Argontath - Work in Progress

[Valtharius]

I worked out a preliminary map and played around with the tutorial until I was comfortable with it. Then I started five maps (of the six continents) at the same time and followed the steps 3 or 4 at a time. Once I was on the third map I was more comfortable and working much quicker. I took to heart what you said about the tutorial not being a bible and to play around with the settings. It took a bit of courage, but I screwed with the continental shelves and the effect looks a bit different. I am happy with the effect. I am going to sit down and figure out the river system now. Now that I am somewhat comfortable I will most likely re-do the maps in a much larger size to apply more detail, but I wanted to share what I have done so far.

Lantier (1100x1100) is an undiscovered and uninhabited continent to the north of the continent of Khaitaer-Ypriss. Perhaps there are ruins of an ancient civilization?

Tathis (2600x2600) is the eastern continent and one of the two primary continents for my world (in terms of where the campaign characters are from). The western regions are explored and inhabited. the far eastern and far southern reaches are unexplored territory.

Kaitan (1200x1200) is a continent to the far south east and unknown to the 'civilized' world. Its inhabitants are a feral race hell-bent on conquering whatever lands they find. They are just starting to explore the world in which the players live... and will not hesitate to make their presence known.

Khaitaer-Ypriss (2600x2600) is the western continent and one of the two primary continents for my world (in terms of where the campaign characters are from). The northern continent of Khaitaer is inhabited in the western and eastern regions. The central region is ringed by mountains that holds a vast swampland-jungle. The southern continent of Yppris is largely unexplored territory and inhabited by bands of tribesman.

Ascalon (1600x1600) is an unknown continent to the far northeast. It holds thriving and ancient civilizations that are largely disinterested with outward expansion and focus more on their maintaining their borders with the other countries in their part of the world.

Thanks again to Ascension for everything he has taught me!

~Val

[Valtharius]

Here is a quick map of the World of Argontath... the arctic regions to the north and south were done years ago in Paint Shop Pro... All I did was cut and past the continents in to show their relation to one another.

[terjebol]

Wow, that looks really great! Good job! I notice the oceans don't seamlessly fit together some places, but the landmass is just bad-ass!

[Valtharius]

The ocean was tossed together haphazardly just to give myself an idea where the continents sit in relation to one another. I plan on increasing the map size if each continent (5000x5000?) and create a decent ocean layer... Just wondering a few things:

1) How large a map can my laptop handle and..

2) How to start a new map with a size 5000x5000. A 2000x2000 size map is 300dpi and RGB 8 bit. Do I bump up the specs a bit to get more detail?

Thanks forth comments!

~Val

Wow, that looks really great! Good job! I notice the oceans don't seamlessly fit together some places, but the landmass is just bad-ass!

[Midgardsormr]

If you're not printing, dpi doesn't really matter. The only thing it will do is affect what the "Print size" button does, and that won't even be accurate unless you've told Photoshop what your screen's actual physical ppi is.

When you start your new document, you'll probably see width and height expressed in inches. Simply change the dropdown boxes with the units to pixels and enter your desired image size. I'd recommend you leave the document in 8-bit RGB unless you have a reason for needing a different mode. 16-bit or higher will increase file sizes and the memory requirements for the image quite a bit.

There are times when you might want a higher bit depth; if you start doing a lot of processing on height maps, the extra depth is very useful, and if you do lots of color correction in 8-bit, you can quickly degrade the image.

edit: Oh, and there's not really any way of knowing how much your laptop can handle other than experimentation. 5k x 5k, while large, is not beyond the capabilities of most modern computers. I routinely paint at 4k with 10-12 layers, and most of the time PS runs quite well. I do occasionally have to restart it when the brushes get sluggish, though.

[Valtharius]

Went with 5000x5000 for the continent of Tathis. Did some rearranging of mountains and finally put rivers down. This is about 8 hours worth of work right here... I seem to be picking up speed! I know the river system (and lakes) in the northwest area of the continent is wonky looking but it was divinely altered.

I am really enjoying this tutorial and with all the tweaking and experimenting to the settings, I am feeling much more comfortable!

Let me know what you think!

~Val

[Ascension]

Yeah, that's why I call myself a mad scientist...so many things to fiddle around with. Nice looking shape for the continent...lots of nooks and crannies makes it interesting.

[Valtharius]

The Continent of Tathis (The World of Argontath)

Well, let's see...
rivers are flowing...
longitude and latitude has been placed...
continental outline is created...
borders are finished...
country names and unexplored territory are have been laid down...

The font used is Papyrus... I will be tweaking this quite a bit to get the desired effect and make it look cleaner, then it is time to place cities and towns.

Is this what it is suppose to look like? Opinions?

~Val

Tathis - Countries.jpg

[hohum]

Looks pretty good, if I recall correctly you like to have a more subtle continental shelf. I think some may have a negative reaction to the font. I do not.

[Gidde]

Yeah, papyrus is pretty infamous as far as fonts go. I don't really have a problem with it either, though. Looking good