Designing a world map + detailed regions
Hello,
I'm a new user of CC3+ and so far I'm really liking this tool. I discover new features every day, and it seems very powerful. However, before I really get to work on my project, I'd like some advice on the best way to do it.
I started working on a map that represents an entire planet, so I went with a fairly big map : 20000x20000, assuming 1 unit = 1km. I created my landmasses, and added some mountains, forests, rivers, villages, etc. My symbols are scaled so that when I'm zoomed in on a region of my map, I see everything in detail, and when I'm 100% zoomed out, I still get a good overview of the world without seeing the details. Sounds alright. However, when i exported to PNG, even with a really large image size (8192x8192px), the map looks really ugly from up close. I guess I'd have to get an even higher resolution, but then my PNG file is going to be really too big.
So, here's my question : what's the best way to design a very large world map ? I'd like to have a map of my entire planet showing the main features (biggest rivers, mountain ranges, major cities, political areas, etc.), but I'd also like to be able to create more detailed maps of specific regions. I'd want to be able to generate a PNG of the entire map that gives a good overview but looks ugly when zoomed in, and then more detailed PNGs only covering a portion of my map.
Is there a way to tell CC3+ to generate a PNG for a portion of a map only ? Is it possible to create "submaps" of a bigger map ?
Any advice is welcome.
Thanks in advance !
o>
Svaala.
I'm a new user of CC3+ and so far I'm really liking this tool. I discover new features every day, and it seems very powerful. However, before I really get to work on my project, I'd like some advice on the best way to do it.
I started working on a map that represents an entire planet, so I went with a fairly big map : 20000x20000, assuming 1 unit = 1km. I created my landmasses, and added some mountains, forests, rivers, villages, etc. My symbols are scaled so that when I'm zoomed in on a region of my map, I see everything in detail, and when I'm 100% zoomed out, I still get a good overview of the world without seeing the details. Sounds alright. However, when i exported to PNG, even with a really large image size (8192x8192px), the map looks really ugly from up close. I guess I'd have to get an even higher resolution, but then my PNG file is going to be really too big.
So, here's my question : what's the best way to design a very large world map ? I'd like to have a map of my entire planet showing the main features (biggest rivers, mountain ranges, major cities, political areas, etc.), but I'd also like to be able to create more detailed maps of specific regions. I'd want to be able to generate a PNG of the entire map that gives a good overview but looks ugly when zoomed in, and then more detailed PNGs only covering a portion of my map.
Is there a way to tell CC3+ to generate a PNG for a portion of a map only ? Is it possible to create "submaps" of a bigger map ?
Any advice is welcome.
Thanks in advance !
o>
Svaala.
Comments
There are several ways you can reach your goal.
If you are ok with not being able to zoom in at every place you can create a seperate map for special areas. So keep your wold-map, then have a second continent-A-map and a city-X-map. All seperate files.
Currently there is no way to synch changes from one file to another, so if you change the coast of world-map you would have to adjust you continent-A-map by hand.
The initial map can be done by copy&paste your file and delete everything else.
To easier navigate you can link them in cc3 by using hotspots (take a look at the f1-help how to do this).
Another way would be to create everything in one map and then export parts of this, you can do this by using the export rectangle (rightclick on the save-icon) and only select continent-A.
Another aproach to this could be a project of mine: http://forum.profantasy.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=5544&page=1 but this might not be the way you are looking for.
Greetings
WarEagle
Not being able to sync two maps is a bit of a problem for what I'd want to do, but the second solution seems fine. I can work on one big-ass map with everything on it, and just worry about exporting the right portions of the map with the right resolution when I'm done working on it. Will have a single big map with a lot of symbols on it cause performance issues at some point ?
The only report of not beeing able to work with a map was this post: https://mappingworlds.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/going-to-big/
But... look at the details, there is much in it. He talks of a mapsize of 11MB, I myself have never been above 600KB for a map.
I am very partial to creating a world map in Fractal Terrains (another ProFantasy product) and then exporting sections to CC3 in order to create regional maps.
If you are interested, I have a number of FT3 tutorials at OldGuyGaming.com
Happy New Year!
A gray area with a few mountain symbols and a label for that mountain range is good. Mountain gaps are good for lots of detail.
Add a few symbols, like cities and mountain ranges, for continents maps.
The large number of symbols should only be used for cities, and towns. Or a section of a mountain range. All of this depending on size.
If the city is several square miles, it would help the map, or png file, load faster if the city was broken up into areas.
My map is starting to look alright, both at world and regional scales. I'll try to post screenshots when I've done a bit more.
Thanks for all the advice.