Realms of Ranora

This is my first map and I used FM8. Just wanted to thank everyone for helping me and for making me feel at home here.:)

Attachment 33127

Heya, Nice first attempt, i think its great. I would put those trees a bit closer together so they make a more concentrated forest feature, but thats just my 2 cents:) Keep it up!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheRedEpic

Heya, Nice first attempt, i think its great. I would put those trees a bit closer together so they make a more concentrated forest feature, but thats just my 2 cents:) Keep it up!

---

Thanks for your input, really appreciate it!

Agreed. Putting the trees closer together makes it feel more dense and foresty while spreading things out on the plains makes them feel more open.

Really nice map!

Just one thing : don't you want to make a scale or have you forgotten to make it? :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by adunakhor

Really nice map!

Just one thing : don't you want to make a scale or have you forgotten to make it? :)

---

Thanks. Dont know if FM has that feature, gonna have to check it out.

Also, you might consider scaling down the hills or scaling up the mountains. My vote would be to do the mountains up by about double or so and compare size. Hills should be somewhere around 1/2 to 1/4 the size of the mountains. Personally, I would highly suggest getting and using the vector symbols from the additional map pack if you can afford it. The mountains are MUCH better looking to me as are the hills. You might also try playing around and making your own mountains by breaking apart some of the existing symbols and do some experimenting. Also, on the NBOS site under the resources section, Mark Oliva's group has created some additional vector symbols for FM, though I don't know if there are additional mountains,hills, trees and stuff, but it might be worth a check out.

EDIT: also, if you take a look at the original map symbols in FM, you will notice that the hills are shaded on the left side(light coming from the East) while the mountains are shaded on the right side(light coming from the West).... YIKES!!!! light does not do that and it's those little things that can really stand out and make a map good or horrible.

As for scale, I think the PDF tutorial shows how to do that, but if not, it's fairly easy to make a long skinny rectangle, fill with color (or perhaps two colors, half and half) and then add your distances label underneath.

If you decide to do some more edits on this, let us know in the thread and I or one of the other community leaders will move it to the WIP forum until you feel it's "finished".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jfrazierjr

Also, you might consider scaling down the hills or scaling up the mountains. My vote would be to do the mountains up by about double or so and compare size. Hills should be somewhere around 1/2 to 1/4 the size of the mountains. Personally, I would highly suggest getting and using the vector symbols from the additional map pack if you can afford it. The mountains are MUCH better looking to me as are the hills. You might also try playing around and making your own mountains by breaking apart some of the existing symbols and do some experimenting. Also, on the NBOS site under the resources section, Mark Oliva's group has created some additional vector symbols for FM, though I don't know if there are additional mountains,hills, trees and stuff, but it might be worth a check out.

EDIT: also, if you take a look at the original map symbols in FM, you will notice that the hills are shaded on the left side(light coming from the East) while the mountains are shaded on the right side(light coming from the West).... YIKES!!!! light does not do that and it's those little things that can really stand out and make a map good or horrible.

As for scale, I think the PDF tutorial shows how to do that, but if not, it's fairly easy to make a long skinny rectangle, fill with color (or perhaps two colors, half and half) and then add your distances label underneath.

If you decide to do some more edits on this, let us know in the thread and I or one of the other community leaders will move it to the WIP forum until you feel it's "finished".

---

Thanks for your critique, very helpful.

I'd avoid symmetry - especially the rocks around the city bother me.

It's a good looking mix of terrains, although I agree the mountains often smaller than the hills isn't working. A desert next to a huge lake is unlikely, and the lake itself has two outflowing rivers, which doesn't happen (except very temporarily in unusual circumstances).