The CUBE

[natty dread]

What the F is a зarallelepiped?

[ender516]

What the F is a зarallelepiped?

I know that a parallelepiped is a 3-dimensional figure from 6 parallelograms as its faces. But what is that weird little 3 character?
By the way, yes, the back layer may seem closer to the one just in front, than that one is to the one in front of it, but that is part of the perspective.

[natty dread]

what is that weird little 3 character?

looks like a cyrillic z to me.

[Dako]

Ahh, Russian letter, they always get into the way :).

I am so bad at graphics but I will try to create something with the transparent PNG.
I said not that space is bad - but that the layers are not transparent and somehow the starts look like a dust to me. Well, I will try to do somehting to show you.

Also, the colors of the reods. Yellow and green are very similar to the yellow balls - and it makes the map a bit more blurry.

And yes, lower sized monitors have lesser width of the pixel. Because that is the way they work :).

Last thing - don't be so defensive and trying to prove your point of view. We are not to criticize you here but to help you make a better map. No one is saying you did bad job.

[paulk]

@ Dako:

I didn't mean to be defensive, I just tried to answer you point by point.
I appreciate any contribution to the map. Although I do prefer when contributors try to be constructive and also give alternatives.

About the colors I can say that I have tried many different combinations and versions and I believe that once you play this map this current combination will be one of the least visually distracting. That is at least what I have aimed for.
The rods colors are harmonizing with the (free to use) picture (from NASA) of the dark side of the earth and the yellow orbs are just yellow enough for anyone to see that they are just... yellow.
Together with all other colors that will be on the map when the numbers come on, I think and hope this will work the best.

The layers, oh yes. I changed the layers to be completely black, to differentiate them from the starry background. It just looked better to me than to make them milky white or having them in some color/s, like in previous versions if you look back a few pages. If you want you can fantasize that they are some kind of black hole propellant for the CUBE to move around in space or whatever not. I just think it looks good.

[ender516]

As far as the horizontal layers go, I preferred natty's versions where they were visible. The all-black layers don't present themselves in an obvious way. I had to study the picture knowing that you had put in a black layer in order to notice that the stars were blocked. To me, the black layers do not differentiate themselves from the starry background at all. A milky white layer gives a clear visual correspondence with the layer in the naming convention of the orbs, helping the player to see the subdivision of the cube. Letting the stars show through such a layer is optional in my view, but I want to see the layer.

[natty dread]

I had an idea for very cool looking graphics for the layers, but stuff came up with my other projects that kinda took my attention...

I'll try very hard to finish the layer thingies before I go on vacation.

[paulk]

Is there no one except me that likes the black layers better?
I personally feel like it is a rape on the graphics to put in milky white layers.

[paulk]

Click image to enlarge.

[ender516]

Now, THAT, I like. It gives the impression of Plexiglas platforms. In fact, that suggests more decoration: pallets of equipment or cargo could be sitting (or strapped) on the layers. But that does raise the issue of scale. Are the orbs just structural features of the joints, or do we imagine that they are large enough to contain things, or personnel? The floating astronaut suggests the former, but it might be worth discussing.

[natty dread]

The orbs are oxygen tanks?

Or maybe it's a research station and the orbs are neutrino detectors or something.

[ender516]

Gravity wave detection based on distortions of the cube...

[MarshalNey]

whoa, *loving* the layers, as Ender says they look like plexiglass or something. Under no circumstances should they be changed

In fact, that suggests more decoration: pallets of equipment or cargo could be sitting (or strapped) on the layers.

It may indeed, but really I think it could clutter the map. This map's charm for me is partly its simplicity. Plus, adding stuff on the layers would methinks be a bit difficult to pull off without ruining the perspective...

[ender516]

whoa, *loving* the layers, as Ender says they look like plexiglass or something. Under no circumstances should they be changed

In fact, that suggests more decoration: pallets of equipment or cargo could be sitting (or strapped) on the layers.

It may indeed, but really I think it could clutter the map. This map's charm for me is partly its simplicity. Plus, adding stuff on the layers would methinks be a bit difficult to pull off without ruining the perspective...

You're probably right about that, but there seem to be a lot of Foundry folks who feel no space should be left unfilled, so I thought an idea for that might come in handy. Personally, I like the clean look.

[paulk]

I thought of a way to clarify the region names.
This way the minimal pixel font can still be used.
I also changed the Layer Font on the actual layers, Darkened the earth just a hint, and changed the orbs in the Legend.

If this is getting the ok, then I will move the region names around.
I think it is clearest in this order:
1) Top to Bottom Layer One-Two-Three-Four
2) Left to Right A-B-C-D
3 Foreground to Background 1-2-3-4

Click image to enlarge.

And yes, I also vote definitely for an uncluttered look as possible.

[natty dread]

You have the z coordinates 1,2,3,4 the wrong way - they're 1-4 in the legend and 4-1 in the actual map...

[paulk]

If this is getting the ok, then I will move the region names around.

[natty dread]

ah, must have missed that part

[ender516]

If the territory names will end up something like "Layer Three - A2", then the drop down lists will sort them:

Layer Four
Layer One
Layer Three
Layer Two

which will be very annoying. Luckily, we can bring Roman numerals to the rescue:

Layer I
Layer II
Layer III
Layer IV

will sort properly with little loss of clarity.

[paulk]

good point!

[paulk]

So everybody are happy with the graphics as they are otherwise?

I'll change the region names around to be 1234 instead of 4321 and make Layers to Roman numerals and then maybe it's getting the stamp?

[paulk]

changed layers to Roman Numerals I,II,III,IV.
changed the legend accordingly.
moved region names around according to the legend.

Click image to enlarge.

[paulk]

as above but with more faint layer numerals

Click image to enlarge.

[MarshalNey]

keep the layer numerals strong- a three-D coordinate system will already have plenty of opportunities for mis-deploys and confusion without trying to make the layers names look as unobtrusive and 'nice' as possible.

[ender516]

keep the layer numerals strong- a three-D coordinate system will already have plenty of opportunities for mis-deploys and confusion without trying to make the layers names look as unobtrusive and 'nice' as possible.

I agree. The earlier version with the bolder version is much preferable in my opinion. In that one, the numerals appear about as dense as the shading at the edges of the layers, which seems appropriate.