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Thread: [GIMP] WIP: My First "Real" Attempt at Subterranean Mapping

  1. #11
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    There's a fog/mist plugin for Gimp called Harry's Fog and Mist that I just installed yesterday. I haven't done anything with it yet, but it may be worth checking out (ah there it is: http://registry.gimp.org/node/19309).

    I like the map quite a bit. A bit dark for my eyes, but coming along nicely!

  2. #12

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    Using GIMP 2.8.4, the latest. My image is 3000x3000 and prints at 100 dpi.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jacktannery View Post
    It's easy! Make a new (transparent) layer, FILTER>RENDER>CLOUDS>FOG, change colour to something good like very pale grey, then press ok. Then use a layer mask to remove it from the walls, and change the opacity. The crucial thing with fog is that you need to light and shadow it. To do this, copy the fog layer and apply its layer mask and make this layer invisible. Then make a new 'lighting' layer and with a big fuzzy brush messily draw very pale yellow (eg) overlay highlights over some of your fog. Then add layer mask, and make that mask the copied and applied fog layer. Then do the same for some shadows. Its important to give fog depth otherwise it looks crap.
    Okay. I made a fog layer and selected where I wanted the fog and clicked FILTER>RENDER>CLOUDS>FOG. It looked like the floor noise, so I removed the floor noise to avoid confusion.

    Then, I duplicated that layer and made the first one invisible by removing the little eye beside it.

    Then, on the duplicate, called Fog Light with a mode set to Lighten Only, I scribbled haphazardly not knowing where I should with my mouse using the Paintbrush Tool at 100 px. The color was fffdcc, a very pale yellow. It looked... Well, like I just described. A bunch of yellow lines everywhere.

    I didn't bother to do the same with black because obviously, I'm not doing the right thing at all.

    Here is the update: http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/7528/shadowyrm8.jpg

    Yes, it looks ridiculous, but I wanted to illustrate how little I understand the instructions given.

    Also, the default filter needs some help. The fog should be thicker in the low spots. So, I'll have to do something about that. This was just a quick test. The mist is coming from the room with the water (bottom row, very middle).

    Further advice would be greatly appreciated, if anyone has the patience of Job to help such a hopeless newbie.

  3. #13
    Guild Artisan Jacktannery's Avatar
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    Sharpe, that was brilliant - you gave me a good chuckle with your disastrous yellow lighting on the fog (!).

    On a more serious note, the fog actually looks great. It gives a strange glowy effect to the cave. I recommend extending it everywhere so lighten up the map. It doesn't look anything like fog, obviously, but we can't win everything.

    Why don't you work through this tutorial Sharpe http://www.cartographersguild.com/tu...s-gimp-ps.html.
    Last edited by Jacktannery; 03-24-2013 at 04:51 PM.

  4. #14

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    Apparently, mist is beyond my level of talent and probably will remain so for the foreseeable future. Not everyone can make awesome battle maps!

    I took the layer of 50% black off: http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7528/shadowyrm8.jpg

    EDIT: Also, I'm working through that tutorial right now.

    EDIT x2: Okay! I worked through the tutorial! Now, I'm going to work through the one I put in my first post. Hopfully after that, I'll be able to manage to actually do something with the knowledge!
    Last edited by Sharpe; 03-24-2013 at 09:25 PM.

  5. #15

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    Look out, Cartographer's Guild! Sharpe is now a MASTER of layer masks. Basically, that means I'm on the road to becoming the very best fantasy cartographer ever.

    http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/5701/layermasks.jpg

    ^Gaze upon that image and weep tears of awe as you bask in the luminescence of its transcendent beauty!

    Yeah, give me a month and all the so-called greats on here will be all like, "Oh, Sharpe, your maps are so totally radical and ours aren't worthy." And, they will be correct!


    EDIT: Back to reality, I started playing around with where the stalagmites will go and added some dirt to the entrance and main cavern using a layer mask: hhttp://img854.imageshack.us/img854/7528/shadowyrm8.jpg

    I tried the water again, but it was still a no-go. Since there's no real moving air, it should be both flat and clear as glass, and since there's no real light, no real reflection. The mist, though, should be something that would reflect...
    Last edited by Sharpe; 03-25-2013 at 01:09 AM.

  6. #16
    Guild Artisan Jacktannery's Avatar
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    Well done for working through the tutorial. Wish I could see you magnificent map (which by the way you could just attach normally using the 'attach file' option, rather than through image-shack) but I can't.

  7. #17
    Guild Artisan Jacktannery's Avatar
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    Reposting this again - examples of what Neyjour & I meant for your yellow dirt, and an example of some decent simple water using a blue-grey colour.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  8. #18

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    Oh, hey thanks! I didn't see that before the crash. I really appreciate the help a lot!

    I know there were posts, but I only glanced at them and don't recall what was said.

    I do know of the different layer settings such as overlay. To me, the overlay-style layer settings look like different-colored rock floor rather than dirt. I actually wanted a different "texture" -- texture as in the visual and tactile quality of a surface, not as in the graphics sense.

    Do you guys not like the dirt texture?

    How did you make the water? I hope I can mange to do the same; I really like it!

    Thanks again!

  9. #19
    Guild Artisan Jacktannery's Avatar
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    Do you guys not like the dirt texture?
    I don't dislike it. However I think you and I use the term 'dirt texture' differently. To me, your yellow flooring looks much cleaner and smoother and more brightly-lit than the grey stone flooring. I am not getting the sense that the addition of the yellow makes the floor look dirtier or more textures. However you shouldn't worry too much about what I think - in any case it has a lovely glowing quality and I like it.

    How did you make the water? I hope I can mange to do the same; I really like it!
    Very very easy. I just painted a dark-greyish-blue colour on top then lowered the opacity until I could see your grid pop through. Then after that it is all shadowing. Compare your water in post 1 with mine above: they are pretty similar except the colour. The other, more subtle difference, is that I actually have two shadow layers on top of the water: a big heavy one coming out from the cavern walls, and a much lighter smaller one from the bridge. This is important because there are three elevations in this room (wall; bridge; water) and you need to show that with the shading.

    EDIT: the other difference is that my shadows are drawn by hand and they are not very regular. I did them really quick with the smudge tool and the uneven effect looks natural. Your very even shadow is not as realistic, and also your shadow causes a bit of a 'step' just inside the water.
    Last edited by Jacktannery; 03-29-2013 at 05:13 AM.

  10. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jacktannery View Post
    I am not getting the sense that the addition of the yellow makes the floor look dirtier or more textures.
    Well, I'm not trying to make the stone dirtier. I'm trying to add a layer of silt/dirt/mud atop it, totally making it a different floor material. The rough stone is beneath the dirt, completely covered.

    It doesn't seem very popular, though! XD

    Quote Originally Posted by Jacktannery View Post
    I just painted a dark-greyish-blue colour on top then lowered the opacity until I could see your grid pop through. Then after that it is all shadowing. Compare your water in post 1 with mine above: they are pretty similar except the colour. The other, more subtle difference, is that I actually have two shadow layers on top of the water: a big heavy one coming out from the cavern walls, and a much lighter smaller one from the bridge. This is important because there are three elevations in this room (wall; bridge; water) and you need to show that with the shading.

    EDIT: the other difference is that my shadows are drawn by hand and they are not very regular. I did them really quick with the smudge tool and the uneven effect looks natural. Your very even shadow is not as realistic, and also your shadow causes a bit of a 'step' just inside the water.
    Okay, I'm attacking it again.

    First, I drew the wall side of the pools' shadows in a thick-ish (size 20) black brush not worrying too much about any sort of consistency. Then, I took the smudge tool and rapidly clicked maybe a hundred times haphazardly around the black's edges, pulling slightly from both the water and the shadow side, but mostly from the shadow's side. After that, I used a gaussian blur at 15. Last, I reduced the layer's opacity to 25%. Then, I repeated the process for the bridge and step in the northern pool, making the black skinnier.

    EDIT: Went back and added an overlay layer of turbulent solid noise at 50% opacity.

    http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/7528/shadowyrm8.jpg

    It still doesn't look as good as yours, but there's my latest attempt.
    Last edited by Sharpe; 03-31-2013 at 05:28 PM.

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