So far, here are the parts we should get an article about. If you have any idea about something else to write about, please ask for it :

- Tile properties (elevation, blocking portions; especially with regards to unit widths)
- Painting techniques (drafting terrain in layers, revising, saving the details for last, etc.)
- Gameplay considerations (unit AI traps, firing distances, vision blocking, etc.)
- Badlands buildings (I'm not sure if this should deserve it's own part or if it should be into the "Ambiance" one under "City Landscape")
- Reproducing most known Jungle Blends (list to be established)
- Creating custom blends
- Isometric tiles comprehension
- Setting an ambiance (would probably contain sub-articles about how to make specific ambiances such as "Cave" or "Forest")
- Mixing up pieces nicely
- Doodads placement
- Tool usage (we'll only go over SCMD2 since it is the most used editor)
- Pro tips (that would be very general)

You can also start to claim your article

Heh, I see you used some of my sample list. My list was very loose, just so you know. I'm not sure if you should prescribe specific article topics too heavily like that. At least, not first without careful consideration into the exact list of what's needed.

For instance: I think 'Doodad placement' could be covered with painting techniques and any tileset-specific tutorials, really. Also, tileset-specific stuff maybe should be organized and composed together, somehow. And each article should have a brainstorming thread before and while it's being composed into drafts. A 'who is doing what' compilation would also make this thread useful for organization.


In fact, I could even go as far as saying this entire wiki endeavor could be summarized with a single article or group of articles about the following:

1. Using tools - SCMdraft 2's isometric placement, rectangular placement, subtile tweaking, individual tile placement (like for null, blocking tiles, and especially for blends), and copy pasta techniques (overlaps a bit with Isometric tile comprehension).
   
2. Painting techniques - Starting with a draft, working in layers, refactoring existing terrain, cyclic drafting/re-drafting, and end polishing.
   
3. Gameplay considerations (see above link) - Vision blocking, unit attack ranges, unit pathfinding AI considerations, and trigger considerations (unplaceable errors and minimum clearance for 'create/move unit' with groups of units).
   
4. Tile properties - Elevation, blocking properties, unit width considerations, special considerations (such as walkable null tiles and creep tiles).
   
5. Isometric tile comprehension - Pattern of how isometric pieces of the terrain are configured out of regular, square tiles and how to work with those individual tiles out of the Tileset index list.
   
6. Blending techniques - Defying isometric constraints, remixing terrain types, effects (with doodad tiles, especially), and sprite patching/enhancing.
   

That covers just about all the core elements of general terraining. Anything else is artistic/tileset-specific stuff that, really, is just a matter of playing around in the editor. There's no tutorial that can help against not being lazy, really.


Edit: There's possibly room for additional sections on sprite work or, especially, on rectangular-only terraining; something a number of popular maps now utilize, such as that one Resident Evil map (I can't remember which), that Rainbow Six tactical map, Millenium Army's minigame map, and a number of others. But that's mostly just a specialized subset of blending, really, and is, again, a matter of playing around in the editor more than anything.

Post has been edited 25 time(s), last time on Sep 23 2009, 11:45 pm by Tuxedo-Templar.

Edited 21 times xD
It seems like you know much more what you are talking about than me... so I asked Moose to make you Moderator of this project too so you can actually get to manage things out (and you'll obviously do a better job then me, but I'll still do my best ).

Argh! Shit I did it again.

Just because I managed to get myself riled up doesn't mean I completely know what I'm talking about, you know. Anyway I just did my usual routine of revising my thoughts a gazillion times until I came up with that list. I suppose I'm obligated to pick away at it now myself until it's all written up, but that doesn't mean I really need to be in charge of it or anything. This is pretty basic stuff, so it shouldn't matter who's running it.


Plus I wasn't even close to kidding when I said I'm nearly swamped at the moment, you know.

Im working on an article on doodad placement and natural jungle terrain if thats alright.

It's alright

I think we can all agree on the fact that even if you have much less time than me to spend on this, you'll be able to organize it much better
I'm more of the initiator and I'll do my best to bring this project to completion, but I'm not much of a great organizer >.<

Well in that case, my above list is the best topic outline I can come up with to cover terraining basics for any newbs who might need it. If anyone can think of a better one, or has ideas to add, go ahead and bring them up.

Though I suspect everyone already has it in their minds to do their own tutorials, now.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Sep 10 2009, 2:53 am by Tuxedo-Templar.

So... !
Who is writing what?
(This is a question, it therefore require an answer)

I'm starting on tools tonight. I'll just pick at the list myself over the month myself, I guess.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Sep 11 2009, 9:01 pm by Tuxedo-Templar.

Okay, we have:

- qPK working on an article about general tips for terraining (but he isn't sure about finishing it)
- lil-Inferno that is supposed to be working on an article about how to make buildings for Badlands
- Tuxedo-Templar working on hundreds of things >.<
- samsizzle working on an article about doodads placement and natural jungle terrain

Is anyone else willing to work on something? Come on!

As soon as I find out how to take screenshots in SCMDraft (with the brush window open and such) I'll make my article.

Huh... printscreen when brush window open and such, period. ;o

That didn't seem to work for me .

SCMDraft 2 has the option to print out whole maps as bmp files. Use a paint program to crop the sections you need into their own clips.

Alternatively, look up in windows help how to take snapshots. There's 3rd party programs that can also help you with that too, which you can search up yourself (I can't really recommend any in particular).

What about talking about errors we can get in-game related to terraining? The only one I know of is that "Nooks and Crannies", which seems very random... some researches needs to be done on that. What I've found is that it seems to happen when you have Raised Jungle in a small isolated area with High Cliffs surrounding it. Though this is only based on my own experiences and that problem occurred only once to me ;o

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Sep 15 2009, 7:15 pm by payne.

I'm writing something about map vision

Perfect!
Thank you for participating

Exported to wiki:

SCMdraft 2 terrain layer reference
Terrain planning and development
Introduction to terrain blending



Can't decide to merge your Brushes tutorial with mine or export it to its own article.

http://www.staredit.net/maplantis/index.php?sid=dea63c4ff1;wiki=93

Could anyone import this to either Wiki?

When are we getting a specific wiki section for Terrain?