Lakeside, Karrnath (First CD3 map)

My first attempt at a CD3 map in prep for my new 4e Eberron campaign. - As always please give feedback etc on how i can improve it.

Lakeside

Comments

  • Really Nice work Roger, I like that map.. a great deal :) No real crits on it either.
  • RalfRalf Administrator, ProFantasy 🖼️ 18 images Mapmaker
    Beautiful work!

    Perhaps you could add some more features outside of the town itself? Like hedfes, copses of trees, foelds, etc. It looks a little empty outside the walls.

    As for the index: I find it better to not do any line breaks in the labels I add. Doing the index then looks better. You can always go into the labels later and edit them - far harder to edit the index.

    What I tend to do is to first put the labels into the map, as I want to have them appear in the index, for example "1 - House of Swords". Then I do the index, and afterwards edit the original labels, for example making the text "1" only.
  • I'll tell you this. For a first attempt with a CD3 map, this looks fantastic. Well done.

    I really like the shadow effects that CD3 uses. It gives the map a very professional look.

    I really like the inclusion of some vegetation in between some of the buildings. It adds a "lived in" kind of atmosphere to the place.

    The make up of the pier/dock is very nice.

    I have two comments and Ralf already mentioned one. I would definitely add more "stuff" to the area outside of the wall. It looks too empty. I would also add some type of highlight to your labels on the map. The label for King's Road, as an example, is a little hard to read due to it's location and the shadows that are cast on it from the surrounding buildings. I would also break the label for roads to conform to the contour of the road. For example the label "Temple Street" seems a little out of place because it goes into the "hedge"

    All in all a very good map.
  • Posted By: RalfBeautiful work!

    Perhaps you could add some more features outside of the town itself? Like hedfes, copses of trees, foelds, etc. It looks a little empty outside the walls.

    As for the index: I find it better to not do any line breaks in the labels I add. Doing the index then looks better. You can always go into the labels later and edit them - far harder to edit the index.
    Hi Ralf - thanks for the kind words. I will try your advice later when i get chance and repost the map in a revised form !
  • Posted By: Dkarr I have two comments and Ralf already mentioned one. I would definitely add more "stuff" to the area outside of the wall. It looks too empty. I would also add some type of highlight to your labels on the map. The label for King's Road, as an example, is a little hard to read due to it's location and the shadows that are cast on it from the surrounding buildings. I would also break the label for roads to conform to the contour of the road. For example the label "Temple Street" seems a little out of place because it goes into the "hedge".
    Hi Dkarr,

    Your comment on the labels hadn't occurred to me - mind you i'd spent 4 hours staring at the screen and the manual to get the software figured out. I shall make some modifications later and repost.

    Regards...
  • Well done, Roger. A great map, indeed!
  • Ok revised version below. Let me have any other feed back please.

    Lakesidev2
  • DOH i missed Ralf's text idea re numbering - might have to try that later...
  • The added features outside the city limits improve the overall good look quite a lot. How long did it take you?
  • Hi Greebo - start to finish including learning curve and amendment id say about 4 hours. I think you could halve that for me to reproduce it with what I now know.
  • Did you have any experience with CD2Pro?
  • Yes - i have used it but only made perhaps 3 or 4 maps. Ive got more experience of CC2 pro and CC3. Ive rarely attempted town and city maps because if im honest i always thought they weren't worth the effort. CD3 does make it very easy to do a lot of things which i found great.
  • Thanks for the info. That`ll help me to estimate how long it will take me to map the towns for my upcoming campaing.
  • Very nice, I think the entire plan looks convincing. If I were doing a fantacy game at the moment I would steal it in a heart beat.

    The only thing I thik I would do is to change the shadow on the garden hedges. It is stronger that your buildings and equal to the town walls.
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 46 images Cartographer
    Very nice map. Looks great.
    Looks that the on-map text could use some kind of effect to stand out a bit more though.
  • Posted By: pvernonVery nice, I think the entire plan looks convincing. If I were doing a fantacy game at the moment I would steal it in a heart beat.

    The only thing I thik I would do is to change the shadow on the garden hedges. It is stronger that your buildings and equal to the town walls.
    Im not sure if i can effect individual shadows - i shall take a look, I think its a global setting though. Thanks for the input and of course you are more than welcome to use anything i post here.
  • Posted By: MonsenVery nice map. Looks great.
    Looks that the on-map text could use some kind of effect to stand out a bit more though.
    I must admit the more I look at it the more I think the same. Might mess around with that when i try Ralfs numbering suggestion.
  • Roger, What I would do is move the hedges to a sheet called HEDGES and then apply a weaker version on the effects from the WALL sheet.
  • Rger, Pvernon is right on his comment on how to change/setup the hedges to look 'softer'. The added tree's do a load to the map itself, and the farms etc outside the city walls definantly make things look a ton better.

    With the comments on how long it takes to make a city map etc.. Even with CD3 people should realise it's not a instant push button excilent map made ;) I think Roger and any one else playing around with CD3 will atest to that.. Now that CD3 is out I might look at doing that Tutorial or rather finishing it lol.
  • edited September 2008
    Posted By: RobRger, Pvernon is right on his comment on how to change/setup the hedges to look 'softer'. The added tree's do a load to the map itself, and the farms etc outside the city walls definantly make things look a ton better.

    With the comments on how long it takes to make a city map etc.. Even with CD3 people should realise it's not a instant push button excilent map made ;) I think Roger and any one else playing around with CD3 will atest to that.. Now that CD3 is out I might look at doing that Tutorial or rather finishing it lol.
    I must admit it does look better now ive added the stuff outside the pallisade - thanks for the advice all on that one !

    And just to back Rob up CD3 is not a click and bingo instant map kind of programme. You do need to have a base knowledge of CC3 to truly get the best out of it. Having said that it just takes a little patience and you can quickly produce something usable (see map above). I have a lot to learn with CC3, DD3 and CD3 and its just a case of practice. Ive lost count of the number of maps ive binned after spending many hours working on them only for the final result to really suck.
  • I just wanted to say I love this map. I printed it out this weekend and used it as inspiration for my own map (first one as well). Your map looks really good on paper!
  • Hi Gandwarf,

    Ive not seen it printed yet but im getting it done later at the local copy shop onto A3 and laminated. Im glad someone could make use of it.

    Regards...
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