Re: RAIL ASIA [1.11.12] QUENCHED

[cairnswk]

I think the land looks wonderful and easily could stand alone by itself, but this is a rail map after all... lol I do have a concern that since the countries are colored that they may be misconstrued as bonus regions, thus changing them to a uniform color may be necessary for clarity, hate to do it though, it looks quite good the way it is.

Then i think it should remain as it is if it looks good, besides that's what the regional coding on stations is all about.

I understand this is your small image cairns and there is some sqashidness going on, but however I see much in the way of pixelness that is really noticeable. The 2 onion domes with banded blue in them, look awful. The tracks have a slight pixelly look, but that may be a condition of it size. as well as the black line borders around the main city hubs. The bricks in the legend also look pixelated and flat, there isn't any depth to the mortar. (did I just say that? lol)

Yeah, i'm aware of the onion domes, but right now i am trying to get other projects in here underway again, as well as get my new 'puter up and running properly, plus play trains on RuleTheRails (computer model railway)...lots going on but i'm aware of most of it.
Thanks for commenting though

[iancanton]

how about giving more imaginative names to the three chinese railways, such as mandarin for northern, silk road for western and pearl river for southern?

what cities are AKY, KAZ, BAQ, TAF, KRY and HOT? i suggest replacing BAQ by ALA almaty (kazakhstan's largest city and former capital), HOT by URC urumqi (xinjiang's largest city) and SMQ by TAS tashkent (uzbekistan's largest city and capital).

can u use SHA for shanghai and KUL for kuala lumpur to align them with their well-known airport codes? i don't especially like LNZ for lanzhou, since LNZ is linz (in austria). perhaps change it to LHU?

i was going to suggest using kuala lumpur railway station as inspiration for its troop box design, but it seems to have been turned into a hotel now!

http://hotels.lonelyplanet.com/malaysia ... -p1034972/

ian.

[cairnswk]

how about giving more imaginative names to the three chinese railways, such as mandarin for northern, silk road for western and pearl river for southern?

Thanks for your comments ian.
I think these are great suggestions, but when i went in to change the texts, i had another thought...would most players know where to look (apart from any colour association) for the Mandarin or Pearl Lines? You and I might know but...
so i'd like to hear from others on this issue and more discussion.

what cities are AKY, KAZ, BAQ, TAF, KRY and HOT? i suggest replacing BAQ by almaty (kazakhstan's largest city and former capital), HOT by URC urumqi (xinjiang's largest city) and SMQ by TAS tashkent (uzbekistan's largest city and capital).

1. AKY is meant to be Aktay but that seems to have changed since i last looked a few weeks ago and is now Aqtau, so it will become AQT (does not have a 3 letter code)
2. KAZ - my oops - I've placed Kazakhstan in there instead of Nikolskiy, so it will change to NIK
3. BAQ = Balqash (on Lake Balqash) - while i recognise the significance of Almaty, it is too close to the border for representation and would interfere with DSH graphic.
4. TAF - Taft (why i chose that, i can't remember), but since Kerman appears to be the regional city in that area, it is now KER.
5. KRY = Karymskoye (Karaymskaya) this is the start of the Trans-Manchurian line junction.
6. HOT - Hotan - used since this is more geographically placed for representation rather than Urumqi (which is much further north east and sits under the DSH graphic)
7. SMQ = Samarkand - i used that coz i wanted to have that link with the old Silk Road, I'm not really in favour of changing that, but will change it's code to SKD

can u use SHA for shanghai and KUL for kuala lumpur to align them with their well-known airport codes? i don't especially like LNZ for lanzhou, since LNZ is linz (in austria). perhaps change it to LHU?

Sure. Lanzhou is now LHW (its code)

i was going to suggest using kuala lumpur railway station as inspiration for its troop box design, but it seems to have been turned into a hotel now!
http://hotels.lonelyplanet.com/malaysia ... -p1034972/
ian.

Mmmm. not sure where you were going with this one.

[cairnswk]

...
i was going to suggest using kuala lumpur railway station as inspiration for its troop box design, but it seems to have been turned into a hotel now!
http://hotels.lonelyplanet.com/malaysia ... -p1034972/
ian.

I think i know now where you were going with that.
I have considered replacing the current design with that design, but then read it's architecture was based on Moorish design and meh!...but am still considering it.

[cairnswk]

...
i was going to suggest using kuala lumpur railway station as inspiration for its troop box design, but it seems to have been turned into a hotel now!
http://hotels.lonelyplanet.com/malaysia ... -p1034972/
ian.

I think i know now where you were going with that.
I have considered replacing the current design with that design, but then read it's architecture was based on Moorish design and meh!...but am still considering it.

Part of the considering was my doubt of ability to re-produce...
So in response to ian's suggestion above, would this look more appealing with these domes if i were to incorporate that pattern from the Kuala Lumpur Station into the station design?
For consideration...part of version V17...of course the edges will be trimmed

Click image to enlarge.

[ender516]

Those domes are dramatic, but the 3D shading would have to be used throughout the legend, and I'm okay with the style you already have.

[natty dread]

If you made the rest of the legend in the same style, those would look neat.

[cairnswk]

Those domes are dramatic, but the 3D shading would have to be used throughout the legend, and I'm okay with the style you already have.

If you made the rest of the legend in the same style, those would look neat.

Thanks for commenting guys.
I've been pondering over this...while i like the domes, having all that black, white and gray on the map, would pose a challenge.
so i propose to keep the domes, but colour them to match the overall effect of the rest of the legend.
I think that will conquer this.

[natty dread]

so i propose to keep the domes, but colour them to match the overall effect of the rest of the legend.
I think that will conquer this.

Partially, but it's not just about the colour. You should apply the same shading effects on the rest of the legend, as what you have on the towers. You know, otherwise it'll just look like the legend is a cardboard cutout in front of actual towers...

[ender516]

Right. Natty picked up on what I was trying to say.

[cairnswk]

Right. Natty picked up on what I was trying to say.

I understand, and naturally there will be some shading...shading increases the higher one looks from the ground level.

[iancanton]

nice! the bulge in the middle where u have the title looks very flat now. u're planning for all of the buildings to have a gold-brown colour?

ian.

[cairnswk]

nice! the bulge in the middle where u have the title looks very flat now. u're planning for all of the buildings to have a gold-brown colour?

ian.

yes ian. i think that is best, well at least tones taken from the station image.

[cairnswk]

Version 20. Is this heading in the right direction?

[natty dread]

Yes. Now if you just do the shading on the rest of the legend it'll look great.

[isaiah40]

Looking better, on the flip side you have this:

which makes it look like the roof is going up, or the wall is going down depending on how you look at it.

[cairnswk]

Yes. Now if you just do the shading on the rest of the legend it'll look great.

OK, i can identify only a couple of places where shading is needed, so what areas are you referring to natty that you think need doing?

[natty dread]

Ok: The windows where you have the bonus numbers - these could use some depth.

The curved thing behind the title text could use similar shading as the towers.

Then the people, the small 3-wheel vehicles, umbrellas etc. These all look kinda like they could use some attention - they seem a bit simplistic.

The train in the background could use a bit of a shine to it.

[cairnswk]

Version 20. Just bumping the map...below

[cairnswk]

In order to get the perspective correct, i modelled the station in AC3D and then imposed the 3D model into the image in order get the lines correct.

The image above has been changed to a .png and updated thus far...
I haven't finished the update yet, as there are still some more things to do, but will continue tomorrow after my eyes have recovered.

[ender516]

Is the front of the arch on the roof flat or curved out toward the viewer? Just looking at the B&W model, it looks flat, but with the supports in place in the original image, it appears to curve, probably because the supports appear closer together at the sides than they are at the centre of the arch.

[cairnswk]

Is the front of the arch on the roof flat or curved out toward the viewer? Just looking at the B&W model, it looks flat, but with the supports in place in the original image, it appears to curve, probably because the supports appear closer together at the sides than they are at the centre of the arch.

ender516, the supports of the arch in the image are centered under those lines that segment together the arch.
in the model, the black area is the under the roof part that is kinda obscured by the RAIL ASIA text.
I can asure you that having taken a whole day to get this correct, and i did tech drawing in earlier years, that the perspective is correct to the center of image. the whole model has a vanishing point centered on x line at the base of the footpath just under the green plaque next to the indonesian window.

[cairnswk]

Version 20...almost complete...except for a couple more people....but the station museum should be now complete.

[cairnswk]

Version 21- small


Large

Click image to enlarge.

[cairnswk]

* Added some more people - a couple of beggars on steps
* centered the title
* treated the chinese train
* flatness rtemoved from the fruit buckets
* flatness removed from the umbrellas

I don't think i want to add anymore otherwise it becomes too cluttered.