New Work in Progress

As I had promised, my last 'wip' didn't last too long before it was abandoned. This new one shows a lot more promise, it's been less frustrating, and less time consuming, and more rewarding as well. I may actually flesh this one out to completion.

It started with a FT world. Once I got that to something I liked, I exported it to CC3+, and used the Ancient Realms template. Using FT gave me a lot of advantages. Once I got it in to CC3+, I retraced the coastline with the default tool, customized a bit for a more jagged look. Retracing the coast by hand gave me the advantage of having a more natural looking coast, and it also allowed me to make changes on the fly if I found something I didn't like. When that was done, I used the techniques from 2008 Annual Style Pack "Shaded Relief" to make my mountains stand up. Again FT made this much easier than it might have been. I put each contour onto a separate sheet, and gave them each a unique shaded bevel. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that all similar contours were grouped, so any changes I made were consistent throughout the drawing. There are a few I still need to edit; one is extended into the ocean on the West side of the map, and there is also a few 'thick' mountain peaks that need attention, but I have found editing these is not overly difficult. When that is done, I have to retrace the rivers. This will be much easier because, again, FT has already shown me where the rivers will likely flow. I don't have to worry if they reach the ocean or not, and I don't have to worry about the unusually straight river courses that occasionally occur, as these will all be corrected when I retrace them into the Ancient Realms style.
Thank you Joe Slayton for making Fractal Terrains.

There are several admonitions in the tutorials about not making a map that's too big. Unfortunately, I have a really bad sense of scale, and I think I've transgressed all of them with abandon. This map measures 14,400 miles East to West. Greyhawk, for example would fit nicely into the sea on the southern coast.

There is one thing that concerns me a little. The Eastern edge of the map has a lighter 'grassland' pattern than the larger part of the rendered image, it doesn't appear in native CC3, just when it's exported; I was just wondering if anyone knew why this might be.

I look forward to your comments. Pic posted below.

I

Comments

  • IthrilIthril Traveler
    edited July 2016
    trying to add the map :(
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    It looks great Ithril. I particularly like the colour scheme. Maybe the size of the file is the problem?
  • IthrilIthril Traveler
    edited July 2016
    Thanks, Loopysue. It's only 2 meg jpg, so I don't understand. I tried as a png, and that's 14 meg. I'll keep trying.

    I keep getting an error:
    "Some problems were encountered
    The file you attempted to upload (Ancient realms.png) was empty.
    You are not allowed to upload (Ancient realms.png) the requested file type: "

    I've even resampled the image down to about 36% of the original size making it a 2.2 meg file.

    I
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    WOW! 14 MB is waaaaaay too big! No wonder you can't upload it. How come there is such a huge difference in size between the jpg and the png?
  • IthrilIthril Traveler
    edited July 2016
    Did I say it was a big map?
    OKAY! I got it to work by reducing it to 25% of the original size. Thanks for your patience.

    Different file formats store the image in different ways, causing the size to be substantially different even in a small file. This is why bmps are huge but easy to process, and jpgs are smaller, but less 'friendly'

    I
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    You don't need to thank me, but thanks anyway. I did exactly the same thing in my first ever post. That one was embarrassingly huge, even when I did manage to upload it. LOL

    Like I said - this is a beautiful map for the colour alone, and even though you haven't added any particular detail in terms of roads or settlements just yet. The sea is just so beautiful, never mind the land.

    As for the grassland, it looks like you have a different fill texture on that side of the map. You can change the properties of the offending area using the change properties button - the one that looks like a tipping paint pot. As to why this has happened, I have no idea.
  • I typically use Irfanview and reduce the Picture Depth, under the Image menu. I Custom 202 colors. Then save as back to my hard drive. It typically reduces pngs from 700-900 megs to below 300 megs. Then I reduce the size by 50 percent, and save that back. Then I upload.

    The original size, but stil lthe reduced picture depth, is what I put on my web site.
  • I love the look of the oceans, and the mountains. Those look great! Although I would do something about the snow caps... maybe a fade? They look a little too.... uniform, I guess. The best way I can explain what I mean.... it looks like you topped the mountians with whipped cream... or maybe mayonnaise. It looks kind of plopped on top.

    The shape of your land masses are fantastic! I wish I could get my land masses to look that good! I think the color scheme is a little too pale, especially with the hues of the oceans and the mountains.

    Realize, of course, this is just my opinion. This is still a really good start to a really great map! I hope you continue with it!
  • IthrilIthril Traveler
    Somehow I miscalculated the distances in the Fractal Terrains generated world. As a result, this map measures about double the actual distances. I've corrected it, scaling everything down 50%. Now it makes a lot more sense.

    I
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    I don't care what scale it is, because its no secret that I'm more of an artist than a cartographer. The shape and colours totally agree with my senses as being somehow 'right', even though my own work is much darker and more contrasting than yours - occupying a completely different sector of the colour sphere.

    I do, however agree just a little bit with Ladiestorm about possibly adding a tiny amount of Edge Fade Inner to the land contours to soften the lines - to make it more of a gradation between the colours of the land... if that's possible with the particular technique you are using to emulate the relief.

    Try it and see if it looks any better to you.
  • I agree with the ladies above regarding the edge fade. But, I just had to say, this is great!! Between Sue's map and this one, i've just purchased FT3. My bank account thanks you both. lol. I just love the landmasses....and that is something i've found i just cannot get with just CC3+.

    Really nice work here!
  • DogtagDogtag Moderator, Betatester Traveler
    edited July 2016
    Beautiful landmasses. I also like your choice of more pastel-ish colors, though it does seem to give the map an almost unfocused, dreamy, feel for me.

    I suppose I'll be the lone dissenter and say that, at that continental scale, I don't think an edge fade on the snow caps/glaciers is necessary. Just my two cents.

    Gorgeous map so far. I look forward to seeing more.

    Cheers,
    ~Dogtag
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    edited July 2016
    Posted By: Loreleii've just purchased FT3. My bank account thanks you both. lol. I just love the landmasses....and that is something i've found i just cannot get with just CC3+.
    You'll find it's quite addictive, Lorelei. Don't get carried away too much with it, or we'll never see you again! Its just too easy to keep on clicking the next button! LOL

    Ithril - so us ladies can hope to see something similar to what you have there (which is actually more lovely than the Errispa coastlines) would you be gracious enough to let us know what general settings you used to get such a gorgeously appealing shape?
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Posted By: DogtagI suppose I'll be the lone dissenter and say that, at that continental scale, I don't think an edge fade on the snow caps/glaciers is necessary. Just my two cents.
    Now I have come back to it again, I may actually agree with you Dogtag. However, if you were to do any enlargement of a section to show detail I think it might be advisable to have just a little fade, so that you aren't distracted too much from details like roads and place names.

    You see, Ithril. This is what you have done to us. We're all here having a veritable tea party discussion about your map! LOL
  • DogtagDogtag Moderator, Betatester Traveler
    edited July 2016
    Posted By: Loopysue... if you were to do any enlargement of a section to show detail I think it might be advisable to have just a little fade, so that you aren't distracted too much from details like roads and place names.
    For a map this scale, it's usually best to leave out that level of detail. Instead, it's highly advisable to copy portions of the world map to make maps of smaller areas, such as individual continental maps. And then copy portions of those to do regional maps, and so on, down to the local maps.

    There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is that if you try to add minute details to a global map the resulting file will be massive and, among other things, difficult to share. Other reasons to avoid too much detail on a global map include things like symbol scale aesthetics and readability, line thickness, text labels, and so on.

    ~Dogtag
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    I agree. Don't add any more to this particular map, unless its just a couple of spots to mark the major cities and name them to give a reference point leading to the larger scale maps - the ones that Dogtag describes. That and maybe a couple of country names arched delicately and lightly over the approximate areas of the countries. Adding borders to it might spoil it I think.

    I don't know. Over to you, Dogtag?
  • IthrilIthril Traveler
    edited July 2017
    (link deprecated)

    Alright, the thumbnail works, click on it to load a larger version. That's the latest version. I'm not going to do a lot more developing on it at this scale; but I'll use it as a basis for regional maps.

    I agree. The edge fade is integral to making it look right. For some reason I thought it was included in the presets for that style, but they aren't. It looks much more realistic with them. It causes the mountains to appear to have peaks at different levels, and that is very nice.

    The settings I used for the fractal lines for the continents is: Strength 65%, depth 8, line segment lengths minimum 0.05, maximum 3, with the 'Values as a percentage of map border" option checked. Remember though, I used this tool to trace the landmasses generated in Fractal Terrains. It was surprising how often the fractal line seemed to want to follow the preset coast lines.

    I also discovered I actually had two copies of the main landmass; probably made when I was trying to trace the original. I've deleted one, hoping that would solve my texture problem on the right side of the map, but that anomaly still persists. I'm sure it will clear up eventually.

    Now I just need to decide what style to do the regional maps in.

    Thanks for the pointers.

    I
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Yet another improvement, I agree, wholeheartedly now I see it. Just two points, however: you appear to have got your rivers sheet above the map border sheet, and... are you going to add any major city names to give a clue as to roughly where everything is?


    By the way - to anyone else clicking the icon: Coming back from where the thumbnail takes you sets the PF screen off-kilter (it becomes huge itself). If this happens to you just click your browser refresh and then use CTRL + mousewheel to resize to something like normal.
  • 11 months later
  • IthrilIthril Traveler
    edited July 2017
    It's been a while. Life gets in the way sometimes.

    so I see the link I had before died, it doesn't really matter anymore because I have a new link.

    Larger map

    I discovered why the bitmap was cutting off half-way across the map. I was rendering the map larger than the bitmap would scale. to overcome this limitation, i rendered the map in 3 pieces, and stitched them together in paint.

    I think I'm pleased with the results. Now I'll work on maps of smaller areas, though I'm sure I'll return to add and tweak details now & again.

    I
  • This map is fantastic, and along with Hadrian's tutorial, I hope to emulate it on my own world of Myirandios
  • IthrilIthril Traveler
    edited July 2017
    So I've (mostly) completed a regional map,
    postimagewhich is here,
    and a local map postimagehere!
    Of course there will always be more for me to do as I go along.
    Let me know what you think.

    I
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