World Map Basics

[Naryt]

The only concern I have is that there are no rivers, without them you have multiple salt lakes. Of course, if the water on your world is drying up (Barsoom!) then the lack of rivers is less a problem BUT there would still be old river beds (unless the water loss was very rapid).

Stunning map though, I look forward to watching its development.

[jaerdaph]

This is just amazing work, Torq!

I really gots to learn the GIMP I'm telling yous.

[Torq]

Naryt your concern about the rivers is well placed. I find that I am capable of putting maps together in most respects, except when it comes to rivers. I just dont seem to be able to get them right. Do I cut them out of the land layer? Do I draw them over the land layer? Do I stroke the river outline like the coast? On a map of this scale should rivers even be visible at all? I am really asking for help from anyone regarding any one of these plaintiff requests. I will try anything.

Torq

[RobA]

In my experience, rivers would NOT be visible in an aerial photo of that scale (just figure out what one pixel equates to), but must be shown on a MAP.

Remember, maps are not photos, and the intent of a map is to convey information!

I have both cut maps out of the land (like in my GIMP tutorial) and drawn them on top (in my Niagara map) and I think drawing them on top gives the most flexibility in that they are not destructive (though by just erasing them via a layer mask they aren't destructive anyway.....)

I also do not stroke rivers, because it makes them look too fat in most cases. I get the best results with a tablet, and setting it to vary the brush size with pen weight. I can start up in highlands with a light stroke and carry it down to the ocean/lake with a increasingly heavy stroke.

I also like to apply a slight pillow emboss to make them look "set-in"

-Rob A>

[landorl]

This view is great. The mountains and hills look a whole lot better. I do agree with showing the rivers though. It just looks better when you are looking at what is supposed to be a map.

[RobA]

the height field is done using Terranoise (Thanks Arcana for posting it). The heightfield is essential because its used on almost every layer.

Torq-

What were your Terranoise settings? I couldn't get anything decent like this while playing around...

-Rob A>

[Gamerprinter]

I love this style of map - its a direction in map creation that I'd like to master myself. Just my luck, everybody (Ravs, anyway) wants me to produce only hand drawn maps - when this map you have is exactly the kind of stuff I want to produce. I can't create maps like this by hand.

As far as "Painterly" - I draw, I hate to paint and don't do it. So the only way to achieve a painterly look for me is using software.

Great job, Torq!

[Torq]

Thanks for all the kind words. RobA, here is a screenshot of the terranoise settings. Its two heightfields, billow and ridged multi, combined using an "add" combiner between them. with a bit of tweaking on the levels.

Torq

[RobA]

Thanks-

That gives me a better idea.

(too bad that it does not support spherical mapping, eh?)

-Rob A>

[Torq]

I think it does support spherical mapping, by way of the small icons at the top of the screen.

Here is my attempt at the rivers. I tried doing them in Gimp but didn't like them at all, so I switched to Inkscape and traced the paths. I couldn't get them to work, following RobA's advice becasue nothing seemed to fit with the black stroke around the continents and lakes, it just didn't blend in. Even tried the slight pillow emboss, but that seemed to alter the colour too much. Anyway, this is what I settled on. Please feel free to give comments.

Torq