New to Digital Cartography? Software General Information

[Steel General]

@The Good Doctor - Have you considered Inkscape, its free, and its vector.

I know there are a few people here who use it, so they will hopefully pop-in and give a little more info.

[RobA]

While I love Inkscape and use it for a good many things, especially drawing elements, etc. It really bogs down with large images...

Give it a try, as it is free, but don't hold your breath

-Rob A>

[The Good Doctor]

Thanks thus far for the comments. I want something that will handle large images in vector format. The 120 pages is just for the 2 continents, and I've been planning for many years now to rebuild the northern arctic continent (destroyed in a deity war).

I have toyed with the idea of breaking things down into smaller sections. But Freehand offered the promise of being able to handle multiple pages. I am willing to save my $$ and buy Freehand 10 (I'm returning to school in next few months). But I want to know if Illustrator is capable of handling that many pages together? What would be really nice is if I could have the map information printed on a header or sidebar, but like the hot links to other maps, that's another "wanna." Can Illustrator handle that many pages, or should I go with Freehand X (10)?

I am seriously thinking of getting CC3 to handle the in-depth maps. Over the years, I've done about 30 or so hand drawn things, but would like to digitize them and clean them up. For the price, it would allow me to at least do the smaller projects.

Layering and such isn't a big concept for me. Layers are like styles in word processing. Add on it, and it affects the whole map; disable/hide it, and it's gone, all at once. Allows you to customize the maps for players to show political boundaries only, trade routes for merchant parties, etc. And I like Freehand's cloning, and some of the transform features.

I love maps. Did anyone else spend grade school free time tracing maps of other countries? Guilty.

Thanks again for the comments. I look forward to other input.

[hunab.cu]

I am a fanatic of the GIMP for raster editing; for vectors I used Inkscape, and recently I started to experiment with Xara Xtreme.

My favourite method of work is to doodle, doodle, doodle until there's something sensible on the paper; then I scan it and do all the further editing on computer, with previously listed software.

Though it's my preferred method of work, I love to experiment and test new software, plainly graphical as well as map-specific.

[The Good Doctor]

I've checked out a few sites and been awed by what I've seen.

It looks like I will need to redesign my layout. Most world maps I've seen do a general outline, and then link to other maps for closeups, and then those may have other links for yet closer work. Rule of thumb is overall design - if it's not functional or flexible, it will limit your final product. So, back to the drawing board!

Still planning on CC3 with 1 or 2 modules, but will rework my own maps accordingly. Even if they are flattish, I like the cartographic style for my own work.

However, did play with my ancient copy of CC (version 6); did a small village in a couple of hours. Meh! Looking at it again, I guess it is actually Campaign Mapper, not CC.

I was interested in mapping out a recent campaign event where the people of County Blackheath got wind of an unseelie invasion (outnumbering the humans and their centaur allies more than 5 to 1), and in three days, packed up as many people as they could and then fled, forced marching for five days north across the plains in the middle of winter to their allies and help. What fun! Even more fun was the battle on the border. Heh heh.

[Greason Wolfe]

Golly, a few words about the software I use . . . Um . . .

Well, it's an older version of Paintshop Pro for me, like almost ancient. Six-point something or another. And then there's Fractal Terrains Pro, only recently updated. And finally, Terragen 0.9.43 I keep looking at the Terragen2 Technology, but haven't convinced myself to purchase it yet, especially since my current version is serving well enough. Biggest drawback is that it can't route rivers or layout water above "sea level" without some serious tweaking. And lastly, there is the good old pencil and paper method, at least for roughing things out.

GW

[bblackmoor]

Adobe Photoshop, Inkscape, and Fractal Mapper. Photoshop for modifying images, Fractal Mapper for maps, and Inkscape for general drawing.

I do own a copy of Campaign Cartographer 3 (and CC2, actually), but I would rather stab myself in the eyes and draw with my own blood rather than use it. Fractal Mapper can do everything CC can do with one-tenth the effort.

I also own Adobe Illustrator (I have CS4), but I prefer to use Inkscape for general drawing.

[jfrazierjr]

Adobe Photoshop, Inkscape, and Fractal Mapper. Photoshop for modifying images, Fractal Mapper for maps, and Inkscape for general drawing.

I do own a copy of Campaign Cartographer 3 (and CC2, actually), but I would rather stab myself in the eyes and draw with my own blood rather than use it. Fractal Mapper can do everything CC can do with one-tenth the effort.

I also own Adobe Illustrator (I have CS4), but I prefer to use Inkscape for general drawing.

I am looking forward to seeing what you can do with FM (8 I assume??). We have very few people here have spent any time using it, and even fewer who use it frequently. Please post up some samples as soon as you can.

[bblackmoor]

I am looking forward to seeing what you can do with FM (8 I assume??).

I am in the planning stages for a game right now. With any luck, I will have some maps to show for it. Historically, I am long on ambition and short on follow-through, so... who knows.

[RPMiller]

bblackmoor, I was looking at your software list and I didn't see MapTool. Are you familiar with it? If you are not, you can check it out by following the link in my sig. It is a VT that has some pretty cool features. There is also ViewingDale which I didn't see either. It is also a VT with some great features. The creators of both are members here on the boards if you want to ask questions. Otherwise that is quite an impressive list you've compiled of games and software. Well done!