Create maps with my own graphic elements?
brandor
Traveler
Hello map makers,
the CC3+ seems to be a great thing and I suspect that it is exactly what I have been looking for a long time.
I would like to create my own maps using my own graphic elements. So: I draw individual houses, trees, mountains, towers, flowers, lakes, moors, etc., scan them in, set them free and save them as transparent PNGs.
Now I want to integrate all these individual PNGs into a software as a library so that I can create entire forests, mountains, villages and towns - i.e. my own maps - from all these elements using drag-and-drop and copy-and-paste.
Can I do this with the CC3+? The CC3+ already has numerous predefined elements. But can I create my own graphic sets with my own elements?
Thanks for your help
brandor
Comments
Hello brandor :)
Yes, you can do all of that.
I recommend the Tome of Ultimate Mapping as a reference book that contains all the technical information you will need to do the job, and this forum as the place to ask for freindly and usually accurate help and advice.
I recommend starting with the Symbols and Symbol Management chapter in the User Manual (accessible from the help menu), it explains the details of how to create your own symbol catalogs, and then how to import .png's (recommend reading the entire chapter, not just the importing png part inside it, since that part relies on what has been explained earlier.)
The Tome do go into greater detail about your options, but the User Manual should get you started.
Oh great, that sounds good. And I only need CC3+ and no other software and no other plugins from ProFantasy to be able to do all this? (Ok, apart from Tome of Ultimate Mapping)
If your symbol requirements are relatively simple and don't include things like making house symbols that interract with the global sun, you might not even need that. You can find quite a lot of information about making symbols and seamless textures (or just ask about things) here on the forum.
I'm not sure if I understand "making house symbols that interract with the global sun" correctly. I simply have graphics that I have drawn by hand with a pen. Very simple. I would like to print out the maps at the end. I don't really need a digital map that changes the shadow with the time of day.
By "might not even need that" do you mean that I don't need any plugins or the "Tome of Ultimate Mapping"?
Sorry, my English is not the best and I hope the digital interpreter is doing a good job here ;)
If you don't need to do anything more complicated than what you just described in your last comment, Remy (Monsen) is right. There should be enough information in the User Manual.
The Tome would only be necessary if you wanted to make symbols that were considerably more complicated than that.
The User Manual gives you the basics. The Tome provides the masterclass.
Ok, thank you very much. Then I'll just start with CC3+ and the integrated manual. And when I've understood everything and want to create more complicated graphics, I can always read up on the tome.
Ralf did a live mapping session on creating your own symbols:
It starts describing how to create vector-based (very important to understand how symbol catalogs work), and then around 42:05 it covers importing PNGs as symbols.
Great! Thank you - that was very helpful :)