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Thread: Venus Practice Map [WIP]

  1. #1

    Wip [WIP] Venus - First Map in GIMP

    After really spending some time looking at everyone's work on here, especially Max's and SK's (I just love your maps), I've decided I really need to get more comfortable with GIMP and Inkscape. I've been posting bits and pieces I've done with Inkscape, as I've tinkered with it. GIMP has been another beast, though. So to that end, I started working through RobA's Creating an Artistic Map tutorial and thought I'd post my progress. For a base, I started with a map of the continents of Venus (because I'm a total geek, I like the shapes of the continents, and because I really beat myself up over landform shapes). I took that map and have since brought it to the point where I will begin putting in mountains. This is where I will likely depart from the height maps of Venus that I've found. I've also cleaned up a lot of the "islands" that litter its "oceans."

    Original Map pulled from Google:
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Venus.jpg 
Views:	1645 
Size:	2.21 MB 
ID:	58715

    Current WIP:
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Venus Map.jpg 
Views:	1605 
Size:	1.08 MB 
ID:	58716

    Eventually, I'll probably turn this into a fantasy map so I can squeeze as much practice as I can from this tutorial. I may also end up making an actual map of Venus as if it had water, just for fun. I'd love any feedback anyone has.

    [EDIT]
    Here's another update with mountains and glaciation in the north. I'm not sure the icecap really fits the style of the rest.
    Current WIP:
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Venus 2.jpg 
Views:	871 
Size:	1.09 MB 
ID:	58732
    Last edited by Humabout; 10-31-2013 at 02:59 PM.

  2. #2

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    I have decided to do two crazy things. First, I decided to see what I get if I make this into a map for a setting I'm working on. On that note, this map will be a world map for all intents and purposes, but the setting assumes something of a flat-earth. Second, I'm cranking this through the climate cookbook before placing rivers and forests and other geographic features. I am making a couple of assumptions:

    1) The world has weather and climate effects as though the bottom of the map corresponds with the southern 30th parallel.
    2) The world, were it round, has a 25 degree tilt, and it is otherwise similar to Earth.

    I am making these assumptions so that the setting has relatively varied and believable climates and weather patterns. The inhabitants need not know why they exist. The world is "flat" so I can expand it as much as I desire, should it come up.

    So with that in mind, here are some maps:

    Currents:
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Starfall - Currents.jpg 
Views:	227 
Size:	1.34 MB 
ID:	58767

    Summer Winds & Precipitation:
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Starfall - Summer - Precipitation & Tradewinds.jpg 
Views:	218 
Size:	1.42 MB 
ID:	58768

    Summer Temperatures
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Starfall - Summer - Temperature.jpg 
Views:	236 
Size:	1.27 MB 
ID:	58769

    Winter Winds & Precipitation
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Starfall - Winter - Precipitation & Tradewinds.jpg 
Views:	243 
Size:	1.48 MB 
ID:	58770

    Winter Temperatures
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Starfall - Winter - Temperature.jpg 
Views:	167 
Size:	1.31 MB 
ID:	58771

  3. #3
    Guild Journeyer Facebook Connected schattentanz's Avatar
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    At the moment, the polecaps are just blank; ice comes in hues of blue, however .. you might want to try to play with clouds coloured with a white-blue gradient here ..
    Looking at your temperature maps leaves the impression of summer not being too different from winter .. Is that intentional? (It's the Venus after all ..)

    Other than that: Very nice!
    CatZeyeS Headquarters - home of free Print and Play games

  4. #4

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    I love how well thought out this project is. Kudos Humabout!

    Cheers,
    -Arsheesh

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by schattentanz View Post
    At the moment, the polecaps are just blank; ice comes in hues of blue, however .. you might want to try to play with clouds coloured with a white-blue gradient here ..
    Looking at your temperature maps leaves the impression of summer not being too different from winter .. Is that intentional? (It's the Venus after all ..)

    Other than that: Very nice!
    Thank you for the tip on the icecap. I am really at a loss for how to do ice on a map. I was tinkering with some random noise colored blue, but whenever I made it particularly blue, it looked really bad. It could be the shade I was using or the noise. I'll definitely try clouds.

    The temperature maps were generated using the climate cookbook. The outcome wasn't intended any particular way, and I may still play with it more. It's built up with three layers of semi-transparent blues and reds based on different factors. I might try tinkering with it a bit more to see if I can get a better gradient happening. Maybe if I do a black and white gradient based on temperature on one layer. Copy that layer and do a color invert. Then color one layer red, the other blue and overlay them on each other? I'm really still learning my way around GIMP, so if anyone knows a better way, please speak up!


    Quote Originally Posted by arsheesh View Post
    I love how well thought out this project is. Kudos Humabout!

    Cheers,
    -Arsheesh
    Thank you! Eventually, I'll start working on coastlines of my own, but for now, this looks like a good way to get some practice without agonizing over the basic shapes. And with a little luck, I'll even get a game map out of it!

  6. #6

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    Here's an update. I redid the precipitation maps with a more detailed hand. I think this better represents the actual precipitation patterns in summer and winter. I also found a way to get a better gradient and used a mask to restrict the colors to the land areas.

    Winter Precipitation & Trade Winds
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Starfall - Winter - Precipitation & Tradewinds.jpg 
Views:	1100 
Size:	1.50 MB 
ID:	58816

    Summer Precipitation & Trade Winds
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Starfall - Summer - Precipitation & Tradewinds.jpg 
Views:	315 
Size:	1.45 MB 
ID:	58817

    I'm going to work on those temperature maps next. I'll edit this post with them once they're complete.

    [EDIT]
    Something I have noticed is that because the majority of the land lies in the tropics, the weather tends to be pretty warm, in general. This is as opposed to Earth where most of the land is in the northern hemisphere and relatively little is actually in the tropics. On to working out climate zones.

    Winter Temperatures
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Starfall - Temperature - Winter.jpg 
Views:	154 
Size:	1.35 MB 
ID:	58821

    Summer Temperatures
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Starfall - Temperature - Summer.jpg 
Views:	204 
Size:	1.46 MB 
ID:	58822

    [EDIT]
    Slightly better icecap and a grid for reference:
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Starfall - Grid.jpg 
Views:	176 
Size:	1.30 MB 
ID:	58825
    Last edited by Humabout; 11-03-2013 at 07:48 PM. Reason: Adding stuff.

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