3 replies to this topic

[ShadowTiger]

An interesting poll. Myself, I'm a neatness freak when it comes to ZC. I don't like having the bottom corners of a cliff end in green, in front of a dirt path. That just annoys me. So I was looking at some of Radien's works, ('Cuz he rocks, so very very much as you all know.) and Masterlink3K's works, and I was thinking to myself, "Rain is a bit messy. It feels like a constant. What if I was to vary the rain a bit, and place it under the treetops for once?" So I would implement this into a few screens of a quest of mine to see the effects myself. (Obviously, this will affect nothing you do, so don't take this poll so literally.) If you like the idea, by all means, do it yourself.

So, basically, ... you know those Z3 Leafy Treetops which seem to be seen quite frequently in Screenshots of Radien, IaN, and ML3K's newest quests? What if those were placed ON TOP of the rain, rather than placing the Rain on top of everything?

For example, in the first poll choice, the rain would go on layer 6, the highest layer, and the leafy treetops would go on layer 5. The reverse would be true for the second poll choice.


Vote, and decide your next president. 000h..



(BTW, this is just to hear your opinions on it. Well, it's not only that, .. but.. it seems to have the most apparent effect this way.)

[Ielen]

Rain is supposed to look natural, even if it falls on bottom corners of a cliff end in green, in front of a dirt path.
To try to modify the rain may look abit too artificial & unnatural, don't you think so?

Edited by Ielen, 04 November 2004 - 10:18 PM.

[masterlink3000]

I'm going to try the under affect in TDL. . .

With some lightening affects on top of the tree tops. . .

Thanks alot BH4!

[Radien]

Hmmm... well, I'm quite flattered that you mentioned my rain when thinking of this. If you don't mind, I'd like to mention one problem with the current ZC rain, one problem with your idea, and one method I used, just in case you couldn't discern it.

First, the problem with ZC rain (the kind Pure uses, that is, which is actually from SD3) is that it's flat. Each raindrop starts at the top right, and goes down to the bottom left without stopping. That is, unless you use the "rain pattering" tile to give the illusion of a third dimension. I'll get back to that.

The problem with your idea is that it would look like the rain is falling from the tree... like a reverse umbrella. After all, when it's raining, if you look at anything from a bird's eye view, there will be raindrops between you and what you're looking at.

My suggestion? If you want to make a scene where there are branches ABOVE the "camera," I recommend you use branch shadows rather than the leafy LTTP canopies, and show rain falling down wherever light pokes through the shadows. This will require some tile editing for diagonal rain. It might not look good with rain coming down at a 45 degree angle, because thick groves of trees usually do a good job at keeping out heavy winds. But making your own vertical or 20 degree rain tiles ought not to be hard, either.

Lastly, here's what I did: the "rain pattering" combos I used to show where the rain was hitting something. Therefore, if it hit a tree, I wouldn't have any "rain pattering" combos behind (meaning, in Pure, "to the left of") the tree, or directly below leafy canopies. I also wouldn't have it hitting surfaces that were sharply inclined upward.

This is just one interpretation. I noticed how you interpretted the "rain pattering" tiles to be used exclusively for rain hitting the surface of a body of water, in The Prophecy. I don't remember how they handled it in SD3, which is where Pure's rain tiles came from.

P.S. - If you DO make a forest where the rain only gets in through holes in the canopy, it would look good to have less-frequent droplets of water falling from the leaves of the canopy. If you want to do that, just ask and I'll give you my Deluge Temple droplets. The reason I didn't use them in Deluge Forest, is because I made it so that Deluge Forest doesn't have a thick canopy. Therefore, most of the rain hits the forest floor before anything else absorbs it.

Edited by Radien, 06 November 2004 - 12:53 AM.