SC2Mapster

So my opening cinematic pertains largely to a hero walking up to a big, cool Terran stronghold door built right into a mountainside. I'm having a hard time making the door look epic, I've only been with the editor for about a month and could use some criticism.

What you need is some manmade stuff on top of that gate. Right now it just looks like the gate could open and you'd be facing sheer mountain wall. By adding some manmade objects around the top of the gate you give out more of a feeling that your hero is actually walking up to a stronghold built into a mountain, rather than a door placed in front of it.

You also need some heighting play in the foreground (slight dunes) and maybe some more manmade stuff around to insinuate the area is or was actually inhabited by Terrans; think sandbags, more obvious crates, a landing pad for planes, something along those lines.

Overall a very good start though.

Depends what you're goin for. Mozardred is right really, it'd make it feel more populated.

I think lights are essential really for that whole populated mankind stronghold, specially on gates.

Though, of course, the look you appear to be going for is like some kinda Terran door of Durin o_O, wasteland, nobody to guard, would work for some kinda storage facility thats ran outta use or something.

@Mozared: Go

Thanks a ton you guys. I took everything you said into consideration. After putting way more time into this than I'm comfortable sharing, here is where I am at so far.

The majority of the time was spent fitting doodads above the door and recoloring a few to make them mesh nicely. There are also a few visible layers of doodads that go pretty deep behind the resize castanar windows to give a feeling of complexity. The base is supposed to be in disrepair so there's a lot of junk around. The addition of the dunes didn't seem to pop out much to the viewer due to the angle of the shot but I still enhanced the blending of the terrain. I think the crates and random doodads around the door really add a lot too.

And yes, Ababner, that is what I'm going for, a semi-abandoned base with a few people holding out inside. Makes me feel good you guessed right!

That's not exactly what I meant in terms of 'stuff above the door', but it's better. What I mean is... something like this. That base is actually carved into the mountain. Yours still looks like a giant door in front of a mountain. Basically, check the attachment. Turn that into something manmade. Think about it logically; there needs to be a manmade roof - how likely is the chance that there is a mountain, virtually anywhere, that has such steep slopes that you can put a door in front of it that'll cover the whole entrance, preventing any 'leakage' near the top?

@Mozared: Go

Ah I see, that makes more sense. Thanks for the insight and logic I'll definitely take this into consideration for my next version.

@Mozared: Go

Getting closer:

Half the work is finding rock doodads that I can stretch into the appropriate slant to make it seem like the base is built in as an intrusion on the natural formation.

That's great, love it! Especially the fans in the mountainside add a nice little touch. The whole thing now actually looks like it's carved into the mountain, instead of in front of it. All it needs now, I think, is some more detail - closer up stuff, thing like those vents. It's already pretty good overall though.

@Bilxor: Go

I'd add some rocks stretching down from the mountain all the way to the ground in front of the walls to either side of the door.

@Nebuli2: Go

finished product:

added rock slopes down both sides (only 1 visible) and more doodads back above the door that fit into rock cliff. also darkened some doodads such as the fan to add contrast.

What's the mountain look like?

@ScrinKing: Go

Nothing much more than this, the rest of the map is inside the base. This is really the only exterior shot.