Map Art Program (Update)

Discussion in 'Community Discussion' started by supereskimo, May 24, 2016.

  1. Howdy! Some of you may know me from a few years ago. I've been pretty busy with work, but a bit of free time has come up, so I'm gonna try and get back into this awesome server!

    One of the projects I didn't manage to finish before leaving was a map art of one of EMC's well-known ex-mods, iSmooch. After a game version update, I realized that the template I had been using no longer worked due to color changes. Many hours of work had been made useless:

    I got pretty darn far, but after 1.8 the hair and the dog pretty much turned to chocolate...


    Besides that, it was taking forever because each block was at a different height. Here's a picture of what I was trying to build. Keep in mind this is about the size of 4 res's put together and was being built in survival:




    Then one day not too long ago, I found out that someone on Reddit had made exactly what I needed! Their program takes an image and spits out a schematic which you can build in-game, which in turn lets you build map art in survival Minecraft! What's more, the program is able to put out 2d schematics, meaning that you won't have to move up and down as you place blocks. This might not sound like a big deal, but it probably cuts the build time by a factor of 5 or more.

    For those of you who want to try making your own map art, here's a link to the program I'm using now. Again, it's not my program, I just think it's cool and want to share it with people. Getting the program to work is a bit tricky, but still much easier than trying to do the whole thing by hand. If you run into trouble setting it up, just PM me and I'll try to help.

    So to sum up, I flaked out on the Sassy Smooch project for a while because it was taking too long and the colors got messed up. But with this new program, I (and hopefully other people) can start making map art way faster. I realize that my schedule is kind of sporadic, so I'm not going to try and make any promises like last time, but I am eager to finally try and finish the project!

    Sadly, my old res went derelict, so "The Brew 'Gloo" potion store is no more. I'm not sure what kind of res I'll build next, but I'm open to suggestions! It's been a long time since I've really dug into this game, and I look forward to getting to know the new players and reconnecting with the old ones!
    Kytula, jkrmnj, FoxyRavenger and 3 others like this.
  2. smooch aint really round no more, lotta changes since you went mia
    supereskimo likes this.
  3. That sounds great! Welcome back to the Empire then :)

    I don't know you but I did notice that you landed on SMP2, which also happens to be my home server. So hopefully we'll run into each other someday, could be fun :)

    Even though I've been on the Empire for well over a year now I still feel like a bit of a newbie sometimes ;) To be honest I didn't hear of Smooch before, most likely because he was a mod waaay before my time. Just looked him up on the wiki and ayups, I see what you mean.

    Your pixel art looks pretty amazing, and nice to know there's software for it now. I'm not much of a builder / mapper myself, but I'll definitely check this out sometimes, it could be fun to play with on my private server.

    Maybe you already knew, but just in case: voting for the server helps you to keep the derelict timer away. Better yet: if you vote every day (which is even easily doable using a smartphone) then you'll also gather some nice bonuses over time for building up a streak. The voter tools for example (pickaxe, shovel, etc. which will never wear out).

    As a reminder: the derelict policy changed a bit here. Voting used to reset the derelict times back to 30 days (which is the standard) but that has been reduced to 7 days. So if you only want to vote to keep your stuff around then one vote every week will do it.

    I peeked at your res. and it seems you're already making a good comeback. There's one thing missing though: you don't seem to have a beacon! :eek: Who cares about enchantment tables and brewing stands, a beacon is where it's at!:mad: But I'm sure we'll be able to fix that issue when I catch you online next time :D

    Hi there ;)

    Anyway, I think you'll find a lot of things to have changed over time. Aikar and the devs. have been busy lately and many cool and exciting features have found their way here. Some of the most important ones (IMO):

    Want to change your residence permissions? Don't bother with long difficult commands: /res cset and/or /res cpset <player name> is all you need, you don't even have to remember what all the flags do because the interface explains it to you.

    /assist new => This command will give you a new Empire Assistant which can be handy to keep around in order to re-learn most common commands. But there's more... Aikar made the compass totally awesome (link to mini-guide) and yeah; the Empire Assistant is first and foremost a compass ;) Better yet: it's even soulbound. So if you die then you'll immediately have something available which points you to your death point.

    Speaking of dying: if you die and drop all your items then no one will be able to pick those up for the first 8 minutes. That is: no one but your friends (see /friends help command).

    You probably know of the /vault I hope; virtual storage which can be used to transfer items across servers (or just to keep 'm safe and/or easily available). The /vault command can now also be used within the protected region of an outpost which can really help with mining (get inside area (for example below ground), dump your stuff in /vault and head right back). And the best part is that the compass can be used to find your way around here ;)

    Last but most certainly not least: /dispose. Want to get rid of some items? No need for lava pits or burying rituals or whatever: a mere /dispose command can remove the items for you in a nice & clean way.

    So yeah, a few commands which have changed over time and which I think might be handy for you to know.

    And if you need a hand to become a bit more familiar again then feel free to look me up :)

    Hope to see you around more and I hope you'll have a lot of fun on EMC again.
    Kytula and supereskimo like this.
  4. Oh, hello there!
    I haven't seen you in a very long time! I'm glad you're back!
    You haven't done your research, Shel, ISMOOCH played a very big role in one of the most important events in EMC history!
    I'll send a quick recap your way via pm, as I don't want to possibly derail this thread :)
    supereskimo and ShelLuser like this.
  5. Welcome Back Fellow Veteran!

    It is really neat that you're creating these maps, I was deciding if I should create one myself. I use only two programs to help me create pixel art and they are called Minecraft Structure Planner and SpriteCraft Full. Both very versatile programs that help me create my pixel art here on EMC. I have used Minecraft Structure Planner the most. Even though it hasn't been updated since 2011 it still gives a schematic for you to use and build on. Here is some of the snips of my work done by this program.


    (400x400 Blocks)

    (124x124 Blocks)
    All the Rest of these are 60x60


    As I always say to returning or new players that join...

    ShelLuser and supereskimo like this.
  6. Yeah, I think he had actually just left a bit before I started the map. Still, as Jay mentioned, he did some cool stuff on the server and I'd like to try and finish the project -eventually-
    Of course other members, such as yourself, have been consistently helpful on the community as well, and for a really long time. In particular, I'm amazed at Aikar's ability to keep the server going, not to mention all the custom improvements he's done. There are lots of people who deserve their own maps more, I guess I'm just a nostalgic fellow ;)
    Wow, thanks for all the helpful info! I did know about the derelict policy, I just have a habit of either diving headfirst into a game or not playing at all (I think I've quit "permanently" twice now :p). But if I do become inactive again I'll consider at least voting every now and then to keep my stuff going.
    As for a beacon, I think I'll wait until I can afford one haha, but thanks. I'm not really going for style atm, but when I come up with a new res design, hopefully it looks much better than it does now.
    Thanks! Glad to be back!
    Holy cow, is that first one actually on livemap? That's awesome! Pixel art is really cool, I just personally like to do map art because you can carry the picture around with you and give it to other people. There is something cool about being able to see how big a pixel art structure is, though. But if you ever decide to make a map and need help, just let me know!
  7. I'll definitely let you know about if I am creating a map or need help. Yeah the first picture you can find right off frontier of smp7 live map and is still not done x.x
    supereskimo likes this.
  8. Sorry, but this cannot wait :D So next time you hop online be sure to check your /mail. When I do rants like that I'm not talking about selling stuff ;)

    Just to be sure: keep in mind that such pictures cannot be moved across servers. A map on SMP1 will look horrid on SMP2 for example (it's also why /vault will refuse to take 'm).
    supereskimo likes this.
  9. he knows that. or did atleast
    ShelLuser likes this.
  10. Heh I remember that SMOOCH