Elyden map

[Hai-Etlik]

I'm using PS and, depending on the text, use a horizontal scale of 100% (default) to 350% (which stretches text as well as spacing, and a kerning of 0 (normal) to 200, the latter of which is used on those large areas where I want to stretch the word to fill out as much of it as possible; though generally I only apply horizontal scale to larger areas where I want to stretch the text to fill the available space.

how would you recommend labelling large areas otherwise?

I'd recommend not stretching. Try only using the kerning option.

[Lukc]

I'm using PS and, depending on the text, use a horizontal scale of 100% (default) to 350% (which stretches text as well as spacing, and a kerning of 0 (normal) to 200, the latter of which is used on those large areas where I want to stretch the word to fill out as much of it as possible; though generally I only apply horizontal scale to larger areas where I want to stretch the text to fill the available space.

how would you recommend labelling large areas otherwise?

Now, you are about to learn how to kern easily and quickly in Adobe applications! Alt + arrow keys. That's right. That's all there is to it. Select the glyphs or lines you want to kern and play. Alt + left/right increases or decreases the spacing between individual letters, while Alt + up/down increases or decreases the distance between lines of text. I hope I've saved you a bit of time there!

In another note - this is an impressive project, but I would recommend you think about using paths for country borders - that way you can easily change them to different types, like dot-dash-dot or something. Right now they look a biiiit to close to the rivers for my taste.

Finally, one more note - I find your headwaters too ... plump and rounded. I know it's a result of the blending effects you're using for your rivers, but it's something that would make the map look much cooler if it they tapered more.

However, all in all, a very good map and wonderful project. Keep going, I want to see the finished map!

[cereth]

Really wonderful stuff. Great symbols.

[Schwarzkreuz]

Welcome to the Lands of the Mountain OCD.

Ok joke beside, those Mountains looks great, i will adapt some forms that i still miss in ny collection.
This whole project is Realy stunning.

[Eberict]

Those are some very handsome mountains with good variety! I also really like the work I've seen done on your main map. It feels like a stunningly huge world and very overwhelming, which I think is appropriate. Really would like to know more about the nations on it; there are so many!

[vorropohaiah]

Welcome to the Lands of the Mountain OCD.

Ok joke beside, those Mountains looks great, i will adapt some forms that i still miss in ny collection.
This whole project is Realy stunning.

Those are some very handsome mountains with good variety! I also really like the work I've seen done on your main map. It feels like a stunningly huge world and very overwhelming, which I think is appropriate. Really would like to know more about the nations on it; there are so many!

thanks I have quite a bit of history written for the world and regions (particularly those with regions marked out on the map) though am looking for something that encompasses the nature of the world to post.

the gist of Elyden is its a world created by Two-and-Twenty Demiurges (worker gods, and always spoken as two-and-twenty, never 22 :p) who shaped the world and the cosmos with their hands. to cut a long and purple-prose-filled story short, they created the perfect world but continued shaping it as it was the only thing they could do. they were punished for their hubris by their father and stripped of their greater powers and consigned the largest of the planets they created -elyden. the mortal races were divided and grew around each of the demiurges, taking their traits. some of the demiurges hated the mortals, seeking to return to divinity, though others saw the nature of their punishment and became leaders of the mortals. many (including the crazed artificer god Vorropohaiah ) grew insane trying to cope with their loss of divinity, with their dreams and thoughts corrupting the land. those with worshippers grew strong, and those without weakened, falling into a torpid coma-like state, with their deranged nightmares corrupting the laws of nature. others forcibly attracted followers - through slavery.

basically this is the world left in the wake of the time of the demiurges. most of them lie dead, fossilised, their dreaming bodies bringing madness and corruption to the world, though a few remain in some form of 'concious' state, the most powerful being Rachanael, 17th of the Demiurges; who is the living-deity (the so called iron deity) of the Korachani empire that has come to dominate the Inner Sea

[Chashio]

That history is intriguing.

Unrelated question... What's your computer have for guts that lets it so easily work on huge image files (I reread your first post and nearly choked on my coffee at " 4 x 6' ")?

[vorropohaiah]

Unrelated question... What's your computer have for guts that lets it so easily work on huge image files (I reread your first post and nearly choked on my coffee at " 4 x 6' ")?

funny... i never said it lets me work easily! in fact its a simple HP compaq presario CQ61 laptop that has close to 0 graphics card (anything to do with 3D it has to render in software. crashes are common when i do this) however i've been able to up the RAM to 8gb (best I could manage at the moment) which has been a huge help with PS. the original incarnation of the map was in PSB format due to the size bust load/save times were excruciatingly slow (upwards of 15 mins and im not joking) so i managed to change size and res and tend to merge layers as soon as possible to decrease size (though that has its own setbacks). other than that i have no problems, other than applying large filters and effects to the entire canvas. I also have a dedicated drive of 50 gb for scratch disks, which speeds things up (unless i fill them up...)

the size of the new map (See latest wip pic for the one im on about) is 41" x 61" at 300 dpi. id normally be working at something like 100 - 150 but this is intended for print so i have to work at 300 dpi. that makes a huge difference too

[Klaus van der Kroft]

Oh my, oh my, oh my!

I don't know how I missed checking this map. I'm simultaneously awe-struck, beffudled, gobsmacked, and decombobulated by your work. Truly fantastical.

I'd rep you twice, but the system doesn't let me.

Well done, good sir, well done.

[Chashio]

Ouch. I rescind easily. You put up with much more than I could. I bow to your patience. Forty One by Sixty One feet?! Are you printing it on a rug?