Awesome reply. Thanks for that, Hai-Etlik. Let me say that I am a rank amateur, and not trained in geology. However I have studied maps in my spare time, for many years, so I know of globes, Mercator projection, and Equirectangular projection. Plus I have played with the Fractal Terrains demo, looking at zoomed (scaled) maps in the 10+ projection types offered (while reading the descriptions of each projection, stating the PROS and CONS of where and how much distortion occurs on each projection type).
This is for fantasy tabletop gaming. Myself, and all my players, are NOT experts of geology. It is acceptable if the geology is somewhat unrealistic. I want the geology to look cool, and to accomodate the various climate types and locations I need for my game world settings. I want it to scale believably and consistently, so that if there is a large island we find in the game, the island can be located as a spot on the globe if you look at the near-global scale.
One feature I decided to make "realistic" is matching the Earth size, circumference. Therefore I can overlay a same-scale orthographic projection of Earth (showing North America and South America, Western Hemisphere), on top of my fantasy world map orthographic projection of the important hemisphere where the campaign takes place. That way you can compare, "Oh this would be like the distance from Maine to Oregon". I am experimenting with this (pulled Fractal Terrains orthographic into Photoshop and overlay Earth) and it seems to work.
So, Hai-Etlik, I have generated a globe that I am happy enough with (Fractal Terrains). When I eventually post a sample graphic, you will see it is not totally "realistic" but it is fairly cool in my opinion. The 4 continent sizes, coastlines, polar caps, and amount of islands, are pretty good. It has some unrealstic massive mountain-region blobs, instead of proper linear mountain range fingers, so this is wrong for geology. But this will not cause any problem in my game-world setting. It's ok. Frost-giants and baddies live in the mountains.
Note the continent where the game campaign takes place, has ended up matching similar latitude of North America, and the central campaign area is equivalent to Minnesota, Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Vancouver, and Lower Canada. Later parts of the campaign may stretch to an area of the continent that is on latitude equivalent to Alaska and more Northern Canada just below the Arctic Circle. The giant blob of mountains in this continent happens to cover the space that would be half of Canada -- not realistic but acceptable for me, for now.
I may be wrong here, but I am strongly thinking about using my global from Fractal Terrains (thus not going to GIS or anything like that, only CC3 or Photoshop, unless FT can make something that's compatible with the GIS in a good way... like if I try FT's equirectangular going into NASA's G.Projector.)
Consider that I have the global world already developed in FT to my satisfaction (for now). If I purchase Fractal Terrains (around $40), then I can export formats properly. Thus I can make my satisfactory globe into:
- Spinning animated globe;
- Orthographic projections (how many should I make? 2, 4, 6, or 8? The most important is the "western hemisphere" wherein lies the entire game campaign setting. The other sides of the globe are just for show.).
- Mercator projection(s) at any scale.
- Equirectangular projection(s) at any scale.
- CC3 file at any scale using my projection of choice, so, importing my continent or state/region to CC3 should be Ok in Equirectangular or maybe Mercator right?
The questions I am pondering right now:
How many Mercator and-or Equirectangular maps, and what scales? Where to use Fractal Terrains, and whether to use Photoshop, or CC3 at all from there?
My thinking is currently as follows. Please critique / advise.
GLOBAL SCALE:
Make spinning globe animation in Fractal Terrains. No added symbols, words, borders, or paths. (Rivers are shown).
Make orthographic projection (in FT) of Western Hemisphere.
Make supplemental orthographic projection of West, with real-Earth orthographic projection overlaying, to see relative size and latitude of continents.
Make Mercator projection of the whole world. (No known purpose, might be nice to have it later?). No added symbols or text, for now, because 3 out of 4 major continents will not be developed at this time.
Make Equirectangular projection of the whole world. (No known purpose, might be nice to have it later?). No added symbols or text, for now.
CONTINENT SCALE:
Make a zoomed Continent scale map, Mercator or Equirectangular? (Like Asia or North America). Import or screenshot this to CC3 or Photoshop to add regional borders?
CAMPAIGN SCALE:
Make a more zoomed Campaign scale map, smaller than Continent, Mercator or Equirectangular? (Like the Northern half of USA). Import to CC3 or Photoshop to add regional borders, major towns, and show rivers?
REGIONAL AREAS SCALE:
Make a more zoomed Starting Area regional scale map, smaller subset of the Campaign area, Mercator or Equirectangular? (Like the state of Tennessee) Import to CC3 or Photoshop to add major towns, minor towns, rivers, river crossings, and roads?
Make 2nd map zoomed to same scale as Starting Area, but scooted over to the West where the game will progress eventually. (Like Michigan). Import to CC3 or Photoshop to add major towns, minor towns, rivers, river crossings, and roads?
Make a 3rd map zoomed to same scale as Starting Area, but scooted far to the West where the game will go in distant future. (Like Vancouver Island). Import to CC3 or Photoshop to add major towns, minor towns, rivers, river crossings, and roads?
CITYSTATE REGION SCALE:
Make a super-zoomed City-Region map of the Home area. (Like Nashville area in square miles but much much smaller town inside that area). Import to CC3 or Photoshop to add major buildings, surrounding farms, roads, and pathways?
Make a super-zoomed City-Region map of the Bay-Town area. (Like Chicago area in square miles but much smaller town inside that area). Import to CC3 or Photoshop to add major buildings, surrounding farms, roads, and pathways?
Thanks in advance for feedback from anyone who has experience in this.
Hai-Etlik, I do take into account your 1st reply. I thought you might say more once I provided a bit more details of my project.
Ok, I realized I may need to move my questions to another forum outside my introduction..
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