masontaylor
Assetz frae Scotland
It's just over two months since I posted anything in my similarly-named thread in the Freeware Section, but as before, the silence doesn't necessarily mean that creation has ground to a halt: far from it. Nearly all the assets I've been working on over the past few months are for specific projects: most importantly the line from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh in the Scottish Highlands, which is being tackled in different ways by two separate builders.
Although it's geographically not all that far from my home base, it's quite a journey, so I'm having to rely on 'blitz visits' to get as many measurements and textures as possible, a task often made more difficult by the prevailing weather. Last time that I was there (last October) it rained almost solidly (surely that should be 'liquidly'), and I had to miss out on some of the buildings I'd intended to work on. Things are further complicated by the considerable reorganisation of the station area, with many of the structures which lent the place its character having been demolished in the 1980s and 90s.
Fortunately, Kyle is quite well documented in historical photographs on the web, so I've been able to recreate most of what has gone fairly accurately. Many of the main buildings already exist in beta versions, and will reach the DLS eventually.
Looking at the work which has been achieved on the two separate routes I've seen (both of which immediately capture a deal of the very special atmosphere of this stunning line) the one big thing that struck me was how little appropriate housing for the Highlands is presently available on the DLS: the right type of local structure is really essential for creating the ambience of a location. So, alongside the specific buildings needed for the railway, I'm also making some more generic stock for landscaping use.
These assets will be of lower resolution than those I've been building up to now, mostly founded on a single 512-square texture. They'll not have normal mapping, although most will come with night mode, and unlike most of my previous buildings are ready to drop into place, with chimneys as an integral part of the structure rather than add-ons.
The first has just appeared on the DLS: it's a pair of basic stone cottages, of the 'two-up, two down' variety, as found in smaller towns and villages almost everywhere in Scotland (and much of Northern England, too).
SBS CP S 1 <KUID> 252585:2601862
Although it's geographically not all that far from my home base, it's quite a journey, so I'm having to rely on 'blitz visits' to get as many measurements and textures as possible, a task often made more difficult by the prevailing weather. Last time that I was there (last October) it rained almost solidly (surely that should be 'liquidly'), and I had to miss out on some of the buildings I'd intended to work on. Things are further complicated by the considerable reorganisation of the station area, with many of the structures which lent the place its character having been demolished in the 1980s and 90s.
Fortunately, Kyle is quite well documented in historical photographs on the web, so I've been able to recreate most of what has gone fairly accurately. Many of the main buildings already exist in beta versions, and will reach the DLS eventually.
Looking at the work which has been achieved on the two separate routes I've seen (both of which immediately capture a deal of the very special atmosphere of this stunning line) the one big thing that struck me was how little appropriate housing for the Highlands is presently available on the DLS: the right type of local structure is really essential for creating the ambience of a location. So, alongside the specific buildings needed for the railway, I'm also making some more generic stock for landscaping use.
These assets will be of lower resolution than those I've been building up to now, mostly founded on a single 512-square texture. They'll not have normal mapping, although most will come with night mode, and unlike most of my previous buildings are ready to drop into place, with chimneys as an integral part of the structure rather than add-ons.
The first has just appeared on the DLS: it's a pair of basic stone cottages, of the 'two-up, two down' variety, as found in smaller towns and villages almost everywhere in Scotland (and much of Northern England, too).
SBS CP S 1 <KUID> 252585:2601862