Here's another new member

[Rahva]

Hello there!
I've been making maps for a long time now, but I've only recently gone about making them legible for anyone but myself. I've found some awesome tutorials on this site, so I signed up.
I mostly do maps for my fantasy worlds, sometimes at city-level, but I often get confused (I want to map my most interesting cities, and they are somewhat convoluted) so I stick to world-level.
I also do dungeons for my gaming group, but I have yet to find a program that makes it comfortable. I"ve tried Dundjinni and CC3, and can't really do what I want with either of them. So I just draw those on graph paper

In more personal news... I'm a 21 year old female English major from the Netherlands. I GM DnD, write in a ton of different settings, so I've been dabbling in tons of styles of cartography.

Anyway, that's me Hello.

[Korash]

glad to have you here

As you most likely have noticed, there is plenty of advice in the many styles so post early, post often, but most of all, POST. (maps that is)

[Gamerprinter]

Welcome to the Guild, Rahva!

As Korash, said, "Post some maps!" Don't worry is you don't think they are "worthy", let us critique, comment and point you in the direction you want to go. The best way to learn how to do a better map is post what you have and let us help you out.

What is it about your planned city maps that are convoluted? Perhaps we can get you in the best direction for that so the convolution is not a problem, but an asset to your map design.

And don't mind if you get "assaulted" by a bunch "girl crazy" mappers, saying "hello" and giving you REP - that's what happened to the last girl who signed up - LOL. We've got more than several female cartographers here, but you are still in the minority.

Again, welcome, I hope you enjoy your visits and learn a thing or two!

GP

[Gandwarf]

Hi Rahva,

I am Dutch as well and a user of CC3 and CD3.

[Redrobes]

Welcome,

...but I have yet to find a program that makes it comfortable. I"ve tried Dundjinni and CC3, and can't really do what I want with either of them.

What is it that you want to do that these didn't do well for you ? You must have something in mind and I am sure we can proffer some advice.

[Rahva]

Thanks for the welcome everyone

What is it about your planned city maps that are convoluted? Perhaps we can get you in the best direction for that so the convolution is not a problem, but an asset to your map design.

Well, for example... One of the cities I would really like to have a map for is in the world I posted here.

It's called Hub. It's situated in the middle of a narrow path through a sacred forest. The country, Almin, used to be a number of provinces that were conquered under Almin rule some centuries ago. Before this was the case, Hub was an Almin enclave on foreign soil. This caused many foreign fugitives to run to Hub because their own government's laws did not hold there. That, plus the fact that the 'pass' through the forest is a major trade route, caused the city to grow rather quickly.
However, it is forbidden to cut down the forest, so the city is quite long and narrow.
The trouble with mapping it is that it is also very tall.
In Hub, a single tower can hold several different types of housing or shops, be connected to several bridges or other houses on different levels, be a gate on another level, and so on. There are streets on ground level, high level, and everywhere in between. Generally speaking, the higher your house is, the more prosperous you are.

Long story short, a map of Hub becomes a random cluster of squares and lines pretty quickly. I don't think anybody in Hub itself has a full map of it. Not a good map to start with, methinks
I might try and map one of the other cities first, or one of the little towns around it... So much to do.

[Rahva]

Welcome,



What is it that you want to do that these didn't do well for you ? You must have something in mind and I am sure we can proffer some advice.

Today I was trying to start on a map for an upcoming DnD session. It's a huge underground complex under a ruined city, partially located in one of the Lower Planes.
I tried this in CC3, with the Dungeon expansion. I had a 10ft (2 square) wide hallway, with several 5ft hallways branching off of it. No doors, just branching hallways. However, because of the way the 5ft hallways snapped to the corners of the grid they were half in one square, half in the other. Not a problem in itself, but I was trying to remove the wall that separated the main hallway from its branches. I couldn't find a way to do this to only half a square, and I couldn't find a way to move the branches a half square to the side.

I'm pretty sure there is a really simple solution to this though. Just not one I've found.

For Dundjinni, it just doesn't work. Some problem with Java.

I've tried doing dungeons in Photoshop too but it's too much work there. I can draw it on grid paper, scan it and touch it up in about the same time it takes me to create a grid in Photoshop.

[Hoel]

Make a realistic map, that will show the clutter
If that's how the citizens see it, why not let the map show just that

[Redrobes]

Well if your mapping stuff in XY and Z for height then you might need a 3D app. Another option is to link maps together so that when you climb a staircase then the app automatically fetches the correct next level map for you. Otherwise you will have lots of maps to deal with. A good indexing system could bypass that issue but having a good index and something to get the right one with a click is better.

In terms of linking maps together you can put them up as web pages and have links to other pages. Or you can use a map program which will do that for you too. You can use google sketchup for the quickest way to do buildings in 3D but its no good for terrain and other non city stuff. Also I don't think it can link groupings of 3D maps together. Maybe I am wrong there tho - I am no wiz at sketchup. Doing stuff in 3D is harder than 2D too.

So do you think you want linked maps or full 3D for the city ? And if linked do you think you would be organized enough to maintain a good indexing system or would you want the app to do the linking and fetching for you ?

EDIT -- ill add some more from the second post.

Most mapping apps should be able to snap to grid and not snap also. So I guess that its just an option to find. If sketching something out on paper and scanning works for you then it seems to me that its a case of organizing all those scans together into one big map. You could touch up the image with some basic flood fills or texture them a bit more or maybe go more detailed with a paint app and get that sketch looking better. So is your issue more about getting your scanned in pen work better or getting a map app that can do these things (like removing bits of wall and no snap to grid) that you want to do easier ?

It seems to me as though it depends on whether you want lots of your city mapped roughly (like pen sketch) or a small amount of city mapped really well (realistic textured etc).

[Ascension]

How do they build up without wood? Is it all stone, or dead limbs, or is it dug out around the trees, or is it all tents? Nonetheless, I'd start with something smaller or something random just to get my feet wet and develop a style then come back when ready for this one. I'd also try some different software as well to see what fits ya...CC3 is pretty common for cities but many of us use other things. I'd say find a tutorial that produces a style that you like then find out what software they used. By, the way, Welcome to The Guild.