One tiny update ....

Just a tiny one - I believe the set is complete and there are 16 items in it. Fingers crossed this will be a joint release - I don't want to speak out of turn and say who just in case the speed of life decides to render one of us a speed bump . . . but I bet you can guess who the mystery creator might be :)

I like to challenge myself and that can verge on tormenting myself at the same time. While I am not a person who likes symmetry, I do believe in balance. Looking at the set there are a few uneven elements which I have tried to rectify. The fountain was the only water feature, so I wanted to add a bird bath to the mix. This had a number of revisions because what I did not realize is that the only base game water item I could clone and work around (for some reason fountains are a cranky object in workshop) was the small fountain - which has an animation? I was a little surprised as it is the base for the fountain in this set - but the animation is hidden inside the urn in that case so when the bird bath was imported in game I was a little surprised. The original shape was to evoke the feel of the obelisk and what I am calling the finial, but instead it just seemed awkward. Revision two found the base a little too top heavy so this is revision three - with a created group for water. In workshop this is a confusing looking object (as are plants or anything that requires transparency rendered), but it looks fine in game and has that movement of water which I wanted.

Goldilocks' bird bath - not too top heavy, not too angular - it's juuuussstttt right.

To balance the two cloches, and beef up the plant element I created another odd little plant. This is a favorite that I brought with me from New England - Sweet Woodruff. While I have a hell of a time trying to grow it here in Atlanta, it's an unusual looking little ground cover that does better in shady and moist areas like a woodland sort of setting. In real life I had this as a potted plant because I had no idea that it was a ground cover. When I planted it outside in Andover, Massachusetts it took off like gang busters . . . here it sort of whines a little and becomes a bit sparse looking. That said, I like the unusual - I bet you couldn't tell that - so I wanted to bring yet another favorite plant to game. This is a little high on the poly count and I probably would have approached it a different way if I was reading the term 'facet' as 'poly' in UVMapper . . . I was just a little glazed at the end of my meshing it and while I would prefer to see a lower number, I don't think it will be one of those things that people will have 10 of them on their lots. One or two high poly items are okay in a game - a house full of them with an OMSP holding 20 of them on one square is generally thought to be mildly reckless.

Two styles of clay pot - clean and mossy

Now we'll see if I can stop myself from adding something else. These large sets are sometimes a downer for people I think - like 'too much' to process and initially it can backfire and be a low download set. Hopefully that won't be the case this time around.