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xaeyruudh
Master of Realmslore
USA
1853 Posts |
 Posted - 25 Jul 2012 : 05:44:57
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... and significantly more work than it appears to be, at the start. especially the drawing islands part. islands are lame.
desert planets might be terrible places to go on vacation, but life is a lot easier on the mapmakers. 
outlined half of the 2e map in a day. kinda useless, but a great way to spend the afternoon.
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http://xaeyruudh.wordpress.com/ |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2012 : 05:48:52
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Everybody's gotta start somewhere.  |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2012 : 07:59:26
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Are you doing your own world?
The great thing about that is naming. Wait until you have to place "Mouth O' Gargoyles", or "Halls of the Hunting Axe". As a fan of the setting I love stuff like that, but as a cartographer, they make me want to cry.
Do yourself a favor - create a setting with towns like 'Og' and 'Fald' and 'Korth'. Multiple-syllable names make my head hurt (and maps ugly). |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6354 Posts |
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xaeyruudh
Master of Realmslore
USA
1853 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2012 : 15:39:00
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Markus said somewhere that he uses/used "gimp" so I googled it and downloaded it. It's free, and it has an extensive help file though I haven't gotten it to work. It says gimp isn't installed in the directory where it *is* installed, so after a couple of tries I gave up and just googled my questions... and found that they have how-to-do-this guides online too.
The original that I made this simple map from is quite ugly, with gaps and overlaps (and thumb tack holes because the maps were once on my wall). However, with the map lines traced onto a "transparency" and paint dumped between the lines, the old is nicely covered up by the new.
I wouldn't say gimp is the most user-friendly program I've ever used, but so far I've been able to do what I want with it. But yes, time and effort are involved... perhaps less once you get past the learning curve, but it's still steep from where I'm sitting.
Worth it, though, if you have the time and you want maps that aren't otherwise available... like in my case pre-3e maps with my choice of landmarks and (eventually) a nicer polish than the originals. |
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xaeyruudh
Master of Realmslore
USA
1853 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2012 : 15:50:43
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quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
Are you doing your own world?
Not yet, but I might find the ambition to try that some day. I have an island/continent started, but I haven't fleshed out the rest of the world yet.
quote:
The great thing about that is naming. Wait until you have to place "Mouth O' Gargoyles", or "Halls of the Hunting Axe". As a fan of the setting I love stuff like that, but as a cartographer, they make me want to cry.
...or "Bottomless Lake of Cherrapuni" or "Misty Vale of the Grugach." I always saw naming as a challenge before -- coming up with things that sound cool, while also establishing an "ethnic" flavor for various races/regions. But mapping does put a different spin on it.
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Do yourself a favor - create a setting with towns like 'Og' and 'Fald' and 'Korth'.
I sorta like the idea of leaving large-scale maps pretty clean. Just draw the features, but leave the labels off. Regional maps then get some labels, starting with the big obvious features, and keep going until just short of the point where the map looks cluttered. Small local maps get blown up to where there's enough room to label everything that shows up on the map.
The idea of using numbers and a key (most recent example: that Waterdeep environs map from the web enhancement that was just mentioned a little bit ago) is growing on me. I think it could easily be dismissed by some folks as a useless map, but it has real appeal in terms of showing as much map, and as little clutter, as possible. |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2012 : 16:22:59
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This is why I eventually wanted to go to a pdf format, with layers for settlements, points of interests, roads, rivers, etc - a person just turns on the layers he wants and prints that.
I was working toward that when I lost everything. I have no plans for that now (too much work to re-do). However, as of last night I decided to do a Faerūn map, showing just major stuff (settlements and major roads/rivers), and then do 'snapshots' of specific regions at a much higher resolution. The map I am currently working on has 'run out of room', even though I have switched to a 300 ppi format.
And yes, GIMP is very counter-intuitive, and as soon as I get my contents check (if I ever get it), the first thing I plan to buy is another copy of Photoshop/Creative Suite. Actually the second thing - I'd get a bigger monitor first. GIMP crashes on me at least a dozen times a day - PS never did.
Which leads me to another piece of advice.... SAVE OFTEN! |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 25 Jul 2012 16:23:42 |
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I'm no Markustay, but mapmaking is fun
