Massive overlands?
How do you guys do the SUPER massive overlands? What settings do you use? I saw @Calibre 's LOVELY overland map (listed here https://forum.profantasy.com/discussion/14890/wip-estonisch-continent-birdseye ) and I want to do one of this super ultra massive overland maps. How do you guys usually do those? How do you set it up, and what's your thought process going into it? What size setting during making the initial mapmaking screen?
Comments
What size setting during making the initial mapmaking screen?
That would be the actual size of your world. As with any map, it is important to know how large it is before you start mapping. If you are mapping a whole world/planet you need to know the dimensions of the planet.
How do you set it up
I find a good style that is designed for large scale mapping. When mapping a whole world, you would normally want a style where you can do most of the mapping using drawing tools and fills, and not overly rely too much on symbols. A lot of our styles can do this just fine, including the default overland styles that comes with CC3+, but some are better suited for more local area mapping.
what's your thought process going into it?
Don't try to add too much details. I usually think of my maps like those found in the school atlases. A map couldn't be bigger than a two-page spread, so it should be readable at that size. Details that are too small to show up at that scale, or would overly clutter the map is left out, these can be shown on separate zoomed-in maps of relevant areas. I like developing my worlds as a series of maps of different scale levels, similar to what is done in the community atlas.
The reason for avoiding tiny details are twofold. First of all, it reduces clutter in your map and makes the map readable when you view it zoomed out. Secondly, filling out a whole world with tiny details are extremely time-consuming, and almost always leads to mapping fatigue and a half-finished map that never gets finished.
Greets,
It's sometimes a hard choice what to include and what to leave out---so I came up with my own 'rules' (just a few)
NO mountain names
No river names
No roads
No ruins unless really significant
Do add Region names, some city names (by no means all! Just the largest), nation names, ocean-sea-bay names and that's it. Generally, focus on the drawing and the colors.
Well, that's what I do, anyway. Good luck!
Cal
I also don't use any particular style, but use plain colours for both contours on an Altitude map and the same for biomes (Climate) map. Also the same about names as Calibre has outlined, with the addition of very important landmarks eg Desert of Pithin.
This is my world of Myirandios, both in Hemisphere AE version, and Equirectangular version.
Equirectangular, Altitude
Equirectangular, Climate
Hemisphere AE, Climate. I have used a simple brush pattern to depict hills and mountains.
Whoa! What overland styles are these?!
No style - just plain bitmaps. I used Fractal terrains for the equirectangular and AE hemisphere contours, then used plain colour 'bitmaps' for the contour and biome colours. And then pics I converted to png's and added to the surrounds, along with the FT again for north and south pole views and Annual 22 for the cosmography views with zodiac and solar system.