Friday 2010-10-15 Dev. update and Discussion

[brando]

Originally Posted by Sutts

I think half the problem here is the use of modern day tractor tramlines in the fields, which look odd when they are broken up by something like a railway line.

I'm from a farming background and at the risk of sounding like a stuck record:

1. The evenly spaced tractor tramlines that are apparent in these shots would definitely not have been seen - these are for the efficient application of fertiliser and sprays on a large scale with 15-30 meter booms. This technology has only been around since the 80s really.

2. Baled hay and straw would largely not have been seen, especially round bales. Loose hay/straw stacks and wheat stooks were the feature of the day.

3. Lines of straw in fields would only come later with the introduction of mobile combined harvesters which had only just been introduced to the states.

I haven't seen any evidence of the last 2 yet but maybe the textures are targeting the pre-harvest time when cereal crops are still maturing.

Now I agree, in the big scheme of things this is not an issue but it would have been nice to get it right when the textures were being created. I did point it out ages ago. In the Memphis Belle movie the modern day crop lines are a dead give away.

Standing cereal crops should be an even texture with no parallel tractor lines - these came much later as agriculture became more intensive. These simple textures would have been far easier to produce.

Also, at that time Linseed was grown (blue fields) but oilseed rape is a recent introduction (bright yellow fields). Kent was also full of orchards which have largely been uprooted now.

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/attachm...9&d=1287325120

+1 Absolutely spot-on analysis!

The only bright yellow crop in those times was in fact mustard.
This is why I get tired of hearing the "I was out on my mountain-bike..."-type threads that keep coming up.
It's as Sutts says. Agricultural practice has changed drastically since 1940 and the landscape has drastically altered too, both in topography and colours. I used to do some farm work in my school holidays, back before haystacks were made out of bales, when the principal tool was a pitchfork. The horse was the main source of horsepower, for ploughing and carting.
Just a further example: the elm tree. This easily-recognised tree was an essential part of the English rural skyline until they were all cut down to prevent the spread of Dutch Elm disease in the 1980s. Now they are all gone.