[Photoshop] First time making a battlemap using Photoshop, need some help!

[Helkor]

Hey guys, new on this website, looking forward to learn!

So, as the title says, I'm using photoshop, and trying to build a battlemap.

My first mini learning project is a simple house.

I'm currently stumped upon a small shadowing problem inside the house.


My primary problem is that I'm pretty sure there shouldn't be shadows inside of the house.

Another thing that puzzles me: an effective way to make walls? Floor is easy enough, but walls?
What I did was that I took the rectangle tool, and made a rectangle the size I wanted, and then used a Pattern overlay as well as Bevel & Emboss to make the walls look more realistic.
And to fit in the door I created a vector mask on the layer and deleted the part of the wall with a brush, that I didn't need.

All tips and help is greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Helkor

[Mouse]

Hello Helkor

I don't use PS, so I can only be of limited assistance from your point of view as far as technical advice goes, but what I can do is give you a few battle map tips.

You are right - there wouldn't really be any shadows inside a house, unless you had a light source like a room light, a lamp or a fire. Other than that you are more likely to have light rays and light shadows coming in through windows and open doorways.

The other thing I could mention, if you don't mind, is that your grid is dominating the picture. It only needs to be barely there - just enough that the players can see it, otherwise it will greatly detract from the clarity and beauty of your map. Having done a couple of battle maps myself just recently I can tell you that the grids on mine are more than 50% transparent, hairline thick, and subtly softened by the use of what I call a glow (and which I think you would probably call a stroke), but only a very, very subtle one.

Hope that helped a bit, even though I don't know very much about PS

[Midgardsormr]

Try putting your effects on the floor instead of the walls. You might have to make the drop shadow a little bigger to show through, depending on how much smaller the floor is than the outer perimeter of the walls. That won't be the solution for everything, but in this case, I think it should work well.

I think your approach to making the walls is a good one. It has the advantage of being non-destructive and easy to apply quickly.

[Helkor]

Hello Helkor

I don't use PS, so I can only be of limited assistance from your point of view as far as technical advice goes, but what I can do is give you a few battle map tips.

You are right - there wouldn't really be any shadows inside a house, unless you had a light source like a room light, a lamp or a fire. Other than that you are more likely to have light rays and light shadows coming in through windows and open doorways.

The other thing I could mention, if you don't mind, is that your grid is dominating the picture. It only needs to be barely there - just enough that the players can see it, otherwise it will greatly detract from the clarity and beauty of your map. Having done a couple of battle maps myself just recently I can tell you that the grids on mine are more than 50% transparent, hairline thick, and subtly softened by the use of what I call a glow (and which I think you would probably call a stroke), but only a very, very subtle one.

Hope that helped a bit, even though I don't know very much about PS

Yeah, I was planning to turn down the grid opacity before finishing up, it just makes it easier to see if you're on line with everything while doing walls and floor etc

Try putting your effects on the floor instead of the walls. You might have to make the drop shadow a little bigger to show through, depending on how much smaller the floor is than the outer perimeter of the walls. That won't be the solution for everything, but in this case, I think it should work well.

I think your approach to making the walls is a good one. It has the advantage of being non-destructive and easy to apply quickly.

Just tried out putting the effects on the floor instead! and it works great! The other solution I came up with, was to split the walls into 2 layers, 1 layer containing walls I want shadows on, and the other layer containing the walls I don't want shadows on. But your approach is definitely faster and easier!

Does anyone have any good tutorials on how to make mountains and/or caves?

[wdmartin]

Helkor -- take a look at MadCowChef's battle maps tutorial. It covers a lot of things that you will find useful, including some techniques for making walls.