Question about mapping streets

[Jaekaido]

hello,

i play D&D and am currently getting ready to run a game but my maps are not turning out quite the way i would like. i use photoshop cs3 and have some experience with it but am unable to get the results like some of the other maps i have seen. i have downloaded a tutorial that makes a world map but am having trouble finding one for making a city street with buildings and stuff. are there any tutorials for that here as i am not finding any? if i can not find a tutorial is there a group of downloadable map icons like buildings and stuff that i can use in photoshop?

[persona-non-sequitur]

Hi and welcome!

I don't know of any tutorials on making buildings for street maps; I've been looking for one as well! That said, have you tried the Dunjinni forums? They have a huge collectio of pre-made .pngs for map-making, as well as some ready-made maps.


^{(frantically scribbles "building tutorial" on to-do list)}

[Jaekaido]

thank you for the link. i have been searching for map icons and just cant seem to find ones that look right to me. i also dont have that much experience with photoshop to make make my own and just insert them in to a map once i have the lay out done. not to mention that it would take me alot of time to do it once i learn how.

[Azélor]

Without know what style you are looking for, it's a hard to recommend a specific resource.

A tutorial that does not require brushes
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=24611

and 2 different brushes
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ead.php?t=8095
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=20069

[Jaekaido]

thank you for the link it has really helped though not the style i want but i can make it work. what i am looking in terms of style is fantasy city tutorial where it looks realistic but i can zoom in and slice the map to show specific parts of the city. most of my game will be in one city and so i need something that can be scaled up and down for a sort of zoom function. i know how big i want the overall city to be but cant find a way to make it look real when i zoom in it just gets pixelated when i try i have heard of vector images and though that those might work but i have no idea how to use illustrator any ideas

[Azélor]

Yes if you want to zoom without seeing pixels, you need to use vector program like Illustrator if you already have it or Inkscape (free).
Photoshop can't do that unless the map is huge and even when zooming it doesn't get pixelated.

[Jaekaido]

do you know of any good tutorials for illustrator that i could use? or anything else that would be helpful in this situation?

[Azélor]

As I said, it depends on the style you are interested in.
Few people use vectors to make maps here, but that doesn't it is impossible.

open street map and Google map are vector based

https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=1...0097/-77.03569
https://www.google.ca/maps/@38.90913...4,18.21z?dcr=0

that is modern style.

I'm not aware of any tutorial on that matter but it is definitely possible to do it.
I did a test and because the software is different, I really need to get used to working in a different way.
It is frustrating a little. Some things can easily be done in PS but it's hard to figure how to do it in Illustrator.

[Jaekaido]

what do you mean by style as i am not sure what you mean by it. i want a top down view of a city where i see the buildings and that the entire thing looks realistic that is about as close as i can get to what style of map i want

[Azélor]

Can you show me an example of what you want to do then?
You want photo realist modern city like Google satellite map?