Where would you start in re-making this map?

[mtbill]

This is my base level campaign map, which is pretty crude (dark brown is mountainous, light brown hills, green forest, etc.). I would like to convert it into a satellite style map and I have been reading the various tutorials to learn how to do this. My first hurdle is that I am starting with a map that was not necessarily created with further development in mind. The good news is that it is a nice big map made in Gimp (something like 5500 x 3000). The bad news is that it is all one layer. I am wondering if it would be better just fill the whole continent to one color and then start over with features using another copy for reference, or if it is reasonable to work with what I have. Any suggestions?

[jtougas]

Nice start. You could make the landmasses one color (or texture) and then use new layers to represent each of the features. If you made new transparent layers you could trace the features and then add color or texture.

[mearrin69]

I'd say the main exercise here is to get your main landmass selected out of the original as a single-colored, hard-edged blob on a new layer. The other layers would seem less important except as guides on where to place your mountains and such...but you surely want to keep them around at least for a while. So:

In Photoshop there is a command (Select -> Color Range) that lets you select areas of your image by color. I would use this to select each area of color in turn and then fill that area in a new, blank layer. Then I'd go back in and fill any holes, filling any areas covered by "higher" terrain - e.g. so that green took up the entire area of the landmass. The result would be a stack of layers with a solid fill for each color in the map. This would serve as my base layer as I built up the new map, the main piece of this being the green layer that contained the entirety of my coastline.

I'm not sure if Gimp has this feature but I imagine it does. If not you can certainly use the "magic wand" tool and make multiple selections of each non-connected area of each color and do the same thing...it'll just take a bit longer.

Hope it helps.
M

[jtougas]

In Photoshop there is a command (Select -> Color Range) that lets you select areas of your image by color. I would use this to select each area of color in turn and then fill that area in a new, blank layer. Then I'd go back in and fill any holes, filling any areas covered by "higher" terrain - e.g. so that green took up the entire area of the landmass. The result would be a stack of layers with a solid fill for each color in the map. This would serve as my base layer as I built up the new map, the main piece of this being the green layer that contained the entirety of my coastline.

I'm not sure if Gimp has this feature but I imagine it does. If not you can certainly use the "magic wand" tool and make multiple selections of each non-connected area of each color and do the same thing...it'll just take a bit longer.

Hope it helps.
M

As a matter fact there is a similar tool in GIMP under the magic wand tool options

[Ascension]

I took the liberty of whipping this up as a base for you to start from. I selected the dark blue range, new layer filled with black, then selected the light blue range, new layer filled with black, merged the two black layers and gave it a blur, stuck a layer of white underneath the black layer, merged the black and white layers, maxxed the contrast, pixellated the coasts (a photoshop filter), then smoothed the coasts with median (another PS filter). Took 5 minutes.

Edit: I couldn't help myself - I just love to paint terrains so I did up a 45 minute me-style map.

[Redrobes]

I was about to say id convert it into a height map and work from that but when you have Ascensions base map on tap well then thats another story... Nicely done Ascension.

[mearrin69]

LOL. And I thought *I* was helping out. Nice job, Ascension!
M

[mtbill]

Wow! That is awesome. I still want to learn how to do it myself, but this gives me a really great baseline to compare to while I work!

Thanks Ascension!

[Ascension]

Hey Red, you could do up a height-map far better than my clouds-and-airbrushing method so if you want, have at it man.

[Canaille]

;; oogles Ascensions map ;; Wow.. 45 minutes? I've been working on one continent and a tiny island for three days!!! But... I'm sure you have WAY more experience than I at this sort of stuff.. WoW.... I'll say it a third time... wow...