Hey folks, I have been working on this all night long. It's still heavily wip, a lot of damage has yet to be added but I gotta go to bed now . C&C please 
[Blocked Image: http://insmod.net/filebox/upload/matte_painting_wip3.jpg]
original image: http://insmod.net/filebox/upload/original.jpg
Terragen sky ? 
I'm speechless. That building facade is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. You could render some shadows on that samurai tho. It looks rather plain because of that.
Minotaur0 likes the effort. Good job vivi
another belgian 
jk, map looks awesome man, I really like your lighting I'll check it out asap.
Welcome to mapcore buddy 
Awesome tutorial phill
I love the second shot dude
humm I don't know, maybe you should use reference images ? That does not looks like africa at all. (check this out http://www.webshots.com/search?query=so ... romeheader )
Besides that, the "resist" stencil is flipped horizontally. Open the entity options and change "U end" to 2, that should fix it.
That's fucking amazing blaza, good work!! Downloading koko's tutorial Next in line: Creating your own hl2 skies.
Nice house tom. The supports on the overhang could be a bit thinner.
oh btw, don't use strong color values (like the plain red light). Try some dark red instead.
The outside of your map is pretty cool. You could to some lightmap tweaks here and there though.
http://www.nidvardir.com/images/beta/pv ... j30002.jpg -> lower the lightmap on that round tower, the sun light will look a lot sexier
same for the blue roof and the wall behind it
http://www.nidvardir.com/images/beta/pv ... j30003.jpg
add some trims below the blue rounded roof. Add stains below the windows.
http://www.nidvardir.com/images/beta/pv ... j30004.jpg
Try some less yellow'ish tones for the lighting. Strong yellow tones tend to look boring and repetitive. Some lighting variation is also needed here. Oh and the wood supports look too flat. Try to model them instead of using brushes.
http://www.nidvardir.com/images/beta/pv ... j30005.jpg
This particular shot is very cool. You could use that small chandelier on the corridors instead... In order to look imposing this room needs a bigger chandelier.
Add some trims to the arches.
http://www.nidvardir.com/images/beta/pv ... j30006.jpg
Once again, lightmap tweaks on the faces that have transition between sunlight and shadows. Add stains below the windows.
The long-and-tall-wall needs something to break the repetitiveness. I dunno, add some random details. Maybe some unreachable balconies, lamps or flags. (can't you make a larger version of the flag and use it on this wall ? Would look cool).
http://www.nidvardir.com/images/beta/pv ... j30007.jpg
This room has a nice lighting variety (nice transition between half-dark areas and lit areas). Again, use a bigger chandelier and trims on the archways. Making the ceiling darker would also help on variety and depth.
http://www.nidvardir.com/images/beta/pv ... j30008.jpg
This screen is very interesting. The building in the background is nicely detailed. Replace the brownish stone texture, it does not fit the color pallete and is easily recognizable. The grass texture needs detail sprites, I don't know how to do them but I think there's a tutorial on interlopers. And again, do lightmap tweaks.
http://www.nidvardir.com/images/beta/pv ... j30009.jpg
Another very nice area. My only complaint is the wood texture that looks a bit off the theme. Maybe it's too clean ? I don't know, try some different textures or add some detail to the floor.
http://www.nidvardir.com/images/beta/pv ... j30010.jpg
This area looks cool at first but a bit flat on second glance. Again, add trims to the walls. Some colums and windows (if they make sense) would also help. The displacement alpha has a minor issue, the rock is visible on the top side, which does not make sense (on the left of the screen). You could add some foliage here and there as well.
http://www.nidvardir.com/images/beta/pv ... j30011.jpg
This screenshot has a very nice height variation. Again, that brownish stone texture needs to be replaced. Lightmap tweaks and stains to the windows again.
One thing that really bothers me in this screen is the wooden floor. Use some stone instead (maybe with an alpha layer so you can add some grass to the sides ? Would look sweet).
The rock on the right-bottom corner of the screen needs some work as well. The rock is visible on the top side.
http://www.nidvardir.com/images/beta/pv ... j30012.jpg
ok That's it, I hope you understand my crappy english. If you don't understand a thing let me know
Keep up the good work mate.
Nice stuff dux. Did you edit the contrast of that photo in photoshop ?
Luka~~~!
who's the lady ?
KT stop pretending you are a model
Quote from instaThis? http://%7boption%7d
That's the one. Play it at once if you haven't already.
omfg that's awesome. I'll give it a go asap.
Quote from PhobosI don't care how it looks. I think the name is fabulous.
lol 
There are a few lighting errors, specially on that curb next to the small house. And why are some lamps on when it's day time ? Get rid of that huge point_spotlight in the background.
