Figured out how to create patterns and used that to redo my cliffs (using the layer mask method). I think its a big improvement, but I seem to have lost some definition in the export...will worry about that later. I also redid the walls and added a gate and some towers. I'm still going to tinker around with those settings (and try mearrin's method for wall shadows) later on...but anyways...here's what I have.
*Most of my Maps can be seen in full resolution on my blog*
*I've made some of my maps into full adventures available for download at DriveThruRPG.com or Paizo.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License unless stated otherwise in the thread.
Looking pretty good.
How are you doing your walls? I do mine by taking the basic shape layer (textured and whatever) and copying that into a new layer above the base. Then I select the layer pixels (Ctrl-click the thumbnail in the layer stack, if you didn't know) and then choose Selection->Modify->Contract and bring it in a few pixels (however wide I want the "lip" to be). Then I hit Delete and apply a layer style to that. Copy it and place that layer beneath to serve as a shadow: flatten, color it black, blur, move it a few pixels and *then* I select the base wall, inverse the selection, and hit Delete...this is to make sure that the shadow of the lip falls only on the wall.
For the towers, I do something similar. If you look at your tower shadows (which are floating a bit) you'll see that the line of the edge is hitting at the same place on the ground and the top of the walls. In theory the shadow on the ground should be further away than the shadow on the top of the wall. I create the ground shadow for the towers as part of the wall shadow and place it under the wall base layer. Then I create a new shadow layer for the towers and place that above the wall and wall lip layers...adjust it so it seems to be in the right place then select the wall layer, inverse, and Delete so it's only on the walls.
Shadows are a big part of making a map work. You can get crazy complex by having them darker next to the objects, blur as they get further out, etc. Those things are just nice icing on your cake...getting them into the right place (and the eye knows these things even if the brain doesn't) goes a long way toward making your map look "right". Get your shadows and textures correct and people will ignore a lot of things. Get them right and then add little things like chimneys and smoke and vegetable gardens and people will rave about your map...when they realize they can zoom in and see even more detail.
Just some rambling ranting...
M
More on shadows (I know I'm a bit fanatical about them):
http://www.cartographersguild.com/me...-over-keep.jpg
Spent a lot of time figuring out this one. The shadows were absolutely necessary to convey the height of the various structures and give some hint about their shape (e.g. the thing in the center of the courtyard is a flag, and you can only really tell that because of the shadow) and things you can't see in the map (such as the light coming from the door and windows of the building to the north of the courtyard).
Here are a couple more, battlemaps, that have very custom shadows. I do use PS dropshadows for simple things but almost always do them by hand for anything complex or tall:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/me...r-city-map.jpg
http://www.cartographersguild.com/me...r-city-map.jpg
http://www.cartographersguild.com/me...r-city-map.png
I guess the shadows from the sail on the ship, crates, dock, and water in the last one are the most complex I've ever bothered to go. I think the effect was worth it.
M
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