Here is an example of a tree using 3 brushes (3 shades). The tree trunk was a WIP that I tweaked for the mockup. You can see the possibilities! Ultima VII trees have pixels for leaves, probably due to memory limitations of the time & time constraints. We can now depict more leafier foliage.
I believe that it was Marzo that suggested to me a canopy made of roof tiles. The tops of these trees can be set to act as roof stiles and create a lush, realistic rain forest canopy. Now imagine variations of the tree trunks with different leaf styles, winding vines, and monkeys darting across branches...
I know that I space out the screenshots, though I do have other stuff that I have drawn or that I am working on, including a Kotl light post (on and off frames) which was started and completed yesterday.
I think that with the leaf technique, I will be able to produce foliage on a greater and quicker scale. The large clumps of boughs will quickly create the rainforest canopy, and I have drawn a few plants for the understory.
Another thing that is worthy of note is that the shading of the leaves shows how the hill tiles are going to work.
I understand full well, having had a crack at pixel art myself that it is a very time consuming process even after undestanding how gimp and exult work. My problem is that I always get side tracked making dungeon maps....a habit born of being a DM for many, many years.
I agree that it is time consuming. Sometimes I draw something to how I want it rather quickly, & other times it takes hours. The two pitcher plants are small items, but I spent almost three hours on them. Adding up all of the time that I tweaked the bamboo over the years to the final version must have been at least 3 days worth. It is worth it though.
In other news, I am still experimenting with foliage & creating tree trunks & more flora. I will tweak & bisect the new tree and make them two objects that snap together, so that the boughs disappear when the avatar walks beneath them. That way, there will be a canopy that drops away when exploring the understory. The leaves will appear in different shades & styles.
While I am still hoping for the object size limitations to be addressed, I can still put taller objects into the game for looks. a tree can be 1x1x7, though appear to be 1x1x12 for example. I don't think that it will be a problem, unless a player tries to create stairs out of objects to get past the 7 mark. Taller trees would be present yet uncommon, though necessary for the emergent layer of Eodon's rainforest.
