I figured I'd let the Maps for the Map Obsessed either die or get back to map posting

So, since the first of the year, I've tried to spend some time on the maps for Dunfalcon. So I went and purchased Campaign Carotagrapher 3 and Fractal Terrains from ProFantasy. Nice little packages, but, I will admit, difficult for a newbie.  I'm sure there's tons of stuff I haven't even explored yet..

The first attempt, the January 3rd post, was a portion of the Fractal Terrains map blown up (though not correctly) to show the portion of the world that will be Dunfalcon.The second attempt was yesterday afternoon, and was after much experimenting with how to get the map from FT to CC3. The third version is built on the previous, adding contours and cleaning up the image a bit.

The lesson - you get really good with a piece of software...by fucking up with it numerous times. I can now do a shit load more with Campaign Cartographer 3 than I could even 24 hours ago - Fractal Terrains as well. I've been through version after version of drawings, views, imports, exports, etc. The source of the image I put up yesterday at 4:00 PM no longer even exists. I had to restart from scratch because I didn't save the view in Fractal Terrains before I exited. This prompted me to, as in previous instances, essentially start over - but now armed with experience.

None of this is to say they are amazing maps; only that I'm getting better and better at using the software. My hope is that this will, at some point, result in a good map. "Just keep swimming..." as Dori would sing.

After a little more cleanup, I've got to figure out how to move from this to something like the old "World of Greyhawk" maps...

Full size versions of the images in this post are in this thread over at D20 Haven - so feel free to pop on over and have a look. Feedback is, of course, greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Jim

Quote from: James J SkachAfter a little more cleanup, I've got to figure out how to move from this to something like the old "World of Greyhawk" maps...

Well this is what I would do

Move everything to a new sheet called Base Import
Lock it
Save it as MyMap1
Make a Sheet called Coast
Draw over the original cleaning up as you go.
Lock that sheet
Save it as MyMap2
Make a Sheet called HexGrid
Put it between coast and Base Import (You want your coastline over your hexes)
Use CC3 Hex command to draw a hex grid (maybe with numbers)
Lock that sheet
Save it as MyMap3
Then add sheets for forests, mountains, rivers, etc. generally you want stuff that is filled to be below the hex grid and object/line stuff (settlements/roads) to be above the hexgrid
Finally add a sheet called Key or Label. This is where you put all your text.
When you add a major feature back it up as MyMapX with X being the next number in the sequence.

Hope this helps.

Nice, but here's my little dirty shortcut to good-looking and elaborate campaign maps:

- Find a map of Earth that's only outlines (coasts/national borders) or two-colour (land/sea).
- Cut out an appealing part and paste it into a new file in Photoshop.
- Rotate and/or flip it by a discretionary number of degrees.
- Change the colours so that land becomes sand and vice versa.
- Advanced users: Do the same as above, but following national border lines rather than the coastline.
- Ta-da! You have a nice, reasonably realistic map in 10 minutes.
- Add elevation, locations, rivers, etc..

WAIT!!!!

You mean I'm the only one that draws out maps by hand...using standard rules of geography....imports it into a custom-designed software set to add elevations, etc by shading and by-hand....then overlays textures and colors...then imports it into game-design topography software to check for validity?

And I suppose that nobdy else uses an abacus either!

Yeah, see...I suck at drawing.  I have maps all over the place, all half started and never finished for one reason or another. Usually that reason is I came to realize...well...it wasn't up to my demanding standards...

So, I turn to software.  It's in my nature, being in software, to use it as some use pencils or markers or brushes. I just wish I was more adept at the tools - like Rob. There's so much to learn and I don't have the time or patience. So I turn to even more specialized tools - like CC3 - in the hopes that it will fill those gaps faster....

I've played with the idea of using the earth as a basis of a world, but to be honest, Fractal Terrains was just too fun to pass up...

The progress seems slow - it is.

But I exported rivers from Fractal Terrains and then placed them in the master map - one by one, saving after each was put in the right sheet and layer and was fractalized nicely.

And then I added a scale bar for those of you who haven't seen how big this map is (roughly 11,000 miles by 9,000 miles).

You can see the large image over at D20 Haven in this thread.

If you look over in the thread, I've broken the overall map into sections and subsections in the hopes of having small chunks to work on for more detail.

Just for kicks - and to take a break - I fired up the old HexMapper, used a bit map of one of the subsections, and did a rough hexmapper version.  Have a look and let me know what you think!

I redid the maps, starting a new document and getting everything lined up on the 0,0 coordinate properly. I also redid the reference grid.

And just for the kicks, I made a black and white for use in showing migration patterns of humans across the continent - like the old WoG Gazetteer...

Take a look!

OK folks...as I was working on the history (see companion thread here at TheRPGSite or here at D20 Haven) became evident, to me at least, that I was going to need to break up the main Wirmarch region a bit more with rivers to provide natural borders for developing kingdoms. This led to me cleaning up the underpinnings a bit (putting things in more granular layers and sheets and such) and adding a huge lake (of unknown depths!).  This, in turn, forced me to change the size and orientation of the existing large lake in the central Wirmarch. Just for thrills, I added some islands off the east coast.

I still need a black and white version and to update the migration maps - but for now here's a small version (the full size is here at D20Haven):

And just to be complete (and so you don't think I'm being too lazy), here's a small version of the migration map (of course, the large version is over here at D20 Haven!):

I redid the maps completely copying each landmass point by point (or as close as I could) with a few minor adjustments. I changed the mountains to be more like ranges in the WoG as opposed to the altitude contour lines - those just didn't seem to work for me. I tried to stay near to the altitudes from the Fractal Terrains, except where I thought I needed to take "artistic license".

It's a start - next up are the to finish the rivers and mountains and hills, then it's on to forests and fens. I've even started adding kingdom names in the east.

It's been a while, but I'm still working on it...

It's all here.

EDIT:The attached image is the subset that shows only a subsection of the continent.

OK - new work, mostly experimenting on whether or not I can do this all in one map or if I'll have to create separate maps for each "section".

So in the Workbench thread over at d20 Haven, there are six sections - zoomed in for detail...

I'd love to hear any comments, questions, etc.

For those interested, I've also created a new migration map. Frankly it (fortunately) didn't change too much..

I just keep plugging along - whether you want to comment or not!

A low-res version as the nice hi-res one is almost 2M:

Alright boys and girls - things keep moving. Though the nations are really taking shape and it's getting close to being settled. Then I'll go back to the history and I've created a database to keep track of the "Atlas" that I'll start filling in with information on each of those nations.

Of course, the detailed images are over on d20 Haven, but here's the overview picture.