First Castle in DD3 for Ravenloft

I am uploading my first project using Campaign Cartographer/Dungeon Designer. I am looking for input from other CC3 users on what else I could be doing on these maps. For my first project I chose to learn by constructing a 10 floor castle as presented in the Castle Ravenloft campaign. I uploaded it to the Cartographer's Guild because the files sizes were larger than what is recommended on this site. I am having some problems getting them uploaded properly, but they are showing up if you have an account there. The link is
http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?13943-ETCR-Expedition-to-Castle-Ravenloft-in-DD3

Please take a look. I would have loved to have posted directly to this site but this will work as well. I need all the advice I can get.

Thanks!

Comments

  • RalfRalf Administrator, ProFantasy 🖼️ 18 images Mapmaker
    Very nice work! Unfortunately people will need to register with and log into the Cartographer's Guild to see the images. I'd do a few scaled down versions for attachign and viewing here!

    Are you using the checkered grass tiles outside the castle on purpose? They do look a bit weird and I'd rather use a seamlessly tiling grass pattern instead.
  • edited March 2011
    Thanks! Yes, as soon as I figure out how to get those down in size a bit farther and not lose the detail, I will be doing so. The grass effect is not intended. It looked better before the rendering, but this was the first attempt and I knew I would be coming back to both that and the approach leading to the gate towers. All of that I intend to redo when I get a little better at this. I wanted to complete the castle before I polished off the details. Also, I wanted a bit of advice. :)
    I have not figured out if it is possible to take an image and stretch it out, either. For instance, I would like to take a picture of an airplane photo of a forested valley and set it as the background (where the black is), and blur this for distance. I don't know if that is possible. I could be missing something obvious, I admit.
    I have a game tonight and work tomorrow, but I will be posting more as soon as I can. The upper floors are nowhere near as large, but the basement layers, the last that I worked on, are large. I had become quite a bit more used to the interface by that point and was learning some neat effects by that point, so I will be excited to get feedback on those.

    I will post here as soon as I get them down to a meg.
    Thanks!
  • I suggest Irfanview. You can load a picture file into it, and reduce the color depth.
  • Thanks, JimP. That is actually what I use, it is just that I am losing too much in some of the pictures bringing it down that much. I have them down to 3 m currently and that is what is posted at the other site. The first pic started at 137 m, but that included a lot of outside property that is not included on the other floors.

    I will be able to do it, it is just that I have to work around my work schedule. I should have them up by tomorrow.

    Thanks!
  • Use the custom part and only take it down to 202 colors. And save as png. I have had files that are much smaller as a result.
  • edited March 2011
    I have been pretty busy but here is what I have come up with to start. The first post is a reduction of the larger first floor map including the surroundings. The dimensions are 13200x9000, so reducing it to 1m makes it fairly pixilated. But it does give you an idea of what I am trying to do. This was my first map and it was retouched many, many times as I learned how to do things on other floors. The result is clunky, but I am happy with the interior of the castle, which is my primary concern.

    The grass showed better on the original, but after the rendering it came out in obvious tiling. I need to work on that. I would also like to have a large picture blurred out in the background (where the black is) that will provide an 'elevated' feel.

    I will provide a better view of the interior castle next.

    Edit: So far, this is not working very well. The files are under a meg, they seem to upload, but then they don't show up correctly, so I have deleted them I will have to try and do this when I have more time.
  • 3 months later
  • I too am doing the ravenloft maps. I am using GIMP 2 to view/preview the maps and it is a FREE download and very easy to use.
    I took all the older maps down but will be puting new ones up. I used to use Dundjinni software but it really sucked so after years of doing that I will be using DD3 instead and PSP7.0 for touch-ups etc.

    Here's a link if interested:
    http://gallery.rptools.net/v/contrib/danielpryor/ravenloft-_old__temp_files/
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