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Is there anyway to produce even altitude contours with FT Pro?

polypteruspolypterus
in Mapping with ProFantasy's Software
I'm trying to get FT Pro to display even altitude contours. Most specifically one color band for every 1000 feet (i.e. 0-1000, 1000-2000, 2000-3000 etc). I have discovered if I create an .lgt file that I can select the colors I want and if I take the max height that I selected when I created the world and divide it by the number of colors I put in the .lgt file I can get them to fall on specific boundaries ..... almost. The problem is that first color band is always half of the rest. For instance if I have a max height of 40000 feet and I have 40 colors the first color band will be from 0-500 and then from then on the gaps will be 1000 as expected (i.e 500-15000, 1500-2500 etc). Anyone have a solution to this?
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Comments

  • JimPJimP 🖼️ 280 images Cartographer
    Hmm. I haven't tried that.

    I export a graphic file from FT2, then import into CC3. I made my own template with cotours of 2500 feet. A different bitmal fill for each contour.
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  • Master TMOMaster TMO
    I've tried a few ways. So far the most accurate way is to export 1 map for each contour band you want. Shade the target band black and everything else white and export it. Change which band is black, and repeat. Do this until you have an output image for each band, then bring them into Photoshop or other image manipulator, convert the solid bands into edge lines and layer them all up.

    It's an ugly kludge, but it does work. I'm open to hearing about more elegant solutions if anyone has one.
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  • JimPJimP 🖼️ 280 images Cartographer
    Basically what I do is export the map from FT. Import it onto a bmp layer in this template: surface maps color chart the bitmap fills i use are linked on that page.

    I draw the ocean, and then the land contours, using the bitmap fills on the layers I created in the template. The fills in the template are labelled the same as the land contours. Water isn't.

    But the color of the blue bitmap fill in the template is the depth. Lightest is 0-500 feet down, light is 0-2000 feet, etc.
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  • polypteruspolypterus
    Thanks for the replys. The problem is I want to export my map as a png file so I can use adobe illustrator trace command to generate vector contours and complete the map instead of using CC3. The problem with exporting as a CC3 file is it doesn’t do a very good job of creating contours from bit maps. For instance adjacent contour bands don’t match up with each other. Also there are many bugs in the contour display. If you use a pattern instead of a solid color for contours and then zoom out too far CC3 draws outside the polygon. In general I find CC3 is unusable for large detailed maps. I can do everything I need in illustrator I just need to get a PNG with evenly spaced contours.

    However you guys did give me an idea. I think I can export PNGs for each contour level, combine them in Photoshop and then go to illustrator to finish the map.
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