How do you make things not ugly

[rianbay812]

I've honestly never made a beautiful contraption.

babits,
portgoose,
skateskier,
jyo,
jdcc,

How do you do it
srsly
hao

[camaro 09]

and foss!!!!!!!

[rianbay812]

and foss!!!!!!!

good point. added.

[schmittd]

I've honestly never made a complex contraption.

rian,
camaro,
remy,
jon

How do you do it
srsly
hao

[Pawel.]

I've never solved a difficult level

(everyone that solves hard levels)

How do you do it
srsly
hao

[schmittd]

I've never solved a difficult level

you exemplify falsehood.
lies encompass your heart.
http://www.fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=11752235

[Pawel.]

...except for this one xD

[rlbabits]

yo dawg- seems like nobody you flattered answered your post...so snobby! lol jk.

well here is my answer for you:

-many times after i solve the level, i make a bunch of touchups and smooth everything out, just because it solves the level does not mean you cannot clean things up.

-add a little flare and some precision to the design that always helps. any mechanisms that you feel were particularly clever or outstanding or new in your design should get exaggerated because often people only watch the design once and there is so much more to designs. PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL >.>

- i think even low end complexity and low end graceful designs might take 10 or twelve hawk eyed views to find everything the creator mixed in as a treat for the eyes/brain. i usually include a ridiculous amount of little things in my design that are not obvious at first, and i sometimes make them to see if the viewer can spot them (usually nobody does)

-pick a good level!!!! find a level you really wanna play because inspiration is king sir! also usually its easier to make a cool design on a simpler level but a truly difficult level that only few will ever be able to solve has beauty to a certain degree i think

wow this post comes across as super arrogant. (just what i like lol)

...anyway you have made plenty of designs that i consider to be truly bootyful rianbay. i mean fo sho you are pro dawg. just work hard thats about it.

oh my that was my 888th post

p.s feel free to argue with these points or whatever- if you want more advice i will dish it out not sure if i am good enough to add anymore arrogance tho

[camaro 09]

I DONT AGREE RL!



i notice many little details in ur designs

[rianbay812]

not arrogant at all

I see what you mean; although one of the reasons mine always suck is because I never waste time trying to perfect a design after it's been solved the first time. Do all of the guys on the list do that? I feel like most people just have the lazy attitude of doing that.

What I struggle with most is not complexity. I think I've made plenty of complex designs with cool features and new mechanisms they just never turn out as smooth and precise as I plan.

anyway, that helped a lot. thanks for responding!

[jdccdj1]

the reason i have not responded was because i thot you were being facetious adding me to a "makes beautiful designs" list, haha...
i think you have a lot of cool looking designs, rianbay and you are a technical wizard at finding solutions to complex levels...that
said, it's not easy making things "beautiful" with 4 or 5 things to do like on most of the levels you solve...nevertheless tho, the
things you do come up with are cool as heck!

i will admit that some elements of some designs i have made are cool, but i have yet to make a design that has that "WOW" factor
like proto's Scarmiglione, lukasran's Hungry for Red, or season's Double Cherry...these are beautiful brown designs to me...complex,
yet graceful...for powered designs, i am going with samoo, ~jon~ and zhyrek...to me, they make really cool powered designs.

to answer your question rianbay, i guess the fewer tasks you have to do to solve the level, the more creative you can be with the solve,
thus in turn, the more beautiful your design can be

i have seen some truly amazing designs by most of the players here on the forums...each of us has a style we lean
toward and sometimes we find something beautiful to express with that style

to rl: my brother, i personally view every good players design many times initially and i re-visit them regularly to see if i might
come up with some ideas of my own...and then sometimes i like to view them over again for the pure enjoyment of seeing a cool
design

[Jyo]

well heres my 2 cents.

its close to what babits said
but basically if i solve a level and dont like the way it looks, i just tweak it until it does.

also, while im building my design
i try to make all my shapes out of isosceles triangles,
just because they have an aesthetic symmetry about them.

and lastly
i try to utilize the entirety of my build space
(as opposed to concentrating most of my design in a smaller area)
partly to avoid the black hole glitch,
but also to make it look more like a machine, rather than a broken accordion

also id like to add that i found it weird that you posted this cuz your designs look great imo.
sparkles on the other hand... that guy is like the picasso of FC.

[rianbay812]

also, while im building my design
i try to make all my shapes out of isosceles triangles,
just because they have an aesthetic symmetry about them.

and lastly
i try to utilize the entirety of my build space
(as opposed to concentrating most of my design in a smaller area)
partly to avoid the black hole glitch,
but also to make it look more like a machine, rather than a broken accordion

YES, this is what I was looking for!
I knew there was something you did differently!
I'll give this a shot