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Drawing a Map

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 5:20 pm
by Jester of the FoS
So, those familiar with my sig know I once drew a map of the Core, to damn all those bad maps from past editions.
This summer, I started work on a revised map, employing all the changes photshop-fu I've learned over the past three or four years.

It's a work in progress, but here's what I've got so far.
Image

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 6:41 pm
by Strahdsbuddy
That's a beauty! This is the year of the map, since I know at least three more of us are working on maps of our own for varying purposes, including everything from personal canon to strict-to-scale renderings. My 3-D Minecraft version is having some growing pains, but still may grow legs as I enlist the help of programmers.

I like your elevation changes. The Sleeping Beast looks so out of place on a map like this; as I think it should. As I learn more about layers, I find it easier to separate elevation from vegetation from roads & cities from borders from text. A stripped-down grayscale heightmap would come in particularly handy as we try to take the setting fully into the digital age. It's on my list....

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 7:05 pm
by Jester of the FoS
Knowing how to draw trees/forests was always tricky and I think these turned out well. Haven't done mountains yet, as that's a lot of work. Unsure if I'm going to do them as a series of peaks or try something more realistic.

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 7:37 pm
by alhoon
Very nice!

I'm also working on maps, just because I like making maps.

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 7:06 am
by Gonzoron of the FoS
Hey Jester, looking good so far!

Have you watched the Zombie Nirvana games cartography tutorials? lostboy pointed them out to me. Phenomenal. I could not have made this map for Forenoon Abbey without it:

Image

The texture painting tips in them should help ease your pain on the mountains...

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 8:04 am
by alhoon
Which program did you use Gonzoron?

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:06 am
by Gonzoron of the FoS
Photoshop. I think if I was aiming for "publication" I could have spent more time on it and made it better. But for personal gameplay on maptool, it hit "good enough" level and I stopped.

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:58 am
by alhoon
Isn't photoshop a bit hard to make maps with?
Have you tried CC3 or (my personal favorite) Fractal mapper 8?

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 10:46 am
by Gonzoron of the FoS
I have only used photoshop. Yes, it's difficult, but I'm familiar with it, and I like the look of the results. I was turned of by the very "computerized look" of CC2, but CC3 looks to be much better. Worth a look. Never heard of fractal mapper before. I'll take a look sometime. But another benefit is that I have photoshop already and don't want to drop more money on a new program.

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 11:23 am
by alhoon
Fractal mapper is cheaper and easier to use than CC3.

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 1:55 pm
by Strahdsbuddy
I use Inkscape, which Lostboy told me was essentially the free version of Photoshop. It seems to do everything I want it to do thusfar.

I think a repository of maps of unmapped canon sites would be very useful. For instance, has anyone ever mapped Blackburn's Crossing or the interior of Ivan Dilisnya's Degravo? How about a big city like Kantora? The good thing about this community is that we are all professional enough to do our best on a project, and none of us are really in any sort of competition with one another, so in my mind the first person to offer a map of a fresh place makes his map "canon" for all intents and purposes.

That said, I hope Ron wouldn't mind if I used that Forenoon Abbey map...

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:52 pm
by Gonzoron of the FoS
Strahdsbuddy wrote:I think a repository of maps of unmapped canon sites would be very useful. For instance, has anyone ever mapped Blackburn's Crossing or the interior of Ivan Dilisnya's Degravo? How about a big city like Kantora? The good thing about this community is that we are all professional enough to do our best on a project, and none of us are really in any sort of competition with one another, so in my mind the first person to offer a map of a fresh place makes his map "canon" for all intents and purposes.
That would indeed be very cool. I'm sure we could find a place in the Portrait Hall for such a collection.
That said, I hope Ron wouldn't mind if I used that Forenoon Abbey map...
Not at all, though if you bug me enough, I could dig up the original file and remove the miniatures. (Also, note that the map was heavily based on the "Covenant of the Hallowed Doctrine Monastery" map, from Heroes of Horror, so it's not 100% original)

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 5:11 pm
by alhoon
We have a potrait hall? So if I start making maps (generic, not specific places mentioned) I could share them here?

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:42 pm
by Gonzoron of the FoS
alhoon wrote:We have a potrait hall?
Does no one look at the main page? :)

http://fraternityofshadows.com/

http://fraternityofshadows.com/PortraitHall.html
So if I start making maps (generic, not specific places mentioned) I could share them here?
Generic or Specific, either would be welcome.

Re: Drawing a Map

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 7:01 pm
by Strahdsbuddy
"Portrait Hall" sounds so specific to pictures of people; judging by the current content, most contributors agree! But if you say maps are welcome then I think that is a great idea, and I invite all of our map-inclined members to participate.

Perhaps Lostboy's Port-a-Lucine should be moved there as well? It is a fine beginning to any map collection!

Regarding original maps, I think it is common knowledge that my Genesis Project maps were ripped in whole from those in Jester's sig; and as long as we are honest about where we get our maps I don't see a problem with ripping a good castle or dungeon or town from another source, even another game world. Forgotten Realms Adventures comes to mind as a book with a lot of city maps in it; those could make for good starting points for some modification. Giving credit where due is just the right thing to do.

I will admit up front that Mordent Cartographical Society is the main source for my map stencils. At the moment, I have a large "planning board" of maps that is Gomez's full Core with the shrunken city maps from the Black Box overlayed and a lot of work by other people. Even though I will be redrawing the lines personally when I like the way things fit together, I would not be so arrogant to consider this map an original work.

The 3d Minecraft version I may take a little more credit for, just because of the different medium...