Island Map in two formats

[The Cartographist]

I prefer the color.

I think ravs may be on to something re: the distribution of the forests. I like the texture that you used. But I think that making the forests "spotty" detracts from them. Before industrial logging took hold (with the exception of England which was cut flat 600-700 years ago, I believe), forests covered vast swaths of the entire world. If climate and soil conditions are the same across a given area, a forest would cover all of it or none of it (depending on some other factors), because over time a forest will grow to fill the entire area available to it.

Vast distances of unbroken forest is more realistic than having forest come and go.

[ravells]

This is the mask I used to get the forest distribution in Absalon. You can tweak it so that forests follow rivers, remain in valleys etc. It tiles, so just tile it as a fill mask to the desired dimensions and then convert it into a bitmap et Robert est ton oncle. I was using a vector drawing proggie which made the fill mask really easy...but I'm sure you could do it in Raster too. Or you could just draw the mask in by hand - but I'm just lazy!

I think Cartographist and Don have a point about the scale of the map being reflective of the distribution.

Ravs

[RobA]

Even now -the area around Vancouver, BC. Looks pretty foresty to me from this elevation!

-Rob A>

[RPMiller]

B.C.'s known for trees, you see, eh?

[Midgardsormr]

That just looks strange to my eye. But then I'm from the Great Plains, which has more trees now than it ever did before industrialization. Oddly, though, they all grow in straight lines...

I prefer the color version as well. The amount of noise in the b/w one is distracting. As Ravs said, though, that one does look better zoomed out.

The rivers look a bit artificial. There is plenty of jiggle in the coastlines and lake borders, not to mention the roughness in the terrain itself. The rivers are very smooth, though. I don't have the technical knowledge to suggest a solution to that, unfortunately.

[Torq]

Thank you all for your responses and suggestions.

I have made certain changes to the map, and am trying to concentrate first on the forests. I have given them more coverage using Rav's mask, except in the desert areas, and have tried to make them look flatter and more in tune with the scale. Its definately not British Columbia, but I doubt there are that many places in the world that are so heavily treed. I'm from Africa, but the area I live in is fairly wooded, at least on the foothills around the mountains, looking at it now that may have had some influence.

I will have more problems addressing the rivers. I am using Inskcape and Gimp and I dont know how to use either of these to draw lines that taper or widen as they progress. Does anyone else?

What do you think?

Torq

[ravells]

I think it looks much better (particularly on the islands). Cartographist has a point when he says that left unimpeded by man, forests will just stretch on in unbroken swathes. I remember wondering what to do about very large clearings that the mask made (you've got one in the NW of the large continent) so I stuck a town in the middle of it to account for the clearing. Where there were long strands of forest, I put in rivers to follow the strand so it made it look more believable. So basically, you use man or natural objects to explain any wierdness of distribution!

Re the tapering lines, the vector app I use has a ' pen pressure simulation' setting which allows you to make tapering lines, although I don't know if Inkscape or Gimp support this.
Ravs

[Hyptosis]

Very cool map, those farms look awesome =]

[RobA]

Re the tapering lines, the vector app I use has a ' pen pressure simulation' setting which allows you to make tapering lines, although I don't know if Inkscape or Gimp support this.
Ravs

AFAIK - Gimp supports pressure sensitivity when using a tablet in all tools, inkscape supports it for pen width only using the calligraphy tool.

-Rob A>