Newbie Questions and Help
Hello, I have just recently gone out and expended a pile of money on the Fantasy Mapper Bundle and I am already regretting the cost.
The tutorial was barely helpful and the program is hardly intuitive.
I have a very specific Map in mind that I want to make for a fantasy world I am writing a book on and I have a map that was created in some program or another that I can't recall.
I want to redo it so it looks nicer and the names are legible etc...
So far all initial attempts to redraw the land masses have failed as the land mass tool can only apparently draw random jags and such, when I want to draw much smoother coastlines. An apparently I can draw from one side of the map frame to another without it wanting to fill in water above the shoreline I'm trying to draw where above the shoreline is supposed to be LAND.
Apparently I can't just draw a shoreline and be done with it. Nor can I erase things out until the look how I want them to loo, I have to go through some arcane process of editing that seems to
involve deleting everything I am trying to accomplish.
This would be so much easier if I could just import a copy the map I have which I read that I should be able to do but I've yet to find instructions on how to do it.
I am not a math or programming whiz by any stretch and this program is needlessly complex. If I cannot do these simple things I will be canceling the rest of my order and asking for a refund so I can delete the crap I've gotten and go find a program that does what I want and does it simply.
Any help, information or recommendations is welcome, thank you.
The tutorial was barely helpful and the program is hardly intuitive.
I have a very specific Map in mind that I want to make for a fantasy world I am writing a book on and I have a map that was created in some program or another that I can't recall.
I want to redo it so it looks nicer and the names are legible etc...
So far all initial attempts to redraw the land masses have failed as the land mass tool can only apparently draw random jags and such, when I want to draw much smoother coastlines. An apparently I can draw from one side of the map frame to another without it wanting to fill in water above the shoreline I'm trying to draw where above the shoreline is supposed to be LAND.
Apparently I can't just draw a shoreline and be done with it. Nor can I erase things out until the look how I want them to loo, I have to go through some arcane process of editing that seems to
involve deleting everything I am trying to accomplish.
This would be so much easier if I could just import a copy the map I have which I read that I should be able to do but I've yet to find instructions on how to do it.
I am not a math or programming whiz by any stretch and this program is needlessly complex. If I cannot do these simple things I will be canceling the rest of my order and asking for a refund so I can delete the crap I've gotten and go find a program that does what I want and does it simply.
Any help, information or recommendations is welcome, thank you.
Comments
i have a game world of over 1,600 map files that do all of what you need.
To insert a map, it has to be in png or bmp formap.
At the top of CC3, you will see a Draw Menu, under that is Insert.
So, lets get past the generic advice, and start on your map.
1. Click on the icon, for Map Menu. This will get you started on an overland map.
2. In the upper left of CC3, you will a small icon that ooks like a sheet of paper with one corner turned down. Right click on that. and select New Template,
In the path at the top of the requestor you should see: Profantasy->CC3-> Templates-> Overland Maps. Pick one that is large. Say the 10000 x 8000.fct. Click on it once and then click on Open button on the lower right.
Type the word New and then press the key. New should show up on the command line of CC3, below the mapping area.
I'll continue.
3. If you don't have it in bmp or png format, try printing it, and scan it in as bmp or png, or ask someone near you to do that for you.
For the rest of this, I'll use 'graphic file' to mean whichever you now have.
4. Place the graphic file into a folder within the CC3 folder, or a folder you know the path to.
5. Go to the Draw menu, and select Insert.
Look down at the bottom of CC3. you should see 'first corner'. Type 0,0 a zero, comma and a zero. This is the lower left corner.
6. Holding down the left mouse button, and the shift key, move the mouse pointer to the upper right corner. Click when you have it in the upper right.
Now, that can introduce distortion. Okay if it doesn't matter.
If it does matter, here is how to deal with that.
to continue.
On the upper part of CC3 you see a Section that says S: a word or two ( those are the Sheets); a color square showing the color the draw tools will be using. P pen width ; W is line width ; L are the layers; LS is line style ; FS is fill style.
Click on the L or Layer area.
A Select Layer requestor shows up. Scroll until Map Border shows up. The F in the right hand column shows it is frozen.
First box with a check mark, shows the current layer, the one selected. Second column shows Hidden layers. Right most column shows [f] for Frozen.
To delete an item on a Frozen layer, the [F] must be blank. So click on the [F] beside Map Border to it bcomes [ ].
Now, the draw tools need a border as a limiter when you draw a map. I'll put it back soon.
Now that you have the present Map Border thawed, click the left most column to the left of the Map Border layer so it has a check mark in it.
Click the Freeze All and Hide Zll buttons. Click Okay. You should now see only the map border.
Delete it by clicking on the pencil and eraser on the left side, then click on the map border, right click and select Do It. That got part of the map border.
A way to get all of the Map Border is to click on the pencil and eraser icon, select an area outside the upper left corner of the map border, hold down the mouse button and drag to the lower right outside the Map Border. Left click the mouse. All of the Map Border should now go gray.
Right click, select Do It from the menu.
The map border is now gone.
Click on the L/layer area, click on Thaw All and Show All buttons, click on okay.
You will now see what is left.
We are now going to draw a new map border.
For an example: your book world map is 12000 miles by 10000 miles.
Click on the color button, a requestor comes up with 256 colors in it. PIck a color, I picked brown color 32. Click okay to exit the color select menu.Click on the W upper part of CC3, type in a number. I picked 50, for a 50 mile wide border. This also will give a hollow rectangle, showing just a border not a solid rectangle. Click okay to exit the Width menu.
On the right side of CC3 you will see a diagonal line, and a rectangle, just below them are two pencils free hand drawing.
Click on the rectangle, there are small red dots on the lower left and upper right corners.
The command line in CC3, bottom of CC3, now says 'First Corner'. Type 0,0 ( which you remember are two zeros separated by a comma. This is the X and Y coordinate or the first corner. Then the <enter> key.
Now the command line says 'Opposite corner'. Type 12000,10000 Then press the <enter> key.
You now have a brown rectangle. There is a way to put a bitmap fill there so you can give the map border a fancy look. Let us just use a brown color for now.
Delete any ocean or other area from the template.
to continue.
Click on S (Sheets) select SEA sheet, click okay.
Click on the color button, select a shade of blue. I picked color 9, the top row, second blue on that line of the color select menu. Click okay.
Click on W and change the 50, to 0.0 Click okay.
Click on L and select Background. Click okay.
Select the rectangle icon from before, when you made the map border.
type in the 0,0 and 12000,10000 like you did for the Map border.
Do a ctrl-r ( hold down the ctrl key and tap the letter r. This rerdraws the map. Visually placing the ocean under the map border. It does it anyway, due to putting the ocean on the SEA sheet and the map border on the map sheet. This is just to refresh the map so you notice the change right away.)
Yes, the SEA is at the top of the sheet list, but it is on the bottom of the map. That is why all other sheets, except the Common Sheet, are in the order they are in.
Sorry, I just drove 400 miles back to my apartment fmor my sister's house, and I might start making lots of mistakes.
But that should get you started, there should be others by these forjms later on.
CC3 does have a steep learning cuve, but once you get to making simple maps, making complicated one will come with ease.
Good Luck !
Now change your sheet to land and layer to standard.
I use polygon to sketch over my imported graphic files.
You should go to the registration page, login and download Patch 8. It includes the CC3 manual.
Go through the tutorials. They will teach you how to use the software.
Any questions, just ask here.
Oh, until you finish making the map, the graphic file must stay where you placed it when you started the map. Otherwise, you will get a large red X where the bmp used to be in your map.
The red X on the map also happens if you create maps with bitmap fills and the person who downloads your map file doesn't have the same bitmap fills in the same path.