Trumully's First Ever Parallax Map

[Trumully]

Yep, I got Photoshop (finally), and decided to make myself a parallax map. I'm fairly new to it your feedback and critique can really help. Give me some tips if you want, as that will help me even more. Without further or do, I present to you my first EVER parallax map!

Spoiler: Parallax Map

Please give me your feedback and critique please!

(Credit to @PandaMaru for the Nature Summer tileset I used :P)

 

[MinisterJay]

@Trumully Pretty Good for your first parallax map. Being a previous science teacher, the only thing bugging me is where the shadows fall. I am comparing the apparent angle of light approach to where solid matter interferes. I personally like the large maple leaf patterns on the ground. The placement of the shrooms are good. I like the color contrast between trees, them not all being the same shade of a color.

 

[Trumully]

@Trumully Pretty Good for your first parallax map. Being a previous science teacher, the only thing bugging me is where the shadows fall. I am comparing the apparent angle of light approach to where solid matter interferes.

Yea, I wasn't too sure where in the world I would put the sunlight XD. I'm not very good at it to be honest, but would you have an estimation around where the sun would scientifically beam to match with the shadows?

 

[MinisterJay]

For the shadow for flora on the left, the sun would be almost overhead, which would have the light rays coming from almost directly above. The angles are not really that bad. :) The shadowing is not too bad. It is a LOT better than when people put a light source on the left, and have shadows on the left side of items. I noticed that taller wider trees only had shadows on smaller trees if they were near or under their leaf/branch coverage. This also represents an over head sun rays. Are the sun rays on a higher level parallax than the trees?

 

[Trumully]

Are the sun rays on a higher level parallax than the trees?

Yes, they are. I just used a plugin from my pre-order package that lets you have a parallax on the foreground, so I can change it easy :P

This also represents an over head sun rays.

the sun would be almost overhead, which would have the light rays coming from almost directly above.

So, sunlight roughly above the map would match the shadows scientifically?

The angles are not really that bad. :) The shadowing is not too bad.

Daww, thanks! I just used a tileset for the trees and the shadows were already there, so beginner's luck for the win! XD

It is a LOT better than when people put a light source on the left, and have shadows on the left side of items.

Ahaha, I remember doing this with my rough sketch drawings for maps... I was weird back then. Totally agree with you on this.

 

[Zebestian]

I'm with Jay here. The shadows were the fist thing that I noticed. Not just how they fall but also how they look. Those giant leaf shadows are definitely not coming from those trees. Also, the small trees seem a little bit odd to me. Don't know why that is though.
Other than that it's a pretty solid first try I'd say. I've never tried parallax mapping but I've watched a good number of tutorials on it and I gotta say, I admire anyone who has the skill and patience to do this. :D

 

[Trumully]

I'm with Jay here. The shadows were the fist thing that I noticed. Not just how they fall but also how they look. Those giant leaf shadows are definitely not coming from those trees. Also, the small trees seem a little bit odd to me. Don't know why that is though.
Other than that it's a pretty solid first try I'd say. I've never tried parallax mapping but I've watched a good number of tutorials on it and I gotta say, I admire anyone who has the skill and patience to do this. :D

Thank you for your input, Kaimen. Yea, it's the shadows... That seems to be the big thing here. Maybe with my next parallax map, I'll implement my own shadows instead and crop out the shadows, and so on. This was also my first time using Photoshop, so I'm still pretty amateur with the editing.

 

[Zebestian]

This was also my first time using Photoshop, so I'm still pretty amateur with the editing.

And that's totally fine too. That's why there's the community to help you figure things out. As I've said, I couldn't do something like that with Photoshop to save my life. I'm that bad at it. XD

 

[MinisterJay]

@Trumully . Were the maple leafs intended to be shadows or some kind of unique ground pattern?

 

[Trumully]

@Trumully . Were the maple leafs intended to be shadows or some kind of unique ground pattern?

Just some unique ground pattern, yea... Not intended as shadows.

 

[MinisterJay]

Just some unique ground pattern, yea... Not intended as shadows.

That's what I thought...as mentioned in my first post way up there.