Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 15

Thread: Seems I jumped the gun on the Challenge

  1. #1

    Info Seems I jumped the gun on the Challenge

    Hi All

    Just a quick intro to myself since I started working on the current challenge before I introduced myself.

    Anyway, My name is John Milner and for the last 5 years I have been the chief mapping guy for a small press publisher called UKG Publishing (hence the screen name). UKG Publishing puts out a range of supplements for games ranging from fantasy, modern to scifi and our coreline of Year of the Zombie.

    In my day job I'm fortunate to work for the University of Nottingham in the School of Geography (although 3 years into my job and I still haven't found time to pilfer our extensive map library lol).

    I have attached some maps from previous work over the last 3 years (any older and I tend to cringe at what I was drawing ).

    The first thumbnail is for a product called the Villa of Mysterious Delights and is a semi accurate (at least layout and scale wise) rending of the Villa of Mystery's although it has been forced into the 1 inch = 5 foot mould for gaming.

    The next two are a modern product called the Ordo Tempi Orientis and is designed as a modern chapter house for that mysterious organisation (there is a 3rd basement level).

    The next 2 come from a line called Map 'n' Tilez and this is the Temple of the Spider Goddess. A fantasy map for a subteranean race of spider worshipers (impressed at how I avoided using a cliched name )

    I have a few more which I will add in a second post as 5 seems to be the limit.

    John
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	villa_lit.jpg 
Views:	123 
Size:	2.08 MB 
ID:	9017   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	house1_lit.jpg 
Views:	60 
Size:	225.6 KB 
ID:	9018   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	house2_lit.jpg 
Views:	50 
Size:	252.2 KB 
ID:	9019   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	temple_level_1_lit.jpg 
Views:	58 
Size:	1.15 MB 
ID:	9020   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	temple_level_2_lit.jpg 
Views:	70 
Size:	603.5 KB 
ID:	9021  


  2. #2
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Steel General's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Ft. Wayne, IN
    Posts
    9,530

    Default

    Welcome Aboard!

    Nice maps! What software do you use to create them?
    My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...

    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.



  3. #3

    Info

    And on with the tour

    The 1st thumb is the 3rd level of the Spider Goddess map.

    Next we have one of the maps from our Year of the Zombie Map, this one is the parkinglot for the final encounter of Independance Day Massacre (note the body parts and blood stains) which has the party trapped in a national Park when the dead start to come back to life.

    Onto Scifi, the first image is the loading deck of the Lyssna Class Space Station (not the biggest scifi map I have done which comes in at a whopping 300 + pages of print).

    Finally, an as yet unseen and unpublished map for an asteroid mining complex (this shows the space dock and storage facilities).

    In terms of software I use a variety of packages including Paintshop Pro 8, Photoshop, 3dMax, Poser, Bryce, Anim8tor and more.

    You've probably noticed I tend to work in battlemap scale maps, although I am experimenting with a variety of other techniques.

    Its quite a change for me to be working on a map for the maps sake so I hope you all like what I have been doing and what I submit for the challenges.

    Anyway thats enough about me, I got a challenge to work on

    Thanks

    John Milner
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	temple_level_3_lit.jpg 
Views:	56 
Size:	279.6 KB 
ID:	9023   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Parking_Lot.jpg 
Views:	50 
Size:	755.4 KB 
ID:	9024   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Lyssna_Tiles_Lit_Colour.jpg 
Views:	686 
Size:	26.5 KB 
ID:	9025   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Main-Level.jpg 
Views:	59 
Size:	541.2 KB 
ID:	9026  

  4. #4

    Post

    Quote Originally Posted by Steel General View Post
    Welcome Aboard!

    Nice maps! What software do you use to create them?

    Thanks

    Most of these are done using Paintshop Pro with 3dMax and anim8tor used to render the 3d objects in top down view.

    John

  5. #5
    Administrator Redrobes's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    England
    Posts
    7,193
    Blog Entries
    8

    Post

    Hi John, I use PSP a lot tho I never upgraded so I am a version or two behind yours. Does V8 allow the loading of PNG with full alpha channel transparencies ? On mine they load in as just the colour bit. I wondered whether it does or whether you had to cut out your tokens with some selection tool before rotating them and pasting them down. Or do you have them saved in the PSP format which does have the transparency info saved with it. I have to admit I dont use PSP for putting down tokens as its too time consuming with all the scaling, rotating and pasting. Then you cant move them afterwards if they overlap other stuff. But I was curious as to how you generally use it.

  6. #6

  7. #7
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    St. Charles, Missouri, United States
    Posts
    8,392

    Post

    Whoa! Never knew PSP could do things like that or else I would never have found Dunjinni and Photoshop. Your floors and carpets are astounding. Truly nice work and I hope you stick around, we could use more mappers doing this kind of work and quality. Welcome to The Guild.
    If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)


    My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps

  8. #8
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Apex, NC USA
    Posts
    3,057

    Post

    John, this is awesome stuff!

    Would you be willing to post up some tutorials? I use GIMP, but there have been several inquiries as recent as yesterday asking for assistance with PSP, so anything you would be willing to share would be wonderful. Of course, if you don't have time, I can understand, but we would welcome anything you have to share.
    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
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

  9. #9

    Post

    Quote Originally Posted by Redrobes View Post
    Hi John, I use PSP a lot tho I never upgraded so I am a version or two behind yours. Does V8 allow the loading of PNG with full alpha channel transparencies ? On mine they load in as just the colour bit. I wondered whether it does or whether you had to cut out your tokens with some selection tool before rotating them and pasting them down. Or do you have them saved in the PSP format which does have the transparency info saved with it. I have to admit I dont use PSP for putting down tokens as its too time consuming with all the scaling, rotating and pasting. Then you cant move them afterwards if they overlap other stuff. But I was curious as to how you generally use it.
    Hi Redrobe, V8 does load PNG's with the full alpha channel so in most cases I can use objects straight from PNG format, although anim8tor images need to be cut out as it renders on a colour background. Once I have them I generally save all my tokens back as PNG files, but thats just personal preference.

    I stuck with v8 as they started changing the interface quite a bit after that and I didn't feel like learning it all again

    As for tokens I do most of my work at 300dpi so its fairly easy to mentally do the math to rescale when I am working at other resolutions, but rotating is still a pain. Of course using lots of layer makes it easier to correct mistakes.

    Thanks

    John

  10. #10

    Post

    Thanks for all the comments guys and I'm pleased you like the work.

    As for PSP tutorials I'm more than happy to work some up although I can't give any definate deadlines etc

    Laters

    John

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •