Japan - 日本 - Quenched

[RedBaron0]

Version 8.1
Small - 601x600
[bigimg]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/RedBaron0/japan-version81-inprogress.jpg[/bigimg]
Large - 800x799
[bigimg]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/RedBaron0/bigjapan-version81-inprogress.jpg[/bigimg]

Circles repositioned for Izu-Oshima and Okinawa, XML adjusted accordingly
All territories will accept with no issue, four characters.
Large image borders and outline smoothed out

What else?

[porkenbeans]

Hey Red,
Check out the Malta map. The small bevel might work well here. That added to the drop shadow that you have, will really stand it up, if you know what I mean.
I like it the way it is now, but who knows, it may be even better.

[RedBaron0]

I can try that too... but a bit of tinkering with the one map gave me something interesting, and something quite nice, I think...

[bigimg]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/RedBaron0/bigjapan-version815-inprogress.jpg[/bigimg]

Don't call it an update yet, but if good enough, I'll do the small map the same way.

[porkenbeans]

1.) Its trying to go back to the pillow effect, but the shadow is on the wrong side. Which is actually giving it a concave pillow.
2.) It has dulled down the wonderful vivid colors.

[00iCon]

Posting again about Sado.
There is a sharp corner in the top right, which is unrealistic, and looking at its map on wikipedia, it doesn't quite look right. Your one is fatter and it's at the wrong angle. You should move it counterclockwise and generally redraw it if you want to be exact.
This map's been through a lot and I'd really like to play it soon. Best of luck for the stamp.

[NemesisChild]

Hey Baron

I think it looked better without the bevel effects, it looks like it is just about to sink in to the sea.... and thats my map!!!

also in the large map the attack route line from Rishirito to Asahikawa is not complete on the Asahikawa side (the devil is in the detail)

Nem

[jefjef]

Please stay with the shadow... It's on the right side. Kinda like the Japanese sun is causing it to be cast.

Sharp corner. Round it if ya like. Reshape & rotate if ya want but treat your map as an artist rendition. Japanese art.

Good as it is as far as i'm concerned.!!!!

5stars

[RedBaron0]

Posting again about Sado.
There is a sharp corner in the top right, which is unrealistic, and looking at its map on wikipedia, it doesn't quite look right. Your one is fatter and it's at the wrong angle. You should move it counterclockwise and generally redraw it if you want to be exact.
This map's been through a lot and I'd really like to play it soon. Best of luck for the stamp.

I'll round off the corner then. Yes I know the island off... it was done that way on purpose so the island is bigger and far enough away from the main land mass to allow for text and territory connections to be clearer. Every map here on CC of a real place on Earth I will bet you has changes from actual. This map has been stretched and pulled in different directions to add girth to the relatively narrow islands of Japan. It still looks like Japan, and Sado still looks like Sado.

I thought I may try something, eh didn't work.... maybe I need to bring the opacity up on the kanji texture like I have, maybe not as high as I have there, but a little higher.

[RedBaron0]

Version 8.2
Small - 601x600
[bigimg]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/RedBaron0/japan-version82-inprogress.jpg[/bigimg]
Large - 800x799
[bigimg]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/RedBaron0/bigjapan-version82-inprogress.jpg[/bigimg]

Rounded off the northeast corner of Sado
decreased the opacity(25% visible) a little bit on the land texture
repositioned the sea connection between Nagasaki and Tsushima
added a small bevel (5px) to the land surface and mini-map

[porkenbeans]

YES, YES, YES, I like the bevel. It now looks like the "puzzle piece" effect that I envisioned.
The islands stand up, and look wonderful. Super job. LETS PLAY.

[RedBaron0]

Version 8.3
Small - 601x600
[bigimg]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/RedBaron0/japan-version83-inprogress.jpg[/bigimg]
Large - 800x799
[bigimg]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/RedBaron0/bigjapan-version83-inprogress.jpg[/bigimg]

jefjef sent me a pm mentioning the border between Mie and Fukui. On the big map it's good, but the small map it's really short. He suggested either to lengthen the line or by taking out a mountain or 2 or to or not to connect Mie and Fukui drawing the border of Kyoto so that territory is between Mie and Fukui.

I've taken out 2 mountains on each map and lengthened the border between Mie and Fukui. I like how Kyoto is a keystone in the center of 4 territories from the 2 bonuses around it. I think it will make for interesting gameplay. But I won't rule out a change if during Beta it shows an imbalance.

What
else...

[cairnswk]

RedBaron0.
I gotta ask this coz it's been killing me for a long time about this map...
what is the gradient on the sea - right side of map meant to represent. Wakarimasen!

[Domo Arigato Benn-san!]

[porkenbeans]

I thought it was a highly stylized representation of waves.

[RedBaron0]

It's an Asian wave design I found, free to use. It's different than some of the other designs I've seen used in other Japan drafts in the bin. I wanted to find something different than what was already used.

[MrBenn]

You should have kept the dancing robot, although you could have gone for a more Manga/Animé style?

You're working in Gimp, right? Are you able to save the file in a format I can open in PS CS3? If so, I'd like to have a quick test with something... any chance you could let me have a look at your file? (http://www.senduit.com works a treat)

[MrBenn]

Urg... ran out of time over the weekend... RL is being a PITA - I'll try and have a look at it this week.

[RedBaron0]

No worries. Thanks for trying whatever it is you're thinking. Do I get s hint about what's on your mind? Or are you going to keep me in suspense?

[lt_oddball]

You're working in Gimp, right?

GIMP ?
Free GIMP ?
Really ? I once tried doing a map with GIMP and very soon (with a couple of layers only) it became soooooo sloooooow to open and to save modifications each time.
On top of that I couldnot get the fantastic visual effects I was hoping for. There was one technical thing (i forgot now) it couldn't do (whereas Paintshop does) which I learned after having spent weeks of working on it.
What a mess.

I am amazed to see yr map is a GIMP result.

[ender516]

You're working in Gimp, right?

GIMP ?
Free GIMP ?
Really ? I once tried doing a map with GIMP and very soon (with a couple of layers only) it became soooooo sloooooow to open and to save modifications each time.
On top of that I couldnot get the fantastic visual effects I was hoping for. There was one technical thing (i forgot now) it couldn't do (whereas Paintshop does) which I learned after having spent weeks of working on it.
What a mess.

I am amazed to see yr map is a GIMP result.

On my old XP Pro desktop, I have a very old version of Adobe Photoshop Elements (two revs before the one that needs a patch just to run under Vista, so much for backwards compatibility, thanks Mr. Gates), so I downloaded GIMP for my daughter to play with on our new laptop (2 or 3 times the memory, twice the processing power, isn't Moore's Law great?). I didn't hear complaints about performance, but she didn't stick with it, because although GIMP could do all the things she wanted to do, its user interface was very different from what she was accustomed to. Later, I found that there are at least two repackagings of GIMP that address this, one of which is called GIMPshop, but she has become too busy at school to give me an update. Plus, the repackagings can lag behind the primary version as far as updates go. I have also read on the net that most of the cool features of other packages are available for GIMP, but they are plugins and add-ons which take a little extra work to find and install. It seems one of the biggest problems is differing terminologies: the same effect can be called different things by Adobe and GIMP, so finding what you want is a chore.
I guess my point is, for the price, GIMP is definitely worth a look, especially if you haven't gotten accustomed to Adobe ways yet.

[RedBaron0]

Yeah, that's pretty much me, I recently downloaded the 30 day trial for Photoshop and it's just foreign to me. The file I sent MrBenn keeps crashing Photoshop for me. So I gave up doing anything with Japan in Photoshop. Hopefully it works for you MrBenn!

[RedBaron0]

Game 3 - 7th inning stretch bump

Just wondering how y'all are doin, while the Phillies beat the crap out of the Dodgers.

[natty dread]

Nobody here uses paintnet?

[RedBaron0]

Nope, GIMP and photoshop CS4

I finally got photoshop to work so I did exactly what was stated in the one guide. (I think) Tell me if it looks any different in the borders.

[bigimg]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/RedBaron0/bigjapan-version84.jpg[/bigimg]

[ender516]

The borders do look a little blacker, that is, less grey or blended with the colour that they are on.

[RedBaron0]

I agree, let me throw up the last 4 versions in the same post for better comparisons.

8.4 (newest)
[bigimg]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/RedBaron0/bigjapan-version84.jpg[/bigimg]

8.3
[bigimg]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/RedBaron0/bigjapan-version83-inprogress.jpg[/bigimg]

8.2
[bigimg]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/RedBaron0/bigjapan-version82-inprogress.jpg[/bigimg]

8.1
[bigimg]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/RedBaron0/bigjapan-version81-inprogress.jpg[/bigimg]