Alpine Meadow Waterfall Working Group

Forum to discuss and coordinate the expansion of the CDS and the redevelopment of existing territories.

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Diderot Mirabeau
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Alpine Meadow Waterfall Working Group

Post by Diderot Mirabeau »

Hello all

At the recent meeting of the New Guild it was decided to establish an autonomous working group for the Alpine Meadow waterfall in charge of designing and building a waterfall following the path roughly outlined by Moon's blue-blocked tracé and within a rough consumption of 500 - 700 prims max.

The working group is open to any interested party. Decisions will be taken democratically among the members although there will be somebody to lead the group, take initiatives regarding calling for meetings, setting agendas, deciding tied votes, reporting back to the New Guild and so forth. The current members are: Delia Lake, Bjerkel Eerie and myself.

I would suggest that the members of the group meet up in world at some point in the near future to discuss an agenda along the lines of this:

1. Water textures - requirements and how to choose
2. General design considerations (see attached memo)
3. Coordinating the work: I.e. can we have a team for bedrock, one for water/riverbed textures and so on.
4. Dates (when to choose textures, when to make other choices, when to start building)
5. Reporting back to the guild
6. Possible other items

How do you feel about meeting mid-week? We may be timezone challenged due to our geographic distribution but this could be solved by coordinating through the forums instead. I would aim to have this thread become the off-world centre for discussion and coordination of Alpine Meadow waterways-related issues.

In the following post I will publish and keep updated the most recent version of a notecard I am working on, which is an attempt to outline some design/building guidelines for our waterways. I'd like this effort to be considered a collaborative and facilitative exercise so please chip in with comments, suggestions and criticism!

Last edited by Diderot Mirabeau on Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Diderot Mirabeau
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Posts: 453
Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 6:28 am

Re: Alpine Meadow Waterfall Working Group

Post by Diderot Mirabeau »

Point of emanation: Alpine Meadow (167, 7, 144) as a pond and/or a stream emanating from somewhere at the base of the city walls. Length: 5 metres going north (or 33 if springing from base of walls, which are at altitude 168 in the worst case) i.e. to the point (167, 11, 144) then a drop of 7 metres to (167, 12, 137) progressing northwesternly for ca. 15 metres while descending ca. 8 metres to a point under the bridge (155, 16, 129)
Approximate distance: Between 30 metres and 50 metres

RECOMMENDATION: The focus in this stage should be on presenting a realistic source of the water. The limited amount of land available at the summit does not seem to suggest the placement of a larger basin or reservoir that could appear to overflow at times feeding the waterfall. An alternative could be to let the stream start as the meltwater from a glacier. However, putting a glacier at the summit would potentially interfer with the image of a Neufreistadt in summer so it would need to be considered whether to make such a summit or indeed the whole stream seasonal (as is often the case). Such seasonality would however require a great deal of maintenance, which is probably disadvisable. Instead it is recommended to model a drop coming from somewhere under the city walls. The intended impression would be to make it appear as the source of the water supply for Neufreistadt coming from somewhere further up the mountains or a mysterious wellspring inside the mountain. The stream could be aligned with waterways interior to the city if deemed to be feasible.

A lot of visible bedrock would seem realistic at this high level. Also the lack of any natural reservoir points suggests that water turbulence be relatively high and the depth of the water be low to moderate. A design emphasis could be rocky outcrops inside the waterstream causing particle sprays that would rise to merge with the natural mist of Neufreistadt.

Bending north for a further 8 metres (155, 24, 129) before dropping 9 metres (156, 26, 120). Sloping north under another bridge for ca. 25 metres/dropping 15 metres) until quieting into a small pond at (159, 51, 106). The pond continues north becoming a widening stream for 20 metres until dropping north under a low bridge in two intervals for a total drop of 10 metres (166, 86, 95).
Approximate distance: 85 metres

RECOMMENDATION: The interesting feature in this section seems to be the widening of the waterway from stream to a gushing river as it flows under the two bridges. Bedrock would still be pronounced with some visible riverbed forming and the noise from the waterway developing from a trickle to a more persistent sound of flowing water. The land opens up here in a way that should enable a markedly increased level of water - perhaps so high as to allow people to swim in it using swimmable prim water. At the mouth of the waterway before the drop the stream should be widening out into what looks like "half a pond" that is never allowed to become a pond since the water goes over the side forming signifcant turbulence and particle stream in the drop.

I would recommend that the impression be given at this stage that the turbulence in the water is reduced in favour of an accumulation of water - justifying the widening of the river and a higher level of water. Reduced turbulence would mean a higher degree of water transparency and possibly even the existence of a water ecosphere encompassing fish and plants.

Here the stream takes a bend to the northeast toward what will become a monastery for 18 metres while sloping downwards (to 178, 100, 95) before bending once more this time in a northwestern direction with a strongly increased downwards inclination to (161, 142, 80 - a drop of 15 metres) but a distance of around 60 metres.
Approximate distance: 80 metres

RECOMMENDATION: This stage is dominated by a few things: First the river bends at the side of the monestary. There is a steep cliffside forming on the north side of the drop giving the monestary a monumental presence at the summit of the slope overlooking a the drop. The slope should be richly adorned with jagged bedrock to illustrate the wildness of the beginning waterfall. Possibly the nest of a large avian predator could be placed on a small shelf on the side here. The turbulence of the water in the drop should be high and the noise should increase to include the splashing sound of water dropping on rock. Just before the second - major drop - an opportunity for a small plateau pond presents itself. This should contain rocks and particle foam. The second drop forms the remainder of the waterfall and is described in the concluding paragraphs.

The regression continues but the stream bends in a direction slightly more NE than N heading under a bridge at (188, 178, 50) but continuing its direction and slope all the way down to (223, 229, 16) - drop of 34 metres/distance of roughly 130 metres where it connects with Linden water.
Approximate distance: 140 metres

RECOMMENDATION: The final, major part of the waterway presents some challenges designwise as it is expected to progress almost linearly down along a very gently declining slope. The recommendation would be to model intervals where the water can run horisontally before falling vertically or diagonally for a short period until again running horisontally for some time since modelling a waterway of 150+ metres with the water being at a very 'lazy' angle doesn't seem very realistic. We should therefore strive to make the last, long part of the waterway see the water return to a more calm flow especially after the point when it crosses under the last bridge and meets up with the Linden water. The surrounding bedrock could also be gradually decreased in volume and extent and the emphasis be put on developing realistic 'river bed', aquatic environment and not the least the areas where the water builds up before suddenly dropping - perhaps due to a build-up of little rocks?

Total approximate distance: Circa 350 metres
Total estimated prim requirements: Between 500 and 100 prims depending on desired level of detail regarding bedrock and riverbed.

Dnate Mars
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Re: Alpine Meadow Waterfall Working Group

Post by Dnate Mars »

Diderot Mirabeau wrote:

Point of emanation: Alpine Meadow (167, 7, 144) as a pond and/or a stream emanating from somewhere at the base of the city walls. Length: 5 metres going north (or 33 if springing from base of walls, which are at altitude 168 in the worst case) i.e. to the point (167, 11, 144) then a drop of 7 metres to (167, 12, 137) progressing northwesternly for ca. 15 metres while descending ca. 8 metres to a point under the bridge (155, 16, 129)
Approximate distance: Between 30 metres and 50 metres

RECOMMENDATION: The focus in this stage should be on presenting a realistic source of the water. The limited amount of land available at the summit does not seem to suggest the placement of a larger basin or reservoir that could appear to overflow at times feeding the waterfall. An alternative could be to let the stream start as the meltwater from a glacier. However, putting a glacier at the summit would potentially interfer with the image of a Neufreistadt in summer so it would need to be considered whether to make such a summit or indeed the whole stream seasonal (as is often the case). Such seasonality would however require a great deal of maintenance, which is probably disadvisable. Instead it is recommended to model a drop coming from somewhere under the city walls. The intended impression would be to make it appear as the source of the water supply for Neufreistadt coming from somewhere further up the mountains or a mysterious wellspring inside the mountain. The stream could be aligned with waterways interior to the city if deemed to be feasible.

Why not just have it start as a spring? We already have a high watertable in NFS with the small area of water.

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