April 2013 Challenge Entry: Tir Oiche

[vorropohaiah]

@Eilathen: I can't please all of the people all of the time.

ah but when people are voting for it, it sure helps

[Larion]

I like the border on the map, but try as I might, I can't figure out how to make one like it that looks good. How do you do it?

[- Max -]

But, but,but...Where are the Oghams?

[aquarits]

@aquarits: It's called Windlass. It is cool, isn't it?

Really cool Congrats for the choice

[Eilathen]

@Eilathen: I can't please all of the people all of the time.

But... but....i'm your biggest fan *dog-eyes* ...

Can you comment on the name? It sounds very celtic... it's one of the reasons i have a disconnect with the style. But maybe you had no celtic flavour in mind....or it's supposed to be the celts of the 24th century

[gpig]

I love this map. I especially like how there are wild lands without a country. I may just have to use this map for my campaign. Thank you!

Gpig

[Diamond]

But... but....i'm your biggest fan *dog-eyes* ...

Can you comment on the name? It sounds very celtic... it's one of the reasons i have a disconnect with the style. But maybe you had no celtic flavour in mind....or it's supposed to be the celts of the 24th century

The name is my no-doubt mangled interpretation of 'lands of night'.

The civilizations are pseudo-celtic, but I guess the map is from a much later period in this world's history, hence the disconnect between theme and style. ...Plus, how would I make an authentic Celtic map? Tan a deer hide and draw the map on that? (Just kidding, I know you meant ornamentions and suchlike. I am going to add some more stuff that will hopefully flavor it up a little.)

@Larion: Here's my steps in making a border like the one on this map. (Assuming you're using photoshop.)

1. Find or make yourself a checkerboard pattern of four black and white squares (make the pattern fairly large so you can scale it up or down without serious loss of resolution.

2. On your map, activate the ruler/guides/whatever-it's-called function.

3. Decide how close to the edge of the document you want the border to be; in this instance I think I went about 20-30 pixels away from the edge.

4. Drag out four guides from the sides to the distance you want the border to be from the edge of the map. I find it easier to do this if you lay down some kind of temporary pattern or grunge or something instead of just plain white or some other one-color scheme so that you can actually count the number of pixels easier. (Make sure you're zoomed in a decent amount for this step, like 800 or 1200%, so you can see the individual pixels.)

5. Once you've got your 4 guides laid down, create a new layer and make a square selection inside the guides (make sure you have the 'snap to' option on in your ruler/guide menu.

6. Fill that box with black.

7. Make two copies of that black box layer.

8. Hide the top two copies and go back to the original box layer (it should still be selected). Select-->Contract by however thick you want this outer border to be (this will be the checkerboard outer border). I believe I made mine 25 pixels in width.

9. Hit the delete button. This leaves you with just the outer black border. Then deselect.

10. Layer-->Layer selection-->pattern. Here's where your checkerboard pattern comes in - use it as your pattern selection, and scale it up or down to get the effect you want - different size black and white sections around the border, different starting locations for each section, etc.

11. Layer-->Layer selection-->stroke. I used a black 3 pixel 'inside' stroke.

12. Hide that layer, and make one of the two 'box copies' layers visible. Select that entire black box. Select--Contract by AT LEAST the size of your outer border plus 5-10 pixels. Select-->Inverse. Delete. This gives you a smaller solid black box inside the checkerboard outer border.

13. Select that second border layer again, Select-->Contract by however thick you want this border (I opted for 5 pixels). Delete. This gives you a fairly thin black, second border inside the first.

14. Repeat for the second 'box copy' layer, but contract it further to fit inside the previous layers and make the width thinner.

That's pretty much it. I'm at work and don't have photoshop in front of me here so some of my terminology may be off, but I can clean it up later if anything's unclear to you. Hope it helps.

[Will Brawner]

What a great map! This'll win the contest for sure. I think you definitely succeeded with the Celtic feel without overdoing it. Nice work.

[Diamond]

Well I appreciate that, Will, but we'll see. IMO there's several maps far better than mine posted so far (voro I'm looking at you!).

...Which reminds me, I got to get back to work on this tomorrow.

[vorropohaiah]

Well I appreciate that, Will, but we'll see. IMO there's several maps far better than mine posted so far (voro I'm looking at you!).

thanks just hope i can finish it to my liking.

thanks for the mini tut.