I've been playing arround with some props using the hay texture from the village works stable.

URL: http://wwgallery.pcinfoman.com/displayi ... ?pos=-4518

Now I know that none of these really would be appropriate for medieval setting. The hay role and hay bales are products of modern farm equipment. Medieval fields would have hay stacks. And straw would have been gathered in bundles. But I lack the skills to create textures from scratch. So I cannot do the bundles. And I haven't figured out how to fold a stack's shape.

So yeah, the hay role was a waste of time. But for now I'm going to use the hay bales.

I love the hay bales. Nice and simple, but could really bring a rural setting to life.

Arabin

I've been relitively pleased with them. They are a quick little prop to throw up in stables or barns. But I still wish I had a good idea how to make a more free form hay stack.

I do have an idea how to make a prop for the wagon so it looks like it filled with a loose pile of hay. But I doubt I can make it work.

I'm not sure if you have any of the modern sets, but in Bits of Mayhem, there is a large dumpter that optionally is filled with trash. The way that is handled might work just as well for a cart of hay...

Arabin

Echo Arabin.

The trash trick would work fairly well for the hay.

I'll been very tempted to buy mayhem because of the increadable range of props. But I don't have any modern figures. I've seen the garbage dumpster in some builds, and it looks to me like the garbage portion is simple a rectangle sheet that curves up.

My idea for the wagon started similar.

But:
1) I think for it to look like a wagon full, the pile must come higher than the top of the wagon. Not that I mean hay should be hanging over the wagon sides, but the center would come up higher. So I need to make some sort of end piece for either side.

2) The wagons are open at the back. So the end piece would have to conform to the sloping side of the wagon. And missing a tailgate means that the pile would slop down towards the back of the wagon as well.

Its trying to get those angles and curves right that I don't think I can do.

Having the back open, and the sides coming up higher than the edge of the cart does make it a lot tougher. The maltese cross might work, if you wanted the pile in the center of the cart. I have another idea but I'm not sure I can describe it... but I'll try.

I used the image below on my Rooftop Helipad kitbash, but ignore most of it and focus just on the full slope shape at the end (right side).



This would be looking at the hay from the side, ready to slot into the cart. Of course, that would be a little square where is bulges over the top of the cart... so the last inch on the left hand side (where it flattens out on top) should have the upper half inch or so leaning inwards from both sides. You could even lean it in from the end as well, so it's not too blocky up by the driver.

I hope that makes some sense. It would be a tricky shape to make... but not impossible.

Arabin

Yeah here is what I've done.

http://wwgallery.pcinfoman.com/displayi ... ?pos=-4545

I know the back slope is too steep and that the forward slope needs to move further down the wagon lip.

But honestly I don't know if I like the shape enough to try fixing it. Its just not the look I want.

How do you get the picture to show in the post?

Actually, I thought the shape looked about right (the fact that your prototype isn't quite even makes it look more authentic, not less) - it's the loose bits around the edges that are the challenge.

This truck (Medus Bolduc and a load of hay for feeding the cattle during the winter) looks to be loaded in the shape you've got, just higher and with more sticking out.
(Medus obviously loaded his truck on a calm day and didn't ahve any trees to drive under)


Have you tried playing around with using you base and adding some extra bits to the top and edges?

Of course, there's always this


[edit]Wow, Medus' picture didn't look that big when I first found it.

That prototype looks pretty good imo.
Agreed with Zenguy, you could overlap the edges to make it look a little 'hairier'.

However, a proper haystack in all time periods is not just a lump of hay. There is actually an art to stacking hay so it sheds rain and weather but still allows itself to dry underneath. Else you would end up with a nice mold colony inhabiting the inner hay. Making the hay unsuitable for cattle and horses. (eating alot of that will sour their stomach causing other health problems and many times death).

My point being, a proper hay stack does have a fairly regular structural shape. ala I think you are spot on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay

Here are some really shapely stacks in India:

I think the shape you came up with is fantastic. I wasn't sure a curve could be done on top well, but you did it, and it look just right in my opinion.

One other possible enhancement is if you have a seperate textured piece with jagged ends and either end, then stick that over the top of the curve... leaving the jagged bits hanging over the side of the wagon. Not sure it's really necesary though.

Oh, and that Wrecked Exotics photo is hillarious.

Arabin

Just to point out that in wetter climates (like northern Europe), haystacks need a more steeply sloped thatched top in order to shed heavy rain and snow.

Monet provides fine examples of this:



I'm thinking that knights tents might provide a good starting shape for haystacks.

I made a protoytpe of some props I was talking about on another post. I uploaded some pics but when I went to put the image into my message I could only get 1 of the 2 images to display.





It took me a while to figure out I had to use the address from the properties page. And I still have no idea what I did wrong there. Altough now it seems to work.

But anyway the 2nd is an attempt to make a 3d forest that wouldn't prevent you from placing figures in same area. It really needs work, the slots are to close arround the figures and the sides are so tall they prevent you from really seeing them.

Even without alot of change this format would probably loook good for planted fields.

The other is simply an idea on how to make a 3d barrier. I made a fire one simply because I had the colored paper so it would waste any ink. I'd like to try some kind of cool spell effect, especially printed on a transparency. But I don't really know what size or shape to make something that would be useful in a game.

I'm trying to get some opinions on the size I should make my haystack prop. I have no real knowledge of what the actual size would be.


These are my original SKU models. The left 2 are 16 sided the right one is 10 sided. But I think its more practicle have a simpler prop to build.


All these are 8 sided A liked the shape of the tallest one. But I thought that it was a bit large so I scaled it down so thats the one to the right.


And these are the 2 sizes I actually built.


Same as the last but with the single story house.

So what size? Should I alter the shape? Number of sides?

That looks great

I'd guess the smaller size looks better, but the bigger size will hide more characters

I also have done some more work on my hay wagon prop.



I don't think that any of these are really right. Because I do't really know what the shape should be. I got a bunch of reference photos but they're wildly inconsistant. About the only common feature is that the wagon would be overfull.

So any ideas would be appreciated.

I like the last haywagon due to the fact that you can have character models standing on top.

As for the Haystacks, why not implement all 3 sizes? It adds variety to the table and I think out in the field, consistent stack sizes are a relatively rare thing.