Fractal Terrains-->Annual #1 Mercator

earwicker7 · December 2011

I've finished reading the entire CC3 instructions, and did all of the exercises, so I'm starting to stretch my legs a bit by going into the Annuals. Right now I'm on #1, and I'm able to do the basics as far as putting stuff on the map, but my sense of "mountains should go here, forests there, etc.," isn't as good as it could be, so I was thinking that Fractal Terrains would help me generate a more realistic landscape. The problem is that Fractal Terrains would give me a square map, while I need a double-globe (for lack of a better word) shape. Is there an accurate way to handle this, where the "negative space" outside the globes isn't just cut off, or am I going to have to cut and paste portions of the Fractal Terrains map and just hope everything lines up ok with a little fudging?

Thanks!

Terraformer_Author · December 2011

earwicker, can you give us a little bit more detail insomuch as what it is that your shooting for project wise?

earwicker7 · December 2011

At this point, just learning the ropes... I'm going to be running a D&D campaign starting this summer, so I'm trying to get in as much practice as possible before I start on the maps I'll be using. I'd rather have the growing pains occur on maps that I won't end up using (I'll be too much of a perfectionist on my campaign maps lol).

I'm wondering if Annual #1 might not be the perfect starting point, due to its non-standard form... I was just going to go in chronological order.

earwicker7 · December 2011

So, I just fired up FT3 and exported a world to the Mercator template. I managed to get everything in the location that I wanted for a tracing of the land borders, but when I started hiding the sheets, there were tons of artifacts left over from FT3, so it was kind of a mess.

Here is what I'm trying to transfer: an outline of the lands, a very rough level of contour (I'd be fine with 5,000 ft intervals... I just want to know flatland, hills, and mountains), the rivers, and where the forests should be. I want my map to be pretty simple.

Is there any way to get a really rough (i.e., simple to manipulate) world with just those parameters transferring over? Once I do, which sheets does it go to? Once I can figure this out, it should be pretty easy to trace over these with the drawing tools, and I think I can actually manage the style of Annual #1... I like a challenge.

JimP · December 2011

Hmm... I save as a graphic file, import that into CC3 on its own layer, and trace over it. Delete the graphic file when done.

earwicker7 · December 2011

A couple of questions:

1. How do you import to a layer? Is this more than just copying and pasting? Would it be easier to import them as sheets?
2. Is it possible to make a few different graphics files? For example, one with climate and one with elevation?

Thanks!

JimP · December 2011

Set a particular layer by placing a check mark on it in the layer dialogue.

Do an Insert, the item goes on that layer.

You can insert any number of files into the map.

Any item you insert, goes to both a sheet and a layer, whichever ones are selected/active when you do the insert.

I have a bmp layer in my templates, I made my own, and that is what I import to.

Insert is in the Draw menu at the top menu row of CC2/CC3.

Ralf · December 2011

I've attached a CC3 export setting for FT3, which includes altitude contours at 5000ft steps. Unzip it into your FT3 program folder in the "Export" subfolder and it should show up under your export settings.

I'd then do the following:
- Export your world to CC3, open it and check the dimensions north-south and east-west.
- Now opena second instance of CC3 and start a new map based on the Mercator style with the same dimensions.
- Copy the parts you need from the FT3 export over one by one (via the clipboard) and adjust them to match the Mercator style.
For example:
- Copy over the Land (a multipoly), then use the "Change like drawing tool" command (right-click the Change Properties button) to make it into a proper Mercator Land entity.

Hope that helps,
Ralf

earwicker7 · December 2011

So, I've managed to export it, and I'm able to copy and paste the entire thing from one instance to the other, but is there a way to "separate" the continents? The only thing I am able to do is grab a whole mapful of everything and paste it over the Mercator Globe, like what I'm attaching here. It's functional, but there is going to be a lot of tweaking necessary to get both sides of the globe to match up, whereas if I were able to separate the continents, I could resize them and move them around. I tried what you mentioned with the "Change Like Drawing Tool", and it changed it to land, but it was also grabbing everything when I tried to move it.

Old Guy · December 2011

Export two PNGs of orthographic projections, one rotated 180 degrees from the other, and paste them together side by side. Then place that image under the grid you have there. I think that will give you the look you want.

jslayton · December 2011

I think that's more of an azimuthal equidistant projection than an Orthographic one. FT does a whole-world projection for that one so you'll need to manually trim it. If you're comfortable editing your Projection.txt file in the FT directory, adding the following lines to the end will give you something that looks like the attached image:

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Projection 91, "AE Hemispheres"

Scale 1.0
Description "Azimuthal Equidistant Hemispheres"

Segment "Azimuthal Equidistant", 0, -90, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0
scale 1, 1
Offset -0.5, 0.0
Effective -180, 90, 0, -90
Rotate 0
EndSegment

Segment "Azimuthal Equidistant", 0, 90, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0
scale 1, 1
Offset 0.5, 0.0
Effective 0, 90, 180, -90
Rotate 0
EndSegment

EndProjection

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

pvernon · December 2011

cool, thanks

earwicker7 · December 2011

AE Hemispheres did exactly what I needed... woohoo!

So, now onto the next conundrum. I've managed to lay down the continents, and I've also mapped the lakes. The problem is that the Ocean Fill sheet is contrasting too much with the larger lakes. The sheet effects aren't on yet, so it would be more subtle, but still, I'd like the larger of the two lakes (more like inland seas) to not stick out as much.

I think I have two choices, neither of which I know how to do:

1. Make the larger of the two lakes have the ocean fill (that part I can do) AND be on the Ocean Fill sheet so that the effects will work on it. The second part is the tricky one, because it is now on the Lakes sheet.

2. Somehow break up the coastline so that there are inlets from the ocean to the lakes.

The second one is my preferred choice, as the stuff with the ocean fill would actually be ocean, instead of just lakes that look like oceans.

jslayton · December 2011

If you haven't seen it, http://www.ridgenet.net/~jslayton/CGTutorial/index.html shows a way to work with FT that allows you to make relatively subtle openings. As you're mostly just using FT for the coastlines, you might not even need that level of complexity; the offset tool might be all you need.

earwicker7 · December 2011

I actually know how to do it indirectly through FT, I was just wondering if there is a way to do it directly in CC3. I know how to put a break point in a regular line, but I can't figure out how to put a break in a polygon; when I click on it, nothing happens.

earwicker7 · December 2011

I've managed to make outlining the continents substantially quicker by using the attach to "nearest point on" command with the land drawing tool (this attaches it to the FT3 land countour data), but there is still a big problem; yesterday, after about 10 minutes of carefully outlining a large continent, and with just a few clicks more to go, I accidentally brushed up against a key and the whole thing vanished. I tried undoing, but no luck; 10 minutes of work went down the toilet.

Is there a quicker method of building the continents from the FT3 land contour data? I tried to use the trace command, but it wouldn't allow me to select the land contours from FT3 as an entity. I've tried clicking the multipoly command, and then dragging over the contours, but it doesn't seem to be doing what I think it should, so maybe I don't understand the command very well.

jslayton · December 2011

You likely exported the contours from FT3 with multipoly turned on, meaning that the contours are already multipolies. Try explode on the contours to break them apart into their constituent pieces.

sdavies2720 · January 2012

Posted By: earwicker7I actually know how to do it indirectly through FT, I was just wondering if there is a way to do it directly in CC3. I know how to put a break point in a regular line, but I can't figure out how to put a break in a polygon; when I click on it, nothing happens.

If I understand what you're asking, just create a new Sheet (e.g. LakeFill), make sure it's just above or just below the current LAKE sheet, and move the lake to it. Then copy the effects from the ocean sheet to your new (LAKEFILL) sheet. That should get you the fills you want and the lake appearing appropriately.

earwicker7 · January 2012

Posted By: jslaytonYou likely exported the contours from FT3 with multipoly turned on, meaning that the contours are already multipolies. Try explode on the contours to break them apart into their constituent pieces.

That is EXACTLY what was happening. Thanks!

MorituriMax · April 2019

jslayton, thanks so much for the dual map view!

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Fractal Terrains-->Annual #1 Mercator

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