Volcano Ash Pollution

[Balthasar]

Since this seems to be Volcano/pollution month:

This is a team effort, begun in the main C&C forum here. It began as an idea by Goldfool, was modeled by me, and refined under the direction of Vuldacon. Our test pattern is Mount St. Helens:




Download: View attachment pollution.pcx

Other versions:

With more texture: Post #4

Without trees: Post #11

Comments welcome.

 

[Pounder]

This will fit well for all pollution types, good job!

 

[Vuldacon]

Looks Good Balthasar
Depending on Colors and how much Brightness, Contrast, and Textures that are used on a map, this Ash Pollution should look good.
It looks good for the Terrain you show it on.

For Darker Maps or other differences, it can be adjusted to fit without much trouble... and I am sure a few Dead Things will be applied to it

 

[Balthasar]

A final refinement: shadows by Vuldacon give it an "ashier" look.



Thanks Vuldacon. You the man.

View attachment pollution.pcx

 

[Vuldacon]

This is Your Pollution Effort Balthasar and I have only tried to help in a few ways.

I like the more subdued look with the other texture contrasts.

One thing that can help Ash is to lower the contrast then add the other details back as they were for their added color contrast. That makes the ash less highlighted and you know that ash does not reflect much light... and the dead trees and other debris can then add to the texture with their same darker colors.

 

[Balthasar]

You prefer the ash in post #1 to the ash in post #4, only you'd like the ash to have less contrast?

 

[Pounder]

I think I prefer post#1 as well.

 

[Balthasar]

Ok, the download link has been returned to post #1 until I sort this out....

 

[Vuldacon]

I like Both depending on what Terrain Map is used...
Take a screenshot of them on the Volcanos with no snow for example.

... my comment was just a statement concerning Light reflection and ash rather than that it should be changed.

Everyone has different Terrain that they like and there is generally no graphics addition that will look good on all of them without being adjusted. Best to either make the addition so it looks good on the Original CIV III/Conquest Terrain or on the terrain you are making it for and Please yourself.

 

[wolf_brother]

How does it look on Tundra?

 

[Balthasar]

How does it look on Tundra?

I don't know. Send a screenshot when you find out.

You might want to try this version of it too. This one's for anyone who finds all the added trees inconvenient (on desert or jungle, for example). This just has stubs:




And here's the file: View attachment pollution.pcx

 

[wolf_brother]

It doesn't exactly look great on the standard Firaxis, Ares', or on Rhye's terrain - in fact, its slightly hard to tell what exactly it is

Another issue seems to be that the pollution - for whatever reason - doesn't stay together as one tight, coherent mass, but instead is only visibly seen on the edges of where ever it is; the center of a large pool of pollution doesn't appear, but the pollution is still there.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

 

[Balthasar]

It doesn't exactly look great on the standard Firaxis, Ares', or on Rhye's terrain - in fact, its slightly hard to tell what exactly it is

It doesn't seem to look that bad on Ares' or Rhye's terrain. Probably shows up well on the euro terrain, I imagine. As long as you know what it is, it's a matter of preference.

Another issue seems to be that the pollution - for whatever reason - doesn't stay together as one tight, coherent mass, but instead is only visibly seen on the edges of where ever it is; the center of a large pool of pollution doesn't appear, but the pollution is still there.

That happens, I discovered, when pre-placing pollution in the editor. If you look closely at the images I've posted, you'll see that there were places I couldn't put it, because it prefers right angles. That doesn't happen in-game though, as far as I know.

Thanks for posting these screenies Wolf-brother. Helps others decide if they want to try it. FYI - even though you can place it over water in the editor, it doesn't go there in-game, I'm pretty sure.

 

[wolf_brother]

It doesn't seem to look that bad on Ares' or Rhye's terrain. Probably shows up well on the euro terrain, I imagine. As long as you know what it is, it's a matter of preference.

It's just that ash irl is much grayer and darker than what you currently have. This is an image of the ash plume from Mt. Cleveland when it erupted in 2006, you can Google for more.

Spoiler :

As you can see its very dark, very grey, and very visible as it billows out of the volcano's mouth. Most volcanic explosions produce ash that is like that - its very rare to get ash that's as quite as white as what you've made.

That happens, I discovered, when pre-placing pollution in the editor. If you look closely at the images I've posted, you'll see that there were places I couldn't put it, because it prefers right angles. That doesn't happen in-game though, as far as I know.

Well, that's good. Even as I was posting my first reply I was wondering why no else had noticed it earlier

FYI - even though you can place it over water in the editor, it doesn't go there in-game, I'm pretty sure.

Haha, no, the pollution never makes it way onto the water in game, regardless if it comes from nukes, volcanoes or city pollution

 

[Balthasar]

It's just that ash irl is much grayer and darker than what you currently have. This is an image of the ash plume from Mt. Cleveland when it erupted in 2006, you can Google for more. As you can see its very dark, very grey, and very visible as it billows out of the volcano's mouth. Most volcanic explosions produce ash that is like that - its very rare to get ash that's as quite as white as what you've made.

In fact I did Google it, right at the beginning. Here, for instance is a cow sitting in volcanic ash that looks very much like mine:



If that's not convincing, anyone could take my file and darken it for their own use if they want...

As far as the Volcanic explosion itself, I recommend you use Vuldacon's new Volcano eruption animation for billowing smoke you can believe in.

 

[Moosezilla]

Looks good to me. reminds me of the soap scum our washer spews out.

 

[Grandraem]

Nice job, Balthasar (and any others that contributed to this). It's always nice to have variations like this.

 

[Virote_Considon]

Looking good!

 

[againsttheflow]

Nice work Balthasar. I was of the opinion that the ash is looking roughly the right color as it is.

Here are several ash-scapes that basically depict this same coloring.

This and this from Mt. St. Helens.
Pinatubo, rain-etched ash after the 1991 eruption in the Philippines. Almost makes you want to sing Jingle Bells (same volcano).
And this one illustrates the difficulty in differentiating between the snow (white) and the--in this case--yellowish ash.

 

[Balthasar]

First, thanks for your kind words, guys.

Second, thank you Againsttheflow for your post. One of those images (the one with the helicopter) actually provided base colors for this graphic. The problem with making ash is that it can vary widely in color from nearly black to pure white. Check a fireplace, for instance, for possible color variations. You can see how I built this graphic - with immense help from Vuldacon - on Goldfool's original thread; the overriding concern was to make a graphic that 1) is plausibly ash; and 2) is compatible with the game terrain. As Wolfbrother pointed out, the sheer variety of terrains used around here make the latter very difficult, and some terrains will require that a different pollution graphic - say, Vuldacon's new pollution graphic, for example - be used. Luckily, there are now pollution graphics available that range from almost black to bright orange. Vive la Difference!.