Preserved Topic: A little constructive criticism goes a long way... (Page 1 of 1)

Ok you guys - I want some advice on this...
I'm building a site for my sister, and have been playing around with designs. In case you've been in the HTML forum and haven't noticed, I don't know a great deal about HTML. The site was built in Dreamweaver (please forgive the trash code...). But I'm working on that. The problem I'm having is a graphical one.

Here's the link The doors function as the nav system, I realize the size of the page is wrong, and have corrected that in what I hope will be the final vesion of the design. Bear with me...

I managed to come up with a believeable stone texture, (at least I think so, and that's what matters). I wanted to make the ceiling portion of it appear as a barrel vault. I tried some different transforms on it, distort, skew, and ran the 3d transform filter on cylinder... It didn't come out quite right. I threw in the shadows to hide the error, but it doesn't do much good. I sought all over the internet to try and find a barrel vault tut, but to no avail.

I've already decided not to use this particular page for her site, but I like the design and thought I would use it myself on something personal at some point. But I'd really like to get that vault perspective right. Ideas?

Bodhisattva: an enlightened being full of generosity who sticks around in this world to show others the way to enlightenment.

[This message has been edited by bodhi23 (edited 06-19-2002).]

[This message has been edited by bodhi23 (edited 06-19-2002).]

First lemme say that you're stone texture,cement paving (or whatever you call the lines in btwn the stones) is fantastic, but more helpful to you it looks very realistic.

I'm afraid i cant help you with the ceiling bit but all the same I agree with you its not right.

I think sort of messes up the otherwise realistic looking stone wall and doors.
A suggestion: If you're totally out of a solution, you fade the ceiling out like the way you've done on the bottom right corner depending on where you want your light source to be.

All the luck!


M.I.S.T.A.K.E.S. A.R.E. P.O.R.T.A.L.S. O.F. D.I.S.C.O.V.E.R.Y ---RIGHT?

lemme say one thing i love it the idea behind this its really neat. nice work, not so sure how to fix ya problem though although the likes of darkshadow DB and DL44 and a few others will be able to point you on your way, nice work

Yeah, ultimately, I could do that... I mean, if I can't figure out how to make it work without the use of a 3d program, then I'll have to forego the vault look. *sigh*

I really did like the way the walls turned out on this one. And what I did do with it, was make it a pattern and then try to transform the pattern to look vaulted.
Probably, what I really should have done with it is drawn the vault by hand. That way, I could make it look like I really wanted. But that was SOOOO much work! Since I had already done the pattern, I really wanted the continuity of color and texture that using a pattern gave me.

Bodhisattva: an enlightened being full of generosity who sticks around in this world to show others the way to enlightenment.

Nice start bodhi23. The vaulted thing is all perspective and light. Not sure if you can transform, or filter it. Picture the inside of a ball, and follow the curve around the inside with the pen tool. Stroke it, move it to the next row up, tighten the curve up just a tad, and stroke it again. ( Paths are adjustable ) Repeat as necesary..
Once you have the grid made, CTRL click the layer to select it, and fill it with your texture.

It looks, now as if the ceiling is falling in instead of bulging out. Perhaps a bit more contrast on the stone stuff might help, too.
Does that make sense ?


Cell245

Yep, yep... I see what you mean there... I think the left side of it appears to be ok, even in the shadow... It's the lines on the left side of it that are the problem...

Just more confirmation that in order to get it, I'm gonna have to draw it. dang.

grrr...


[This message has been edited by bodhi23 (edited 06-20-2002).]

This is a tad off-topic, and I probably should wait until you put this in site reviews, but I had one thought. How about putting titles on the doors so the user would know where they are going without having to look at the status line? I know that's not what you were looking for here. I just thought it might be helpful. Feel free to ignore me if you're not at that stage yet.

I've been thinking about different ways to handle that problem. I don't really want the doors labelled, per se. But I might do something in the rollover that lets you know where you're going as you move the mouse over the door.
I am using the door motif in the final version of the site, so it's a valid suggestion... Thanks!

No problem... I'm sure you'll come up with something that works. It's a really nice idea.

How about using the Distort/Shear filter? I think you could bend your texture and then apply lighting manually with a gradient overlay. That might look good. I like the idea of the doors! Can´t wait to see the finished version.

Shear... there's one I haven't played with... I'll have to look into the effect that one gives it.

I had a busy weekend, family visits and all... So I didn't get much done on the PC. But I am very close to having the main page completed. I look forward to everyone's comments when I get it up! I will post if for Site Reviews...

I don´t know how familiar you are with the Shear Filter, so here´s some advice...
You can add bend points in this filter as shown in the image above.
Simply click on the straight line in the filter, drag the newly created point to a suitable position

Have fun.

Oh MAN! That's exactly what I was looking for.... I can't believe I didn't try that filter before. sheesh!

Thanx PixelMax!