Orion Spur Map

**bartmoss** · 11-15-2011, 04:07 AM

I am still working on creating a nice star map.

I was quite happy with the galactic map I created some time ago (http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...laxy-Revisited), but it necessarily lacks detail. So I decided to zoom in a bit and create a more local map of the orion spur.

The base map I used, as you will recall, was a NASA image of the Milky Way galaxy (http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/image...-the-Milky-Way) which I turned into a more map-like background image - this included increasing the resolution, as the Milky Way Galaxy map was designed as a 60cm x 60cm drawing.

However, when I zoom in, it still gets too blocky, and besides the gaps in the spiral arms start showing badly. So I used gimp to create a new orion spur based on the original. Here's what I got so far; I am unconvinced that Terra is centered like that, I'll check tonight, but for now it'll do as a "sample" star system.

Orion Spur Map-sectors-overview-rectangles3.png

PS: Yes, I realize it's beginning to turn full circle and I am pretty much where I was a year or so ago, when I began to map out the orion spur for the first time.

**bartmoss** · 11-17-2011, 02:49 AM

Alright, haven't had a whole lot of time, but this is WIP#2. I am not entirely happy with the spiral arm background yet, but it's getting there.

Orion Spur Map-sectors-overview-rectangles5.png

**bartmoss** · 11-17-2011, 07:27 PM

Just for the fun of it: This is a screenshot of Inkscape, you can see nicely how the current map fits into the bigger galaxy image - and the difference in resolution, too.

**mearrin69** · 11-18-2011, 02:57 AM

Looking awesome so far.
M

**bartmoss** · 11-18-2011, 03:53 AM

Thanks.

Current WIP, with some minor updates - I added sector names (just some random temp names), though this is really a lot of detail that's lost overall.

I gave the overall "cosmology" or astrography some thought yesterday night. Basically, on the orion spur map, every sector is 200x200 light-years. If I accept the trade-off that these are 2d, then it's entirely possible to create a third level of zoom - sector maps - which then map EVERY star system in the setting. Of course, creating the Orion Spur map at light-year resolution is a lot of work, but much of it could be automated in some fashion.

As an aside, the systems on the map are all Piper worlds, except for a few systems very close to Terra (the "break-out-list" attached to Terra). Distances are not correct, but relative positions are quite reasonable.

Orion Spur Map-sectors-overview-rectangles6.png

**bartmoss** · 12-04-2011, 08:30 PM

Current WIP is a little detour. I decided to make the map a little more colorful.
Since I used noise on the base map, it's a 22MB png and can't be posted, instead here's a scaled down version and a 1:1 area cropped so you can make out details.

Orion Spur Map-sectors-overview-rectangles7-small.png

Orion Spur Map-sectors-overview-rectangles7-zoom.jpg

Edit: Used star brushes from http://sakura222-stock.deviantart.co...h-set-30314622 - doesn't seem to have restrictions attached to use besides giving credit.

**mearrin69** · 12-04-2011, 09:44 PM

I like it a lot with color.
M

**bartmoss** · 12-05-2011, 03:44 AM

Thanks. Labels are getting even harder to read tho.

**ravells** · 12-05-2011, 05:46 AM

Great stuff bartmoss! As Mearrin said, the colour makes all the difference!

**bartmoss** · 12-05-2011, 06:54 AM

Thanks ravelis.
Are the colors okay, though? The main BG is supposed to be mostly blue.

I hate being colorblind, I can never be sure about what I see.

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