Raster (bought) [e.g. Photoshop, PaintShopPro, Painter]
Raster (free) [e.g. GIMP]
Vector (bought) [e.g. Illustrator, Corel Draw, Xara]
Vector (free) [e.g. Inkscape]
Vector (Symbol driven) [e.g. CC, Dunjinni]
Online Generator [e.g. City Map Generator, Fractal World Generator]
Fractal Generator [e.g. Fractal Terrains]
3d modelling [e.g. Bryce, Vue Infinite, Blender]
Scanned hand drawn maps
Drawing Tablet and pen [e.g. Wacom]
Just wanted to drop by and leave my s/w of choice, so far I've been using GIMP to make some dungeon maps, using torstan's tutorial, I have played a little with my friend's CC3, which seems awesome to make overland maps. Reading the forum so far I've been thinking of trying out Inkscape some time soon.
I've been using Seashore, sort of a stripped down GIMP for MacOS. It's quite a bit simpler than a full version of GIMP but not well-supported anymore. It's the tool I've been using to teach myself the very basics and crank out a handful of simple maps for gaming.
Previously, AppleWorks, then Photoshop Elements (4). Now, GIMP. I also recently downloaded Inkscape, which is slooow. But then so is GIMP. Maybe that's what happens when your latest map is 4743 x 2803.
As for why... well, arguably, software is completely wasted on me. I've been drawing maps (by hand) since as long as I can remember but probably one of the formative experiences of my life was encountering the USGS 7 1/2 minute series of topographic maps around age twelve, which I became mildly obsessed with replicating. Being a complete weirdo (>.>) and not knowing anything about how to actually use raster editors I just took out the pencil and paint bucket tools and started drawing contours. With a trackpad. Thus, while I still have GIMP and Inkscape and while I have been drawing maps for a long time it's still fairly accurate to call me a newbie since I haven't seriously exploited any of those programs' full potential. Probably.
I've been mainly using GIMP lately and with the help of some tutorials here I actually managed to get some results. I also baught a tabelt a few years ago, but I don't use it regulary.
This Semester I wanted to take an course named "GIS for historians", sadly it collided with antoher course I had to take, so I continue to remain ignorant to the subject.
I use Photoshop, just because that is what I learned to use, long ago. I am frankly intimidated by the learning curve that GIMP seems to have. I also make extensive use of Fractal Terrains since nothing I draw can even come close to the generated landforms.
I am including Tablet and pen since I do most of my artistic endeavors on an old HP convertible tablet with the nifty Wacom-enabled tablet screen. I only rarely draw by hand though because the results are always depressingly craptacular.
From 2004 through 2010, I worked on a Windows system and primarily used PaintShop Pro, with a Wacom Intuos stylus and tablet. I had Photoshop Elements, but I liked PSP better because it handles both raster and vector; I also tried GIMP but the interface was not working very well on my system, it was difficult to "grab" items, etc.. In 2010, I moved to an Ubuntu desktop and though PSP works fairly decently on Wine, I started using GIMP more, especially when I discovered that newer versions worked much more smoothly, at least on Linux. I added Krita and Inkscape to my tools for vector work and also discovered MyPaint, a sweet little Open Source painting program that lets me do art much more "naturally," allowing me to work as on paper. I finish the work on GIMP for layer effects.
I started out with CC3 and Adobe Photoshop (since I already had it). Since joining this site, things are changing a bit. I'm still using CC3 (I find it to be a really cool program the more I get into it) but I also got a Wacom tablet. Now that I have it, I'm starting to use Photoshop more, but as I read more and more things here, I am thinking of switching to GIMP and also tinkering in Inkscape. I'm considering this since the version of PS I have is CS3, and I'd rather have new software to better use the tutorials around, but I can't afford an upgrade of Adobe products.
Just to put it out there, the more I use the Wacom, the more I love it!
Hello everyone, I am new around here and have to say that I admire the community and resource and knowledge base you have built here.
As to the discussion - for those who would like to use CAD, but are not willing to pay the ridiculous prices of AutoCAD and similar I have an option - progeCAD. I am using it at work for years now. The full version is priced at less than 1/10th of the AutoCAD and they have a free non-commercial version with 2D only that is called "progeCAD SMART!". It shares commands with AutoCAD (it is built at IntelliCAD platform as is AutoCAD) and the only difference I have found is that it uses the interface very similar to AutoCAD 2007 compared to the newer AutoCAD versions. I am using it in combination with Inkscape as it can be easily printed to .pdf via a built-in printer.
Good mapping to all. :-)
Last edited by Aurynn; 04-11-2012 at 03:18 AM.
Mapping Software I use? Well, I'm doing 3d modelling most of the time. Specifically I use Blender for just about everything, for better or for worse. Of course I'm not oposed to scanning hand drawn maps. Although honestly I only did that for my one page dungeon contest submission as of late. I tried drawing a map with pen and tablet using OpneCanvas, but I'm not quite comfortable enough using my tablet.
I love cc3 and it was one of the hardest things to learn (so far anyway). Honestly Joe Sweeny's Video tutorials HELPED A LOT!!!!!!!!
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