[Award Winner] Making maps in Photoshop

[jezelf]

lanyards: Hi there. Sorry you can't follow the instructions.

You are nearly there. To copy and paste, Select > All (Ctrl+A). Edit> Copy (Ctrl+C). back to the Channels tab. Click onto your new Alpha 1 channel . Edit > Paste (or Ctrl+V)

• You don't need to click on the 'save selection as a channel', but you use the 'Create new Channel ' next to it.

Here's a more detailed walk through...

1: First make sure your artwork (your B&W alpha map you post here ) is in the right color mode. Image >Mode > RGB color

(It sounds like you are, but I copied your map to my PS to check and it was grayscale, which I'm guessing you changed it to for the sake of putting it up here, but just wanted to check)

If you don't have it as a RGB image, then some of the tutorial may not make sense. All you would see in the channels is 'Gray' and no RGB that I mention. If this is so, perform the step above first.

2: In your Layers tab > L click with your mouse on the Background layer and drag it to the new layers icon. It will create a copy of your B&W image above your Background layer called 'Background copy'. This is not yet technically an alpha map until it's in the channel tabs. it is currently still just a B&W looking image.

Note: step 2: (on this post) is not absolutely necessary for what I'm explaining here, but I think I use the background copy for other stuff later in the tutorial

3: Now click on your Channels Tab. You should see 4 channels: RGB, Red, Green, Blue. They will most likely all be selected. You can click on them one at a time to see how they effect the layer.

4: While still in the Channel tab, L click with your mouse on the new channel icon at the bottom (next to the trash can - looks like the new layer icon from the layer's tab). You will create a new channel, which will name itself as Alpha 1 as default. It will probably be the only channel visible (the eye icon) and will be white, because it's an empty channel.

5: Click on the Layers Tab. click on your 'Background Copy' layer. Select > All (Ctrl+A). Edit> Copy (Ctrl+C).

6: Click back to the Channels tab. Click onto your new Alpha 1 channel . Edit > Paste (or Ctrl+V)

7: You can test if it's working by Ctrl+L click with your mouse on that Alpha 1 channel. It should now select only the black & grayscale areas.

(You can rename your alpha channel if you prefer by double clicking on 'Alpha 1' once it is active and type in something else. The same method for renaming the layers )

You should now have your image in the correct alpha channel. Let me know if this helps - or not.

cheers

Jez

[lanyards]

Thanks a bunch Jez. I'll be sure to post my end results when I'm finished.

--lanyards

[lanyards]

Sorry to bother you again, but I guess I'm just doing something wrong again. So I have my new Alpha channel. I Select its pixels, and then try to fill in the ocean with a blue, but it turns out red for some reason. I have never used channels, so I don't know what I am doing wrong. Thanks for the help.

--lanyards

[jezelf]

No bother

Use your channels only to select things. Once selected, go back to the Layers tab to do any editing, creating a new layer if needed. Sounds like you are trying to fill in while still in the Channels tab and so you are seeing the selection mask. In the channels red is the default colour to show a mask.

Returning to the Layer's tab is mentioned in step 1.4. Please see that for further explanation on this step. When I get time I'll edit the tutorial to mention that filling in while still in the channels tab will show stuff up as red.

Also check what colour you have as foreground/background colours in your tools ( defaulted position is on the left side of your screen at the bottom - two boxes, default as black and white ). If you have red, then red will be used to fill in. When you fill, the dialogue box allows you to fill with foreground or background (among other options) so check you are filling in with the colour you want.

hope that helps. I look forward to seeing your finished map.

Cheers
jez

[bryguy]

• Main page

• A Basic Alpha Map

• Aged, Parchment with a creation method for mountain ranges, trees and trails.

• Turning your hand drawn sketch into a detailed alpha map

• One of many options to colour your map

• 4 ways to give your map a relief using height maps - using Wilbur for one of them.

for some reason whenever i click any of the links now it says that its "Forbidden" and wont let me see the tutorial. Whats with that? It worked a couple of weeks ago

[jgerman]

Fantastic tutorial.

I'm following along with the Gimp and am having trouble with 1.4 of the Aged Paper tutorial.

I can't seem to get my rivers to come out nice. They don't fade out like the examples do and I suspect it's because (since I'm using Gimp and it's my first time) I'm not selecting the alpha channel correctly.

Anyone have any advice on how to get that to work with Gimp?

[bryguy]

Fantastic tutorial.

I'm following along with the Gimp and am having trouble with 1.4 of the Aged Paper tutorial.

I can't seem to get my rivers to come out nice. They don't fade out like the examples do and I suspect it's because (since I'm using Gimp and it's my first time) I'm not selecting the alpha channel correctly.

Anyone have any advice on how to get that to work with Gimp?

try drawing the rivers in a .5 scaled paintbrush or pencil, and when you do the stroke selection, set the size of the stroke to .1. Ill keep experimenting and ill tell you if i find a better way to do it

[RobA]

I can't seem to get my rivers to come out nice. They don't fade out like the examples do and I suspect it's because (since I'm using Gimp and it's my first time) I'm not selecting the alpha channel correctly.

Anyone have any advice on how to get that to work with Gimp?

What, specifically, do you mean by "fade out"? Tapering? Or something else?

-Rob A>

[jgerman]

What, specifically, do you mean by "fade out"? Tapering? Or something else?

-Rob A>

On the tutorial for aged paper (http://www.jezelf.co.uk/tutorials_map02.htm) the first few instructions are related to creating a new alpha layer (or channel, I'm not sure which).

Instruction 1.2 and 1.3 are where the magic (well it's magic to me at least) happens. The creation of a 'Selection Set' from the map alpha followed by the 1 pixel stroke in 1.3.

What I think is happening is that when the stroke is performed, since the selection is from the alpha channel the opacity of the stroked lines will match those of the lines I take the selection from. But I don't seem to be getting that effect.

Looking at the map under 1.4 you'll see that the rivers fade into the tan as the move inland. This is what I assume the effect I'm botching would cause. What happens on my maps is those pieces I erased away in the first tutorial (to get the tapering rivers) don't appear at all and I just get solid lines for the rest of the river.

I may be screwing up a step in the first tutorial (Creating an Alpha Map). Specifically the paragraph that includes the sentence "partly delete away the harder, brighter inner rivers". I'm noob enough to just not know.

I apologize for the round about way I'm describing things, this is all new to me.

[jezelf]

for some reason whenever i click any of the links now it says that its "Forbidden" and wont let me see the tutorial. Whats with that? It worked a couple of weeks ago

Hi

bryguy: Yeah sorry about that. I guess the tutorials are quite popular - I ran out of my transfer data quota. I've brought another 5GB - should be OK now.

jgerman: I've not used GIMP, though there are plenty of others here who have, there might be an answer in one of the GIMP tutorials. I'll have a look at GIMP if I get some time and get back to you on that one.