Two versions of the same map to share with you today. The first is my regular style. For the second, I put the terrain from the first into a 3D plane in Photoshop, then tweaked and stretched the 3D layer until it covered the same area as the original map. 5 hours later it finished rendering and I replaced the terrain with the 3D render.

Click image for larger version.  Name: Osriel-2a-150dpi.jpg  Views: 253  Size: 1.31 MB  ID: 96283 Click image for larger version.  Name: Osriel-2b-render-150dpi.jpg  Views: 217  Size: 1.47 MB  ID: 96284

Both probably have their uses. The perspective one is great for seeing the shape of the mountain ranges at a quick glance, including which peaks are highest. But at the same time, the perspective mountains hide things like lakes and rivers behind them. I'm thinking I'll keep the top down view for my main maps, and make something else with the 3D renders — thematic maps showing migrations or other information, probably.

The question is, which do you prefer?

Edit: I wrote an article about this with a cool Juxtapose JS widget over on my web site: http://www.thorfmaps.com/perspective...raphical-maps/