PDA

View Full Version : Map Builder Programs?


Getsugaru
2011-10-01, 05:09 PM
I'm going to be DMing soon, and I wanted to know if there are any programs out there that can make D&D Maps. I'm making my own world, so I thought I should check before using a ton of paper and a few weeks of time.
Zeta Kai
2011-10-01, 07:57 PM
The Cartographer's Guild (http://www.cartographersguild.com/) calls to you. Go there & learn your destiny.

Also, I've heard good things about GIMP, Campaign Cartographer 3.0, & Fractal Terrains Pro.
Domriso
2011-10-01, 10:42 PM
Fractal Terrains is damned useful if you want to make sudden, interesting worlds, but with little details beyond basic stuff like biomes, elevation, rainfall and the like. Campaign Cartographer can be useful, but I found it unwieldy, and my friends who are used to using Photoshop said that it was easier to just ignore CC and use Photoshop.
Getsugaru
2011-10-01, 11:33 PM
A friend of mine told me about 2 programs: RPTools (http://www.rptools.net) and d20Pro (http://www.d20pro.com). Which is better?
Yora
2011-10-02, 06:58 AM
MapTools is free, d20Pro isn't.

However, neither are map-making programs.
B!shop
2011-10-05, 08:23 AM
Hexographer (http://www.hexographer.com/) is a good mapping software for hex-style D&D maps.
Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll
2011-10-05, 12:12 PM
AutoREALM does fractal stuff, but other than that just does tiling for everything else.
Yora
2011-10-08, 09:02 AM
I gave Hex World Creator a try, and while it looks beautiful, it crashes every 2 minutes.
KoboldCleric
2011-10-08, 12:14 PM
I use GIMP personally, and like it quite a bit. It's an open-source Photoshop lite.
Yora
2011-10-08, 01:34 PM
Photoshop does a really good job as well to make detailed maps. However, I find for the concept stage when you're still figuring out where water, land, mountains, and forests go, a tile-based programm is much easier and faster to handle. Erasing and redrawing everything to test out how a slight change looks is way more work than you want to spend with it.
shawnhcorey
2011-10-08, 01:51 PM
Photoshop does a really good job as well to make detailed maps. However, I find for the concept stage when you're still figuring out where water, land, mountains, and forests go, a tile-based programm is much easier and faster to handle. Erasing and redrawing everything to test out how a slight change looks is way more work than you want to spend with it.

I would suggest you use layers. One for rock (dirt, sand), one for water, one for flora, one for civilization (roads, bridges, towns, cities, great walls). That way, you can work on one item without effecting the others.
Yora
2011-10-08, 01:55 PM
I already do that. I guess trying to do without layers would make the time and work it takes to get a decent map impossible.
Mutazoia
2011-10-18, 08:41 AM
Personally I use Dundjinni (http://www.dundjinni.com/) to do all my mapping.
Zeta Kai
2011-10-18, 09:42 AM
I'm a Photoshop guy, but I do all of my conception & layout in Illustrator. Vector graphics are much better for that, whereas raster graphics (IE the pixel pushers) are better at prettifying the shapes that you already have & other detail work. Vector for Thing, Raster for Bling, as they say.
Pilo
2011-11-02, 07:59 AM
It can make you a good dungeon.

http://donjon.bin.sh/d20/dungeon/
Prophet_of_Io
2011-11-07, 09:49 PM
if everyone on the GITP forums would donate a dollar everytime someone asked this question and Zeta Kai posted a link to the Cartographer's Guilds, I'm pretty sure we can solve world hunger.

On topic though, I've recently switched to Map Tool, and I'm quite fond of it now.
Yora
2011-11-08, 08:34 AM
And then you go to the cartographer guild forum and ask the same qestion there?
Draz74
2011-11-12, 04:27 PM
MapTools is free, d20Pro isn't.

However, neither are map-making programs.

MapTool (no 's') isn't much good for world-building-style mapmaking, but it's pretty good for tactical-size mapmaking.

EDIT: Evidence (http://www.rptoolstutorials.net/videos/PutTogether/PutTogether.html).