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  1. #1
    Guild Member laevex_esre's Avatar
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    Wip The World of Moxaia

    This is my first ever attempt at cartography. I'm creating a world in a very similar way to HandsomeRob's beautiful Sorol. I'm sure other people have done similar projects but this was the only one I've come across so far.

    I want to expand on all the facets of this world, exploring its nations, races, politics, history, culture, geology etc. I love what Rob has done using Google Earth and the Wiki and I want to pursue a very similar style to this, but a very different kind of world.

    Moxaia is very technologically-advanced. Not a fantasy world as much as a sci-fi world. It will have huge megacities covering its landmasses and its warring nations go to battle in giant mecha (I also model mecha - this is a massive back-story for them).

    I have drawn up this map using Fractal Mapper and Photoshop (my first ever map):
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Moxaia World Map - Satellite.jpg 
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    I'm relatively happy with it. I think the continental layout is a good one generally, although the mountainous regions aren't convincing enough for my liking. I have a layer in Photoshop of the tectonic plates and the directions they move in, but the mountains haven't turned out to reflect these very well.

    I have a few issues:
    1. Seeing as I want to put a Google Earth together, I need to wrap this rectangular image around a sphere. I hadn't taken that into account when I started this, so the continents aren't streched out in the right way for this to look good. Is there a way I can remedy this?

    2. I want to end up dividing the planet up into smaller sections and doing detailed atlas-style maps for each area, exactly how Sorol was treated, but the base world for Sorol was done in Fractal Terrain, whereas Moxaia is just an image file. Is there any way I can follow HandsomeRob's atlas-style tutorial beginning with such a file?

    So I have the option of aborting, starting over again using FT and wasting what I've already put together; or botching some fixes to these problems. I just want to know if these problems have decent solutions. If they don't then I want to cut my losses as soon as possible and start on the FT map. Any thoughts AT ALL are welcome.

  2. #2
    Community Leader Guild Sponsor Gidde's Avatar
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    This is looking pretty good so far!

    1. The best way I've found to stretch near the poles in a realistic way is to use Flexify (link) - it has a free trial period. Tell it you started as Mercator, and have it output Equirectangular.

    2. You can use just about any tutorial using this as a base, just trace over your existing landmasses instead of the "create a random landmass" that most tutorials start with. I'm not too familiar with that particular tutorial, but give it a shot, and if you get stuck post up a question and we can help you out

  3. #3
    Guild Member laevex_esre's Avatar
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    Wip

    Thanks for the tips there. I used Flexify and then wrapped the new stretched image around a Google Earth. I finished it in the style of HandsomeRob's Sorol, but I will probably change to my own style at some point. Here is Moxaia from 4 angles:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    And here is my complete world map, again completely ripping off Sorol's style.
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Moxaia World Map (Wagner+Continents+Oceans Forum).jpg 
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    Next I want to select a small area and map it in detail in a style similar to this:
    Torentine Empire by a2area

    I seriously need help at this point. Where can I even begin?

  4. #4
    Guild Member laevex_esre's Avatar
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    Wip

    Thanks so much for that tip! Flexify works brilliantly. I managed too make a globe on Google Earth as a starting point for my project:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    I also stretched my map into this style to present it as a complete world map, in a style completely ripping off HandsomeRob's Sorol:
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Moxaia World Map (Wagner+Continents+Oceans Forum).jpg 
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    Next step is to pick an area and make a detailed map using this as a base. Going to be interesting. This is the tutorial I want to adapt:
    Atlas Walkthrough.
    The beginning bit looks difficult so any help would be appreciated. I want to use this style, but if you guys have any ideas other than this tutorial then I would appreciate the help.

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