I present to you the Classic Castle Display Planner

Discussion and planning of large-scale Castle Themed displays and events
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BreadMan
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I present to you the Classic Castle Display Planner

Post by BreadMan »

Image

Ever since my original landscaping standard proposal a year ago, I have been working on a way to streamline the massive amount of work it would take to actually pull off a well done, coordinated display. A few years ago I was involved in the design of a little program written by a guy named Jason Harris called NWMap. Back then there was a game coming out called Neverwinter Nights where you could build your own levels in a modular fashion that is almost exactly like putting a bunch of baseplates together. A lot of people were excited about this and some of us couldn't wait to get our hands dirty, so Jason coded this little planning tool and I did the artwork based on what we knew about the game. Long story short the game came out and the tool was released into the public domain. Thing is, Jason made the thing incredibly mod-friendly, so even though I'm not a coder I've still been able to work and shape it into something that I hope will help immensely in the display planning process.

I've had the thing on the backburner for a while now, but the recent farm standard discussion prompted me to set aside some time to get some work done on it. Mainly, I was inspired by the idea of basing everything off multiples of 8, and I've been working on converting my earlier work to such a system.

The thing is far from done so I'm only posting a screenshot for now. I'm unemployed right now and shouldn't really be wasting precious job-seeking time on personal projects, but hey it's fun so if people are interested enough I'll keep at it. Here's what I've incorporated so far and what I'm planning:

-Base layers of grass, farmland, and beach/ocean.
-Roads, Castles, and CCC Walls shifted to fit the 8 stud modular standard instead of stuck in the middle of a 32x32 baseplate.
-Defineable boundaries marked with flags inspired by the CCC Flags at Brickfest, so that contributors can see exactly where their modules will be in the display.

To be added:
-CCC houses
-Streams and rivers (ones in screenshot are remnants of base 32 system)
-Definitions for elevation change, such as cliffs and markers for transitioning to BPB for below-groundlevel rivers and ponds (just looks so much better).

Now then, if anyone would like to help out...who knows C++? NWMap was unfortunately never really finished and there are tons of kinks all over the place. Half the time I've spent so far has been on coming up with workarounds and the thing is gonna come with some hefty documentation by yours truly once I actually release it. For instance, at this time I believe it will be limited to only 5 flag colors though I'm still working on that (still allows for 30 different combinations with just those 5).

Other than that, send me dat files! (I'm just using screenshots from ldraw to make the graphics if it wasnt obvious). If anyone has dat files of tudor houses, landscaping, etc, preferrably based on multiples of 8 studs wide and tileable, let me know and I might be able to use them.

More on this as it progresses...
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HenrytheV
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Post by HenrytheV »

All I can say is cool until I read more. But alas it's late :(
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Peppermint Pig
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Post by Peppermint Pig »

I posted most of my thoughts on this in the other thread, however I can add more here.

The program has great potential. The flagging of pieces will clearly identify properties which each person would be designing. This tool is very friendly towards modular design, and would be the first tool to use in determining the layout area.

Tiling applications do have their limits, and it is best to work within their generous boundaries, such as respecting that the tiles are icons, and not precise representations of the finished product. Two people adjoining a castle wall together will require other tools to ensure precision.

I give it a thumbs up, and hope to see a final product, however you should take care of your priorities, such as employment. :P
dJOLe_sk8
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Post by dJOLe_sk8 »

Yeah,this post is very potentil...
I find it VERY useful,but I'm waiting for a final product,too...

Of course,two thumbs up for this... :D
Greetings from Serbia
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