, and the spacing...Not sure what others offer, but this might be a quick easy alternative to sketching or stamping.

[ciabs]

mmh... yeah, I fidgeted around with some pre-set brushes but still I think it's missing something; can you tell me in which menu do I have to go in order to customize brush settings..?

returning back to paving these structures, I have thought that maybe to prepare snug-fit slots is not the way to go;

from my papercrafting experience, anything snug-fit doesn't stand well side by side with both paper and modularity; you either glue your components together or use plasticard or the like, since you can't perfectly cut around any model you prepare or hope that your pieces stand the toll of time as something made of plastic does...

probably the easiest way to go could be to just print and cut out a pavement and put it under your structure, if need be, without anything that actually attaches the two things together; also, this would be something needed only for some settings, and only for ground levels...

true, it kinda leaves me with a sour mouth not to be able to address every single aspect of terrain making, but with this project I want to maximize modularity, and I think this is one of the prices I've to pay to be able manage it...

EDIT for waffle:

you know, with this project you can theoretically build anything, as long as your walls have the standard sizes meant for modularity, then it's all up to how you texturize the thing to reflect a sci-fi cityscape, or a fantasy cottage, or an hangar or whatever; in fact the only limit is how long you can print a wall piece, since you can't make a room that's larger than that, unless you go with bulkhead-style constructions...

the actual plant for any structure comes from the roof you design and print for it, you can make it square, L-shaped like the one I printed for preview, and I think the thickness of the cardboard can let you bend the connection at an angle bigger than 90°, so to create hexagonal structures and such (actually, I did just that some moments ago to be sure of it ); you're as free as your fantasy lets you as long as you go with a bit of math in there in order to have anything fit...

anyway I also mean to have flat slotted walkways that are slotted into roofs, as well as something smaller - also 2.5D like collapsed structures, covers and such; I'll post something as soon as I manage to get it done

at this point the only real thing I'm missing is knowledge on how to MDRG-texture the freaking thing, and that is whizing me off

[ciabs]

quick update:

I went on and digged in the brushes menus till I found something that could go with some Ivy patch;

apart from size incongruencies I like it more than the previos mess I put together, and even if it's still WAY beyond anything that can resemble an actual Ivy patch, I feel there's some room for improvement there...

here it is:



any tips/sources/whatever..?

EDIT: scrap that, I found something great with the name of "custom brushes"

I'm back to fidgeting here and there to create something better than that

[ciabs]

hey, you know what? this "brushes" thingie is kinda neat..! ;D



as before, the wall is surely overflowing with "stuff" on it, but I must say at this point I'm really much more satisfied with the results..!

I even begin to like the ivy patch..!

what do you think..?

[jabbro]

'I think you found the custom brush settings, but just in case: Select the Brush then at the top menu bar to the right of the size and all that way to the side should be a menu looking Icon. That has settings like shape, scattering, and color dynamics.

Actually I think you can have a standard length for walls If you take your "wall stumps idea and connect them with a scored connector so they are bracket shaped [ then you can connect two walls that are parallel instead of perpendicular if I make sense.

That is a great ivy patch. I wouldn't have known it was a brush if you hadn't told me. ;D

[ciabs]

the ivy patch is actually lots of single ivy-shaped brushes adjusted with copy-paste to be in a patch pattern;

still, it has been 5 minutes worth of work, so I think it's fine enough for the moment...

you are right about wall stumps done that way; the problem why I scrapped that design and resorted to different lenghts of the wall pieces is because that would need to either:

1) produce something like WWG's TLX column connector;

2) build something with a scoring in it (in order for printed paper to be bracket-shaped);

and I:

1) don't want to go into that kind of complexity (where I have to build 3D pieces for my terrain);

2) don't want to use things with scorings, as they tear away quickly with use;

more, if I wanted to do that, I'd probably need to re-engineer the whole connectors' distances, but that'd be a problem only because I'm lazy

I'm going to experiment with some more definite texturing at this point, then I'll post the results...

[ciabs]

another small update, if you guys say the texturing is decent enough I could begin texturing the other wall pieces...

;D



let me know..!

[brynbrenainn]

Feb 6, 2010 8:55:57 GMT -9 ciabs said:

... the texturing is decent enough ...

Oh, it is more that 'decent enough'.
It's great!
;D

[afet]

My only suggestion would be to make the slots blank rather than red, so-as to reduce the use of red ink when printing these.

Great work!

[ciabs]

I see what you mean; originally they've been colored red because otherwise I would've cut nothing in their place when I printed the untextured version, but I think I can just recolor them before printing the final version...

then again, with all THIS color (new preview of the 6cm wall piece ):



those 10-pixel-thick lines won't do a great difference...

luckily I print with laser toner and not inkjet...

[jabbro]

Looks very cool, Ciabs. The bevel texture on the wooden planks really does them justice. I think you are good to go. I have one suggestion, though: Bullet holes for your no firearms allowed sign.

[Dryw the Harper]

And if you are spraying grafitti where the ladder is, it will get on the ladder as well. No grafitti artist is going to mask off the ladder before spraying. Not that I know through any type of personal experience or anything.

Dryw the Harper

Still, love the work so far and am looking forward to how it develops.
;D

[ciabs]

you guys are kinda right, and I have to credit Jim for the planks, those are his texturized planks, cut and pasted onto my wall piece

I don't know if I'm going to re-edit from the beginning that specific wall piece with the incongruent ladder/tag combo, but I'm definitely gonna take notice the next time, thanks...

EDIT: damn you OCDness in me..!

I totally redid the small and medium wall pieces to adjust their defects as you suggested..!





I even added some bullet holes on the sign

now I'm onto other wall pieces...

[darkmook]

Really nice!
I have been struggling with a game board I am working on and can certainly appreciated the work that has gone into those! Awesome work!

[requiemprojects]

I want to see it finished, great work!

[vlademir]

The texture are very good ,but...
wood board and nails, in one metal wall?
I hope this are just one test, because i think this don´t combine(blend, match).
My humble suggestion ... use bolts, (maybe solder)and metal instead wood!
The colors are great too!

[ciabs]

remember that this specific texturing is meant for Mutants and Death Ray Guns, which has a post-apocalyptic setting; the wooden planks are meant to be there as something like "ok, the world has ended and we struggle to survive, and since we don't have the possibility to bolt on metal plates on this wall, we're using wooden planks";

obviously should I ever need to texturize the thing for a more generic sci-fi setting I'd take away the wooden parts (and probably the plants, too) in order to make it look like something more generic...

by the way, just a quickie since I texturized the corner piece I'm posting a preview; nothing special here, just a quick color since these are just meant to have "real" walls stand upright...

[hackbarth]

These are amazing! I was puzzled for some time as how to make assembly of terrain more easy. I bought Firstlight from WWG and, although the terrain is beautiful, it takes many hours for a simple ship to be completed.

With this I can dream of produce new terrain in time for a adventure. I'll print a 30mm version as soon as it is posted.

(nice recolors of spacejackers minis BTW. A shame he never finished them...)

[ciabs]

I actually mean to produce the 30mm version myself, and I must say I even wondered if there can be a possibility to try and sell this project (obviously properly texturized and in both 15mm and 30mm scales) for a few bucks...

perhaps I'll start a poll to ask the community, I've still got to think about it, and mostly I've got to know how many people could virtually want such a project...

[ciabs]

work update; I finished the wall pieces, at least a first texturization of each lenght;

here are the previews





I kept in mind gameplay options before eyecandiness, ie I put all the stuff on these walls so that I can decide for each piece I produce to either:

1) leave it as it prints;

2) cut out the whole inner panel (maybe doing a jagged cut where planks are being cut, so that it seems they're just broken planks);

3) cut out the metallic parts on the inner panel, so the planks seem to be put there as makeshift barricades rather than as structure reinforces;

4) any combination of the above;

this way even with just one texturization I can create more than one kind of wall piece for any given lenght; it's also true that nothing stops me from making other texturizations in the future, but for this first draft I'll leave it as it is and move onto the floors; then when also the walkways will be finished, I'll be able to begin assembling all this stuff together and see what happens...

one quick trivia: as dumb as I am, I noticed only after having almost finished the large (9cm) wall piece that the vertical mirroring I used onto the images to get their back side screwed all the signs I put on the image itself, so I had to go and redo again the small and medium wall pieces to fix it...

...and yes, before you ask, every wall piece is meant to be printed with its back side as a mirror of the front side, since this is the only way to be able to cut each wall piece in the aforementioned styles and get proper results...
minor incongruencies will be noticed with the plankings, but frankly at this point I don't really care this much
those walls ain't no minis anyway, and while playing the incongruencies will be barely noticeable...

[algoesnext]

This is a brilliant idea. I have had some fun trying to do this now myself, since my figure drawing is not so good, it gave me a bit of satisfaction.

[ciabs]

then be quiet and calm and wait, since I thought that the work needed to produce a set that can be worth to be sold for any price is just too much than I can handle at this point in my life;

in the next 6 months I've got to get my MD degree and I really don't have the time to dedicate to this project at the point to be able to sell it; I prefer to work on it as a part of my paper hobby and that's it...

SO, at this point I think I'll release anything I'll finish as free stuff (I'll be just content if someone actually decides to print this stuff and maybe even credit me for having had the original idea ), textured version and templates, these latter both at 15mm scale and 30mm scales...

what I hope at this point is that if anyone will take the time to produce new texturizations for this project, then they'll post them so that anyone can use them, which would be sinergical since any wall piece built with the same template will be compatible with anything else...

now just be a little more patient and in some days I'll be able to release something which I'd be honored if some solitary monk would like to host as free stuff on his site *hint, hint*

[Floyd]

That's a pretty nice looking idea for an interlocking terrain set.

I may have missed it trying to wade through the text but what are you using for the substrate? It looks thicker than just 110b cardstock. Looks more like thin cardboard (like cereal boxes)....

I'd like to try texturing and building some of these if you ever release them. I still play Necromunda but have not had a chance to play Mutants and Deathrays yet. I can see that Walkways and Gantry's would be super easy (and sturdy) with this system.

~F

ps. Have you thought about making the roof pieces simply fit into the "shape" created by the vertical walls, instead of having to cut slots into them?

[ciabs]

ok, if this conversion chart is right, then what I'm using (200g/m^2 cardboard) should be the equivalent of 110 lbs paper; obviously the thickness you see on the first pics is the equivalent of 220 lbs paper, since those are two sheets folded and glued together, but really, that's all that it is...

I don't know if I got your suggestion right, but not having slots cut into the roof would end with all the wall pieces shifting at the minimum movement; you know, it's actually the roof that both gives and keeps the shape of the structure, since while the wall pieces lock themselves together just fine, their thickness is not enough to have them stay firm at a 90° angle, and to have a stable structure you have to give them something else to mantain their intended shape; that's the place for the roofs, and the need for slots that won't let the two elements (walls and roof) to shift and move by themselves...

for the walkways at this point I was thinking something ultra-simple, like a flat fold&glue piece with two small slots like this:



obviously this is just a sketch I put together right know to give the idea, it's not even a wip of the thing...
the idea is that after cutting away the red pieces you lightly bend upways the central slot and lightly bend downways the two lateral slots and insert the structure into the part of the roof that sticks out of the structures;
at this point the roofs only stick out for 6mm at 15mm scale and I have yet to see if such a distance is too little for a walkway to stand firm, but since that dimension of the roofs doesn't get in the way of wall pieces, I can always decide to enlarge it by some other mm in order to get stabler results with walkways...

it's only a matter of waiting a little bit more for the release of at least the templates, I'll keep you posted...

[ciabs]

w00t, thanks to Jim for upping this in a more tidy space..! ;D

now back to work..!

[onemonktrey]

Ciabs, these look great! Looking forward to seeing more!

Sorry to get off topic, but where did the robot-mecha mini come from that is in one of your original picture posts?

[ciabs]

yeah, quick update on the project; at this point all the templates at 15mm scale are ready, I only need to put them in .pdf format (wouldn't .png or .psd be better for yet-to-be-colored templates?, judging by the poll it wouldn't seem the case, but oh well...) and I'll be able to release them;

actually I'd like to release both 15mm and 30mm templates at the same time, so maybe I'll get over those as well before finishing the 15mm texturization that I've been working on...

anyway, the mecha is Slick's power armor, built at 15mm scale...