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Thread: Miscellaneous Quick Tutorials

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    Tutorial Miscellaneous Quick Tutorials

    Over the coming months I plan on adding some quick walk-throughs of various cartographic techniques. Some of these will be quite simple and require little to no prior experience with digital software. Others will require a bit more of a working knowledge of programs like GIMP and Inkscape. Hope these tutorials are of use to some folks.

    Cheers,
    -Arsheesh

    HERALDIC SHIELD MINI-TUTORIAL

    Someone recently asked about how I created the heraldic shield in my Ruins of Dragonport map. Here is a basic walk-through of my work flow. I am assuming the reader already has a grasp of the basics of GIMP and Inkscape.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by arsheesh; 07-29-2013 at 12:46 AM.

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    Thanks!

    Quick question: I'm having trouble spotting the refinements you made in Step 9, maybe because I'm using a laptop with an 11-inch screen. Where did you add in the contouring?

  3. #3

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    My pleasure Coriolis. Looking at it now I see that indeed this is not very clear. I used a small round brush to go in and add more white paint in certain areas of the rim in order for the light to appear more natural and not so uniform. The idea being to better capture the simulcra of worked metal. Here's a pic where I've indicated the places where I've increased highlights (part of the problem is that you can't really make these out well in certain areas due to the light background):

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    Guild Grand Master Azélor's Avatar
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    Very useful tutorial !

  5. #5

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    ooooh soooo looking forward to the continuation of this thread

  6. #6

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    Glad to here it. I was thinking for the next mini-tut doing a quick walk-through of how to use layer styles to create various map symbols (such as city and capital icons). Of course this will be old hat to experienced mappers but I thought it might still be useful to those new to digital cartography. Thoughts?

    Cheers,
    -Arsheesh

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    Awesome tutorial! I've yet to really try this, your workflow looks simple and intuitive. Great results!

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    Quote Originally Posted by arsheesh View Post
    Glad to here it. I was thinking for the next mini-tut doing a quick walk-through of how to use layer styles to create various map symbols (such as city and capital icons). Of course this will be old hat to experienced mappers but I thought it might still be useful to those new to digital cartography. Thoughts?

    Cheers,
    -Arsheesh
    I'd find that very handy. I'm about ready to start doing exactly that for one of my projects, and it would be great to have some pointers from an experienced perspective.

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    Hi I am new to doing this stuff I use Gimp because it is free. I have noticed some of the Gimp tutorials are for older versions of Gimp. I tryed to do the Ascension's Atlas Style but it got stuck around step 2 or 3 and couldn't get further any suggestions?

  10. #10

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    Well, it isn't "my" tutorial, but what I would suggest is to create a work-in-progress thread over in the Regional Maps section, throw up a screenshot and explain what precisely seems to be the trouble. This will give either myself or someone else seeing the thread a better sense of what exactly you are having.

    Cheers,
    -Arsheesh

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