PDA

View Full Version : Programs for map making



Kaun
2010-01-16, 04:58 PM
What do you guys use and can you recomend any good ones!

Both Dungeons and land maps ect.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Flaming Nun
2010-01-16, 05:13 PM
Photoshop Elements.

It's cheaper than the Creative Suite versions - I got it, plus Premier, for $65 after a mail-in rebate - and it has an adjustable Auto-Grid feature. Plus, the layers allow you to shove huge amounts of material in there, and then make it visible or invisible based on what you want to publish/print for your PCs.

And as an added bonus, you can re-size stuff, so if you have a large, continent/kingdom map, you can zoom in, copy/paste, and recreate a smaller map for better details.

Physics_Rook
2010-01-16, 06:56 PM
I've found that Adobe Flash has been invaluable to me for mapmaking.

In particular, as has been mentioned, the use of layers is incredibly useful. Multiple layers allow you to separate things like city/state borders, terrain, roads and the like.

More than that though, the fact that it's just so easy to reshape and modify terrain borders to your whim, makes the actual construction of the map itself easier as well.

The end result doesn't look like a conventional map, I find that it still serves admirably as a good reference map.

Ultimately though, I'd recommend trying as many different mapmaking tools as you can get your hands on, and just picking the best of them.

Here's an example of what my own limited abilities with flash have let me create (the images are somewhat largish).

An unfinished island.
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/145/scarytown1.jpg (http://img69.imageshack.us/i/scarytown1.jpg/)
A closer look at the island, with towns/cities/settlements.
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/5852/scarytown2.jpg (http://img200.imageshack.us/i/scarytown2.jpg/)
The world map.
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/2108/scarytown3.jpg (http://img46.imageshack.us/i/scarytown3.jpg/)
Some of the major tectonic plates in the world.
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/7135/scarytown4.jpg (http://img41.imageshack.us/i/scarytown4.jpg/)

It's nothing spectacular, but it does let me have a basic and easily modifiable version of my map for whatever I might need it for. I can create and change the various aspects of the map with little to no difficulty.

In the end though, I'm likely going to run the finalized version of the map through a filter (probably using something like Filter Forge), to get some more realistic looking terrain and borders for when I show my players.

Hope this helps. :smallsmile:

Shademan
2010-01-16, 07:00 PM
pen and paper.
:smallmad:


hehe, seriously tho' I support the use of flash!

Reinboom
2010-01-16, 07:04 PM
I use Photoshop CS3, and the tutorials over at Cartographer's Guild (http://forum.cartographersguild.com/).

The maps produced by their simple bits of advice are... stunning.
(and thank you Trog for recommending me this, if you read this statement)

I got my Photoshop from a student license. Most of the tutorials works with GIMP, however, fine.

Swordgleam
2010-01-16, 08:08 PM
I use the GIMP (http://gimp.org). It's kind of like PhotoShop, but totally free. There's some tutorials for using it to make maps over at NewbieDM.com I believe.

Kaun
2010-01-16, 11:29 PM
All good stuff guys i had been using photoshop myself i was just wondering if there was some awesome program i had been missing out on.

Crow
2010-01-16, 11:37 PM
pen and paper.
:smallmad:

I am a whole-hearted supporter of pen and paper. Most of the cartography programs out there I have tried end up leaving the maps a little bland.

PnP FTW!
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8723/newfullmap.jpg

Maximum Zersk
2010-01-16, 11:44 PM
Again for Pen and Paper. Or, at least, Tablet and Photoshop. You get the map to look like what you want then.

Xzeno
2010-01-17, 12:15 AM
I am a whole-hearted supporter of pen and paper. Most of the cartography programs out there I have tried end up leaving the maps a little bland.

PnP FTW!
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8723/newfullmap.jpg
That map is absolutely beautiful. I wish I could map like that. But yes, I'm in the pen and paper crowd. I find the experience much more rewarding.

Maximum Zersk
2010-01-17, 12:28 AM
I am a whole-hearted supporter of pen and paper. Most of the cartography programs out there I have tried end up leaving the maps a little bland.

PnP FTW!
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8723/newfullmap.jpg

Hey, uh Crow, could, by any chance, give a different link? I can't see it.

Crow
2010-01-17, 12:32 AM
Hey, uh Crow, could, by any chance, give a different link? I can't see it.

It might just be taking a bit to load. I posted the direct link to imageshack.

Draz74
2010-01-17, 12:33 AM
Yeah, my best map results have come from pen-and-paper, if you're thinking map-making on the world-design scale.

If you meant more "tactical" scale, I'm loving MapTool.

Grommen
2010-01-17, 12:44 AM
Dunjini is pretty good, it was actually made to make maps.

http://www.dundjinni.com/

And their is a ton of free stuff on the site too. Very nice stuff.

Personally I use Corel Draw 10 to make maps. Particaly because of my 3 years of drafting in Highschool (It's a CAD program), and because I have a free copy of the program. It works, but without knowing what your doing it's a major pain in the ass.

Kaun
2010-01-17, 01:17 AM
Here is one i did in photo shop as a quick draw up for my sessions.

That dunjini looks fairly good for tactical maps. Kind of reminds me of that program that came with the old 2nd ed chr generator.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r254/Kaun00/Map.jpg

toasty
2010-01-17, 01:31 AM
I am a whole-hearted supporter of pen and paper. Most of the cartography programs out there I have tried end up leaving the maps a little bland.

PnP FTW!
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8723/newfullmap.jpg

That map is made of win. It alone makes me want to play DnD with you as the GM.

I have never actually made a map. I suck at that kind of stuff. For tactical battle maps when playing PbP I have used Autorealm. Which, though limited, has served my purpose.

Ichneumon
2010-01-17, 02:17 AM
I use inkscape for my world maps:

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/1014/paimonmap.png

Shademan
2010-01-17, 03:47 AM
I am a whole-hearted supporter of pen and paper. Most of the cartography programs out there I have tried end up leaving the maps a little bland.

PnP FTW!
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8723/newfullmap.jpg

aye. pen and paper maps always bring back memprioes of maps in fantasy novels :smallbiggrin:

bosssmiley
2010-01-17, 11:38 AM
Hexmapper for overland maps
Dungeoncrafter + TSR Classic Blue tileset for DM's dungeon maps
Kev's Lounge Dungeon Tiles (http://kevslounge.blogspot.com/) for tactical maps

You can't beat free. :smallwink:

Draz74
2010-01-17, 11:59 AM
[LIST] Hexmapper for overland maps

This one does deserve an honorable mention for mathematical coolness, I gotta admit.

Szilard
2010-01-17, 12:06 PM
I am a whole-hearted supporter of pen and paper. Most of the cartography programs out there I have tried end up leaving the maps a little bland.

PnP FTW!
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8723/newfullmap.jpg

My maps aren't quite as epic as this guy's, but I always use pen and paper. Well, more like pencils and paper. Then I throw in some color. Maps of dungeons, I just use graph paper, because it's not like I'm going to publish it or anything.

Zeta Kai
2010-01-17, 12:14 PM
The use of Flash to make a map is very silly. It's a vector-based animation program, which you can clearly see from the screenshots (see the timelime at the top of the window?). That's like taking still pictures with a movie camera; sure you can do it, but it's ten times more complicated than using a still camera. Also, Flash has a notoriously difficult & unintuitive interface, although that has improved a bit since Adobe bought the program.

For vector-based drawing, I'd go with Adobe Illustrator (CS3 is what I use, although there are newer versions). Cheaper alternative? Corel Draw, I think.

For raster-based drawing (that's the stuff with pixels), you can't go wrong with Photoshop (again, CS3 is what I use, although there are newer versions). Cheaper alternatives? Photoshop Elements or GIMP. There are a million tutorials online for how to use them to achieve your specific goals, & the fine folks at the Cartographer's Guild can show you how to make gorgeous maps.

Szilard
2010-01-17, 12:22 PM
A cheaper alternative to Adobe Illustrator is Inkscape, which is completely free, and once or twice I used it for maps in a play by post game. Yes, I know I'm sort of contradicting the post I made earlier.

OverdrivePrime
2010-01-17, 12:48 PM
I generally use Illustrator and Photoshop since my pen-and-colored-pencils skill has waned to deplorable levels since college.

Here's an example of one of the area maps I've done using Illustrator. (click for link to 457kb pdf file) (http://arena-of-champions.googlegroups.com/web/PoisonwoodForestMap.pdf?hl=en&gda=QL7z7UkAAAAQVPvEvkY0zO4RN7KWdu_VNfihX-MC8_z1DP7A85ixvKa0lXf8WaDJJZsfEIWDSp-QNGqZB5Lhp5_yjPIX66lXhAioEG5q2hncZWbpWmJ7IQ) If you zoom way in to the area of "Hyphalas' Pool" you can make out quite a lot of detail, which I why I like vector-based art.

Still, I wish I had a decent scanner - the stuff I used to do by hand was pretty awesome, though not quite approaching the level of kickassery that Crow has achieved.

Squider
2010-01-17, 01:30 PM
Campaign Cartographer, from the guys over at Profantasy (http://www.profantasy.com/)
It's pretty much the best out there hands down. The maps I make aren't quite as gorgeous as theirs, but they still look fantastic. That's pretty amazing considering my lack of artistic skill.