While the terrain is just about there, the world now needs to be filled with detail! I began with another tree type: the mighty pine tree. The drawing itself is within the style throughout the map and as the two images below show, I've gone a bit crazy. From afar, I think the resulting forest looks pretty good and really softens the shape of the terrain.
My next task was to start filling the landscape with other buildings. Some good old English features which I think really punctuate a landscape but are underplayed in games are churches and windmills. As such I'm going to add at least one of each to the map as they are relatively common in rural areas. Starting with a windmill based on one near where I live, I created the very rare sloping octagonal tower and made my first sojourn into the world of Sketchup spheres. The really weird way you make them - of drawing flat circles and arches then making one follow the other to build the shape - took me a few goes to master, but the completed shape is pretty effective.
I then added the detail to the top of the roof; another ball shape. The wire-frame view below shows the range of angles and lines required to build up the shape, many of which I will hide later and bury under a texture.
The next three shots show how I constructed the sails of the mill, which ended up being pretty complex. To start with I had to get the main shaft at the correct angle from the mill, using right-angled lines coming off it as guides for the following structures. The sails themselves comprise the measured, cut out mesh of struts to catch the wind, with a subtle curve on the main support and a couple of tricky angles where it attaches to the main prop. With the sails finished I converted them to a component to make them easy to copy and paste, then repeated it 3 times at right angles.
I think the final model looks pretty cute in the landscape with finishing details such as textures and the fan-tail and doorway on the back. I really think working from real locations helps with the authenticity of the finished buildings, but still works well within the cartoony style.
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