One of my maps...

[RPMiller]

Is it too big to post here? Maybe Arcana can put it somewhere on his server for us to drool over?

I can't wait to see the effect of the drop shadow.

What would the emboss do for your roads instead of the drop shadow you have now?

[Robbie]

Maybe an outer glow for the roads instead with the glow (and the roads) set to color burn? I've often found you can get a GREAT effect with browns and reds on top of greys and browns by using color burn...

Try setting the layer of the roads and the outer glow style to color burn, use a light brown or tan color for the roads and the glow, make the glow size rather small with 0 spread...maybe add a little tiny bit of noise to the glow...It will look like the roads are actually worn into the earth on your map...of course, I'm talking about roads on overland map not streets on city map. If you need a demonstration of this effect let me know and I'll show ya...

As for the psd...let me know what size it is and I'll see about getting it on the server somehow...maybe I can give you an ftp or something to send it to.

[RPMiller]

That's intriguing. I would like to see that effect in action.

[KagatoAMV]

The file is about 45MB, its because of all the layers I think.

That color burn effect sounds interesting. I'll need to try that out. If you have an example handy I'd like to see it.

[Robbie]

This is a very rough sample...I exaggerated the road and the effect so you can see it clearly. You may want to make it a little more subtle.

I created a quick and easy land texture (brownish) and then I created a new layer on top of it set to color burn as its blend mode.

I made my draw color f4be9e which is a light tan. copied that html color code to my clipboard because I'll need it again.

Then I drew a road line with a size 9 brush on the empty color burn layer.

As you can tell because its burnign the tan onto the brown you end up with a mix of the two...it keeps the texture underneath it.

Then I applied an outer glow effect to the road layer. I set its blend mode to color burn. Opacity to 100%. Noise to 9%. color to f4be9e (same as the road) Spread to 0, and finally size to 18.

You may have to adjust things as necessary to achieve the look you desire...but color burn is an awesome way to blend things into a textured background. If you have a darker background and want a lighter colored road, do the exact same except use color dodge instead of burn as your blend mode...you may have to experiment with colors to see how each color dodges into the darker background.

For the two rivers I used colro dodge on both layers...the river and the top rivers glow was both done in color dodge with 1c21ff...whereas the bottom river was color dodge with 1c21ff, but I used color dodge with 727d4a for the outer glow to give it a beach-like edge...

Again exaggerated, but you get the point.

[RPMiller]

I like the road effect a lot! I'm going to keep that in mind. I'm iffy about the rivers though. The bottom one is a little too 'glowy' if that makes sense. Maybe a darker color would look better for my taste, but I understand what you are trying to achieve there.

Thank you for the tutorial!!

[Robbie]

Duh...how about the .psd file for your enjoyment

[Robbie]

I like the road effect a lot! I'm going to keep that in mind. I'm iffy about the rivers though. The bottom one is a little too 'glowy' if that makes sense. Maybe a darker color would look better for my taste, but I understand what you are trying to achieve there.

Thank you for the tutorial!!

I aim to please Yeah I didn't like the rivers too terribly much either...they might look better burned instead of dodged, but I wanted to show the difference.

[RPMiller]

Woohoo! Play time! Thanks for the PSD!

[KagatoAMV]

Oh, that is a nice effect.

I was off a little, the Sloringard map is 21MB, not 40, Valentia is 40.