...so I could slap it with a truck.

Problems?

I don't use AutoRealm much.  I use Fractal Mapper and HexMapper, or do stuff freehand (and crappily).

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!;276044...so I could slap it with a truck.

Tell me about it.

My hat of Autorealm know etc.

I wonder what Campaign Cartographer is like these days.

AutoRealm...it gives me fits.  it works counter to my intuition, and being that I'm very used to gettin' my Photoshop on, I often lock horns with The Olde AR.

However,  I wish to know more of this Earth Thing you call...Fractal Mapper.  I will use my people's information research technologies* to study it.


*Google.

What do you guys want to know, eh? I've been working in CC3 for about year know (and just got CD3 and DD3 for xmas!).

I tried autorealm (I think it's still on my machine) and dabbled in PS. I'll tell you this, CC is not easy to learn and get used to. There's still a bunch of stuff I have to learn. It's very different - more like a CAD program.

Then, that's good for me as I have no artistic talent whatsoever - so I can lean on the software a bit. with photoshop, I needed more...talent...

In the end, quite honestly, I think it's just picking a tool with which you are comfortable, and then understanding that you'll find limitations and have to discover ways to work around them - including using other packages as adjuncts to your main choice.

Rob made this evident to me when he did his awesome tutorial and talked about doing certain steps in different packages. He's made of awesome.

Fractal Mapper 8.0 is the current version from NBOS Software.  They are the makers of ScreenMonkey, the online virtual table-top program.  It is available at DriveThruRPG.com here.

Fractal Mapper was easier for me, as far as intuition goes.  It has a nice tutorial, and I use it for world  and overland maps.  If you want dungeon mapping, I'd have to suggest looking elsewhere.

Naaah, overland.  And really, I was just playing with AR, trying to learn it.  I'm not having much luck.  It's not vital anyway.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!;276100Naaah, overland.  And really, I was just playing with AR, trying to learn it.  I'm not having much luck.  It's not vital anyway.

Its based on CAD so throw logic out the window when trying to do something.  There is a Yahoo group dedicated to it, but its pretty much a dead program at this point in time with no real support since the developer is attempting to port it to another programming language.

I have to say that I've usually found most computer mappers as having too much of a learning curve for me to bother spending the time to learn them.

I considering learning to draw maps by hand. I may have to work as hard or harder to do well, I'm willing to bet they'll suck a whole lot at first. I can deal with that, and I'll have something more to show to myself than a screen filled with 6 different tutorials.

In the spirit of being more helpful than suggesting the opposite, I would check out Rob Conley's blog Bat in The Attic. He started (and plans to continue) a tutorial on map making using Inkscape, an open source vector drawing program that, as I understand it, is more Photoshop-like.

It starts here.

I tend to use Photoshop exclusively for my maps.

I open up a CAD-based program and my brain starts to melt.

I've found it helpful to use Autorealm for the instant fractal lines, and some of the map symbols, then copy/paste them into PhotoShop.

Well, most of those are built on one form of CAD or another, and those are not straightforward by any means.  I have been using the GIMP lately with a graph paper background and a second layer with a matching grid.  Stroking paths isn't as fast as laying out on CC or anything, but it does provide a bit more control.  Transferring the central area on Castle Amber proved to be tricky, as I misplaced a feature and had to do some major fiddly work to get it back in place.

Overall, however, it works pretty well.  It does have it's own learning curve, as there are some rather uncommon features that must be called upon to get things right.  I went digging around for some open source CAD software a while back, and the pickings for that are fairly slim, so it doesn't present a very viable solution in and of itself.  I will post a couple of things later in the week, though, since I have to get some stuff done for the Ground Zero project with KenHR.

Viola!  This is really roughed out, though.  Ken will have to vouch for the accuracy.