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Thread: My first map (that I plan on finishing......maybe)

  1. #1
    Guild Journeyer Thurlor's Avatar
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    Wip My first map (that I plan on finishing......maybe)

    Well, I've noticed lots of various WIPs on this site, and I thought I'd better post what I'm in the process of 'trying' to do (even if it is crap in comparison). The world I'm working on (un-named as of yet) is very similar to Earth, maybe too similar. Currently I onle have the basic landmasses in place without (working) mountains or rivers or anything like that. As can be seen I'm using Fractal Terrains, but maybe this is the wrong software for my purposes as I'm finding myself constantly fighting the program (or maybe I just don't know what I'm doing).

    Either way, any comments would be appreciated.

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  2. #2

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    Assuming you're drawing everything by hand and none of it is randomly generated, make sure you're using the Pre-Scale Editing tools, and use a light touch. When I do my editing, I typically use a value setting of 0.001.

    A Fill Basins would smooth out the map, if you want to do that at this point.

    And the Earth relationship is pretty obvious, but it should be easy enough to camouflage with a few changes to some of the outlines.

    Keep working on it. Fractal Terrains has a learning curve, so even if you don't finish this one, think of it as good practice. I haven't done much in it with hand-building my own worlds yet. I prefer randomly-generated worlds. And I quite often find myself starting over from scratch when I learn a new technique. Although starting over is much easier for randomly generated worlds. If you think there are times when you might want to step back and do parts over again, then I would suggest saving copies of the world at each major step. That way to go back all you have to do is open up an earlier file and continue from there.
    My Finished Maps | My Planet Maps | My Challenge Entries | Album: Pre-generated Worlds

    ------
    Assuming I stick with fantasy cartography, I'd like to become a World Builder, laying out not only a realistic topography, but also the geopolitical boundaries and at least rough descriptions of the countries and societies.

  3. #3
    Guild Journeyer Thurlor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Master TMO View Post
    Assuming you're drawing everything by hand and none of it is randomly generated, make sure you're using the Pre-Scale Editing tools, and use a light touch. When I do my editing, I typically use a value setting of 0.001.
    I actually started with a randomly generated world (Wilbur Fractional Brownian Motion) and changed tthe North Pole position to place a large landmass over the North Pole and no landmasses crossing the -180/180 transition where I do no editing to avoid funky terrain issues. Everything else is 'hand drawn'. I'm working at a resolution of 6000 and I do use the Pre-Scale Editing tools, though I find 0.001 only usable for rough work. At finer levels I'm more likely to use 0.0001 up to 0.0005.

    A Fill Basins would smooth out the map, if you want to do that at this point.
    Fill Basins will obviously be needed, but I was planning to leave that till the end. Currently I'm stuck on finding a technique to make good looking mountains, but even when drawing maps by hand I found mountains troublesome.

    And the Earth relationship is pretty obvious, but it should be easy enough to camouflage with a few changes to some of the outlines.
    The partial relationship to Earth is intentional, but maybe it is going a bit too far. Basically I want similar conditions to Earth. So I need a large landmass over one of the poles as I believe world wide temperatures would be higher without one. I also need to have the majority of land in the opposing hemisphere as I remember reading somewhere that distribution of lakes and temperatures in the Earth's northern hemisphere are due to it's high land to sea/ocean ratio (compared to the south). Add to this the desire to have a 'ring of fire', an equivalent to the mediterranean, an isolated continent (Australia), a large archipelago (Indonesian Islands), a mid-ocean island chain formed from vulcanism (Hawaii).

    Keep working on it. Fractal Terrains has a learning curve, so even if you don't finish this one, think of it as good practice. I haven't done much in it with hand-building my own worlds yet. I prefer randomly-generated worlds. And I quite often find myself starting over from scratch when I learn a new technique. Although starting over is much easier for randomly generated worlds. If you think there are times when you might want to step back and do parts over again, then I would suggest saving copies of the world at each major step. That way to go back all you have to do is open up an earlier file and continue from there.
    As mentioned above I have some fairly broad constraints, but I am considering trying different continent shapes and placements. And saving frequently is something I am almsot required to do when working at a res of 6000, and as far as multiple copies go, well the map that I have posted was titled 'Working World 001w' .
    Last edited by Thurlor; 04-12-2011 at 12:56 PM. Reason: Corrections

  4. #4

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    Sounds like you've mostly got things under control. For working on mountains, what you might try is to not worry too much about making your first pass look good. Place the ranges where you want them, including offshoot ranges that go off at 45-90 degree angles from the main range. Then once you have them all placed, try doing an Incise Flow command and let it erode them all for you. It might look more natural than hand-drawing every single mountain.

    I've never tried it myself, so it may not work. Fair warning.
    My Finished Maps | My Planet Maps | My Challenge Entries | Album: Pre-generated Worlds

    ------
    Assuming I stick with fantasy cartography, I'd like to become a World Builder, laying out not only a realistic topography, but also the geopolitical boundaries and at least rough descriptions of the countries and societies.

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