Cookie's Exterior Showcase

cookie16 · Post by **cookie16** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 11:09 pm

Well I think its good, but then again I have never done this before.

I think its cleaned?

sasquatch · Post by **sasquatch** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 11:28 pm

TR standards for exteriors is extremely high. I could be mistaken, but unless you are extremely skilled with the cs you'd prob be better off starting with interiors.

cookie16 · Post by **cookie16** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 12:53 am

I tried and hated making interiors.

Post by **Swiftoak** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:18 am

Sasquatch, let's not assume that

Our standards are the same across the project. Alot of what applies to interiors applies to exteriors, with a few minor differences and considerations.

Wuth that aside, Welcome to TR Cookie! Managed to take a look at your showcase, and so far, well done!

The two cells are well detailed, landscape is nicely done, interesting. Object placement is good. The only thing I have to complain about is the dodgy vertex shading.

Some objects (like the hlaalu houses) are missing vertex paint, as well as the fact that it looks like you used a size-1 brush and drag-painted. I recommend click-shading with a size 2 or 3 brush, as it's much softer and more consistent. Fix this and I'll gladly give you my recommendation.

Hopefully Nemon or someone with a good eye can give you a more detailed review, but I'm liking what I see. One more thing. Please in the future, clean all cells except the two FILLMEIN cells and their corresponding Landscape Entries It's cool now, because I wanted to see how you can match borders, but like when you do actual work for TR, you can't leave other cells in your file.

Hope to see you around soon.

cookie16 · Post by **cookie16** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:50 am

Thanks for the quick review.
Do I only get 3 try's before I have to restart?
I really don't want to start from scratch because of my poor vertex shading.

Post by **Swiftoak** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 2:18 am

Nah. That dumb rule is being scrapped (at least I hope it is). Just don't make the same mistakes 50 times and you'll be fine

cookie16 · Post by **cookie16** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

New Version
I have redone all of the vertex shading the way you recommended.

I am also struggling to understand cleaning the file.
There are multiple cells named the same and can't tell which ones are adjacent to my cells.
It would be great if someone can help explain it.

Post by **Gnomey** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 7:11 pm

After opening up TESAME, do not sort the list by ID or type but leave it as is. When looking at the exterior cell entries, you'll see the cell ID and, below it, if applicable, the cell's respective landscape/heightmap entry. Select all cell and landscape entries except for the two FILL ME IN cells and the landscape entry below each of them. Clean out the selected entries and save the file.

I hope that was clear enough. Nice exterior work.

cookie16 · Post by **cookie16** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 7:28 pm

Thanks

I already understood all of that,but I don't understand how I am suppose to figure out which ones are adjacent to Fill Me In, since it doesn't give the grid location and there are multiple cells with the same ID.
I need the adjacent cells so show that I am able to do border matching.

If I do pass are there any exterior claims left, since the claim forums seem to indicate that there are none.
I am unable to actually go in that section of the forum, but interior claim section shows that there are 16 available.

Post by **Gnomey** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 12:08 am

Well, Swiftoak said that you should clear those bordering cells too, but if you want to leave them in, just temporarily change those cell IDs in the CS, adding something like "TEMP" at the end of the ID. You'll then be able to identify them in TESAME, after which you can change their IDs back.

Edit: as to your question about available claims, there are indeed none at the moment. I'm contemplating dropping my Uld Vraech claim after my next update as I've been focusing on work in my section lately. A few other claims also seem to be moving rather slowly.
Some ideas have been floating about on trying to increase the turnover rate of claims, so that people who don't have the free time, inclination or inspiration to work on their claims can quickly pass the claim off to another modder to work on, who might in turn pass it off or pass it back later down the line.
On the whole, though, as the organization structure of TR is being overhauled, the selection of available claims will probably remain slim for a while.

Post by **Swiftoak** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 1:02 am

Hey Cookie!

Vertex shading is still a tad dodgy (now it looks too clicky/dotty), but only a tad. Just nitpicking and you'll get better just by doing more exteriors.

It's miles better, and for that alone I'm recommending you for promotion. Be sure to clean those cells though. Someone should give this a final look and push the buttons. Welcome and congratulations!

I'll add you to the Dev group for Exteriors, but someone still has to give you your access and Developer status. Hopefully this will be soon. Unfortunately we don't have any more exterior claims, but there is need of exterior designers to work on our current sections (we're focusing on the Thirr/Almnalexia area right now, making them release ready). I'll send you a PM when we find out something for you to do. It won't be long. You can also use our [url=http://widget.mibbit.com/?server=irc.chatspike.net&channel=%23tamriel
]IRC Chat[/url] to communicate with us as well.

cookie16 · Post by **cookie16** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 2:16 am

Uploaded New File

I deleted all cells except the 2 Fill Me In.
I placed some objects in the other cells borders, so when I deleted those 2 cells the objects went with it.
This has caused some objects in the 2 Fill Me In cells to float.
Is it suppose to be like this or did I design it wrong?

Post by **Swiftoak** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 3:31 am

Perfect.

And yes it's normal to have objects float/casper off cell edges, usually those problems are ironed out when your individual claim files are being merged in.

cookie16 · Post by **cookie16** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 6:33 pm

So I don't need to do anything more with this?

Post by **Swiftoak** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 6:47 pm

No, unless you want to

Just waiting for Haplo or TF to push a button (annoyingly that might take a few days given they're probably busy IRL right now). Hopefully someday we can get any Lead Designer to change your rank on the forum (at least in the context of promoting Members to Developers). That's not possible right now without giving more people forum admin though.

Anyways not to clutter your thread, I suppose you can get a head start and read up on some of the sectional planning forums. Right now we're focusing work on the Thirr River region and getting that ready for release. We're sorta changing how we do work (planning first before working in the CS), and since there won't be any new exterior claims made for awhile, you'll probably be working on fixing up existing exteriors in these areas in preparation of the next release. Right now we're discussing the possibility of making some landscape changes in the western Thirr Valley. I suggest reading up on that now, and giving input when you're promoted. Once that proposal has been approved, you should be able to claim the Andothren-South section to make said edits. Though sadly you'll have to wait to be given the actual Developer rank before the forum lets you post in those areas.

Familarize yourself with how we work, how to claim things in those sections, etc in the meantime.

Post by **Haplo** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 3:46 am

Hi, cookie16, and welcome to TR! I've taken a look at your file; good job! One thing I will say is to be sure you pay due diligence to the statics that meet the ground in multiple places (table legs, certain rocks, etc.); sometimes part of the static will appear completely sunken, and it will fool you into thinking the entire static is properly placed.

Since you've already had a review from Swiftoak, and he's given a thumbs up, I'll press the buttons now and your transition to developer will be complete. Congratulations! If you have any questions, of course feel free to ask them here or via PM with any Lead or Senior Developer.

sasquatch · Post by **sasquatch** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 3:55 am

congrats!

cookie16 · Post by **cookie16** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 2:10 pm

Thank You!

Sir Dave · Post by **Sir Dave** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 3:43 pm

Welcome to the team!

Why · Post by **Why** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 4:19 pm

Hi and welcome!