Thread: Help save my map!

I had thought of that but was worried about making it look like a good river. Great idea though. I am going to tinker with it to get my technique down since I dont have a drawing tablet for my PC yet. Once I feel I can do it with some success I will likely start over. Thanx again for the helpful suggestions everyone.

Originally Posted by jaerdaph

I would suggest trying something different for the rivers so they are outlined in black like the coastline and the lake. Rather than use the default river drawing tool, perhaps try drawing the coastline with indents for the rivers and lake. See the (very) simple mockup below for an example of what I'm talking about.

For my map, I had envisioned as I depicted in the original only showing the eastern end of the lake. Mostly for the reason that it allows me to set the total size of the lake later as I make more decisions about the rest of the campaign world. I am designing this campaign world from the inside out. Starting at the town level and working out. What I originally depicted is the starting area that will be known to the characters when we start.

If I "split" the lake using the technique you suggest, is that going to cause any problems later on when I try to add features, like islands or deep water effects, etc.?

I made 2 attempts at other techniques. One using the method you suggested and one using the default tools provided by CC3. I am not entirely happy with the results of any of them.

Originally Posted by eleran

If I "split" the lake using the technique you suggest, is that going to cause any problems later on when I try to add features, like islands or deep water effects, etc.?

If you add islands to the lake, use the same landmass drawing tool you used to make the continent. They will sit on top of the lake because the LAND sheet sits on top of the SEA sheet.

You shouldn't run into problems with deep water effects if you draw the sea areas first, then the lake and river areas. Use the Sea, Light drawing tool to create a shallow area around the continent coast first. Then draw a Sea, Default area in the lake (and down the river) to match the sea, and then a Sea, Dark area in the lake. See the attached image to see what I mean.

Here's that same image with sheet effects turned on. I increased the blur radius of the Blur effect on the SEA sheet from 5 to 7. Also, that shallow area around the coast (made with the Sea, Light drawing tool) really should hug the coastline a little closer, but this was just a quick mockup.

Ya know. I really didnt like it so much when I first saw it, but after you added effects it looks MUCH nicer. The only thing I don't like about this method is it makes the river look, well, not river-like, to me anyway. Maybe if I drew the river portion with something smoother. I just dont like the fractalizing of each side of the river. Most rivers have some kind of symmetry between each bank.

Originally Posted by eleran

The only thing I don't like about this method is it makes the river look, well, not river-like, to me anyway. Maybe if I drew the river portion with something smoother.

That's a great idea and a good point, especially regarding this style of fantasy overland map. Give it a try!

Once you start learning the tricks to CC3, you can start taking advantage of such tools as:

• Drawing double lines
• Exploding Polygons (so you can delete portions of them)
• Using the Trace command (something I don't know how to use yet believe it or not )
• Using copy command
• And then using the Multipoly command to put it all back together again

Originally Posted by NeonKnight

[*]Using the Trace command (something I don't know how to use yet believe it or not )

Have patience when you do. It's apparently quite processor-intensive. The Primaterra map I'm working on for Blandine required tracing the fractalized coastlines in order to make the political overlays. It took about a minute and a half to get each length of coastline traced properly.

Granted, my computer's not the most powerful when working with only one processor.

Originally Posted by Midgardsormr

Have patience when you do. It's apparently quite processor-intensive. The Primaterra map I'm working on for Blandine required tracing the fractalized coastlines in order to make the political overlays. It took about a minute and a half to get each length of coastline traced properly.

Granted, my computer's not the most powerful when working with only one processor.

HAH! In the past (before I knew about the trace command, still have never used it) I always used the copy, split, copy again, and multipoly tools to trace certain portions of a map.

As they say, more than one way to skin a cat....