[Award Winner] Using GIMP to Create an Artistic Regional RPG Map

[torstan]

Very pretty Hoel. Good work.

It looks like the mountains on the coast have darker shadows than the mountains in the NW. This looks a little off as the mountains to the NW look likt they should be taller.

Otherwise, a beautiful map. Repped!

[Steel General]

Very nice!

Be sure to drop an entry in the Members Introduction forum.

[Korash]

for reasons that I cannot, for the life of me, figure out, I can't get to select the Gaussian Blur in Filters. It just stays grey.

If I need to select the landmass before = Did that. no joy
without selecting landmass = Same as above

So I am stuck at Post 3 after Color>invert after about 2 hours of fiddling with all things that I can think of.

Using gimp 2.6.3.

:EDIT: do like what I have read on the tut, just wish I can get to APPLY it.

HEEEEELP!!!!!!!

[bryguy]

huh, i didnt know that 2.6.3 had come out.



If so, then its new, and probably a glitch that you cant use gaussian blur.

[torstan]

Nope, I have 2.6.3 and it certainly has Gaussian blur.

Korash, open up a new document in Gimp with all the defaults, draw a line and then go to filters->blur->Gaussian blur. That should tell us whether it is a general problem with Gimp, or just a specific problem with your settings on your map image.

[Korash]

Thanks Torstan, I did that and I discovered that GIMP does not like .tif files (which sucks `cause that is what the big scanner at works saves as, besides pdf and cals files). I tryed a few other types of files (jpgs mostly) that I will be using as "bases" to making maps using the methods outlined above, and the only ones that didn't have the blurs available were the .tif files.

Maybe I should convert them to jpeg and will try that tonight

[torstan]

Hmmm, that's strange. I can create a .tif file and then when I open it in Gimp it still has gaussian blur enabled. However if you can get it to work by converting I'd suggest trying converting it (you can do this by resaving the image using gimp). Jpegs are lossy and you'll lose information when you save them. Try saving it as a .xcf - Gimp's native file format - and then try the Gaussian blur.

[RobA]

If the tif files are 1 bit (i.e. B&W)... then you can't blur them.

After loading them up change the image mode to greyscale (Image->Mode->Grayscale) then you should be able to use blur.

-Rob A.

[Korash]

Thanks Guys

will try both later tonight.

RobA - yup the tifs are b/w

BTW - anyone know what a cals file is used for?

[Edit] just so I understand, when you blur you are also blurring the image on the layers below, or the items on the current layer? if the current layer only, what difference should the type of file on the lower layers make? Just Curious.

[jfrazierjr]

[Edit] just so I understand, when you blur you are also blurring the image on the layers below, or the items on the current layer? if the current layer only, what difference should the type of file on the lower layers make? Just Curious.

No, just the current layer. You can't blur a strict black and white image since it is either black or white. There is no where to put the various shades of grey it would need to complete the blur. Thats why it needs to be converted to greyscale as Rob said.