A rmed with a second cup of fresh, strong coffee, I messed around a bit this morning with artlist.io using its image to image function in an attempt to convert my hand-drawn map from September 2006 to something that more resembles an old map from the mid-18th century. And just like my experiments with Ninja AI in June, the results are mixed. The above map is pretty good, but Artlist keeps fouling up the place names and has trouble putting a faint overlay of hexes across the entire area. Hexes, admittedly, are not likely to be found on any genuine maps from the era in question, but there we are. Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the Ninja map, but there were problems getting it to correct its errors. Grrrr. As is the case with so much having to do with the various AI's out there now, the output generated is a direct result of the prompts entered. For text alone, and when you develop a lengthy, highly detailed prompt, it is...
Here's my last structure for a while until I decide to start on making a few extra bridges for those Table Top Teaser scenarios. It's an East Prussian, er, uh, um, "Stollenian", farmhouse-barn structure. I still need to add the internal balsa "ruins" and reinforce the four posts that support the second story overhang, but this is the basic shell. It's based on the four photographs, culled from the web, that follow, and I'll try to give parts of my farmhouse a similar fachwerk treatment, time, caffeinated painting hand, and tired eyes permitting!
Here's an old farmhouse that's now on the Lithuanian side of the border. I found it, I think, by doing a web search for houses in Lithuania Minor, or something like that. Lithuania Minor (Klein Litauen in German) was that slice of East Prussia where most of the people outside of towns were ethnic Lithuanians and spoke, not suprisingly, Lithuanian or a dialect thereof.
This combination farmhouse-barn is actually in the former West Prussia, present day Northwestern Poland. My model house above resembles it most closely.
Here's another similar house, but this time in present day Northeastern Poland.
And for good measure, here's one more farmhouse of the type I've tried to approximate with my, as yet, unpainted model above. This structure is also in present day Poland, but was once lived in by a German -speaking farm family until 1944 or '45.
Comments
Rob
Take a look in a good grocery store (upscale type) for some "fancy" bamboo toothpicks. They make far better posts than what you're using . . . they have one pointed end and one "filial" end . . . and that is the end for making great posts.
They often come in round plastic dispensers . . . often on cardstock backing. Look in the "kitchen accessories" type section of the store.
Oh, and the photos of the houses are wonderful . . . as is your model.
-- Jeff
Also, that's an excellent project, Professor.