Debating Puchasing

OK, i have been working on a world for some time, making use of both paper and pencil maps, as well as varios paint programs. I have seen a few map programs, per say, but these where all random map generators, which, to a serios wold builder, are next to useless.

My first question is quite simple. If i have the world already mapped on paper, how easy will it be to transcribe that map EXACTLY onto the program? Minutes, hours, days? This is a antarctica sized continent that has been mapped down to the 1inch=25 miles scale, so there is imence detail in what i am doing.

Second, how exact and cross referanced is the mapping functions. If i have a city on the continent, can I zoom into see the city map?? can i click on the city to bring up its map? How about a dungeon or castle? Can I hyperlink those on to the world map?

Does the program support room description stickies? If i design a dungeon, and have room descriptions, can is sticky those and just move the cursor over the room to bring them up??

While the screenshots section does look very nice and profesional, I really need alot more info before i can decide if this is the program i need.

Awaiting reply,

lrellok.

Comments

  • lrellock,

    The unhelpful answer is, "it depends." CC3 is very flexible and there are at least a few ways to do almost anything. I'll take a stab at a more unseful answer, but you should expect others to chime in with alternate ways to do almost anything I talk about. So if you don't like part of the answer, ask a follow-on question and I'm sure someone will give you another way to handle it.

    1. Taking the paper map into CC3. If you have a scanner, this is easy, and as time-consuming as you want it to be. This is how I started, long ago: I scanned my paper maps and traced over them in CC(2 then). The quickest way would be to scan the paper map, leave it as background to your map, and add to it as you want to. You will get more utility out of CC3 if you then trace the continents with CC polygons -- then you can start zooming in and out, taking parts of the map for details, etc. Somewhere in the thousands of points, polygons can get unmanageable -- but up to that point, the only thing limiting your accuracy is the amount of time you want to put into tracing your current map. I can't remember how long it took me to trace a world of continents -- I did it over a couple of week or so, a few hours a night. Each continent had thousands of points in the coastline polygon. So, I guess, hours.

    2) I assume that if you mapped the continent down to 1" = 25miles, that you either have *lots* of little maps that line up with one another, or you did one or more maps at different scales. My original map was a world at 1cm=625cm, then continental maps at 1cm=125km, some regional maps at 1cm=25km, then local maps at 1cm=5km. I bought CC2 to save myself copying costs (it took 3-4 copies to get the 5x enlargement from map level to map level). I don't suggest that you try to make one continent-sized map that includes everything from all of your little maps. Instead what I would do would be to translate each map (or a group of touching maps) into CC2, then create a separate overview map that includes a subset of the information on the smaller maps. A continent map that includes all the information on all of the small maps will basically look black when you zoom out to see it all.

    3) Cross-referencing: Again, I suggest having a separate map for the city. While conceivably the software will support an endless zoom, it quickly becomes impractical. You can hyperlink the maps though, so you could click on the city symbol to then bring up the detailed view. Dungeons, Castles, would work the same as a city.

    4) You could put room description text in the map, and do a search on it. Basically you are adding notes to the map. But CC3 is basically a mapping tool, not a text editing or display tool, so I think you're better off creating a hyperlink on the room description (for instance) that will bring up the text in an outside tool. AFAIK, just moving the cursor over the room will not bring up the note.

    Please continue to ask questions if I'm not being clear. Let us help you make an informed decision.

    Steve
  • all i can tell you is that you'll be amazed at what you can do with CC2/CC3 or any of thier products.
    you be able to complete a world as detailed as you want, from the smallest item to the largest.

    profantasy domniates world making...
  • JimPJimP 🖼️ 280 images Cartographer
    edited March 2010
    My surface maps started life out on 5mm hexagon paper back in the 1980s. In 1999 I got CC2 and a scanner. Since then I have gone from 5 maps on my web site to around 1,600 maps in 8 years. All of my dungeons are scanned from paper and redrawn in CC2 or CC3.

    my maps and blog

    It takes a bit of work to retrace them.

    I suggest you do the tutorials first. They will teach you the software and make it much easier to turn out good maps quickly.
  • Posted By: lrellok
    My first question is quite simple. If i have the world already mapped on paper, how easy will it be to transcribe that map EXACTLY onto the program? Minutes, hours, days? This is a antarctica sized continent that has been mapped down to the 1inch=25 miles scale, so there is imence detail in what i am doing.
    It can be as easy or as hard as you make it.
    As has been mentioned, you can scan the image to use as a background that you then trace over.
    You can then add as much or as little detail as desired.
    Posted By: lrellok
    Second, how exact and cross referanced is the mapping functions. If i have a city on the continent, can I zoom into see the city map?? can i click on the city to bring up its map? How about a dungeon or castle? Can I hyperlink those on to the world map?
    CC2/3 includes a Hotlink feature, where you can click on a map to load another map, so yes, if you have a city on a continent, you can click on the city and that city's map will load.
    You can do that with lots of different dfeatures. Each level of a dungeon or largebuilding could be a different map - create a hotlink (like a bar with "Level 1" "Level 2", etc., and just click on those to load the desired level.
    Posted By: lrellok
    Does the program support room description stickies? If i design a dungeon, and have room descriptions, can is sticky those and just move the cursor over the room to bring them up??
    It does support encoding text information in a map, through symbol ATTRIBUTES. I'm not sure how user friendly it is, since it's not a feature I've ever used.
  • If at all possible getting a look at of a copy of the forgotten realms interactive atlas would show you how powerful CC can be for mapping. It has all the things that have been mentioned in previous posts. The other alternative would be to get a copy of the map viewer and visit a couple of the user web pages that are listed on the pro-fantasy site. The Jhendor world (I think it's JimP's world but don't quote me) being vast is a good idea on what can be done with CC as well. Another good site is Map Ventures good examples of what is achievable with CC3 on there.

    Well that's my take on it from the newbie perspective. I do know that the learning curve is greater for those of us who have never used a cad program, but I think I am getting the hang of things from trial and error. Personally I have also tried FM8 but the results were no where near what I managed to get out of CC.

    Cheers
    Corey
  • Nope, my world is Crestar.
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 46 images Cartographer
  • edited April 2008
    Posted By: JimPNope, my world is Crestar.
    Crestar is one of the LARGEST worlds map wise i have ever seen i reccomend that if you have an hour or two
    dropping by there...the number of maps is mind boggling....

    if jimp remembers along time ago i created a map for a computer war game based on what he had done
    on his maps then which was like 50 maps or so....its growth has been tremndous since then.

    my 3 favorite places are crestar,Khoras and jhendor...
  • Yeah, I have over 1600 maps now. 1191 of them are surface maps.

    Yup, I remember your game.
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