Contour lines to show elevation/depression

seycyrus · February 2014

I'm trying to use contour lines to visually suggest a depression in a forest that ends in a small mucky pond. To do so, I created one sheet for each of the three contour lines surrounding the pond. Intuitively, i would think that slightly darkening the contour on each sheet would help with the desired effect, but so far no luck. I've played with effects on each of the sheets, and while they all help the appearance of the map, I don't think they really give the feeling of a downward slope.

Are there any examples or discussions on this that I have missed? Any suggestions?

Thank you for your time.

JimP · February 2014

I would suggest different color bitmap fills for each level. Search on the word 'contour' in these forums and you will see a number of discussions about contours and contour lines.

seycyrus · February 2014

Thanks for your response JimP!

I had meant to include the map itself earlier, sorry about that.

I don't really see a thread discussing my problem on the scale that I'm looking at. I want the viewer to get a "feel" that the land is sloping downwards. I've seen some nice work done with elevations and steps using dropshadows etc.

Here's the latest version of what I've been messing with.

JimP · February 2014

Then look at the links to my site in those threads. I use another mapper's bitmap fills to show countour levels. I don't use sheet effects, but it could help you get started.

seycyrus · February 2014

Thanks Jim. You sure do have a lot of maps on your site. I'm not sure I could find one that applies to the case I'm talking about.

I see a legend that's basically "this color/fill = elevationA, this color/fill = elevationB"

I don't want players to have to refer to a legend, or remember that one color is higher than another in terms of elevation. I want them to "get it" just by looking at the battlemap. When Sweeney and others draw steps or elevated masses on their maps I automatically understand that I would stub my toe it when I look at the maps. I want to do that, but with a depression or gulley. The answer probably has to do with the clever use of effects, that I haven't been able to figure out yet.

Thanks for your help.

Here's another little example.

JimP · February 2014

That is basically what I did without the effects. Darker color bitmap fills for deeper and deeper.

Light color, medium color, dark color.

The light would be the top, middle colors would shade into darker and darker to show increasing depth. The darkest green would be the bottom.

The bitmap fills I use contain about 5 water levels based on color.

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Contour lines to show elevation/depression

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