Stern's Bridge

[jfrazierjr]

Quick reply to Korash- Way too long! Days, certainly, but I'm not sure how many. I agonize over very small details.

jfrazierjr- I'm not sure I followed your instructions very well. I did manage to select the area between the paper and the image limits, but could not find 'delete' option anywhere. I tried cutting, to no avail. So I just started looking through the options I did have. At one point I could see the checkerboard behind the paper (though I'm not sure how I did it), but I could still see the parts of the map that ran past the paper's edge under the checkers, so I figured that wasn't it. In the end I filled the selection with white. I then saved it as a .png file. I'm not sure how big it was before this save, but the current image is 6.94 MB. I reduced the image by 50% so that I could post the result.

This is the flat white jpg I'm coloring, also reduced



Here is the result of jfrazierjr's instructions, as well as I could follow them



Final note, I am again filled with uncertainty. Is this the direction I wish to be going? It seems... I don't know, wrong, but I don't know why. Should the coloring stop? Should the hues change? I will continue coloring for now, because I don't have any better ideas, and I know that on completion they are easily restored to white or altered to another hue.

Your very close. I simply meant the Delete key on your keyboard which removes everything on a layer or whatever is selected and turns it transparent. Note how you have a white border? png allows transparency while jpg does not. If you select the outside edges and delete, the white border will delete out to transparent and when you save to png, that transparency will still be there and make it look muc more like a piece of torn paper.

One other thought if you want to try it is to take a look at my WIP I linked to previously. Notice how the edges of the page have the color fade away so that the very edges are just the parchment? You can replicate this by using layer masks on upper layers to hide what's below using a high blured selection. Check out http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...archment+paper for some of the details, and if you want help, let us know here.

[jfrazierjr]

In any event, no matter which way you go with it, the map is turning out quite well!

[Feralspirit]

I would really like to add some text on a curve, (the river, for instance, the roads leading out of town, etc...)can someone explain to me how to do that with GIMP? Or point me at a tut that will teach me?

[RobA]

I would really like to add some text on a curve, (the river, for instance, the roads leading out of town, etc...)can someone explain to me how to do that with GIMP? Or point me at a tut that will teach me?

It is in my "really frickin' big" gimp tut.

Instead of making you read the whole thing, I'll point you to the post

http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...9&postcount=25

-Rob A>

[Feralspirit]

That's what I was looking for! Thank you RobA, much appreciated. Still so much to learn, and I am very slow.

BTW- I have every intention of reading that tut all the through, and did before your post (in fact, I had it up in another window when I noticed your reply). I suppose I should read it sooner, rather than later. It might actually answer a lot of questions. I'm feeling embarrassed now. Thanks again.

[torstan]

This map is coming along very nicely.

For watercolour effects I've had good results with duplicating the colour layer for a region, setting the bottom layer blending mode to overlay and the top one to normal at 50%. It gives a nice washed out look, and allows the paper texture to come through the colour. Also, I tend to change the black lines to a dark brown (or just set the line layer to overlay and duplicate the layer until I get a dark enough line). The black is a little harsh on a parchment map.

This is coming along really well. I assume you're using the magic wand to select your different fill regions?

[Feralspirit]

huh?

I'm sorry, most of what you said just flew over my head. Let me describe what my situation is (hopefully the process you've described is still accessable to me).

I am not working in layers at all. Every time I save, the image flattens out (I don't know how to save in layers). To create the 'washed out' appearance I was using a desired hue and cutting the opacity by 50%. Because the torn old parchment interferes with bucket fill, I backed-up to a flat white page, and I'm working with that (every time I post an image on the torn old parchment it is newly generated).

Regarding the wand selection tool, I am having difficulties. Every time I save, or rather, every time I reopen my map I notice it has gotten fuzzier (pixels migrating outward). I don't know why this happens, or how to stop it (though it has resulted in one happy accident in that my roads now have a dirtier appearance than before). So, whenever I try to use the wand I end up with selected pixels all over the place, . As a result I just use the freehand select.

Even though I am currently on 1 layer, it sounds as though I could apply your effect when I finish coloring. Is this correct?

I am in the middle of roofing, excited by Ascension's tut yesterday (didn't know what bevel was until then, wish I could reproduce the shingled look he has in Brownstone, but I don't know where to begin looking for corresponding GIMP functions, chisel soft what?), anyway this is where my map stands now.

Should have cut thie size by 50% for upload sorry.

As you can see, my colors are now much darker. Because of this I had kind of given up on the parchment idea. If I can use the process you describe, maybe I can still do it

[RobA]

Here is a handy video tut showing how to clean up a scanned image using the curves tool, and set it up to start colouring on a (or many) separate layers. Not specific for mapping, but useful for any new gimp user.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en&v=-wYMbp3jNwo&gl=US

-Rob A>

[Feralspirit]

Do you still have your original "sketch" as a separate image? If so, I would HIGHLY suggest starting over...

I'm crushed. I went through a whole range of emotions upon reading your post. Thanks, I think you might be right.

When this thread moved from introductions to WIP it was my intention to use this map to educate myself, and I just started proceeding with what I already knew.

My original sketch has many flaws and holes in the lines, I think possibly a few more after using the process RobA pointed me at. I am reducing everything to black and white, redefining my lines, and saving that image as 'lines' (using .xcf). If I'm not mistaken (my understanding of the software and tut instructions may still be flawed) I can then copy the outline of my river onto a new layer. Am I good so far?

[torstan]

Once you have a layer with your lines on it, you're halfway there. Now you can use the magic wand tool to select areas. After you've selected an area go to Select->Grow Selection and add a couple of pixels so that the selection runs down the middle of your lines rather than along the edge of them.

Now create a new layer (in the layers dialogue) and fill (Edit->Fill Selection) to fill the area with colour.

This will colour over some of the line. To avoid this, keep the lines layer on the top (click and drag them in the layers dialogue). Now set the lines layer mode to multiply - this will only use the black parts (the lines) of the layer and not the white, allowing you to see the colour below.

I hope this helps with the next step.