What B&W Styles are Suitable for Large Maps?
JulianDracos
Mapmaker
I the B&W fantasy live mapping, it said the style was not suitable for larger scale maps because the details of the symbols would be lost.
So are there B&W styles that are suitable for large maps?
Comments
Here are two ideas from the annuals:
https://www.profantasy.com/annual/2010/august10.html
https://www.profantasy.com/annual/2013/july13.html
Or you could use Mike Schley's Ink overland style? It's the same as the main style, but black and white.
Don't forget there's also the standard CC3+ B&W overland style, CC3 Vector BW, and if you have SS1, there's the Fantasy - Monochrome and Handrawn - Hollow (varicolor, so choose a suitable black for the lines) options. It's easy to forget these amongst all the many Annual options, I know!
Some of the varicolor sets can also be changed to actual, or more-or-less, B&W too, with a bit of experimentation.
Plus, depending on what sort of area you're intending, it may be possible to enlarge the symbols to keep them clear enough when resized (although this can lead to pixellation).
Depending on what style you're using, you may also be able to add a Whole Drawing Greyscale effect using the RGB Matrix to shift everything to look black-and-white.
I have SS1, but it only has color symbols. There is no monochrome or handrawn options. There is just the color folder with color symbols. I can use the varicolor.
I ran through some quick tests doubling the default size so 2000x1600. I let the program change the default symbol size, this usually meant 2.0
I love the Landform style. The details of the symbols are lost on larger maps. There is also an issue with scaling on the vector symbols. I have edited them before to be suitable for larger sizes, but it is not as easy as just changing the symbol size.
The CC3 vector lost the details of symbols.
The Pär Lindström Regional works OK for most symbols. I think it probably needs to be a little larger to keep the details of things smaller than mountains. One of the terrains doesn't really work at this scale.
I also tried Fantasy Illustrations. That one generally worked well at large scale. There is a lack of symbols and terrains options limiting the usefulness.
MS Inks seems to be the only one really usable at that scale. The details are clear. You have terrain options.
You might want to redownload SS1 if you don't have the Fantasy or Handdrawn symbol folders available, as there are definitely four folders showing in my SS1 symbol sets - these two, plus "Peter" and "Sean". Unless the contents have been changed since I obtained mine (they are all dated 2016 in my installation, certainly, so that was a while back!).
I wouldn't rely on the program to automatically change symbols sizes to always look right. I often find these need tweaking, sometimes quite substantially (and not always by the same amount for all symbols in a style).
Really just have to pick or adjust things to suit per map. Once you've done it a few times, it becomes pretty automatic.
SS1 was part of an old bundle. I put in a support request on it.