Sweet! Yay, Artisan books! And yeah, it's tricky to get faction for all of them, from what I've heard, but it can be done... ;-> (I hate not being able to Edit these things afterwards, too, and now with Firefox, I have to go to a separate tab to do as much as I can that way, leaving me with more than one logged on Forums...can never tell if the first tab is "gone" for real until I get out of the browser entirely :-/) Uwk
D'oh! X-P Wonder if the slimy slug can be scaled up to the ones in the Peat Bog...the Slugs the Size of a Buick. ;-> Uwk
They don't get quite that Buick-sized, but they can be scaled rather large. They're wider than the door in the inn rooms.
I totally agree. The back of the mosaic inlaid mirror looks a lot like eucalyptus, but it uses common materials. This is a screenshot of a few that I put in and turned around to use as paneling on the galleon.
At the very least, what can be done is move it into the Decorator's Resource thread, which is in itself, stickied. ;-> Uwk
Thanks for the tips and tricks. Here are mine: My "secrets" to building the Saturn V rocket without actually having all of the right parts are: I used forced perspective. There aren't any tapered building blocks, so I had to create the illusion of tapered surfaces, so I had to make it big and force the observer to view it from the ground. 2) I used ice blocks for scaffolding. It doesn't obscure the view when your building or viewing from the ground. 3) I use ice blocks for placing objects in impossible places. Like 3D printers, where you print on powder then blow the powder away. Put down a block of ice, move and resize it, place your object down, move and resize that, then pick up the ice, and viola! Also, where you're standing and where your looking has a lot to do with where you can place things. If you think you should be able to put something down in a certain place but can't, move your character and/or camera view and try again. I use ice a lot. It makes a handy elevator. Stand on a block of ice, then resize it so that it's just over your head, then jump. Now your standing on top of the ice (higher up). Repeat the process until you're at the desired height. BE CAREFUL TO JUMP AND NOT WALK INSIDE THE ICE OR ELSE YOU'LL FALL. You can only walk when you're standing on top of the ice and not when you're inside of it. To get down, repeat the process in reverse. If the ice block reaches max size and you're still not high enough, put down another block on top of that one and continue. And if you want more freedom of movement, put down a floor tile and resize it huge. You can construction large platforms to work on at any height with this method. Some houses are massive, so some objects will disappear at long distances. Therefore, you may need to scale objects too large (or small) to make them look correct to the viewer or to appear to all. On my ships, the pirates and elves are different sizes on different parts of the ship. To illuminate an object (or room), place a candle on it then move it "down" and it will sink inside the object while still illuminating it. Some things can be scaled beyond their limits by editing the layout file. Save it, edit the scale factor value, then reload the file. You can do a lot more using this file, but I prefer to use scaffolding and place things "by hand". Because prestige houses are so massive, you can divide rooms up by making your own walls and ceilings, and this will allow you to sink objects mostly into the walls, floors and ceilings and create cool effects. Want heads on your wall? No problem, sink a plushie up to its neck there. In fact, I sometimes choose an object just to use part of it. I obscure the rest of it inside a wall or other object. For example, the steam shooting out of my Saturn V rocket is generated by a "smoking glacial brazier" that's sunk inside the rocket. I'm sure that I will think of more, but that's all for now. What are some of YOUR best ideas?
Thanks. Uwk visited the museum I'm building earlier today, and I showed her the ice block trick. I think she added that to her "toolbox". When I put the troll sailors in the crows nest on the pirate ship, I used ice blocks to get there. It also helps to drop down a few ice tiles along the way and resize them larger, you can build platforms. Also, if you ever fall, you'll just hit a platform and not go all the way down. And once you get to the desired height, use ice tiles or blocks or railing to anchor whatever objects you want to place there, then when you pickup the ice, the object remains. The only problem I had was when I put a ship in the ocean. It disappeared after to left the house. I guess it was way away from where the game thought it should be. I was able to just look the ship up on the house management window and retrieve it. Also, when using the ice block elevator trick, don't walk around unless your on top of the ice. If you walk while inside the ice, you fall.
Which ocean? I've seen your Hua Mein place and your Galleons of Dreams...I've heard there were issues with the water effects around the Galleons? Uwk
Yeah, I have no doubt the crew in the rigging are actually bigger than the ones on the deck where you can walk amongst them, for instance. BTW, you must all visit and vote! I visited his stuff on Permafrost, but it was with a Free account, so I couldn't vote. Heck, I've seen folks break up a Neriak or Gorowyn room that way, too; I've gotten inspired by that as well as people's work in prestige places, and now that my system can handle being in the cities, I might just keep my Neriak/etc. places. ;-> So that's what it was! Awesome! I'm really gonna have to bust my hump this winter season, gathering materials for mine... ;-> Heh...well, believe it or not, one of the most extensive "from the ground up" structures I've made to date (ignoring things like greenhouses made from Vamp Mirrors, making goblets out of upside-down Frostfell hanging bells and hot dogs out of horizontal Red and Gold Baubles [if you place them in a line, the mistletoe or whatever on the hanging stem can be "relish" for another one!]) has been, of all things, a rather humble outhouse for Uwk (the thread should be around here someplace)...I'm also concocting schemes for a kerra-sized "cat tree" for him. Well, that and Abe's tanks in his 4-room New Halas place on Test... I should really place screenshots of that before I haul it all off to my grandiose scheme for the Felwithe Mansion I got him. ;-> Uwk who saw Felwithe on sale and thought, "Ooh! Perfect for a nature priest type!" and the part of me head where Abe lives said, "Ooh! Waterfalls! I call dibs!" ;->
I've started consolidating a lot of this info into a Tips and Tricks page on the EQ2 Design Gallery Website that can be easily accessed. Will also place the link to the Decorator's Resource thread that is already stickied in this forum to be edited into initial post on the next update for that thread. This is all great info you guys
Having some idea to share, base on Layout Editor, Position All items have a base point which is a reference point to define the position of the whole model. The item will not be shown (disappear) if its base point mess into invalid coordination of the house such as roof, floor, wall etc. However, on the opposite, item can be shown as long as its base point in the valid space even if most of the model merged into the wall. I applied this trick on the Ceiling Mounted Lightning Rods. Its base point is at the middle between the flat ends of 2 rods. I erect the electric spark line and then scaled it up until one rod above the roof while the another rod is under the ground. The result is as picture Orientation Sometime we need to pitch or roll the item. However, item may flip itself every time the layout is loaded or you zone out and then in again the house. My investigation (still verifying) for this is due to the “unstable value” of the rotate, pitch and roll. Also, the “unstable orientation” For simple, (just as Jazabelle said) prevent using angle value 90, 180, 270 which are unstable value. Try use 89.85, 179.95 etc. Normally, can solved 90%+ problem by my experience Prevent complicate combine angel value. Normally, many erect orientation can be defined by just using Z+X or Z+Y, try keep X or Y value at 0 For details, “unstable orientation” means the orientation of the item can have 2 or more sets of XYZ angle value solution. Let says solution A and B. When execute the command /save_layout, system will choose from A or B and may overwrite the original data to be an unstable value. “unstable value” means the set of XYZ value can have 2 or more coexist orientations. When you /load_layout contains “unstable value” the model will flips quickly since the game system is choosing solution. The symptom is the mixing of the (3) and (4). But, I think no need to dig too deep into it ~. 2D Lamination Further applying the JesDyr tiling technique, I have tried to make a flat surface logo on the floor. The first thing certainly is flip all the component (roll 179.95) and make them at the same height. The pattern can be outlined by adjusting the height of surrounding component by 0.002 higher. Let say it is a layer of Mask. Depends on the pattern, it may need several layers of mask. The appearance is quite acceptable as if a flat surface until you look very close to it. The example logo used 10 layers of mask Mannequin Fashion By combining 2 or more Mannequin at the same position (with some 0.00X fine adjust). The picture shown is the combine of 3 Mannequin to make some new look of dressing
I just want to point out ... that tile Logo is Amazing oh .. and .. Roll 180 is fine .. just never use exact 90s when dealing with pitch. it is best to use pitch values between -89,98 and 89,98
Oh! JesDyr, your reply let me remember a very important thing....Would you teach me the way to save a layout group file into a different house type layout please? I think it is an essential technique for decorator can reuse some of their creations in a new project easily. Item Group Transfer to Different House Type The logo is originally created in a large Freeport house. I saved it into a separate group file and then trying to merge it into the Qeynos guild hall layout. I failed to do this since the house type is not the same. I cannot remember what exactly I have done to successfully transfer the logo. Just remember the house type ID code in the group file was changed from Freeport's to Qeynos's.
At some point I removed the easy way to do this (I think it was when I added the tab system). I had the idea to let people easily share designs with others, but it didnt work out that way .. I will make note to put this into the New Layout Editor. There are multiple ways to go about it. It is easy if the destination house is empty but for this I am going to assume it is not.This method will prevent items being stolen from other areas in the house. Save the house layout that contains the design Make a group for just the items in the design use the "Save Group" button and save it to a new file Open the new file Manually change the value in the UID column for all the items to be a negative number. Save the layout In EQ2 go to the destination house and put the items needed for the design into the crate. Save a layout for the destination house. using Windows you need to go to your Eq2 layout directory and open up the Destination house's layout file (use notepad) Copy the first three lines of the layout (they should something look like this) 6,Version Number 889212510,home_void_palace 1656634371, Unique House ID. Close this file and open the file you saved the group to. Delete the first three lines and paste in the ones you copied from the Destination layout. (this is what lets you load the layout in a different house) Save the file and close it In the layout editor, open the Group layout and click on tools - "Replace Tmp UIDs" Input the Destination house's layout you saved earlier and click replace. The UIDs for the items should now be positive numbers. (This is important to prevent items from being stolen from other sections of the house) Select all the items and right click and select Group Mod in the Group Point to Point move, enter the location of one of the items in the group (try to pick something near the middle) In the Destination fields enter where you want the design in the new house. Click "Move" Save the layout and load it ingame. You will likely need to tweak the position, but this should be a start.
Ah! So the UID numbers can be altered without making the item disappear in a puff of logic! That's actually a relief, though if one doesn't know what one is doing with it (i.e., didn't have good tutors ;->), there could be...consequences. ;-> Uwk
