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  1. #1
    Guild Novice
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    Map My First Map - Comments Please!

    Hi Guys

    Here my first map made with CC3. Comments please!!

    I have attached both a JPG as well as the zipped FCW file. You can download a viewer from the Profantasy website.

    No copyright or anything on this map. If you can use it, you are more than welcome
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  2. #2
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    Its not really my style of map so I can't help that much, one thing I noticed is the text for 'The unknown city' is not very clear and seems to be done differently from the other text on your map

  3. #3
    Community Leader Gandwarf's Avatar
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    Post

    For your first map with CC3 this looks good! I especially like the small part with the hills in the top right corner (next to the desert).

    Some critique:

    - The blue lines are rivers? If so, you should try to give them the same color as the sea.

    - Your mountains don't look too natural, I would experiment with putting them closer together. For an example in my work, check this thread:
    http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=2977
    Try the same with the green hills, but don't pack them too close together.

    - The horseman plains look a bit empty. I understand they are plains, but maybe along the coast or river somewhere you can put some more vegetation. Don't overdo it.

    - You are using a pretty standard font I think. Try using some other more fantasy themed fonts. There are loads that can be downloaded.
    Last edited by Gandwarf; 10-10-2008 at 03:54 PM.
    Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.

    Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...

  4. #4
    Guild Journeyer
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    Great start. I agree about the font for the unknown city. Play around some with effects as well.

    loyd

  5. #5
    Community Leader NeonKnight's Avatar
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    Yes, Gandwarf has made some good points. Just a little tweaking and it will look a lot better.
    Daniel the Neon Knight: Campaign Cartographer User

    Never use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice!

    Any questions on CC3? Post them with CC3 in the Subject Line!
    MY 'FAMOUS' CC3 MAPS: Thunderspire; Pyramid of Shadows; King of the Trollhaunt Warrens; Demon Queen's Enclave

  6. #6
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    I have updated the Map with you guys' comments.

    Anything else that stands out?

  7. #7
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    Post Updated the Map

    Here is it!
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  8. #8

    Post

    nice start

    Welcome aboard

  9. #9
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    Much better. I am not a CC user, so someone else may have to tell you how, but, here is what I would suggest:


    • You took someones suggestion about bringing your mountains closer together (which was correct!) but now they might be a little too tightly grouped, especially the shorter ones
    • It looks like you changed the color under the mountains from peachy-tan back to the grass color. What I would suggest is to pick a color that is close to the color of the mountains and put that down underneath and slightly larger (very slight) than you mountain range footprint.
    • I am not too keen with the organgy-brown hills with the grey ones.. at least not with the grey mountains nearby.
    • If you change the spacing of the mountains, try to gradually make the spacing a bit wider as you go out away from the center... your hills will get sparser as you move away from the mountains. this i a hard effect to achieve, so don't drive yourself to crazy. On the existing map, it looks like the orange hills ring the mountains with a 25 mile section of plains between those hills and the mountains beginning.
    • Desert, you might want to put a blur on there to so it does not have a hard edge transition.
    • The forest has a noticeable overlap of trees.... check your symbol placement so it looks more natural.

    Overall.. an good start and some useful updates to the original. Looking forward to seeing more.
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
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    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

  10. #10
    Community Leader NeonKnight's Avatar
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    You've done some good work, and now a few thoughts:

    I will echo previous comments on the mountains. They look good, but.....repetitive. When you view the symbol catalog you will notice some smaller 'symbols' (for lack of a better word) in the upper right and left of the symbol window for some symbols. These are a '+' an 'R' and somtimes a colored box. These mean the following:

    '+' This means the displayed symbol is one of a group of similar symbols. If you click the '+' it will expand the choices for those linked symbols

    'R' this goes hand in hand with the above. If you select the R it means you will place a symbol, and then the engine will randomly select another symbol from that same collection (different mountain, different hills, different trees). Hitting the TAB key will cylce through the symbols.

    The colored box represent that some symbols are VARI-colored, meaning you can change some aspects of the color of the symbol. For every VARI colored symbol there is a standard colored version. You select the color as you would for your palete normally.
    Daniel the Neon Knight: Campaign Cartographer User

    Never use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice!

    Any questions on CC3? Post them with CC3 in the Subject Line!
    MY 'FAMOUS' CC3 MAPS: Thunderspire; Pyramid of Shadows; King of the Trollhaunt Warrens; Demon Queen's Enclave

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