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Author Topic: Trees by Z-Level  (Read 2304 times)

Urist the CaveBear

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Trees by Z-Level
« on: October 03, 2016, 01:24:46 pm »

For my current fortress, I'm building a park, and I wanted to build several artificial Silver Trees from bars of silver to spruce it up (tree puns).  I wanted my trees be as close as possible in trunk structure to some of the larger-crowned deciduous trees (I'm thinking Oak, for it's grandiose stature), so as a visual reference I started a fortress in an appropriate region and collected targeted screenshots of the z-levels of various trees.

Here's my Oak cross-section, to give a visual example of what I've collected.  I've also got shots from Almond, Apple, Ash, Larch, Persimmon, and Willow trees.

oak_z1

 oak_z2

oak_z3

oak_z4

oak_z5

oak_z6

oak_z7

oak_z8


I'd like to share more of what I've collected so others can get some use out of the work, but as you might imagine, uploading each image individually in sequence is a bit cumbersome and impractical.  I'm wondering if anyone else has done something similar, perhaps in a more elegant or efficient way - or if anyone has a suggestion about a better way for me to format this collection so that I can share it more easily.

Then again, maybe I'm the only one who's actually interested in multi-level cross-sections of trees.
« Last Edit: October 03, 2016, 05:27:47 pm by Urist the CaveBear »
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Fleeting Frames

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Re: Trees by Z-Level
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2016, 02:07:49 pm »

The main tile you lack would be obviously the quarter tiles. Dots might give a trouble as well, but you could catch vermin in animal traps.
Spoiler: pst (click to show/hide)

E: an idea: could use prepared meals and gathered leaves forbidden on food stockpile for fruits/blossoms, looking at tileset
« Last Edit: October 03, 2016, 02:16:36 pm by Fleeting Frames »
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Urist the CaveBear

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Re: Trees by Z-Level
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2016, 05:30:10 pm »

The main tile you lack would be obviously the quarter tiles. Dots might give a trouble as well, but you could catch vermin in animal traps.
Spoiler: pst (click to show/hide)

E: an idea: could use prepared meals and gathered leaves forbidden on food stockpile for fruits/blossoms, looking at tileset

Eh, perhaps I was unclear - I'm not asking for help building the Silver Trees, for that I'm just planning on replicating the trunk-structure with silver bars constructed as walls, floors, and ramps; rather, I was asking if anyone else had done work collecting multi-z-level cross-sections of trees, for reference - and if not, might they have any suggestions for a more elegant way to present the photos/cross-sections that *I* have collected (for use on the forums, not in Dwarf Fortress).
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Fleeting Frames

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Re: Trees by Z-Level
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2016, 07:45:49 pm »

Well, there's the wiki:

Tree:

Urist the CaveBear

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Re: Trees by Z-Level
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2016, 09:37:33 pm »

Hmm, yes - the Wiki has the one example, and it is basically the exact thing I'm doing; but it's only the one, for the one type of tree. 
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Fleeting Frames

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Re: Trees by Z-Level
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2016, 08:07:16 am »

It also lists almost all tree growths and tiles used by any trees (missing the ramps used by subterranean trees).

Urist the CaveBear

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Re: Trees by Z-Level
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2016, 09:01:39 am »

Nevertheless, it's not very helpful for creating architectural renditions of trees...  Oooh, I could make my trees out of obsidian instead...

Obsidian Trees or Silver Trees?  Oh, or Black Bronze Trees.

Oh dear.
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Infinityforce

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Re: Trees by Z-Level
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2016, 12:22:15 pm »

If you are building a park, surely silver statues would be more fitting?
In any case, why limit yourself to a 'tree' design?
Create an entirely new metal 'tree'! Obsidian pronged horror, anyone?
Maybe it could even be a 'tree-house' and have upper stories with food stockpile, or tables/chairs etc.?
Possibilities are LITERALLY endless. That's DF for ya.

edit: I realise that this is not what you're asking.
The best way to do this is probably to use Adventurer mode with a flying (or climbing) protagonist to easily cross the map and look at all the different tree types. The best way to save data of lots of trees might be to use a recording either in game, or specific software.
Surely the best way to get an idea for what trees look like is to look at hundreds of trees in-game (forested biomes or heavily forested embark, for example).

Is it really necessary to capture, compile, collate, categorise, etc. potentially hundreds of images/files, of just trees? I imagine most trees are at least 5 z-levels, then editing, renaming, ordering etc. Even then, your results might not be representational. Of course, some people enjoy that kind of activity, and if you play DF you're naturally likely to view hundreds, if not thousands of trees over time anyway.

Not that trees aren't fascinating, they're just not the most fascinating thing in DF, by far. Is it really necessary, to post something that people have seen millions of times already? What would be new, or useful, for instance, about your efforts, that curious DF players don't already know?
Many players look in trees when there's something stuck up there, or to watch the blossoms fall. Trees on their own aren't very interesting.
And by far the best cross-section of trees in the game will not be a series of images, but looking in the actual game to see the trees in all their glory.
Further, your efforts might be outdated in a few versions if trees change.

Please, continue on your project for great justice and !fun! if you find joy in it, by all means.
It may be that you create/contribute something useful as the end result of all your efforts - I would never dream of stopping you in your endeavour to share content with others.

In another vein.... Why not fungiwood? Fungus trees are infinitely more fascinating in the DF mythos, imo.

Urist the CaveBear

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Re: Trees by Z-Level
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2016, 02:45:37 pm »

All fair thoughts - but there's a naturalist in me that enjoys cataloging fauna (flora?  I can never remember which is which).  At any rate, I did think about the fungus trees but... I dunno, I don't think they'd be as impressive as metal sculpture.

As to "why not statues?"  Simply, there will be statues too, I just want a great big tree made of silver in the middle because I think it will make an awesome center-piece.   Plus, I have a penchant for multi-z-level architecture, statues are just so *short*; I'm currently cogitating on ideas for a colossal statue of a dwarf with a footprint like this
z1 - 
 oooo
  oooo
 ooooo
 ooooo
  oooo
    oo
And of course, by "footprint" I mean that would be the bottom of his left foot.  It's actually kind of obnoxious, my fortresses tend to favor architectural flair over practical design.



Plus, what better way to show the Dwarfish mastery of craft than to prove we can make a better version of trees than nature?  The Hippies will throw a fit.
« Last Edit: October 04, 2016, 02:55:49 pm by Urist the CaveBear »
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Slogo

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Re: Trees by Z-Level
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2016, 03:32:22 pm »

The main tile you lack would be obviously the quarter tiles. Dots might give a trouble as well, but you could catch vermin in animal traps.
Spoiler: pst (click to show/hide)

E: an idea: could use prepared meals and gathered leaves forbidden on food stockpile for fruits/blossoms, looking at tileset

Eh, perhaps I was unclear - I'm not asking for help building the Silver Trees, for that I'm just planning on replicating the trunk-structure with silver bars constructed as walls, floors, and ramps; rather, I was asking if anyone else had done work collecting multi-z-level cross-sections of trees, for reference - and if not, might they have any suggestions for a more elegant way to present the photos/cross-sections that *I* have collected (for use on the forums, not in Dwarf Fortress).

It's a lot of work, but you can....

Take the cross sections, rotate them 45 degrees, then scale their height to 1/2.

You can then stack the images on top of each other and make something like this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: October 04, 2016, 03:34:19 pm by Slogo »
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Urist the CaveBear

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Re: Trees by Z-Level
« Reply #10 on: October 05, 2016, 12:05:19 pm »

Hmm, that's very close to what I had in mind.  Thanks for the suggestion.
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