Two things strike me here in this overall excellent work:
1) You might still be doing effects. If so, ignore this remark. Otherwise it seems strange to me that some objects have shadows and others don't. (Of course, it's also possible that some of the Dundjinni symbols produce artifacts when shadowed.)
2) I find it unusual that the buildings are roofless at this elevation. More normal would be to have them roofed at this level and then have the roofs vanished when one zooms in.
@Mark - Yes, I'm still working on the shadows, so there are a few more things left to do. Is there a way to make the roofs vanish when one zooms in? I'd actually thought of doing half a roof, so that you could see there was stuff inside, but I wasn't sure about it.
I agree with Mark. While I love a good floorplan, I think to be consistent in this map i'd put a roof on the buildings and then offer maybe the "interior" version as an option for interest. It distracts the focus of the challenge itself as being a bandit hideout than a floorplan map, if that makes sense. But...that's just me Otherwise, nice work! I especially like the river ice and the cliffs!
Whether or not you put a roof on it Storm, I don't know exactly when the deadline for the CG thing is because I'm in a different time zone and the rules confuse me because of it, but IF you are running out of time for completing your entry today I wouldn't worry about doing the zoom thing for the CG entry. Far more important to sort out the whole map issues, like the shadows and things that have already been mentioned. The zoom capacity can be sorted out later, or you can add little insets to the border frame of the map showing the interior's like Diamond does with his.
I have until about the 15th... I was just trying to get it done, that's all. I'm thinking about the roof idea...I can see the merits of it... with maybe smaller zoomed in areas that show the interior... it's something to think about, thanks!
Like his Lands of the Line map that's been in the contest today - a row of circles like portholes at the bottom of the map in his case, but within the major frame
I'm glad to hear the close of the contest wasn't today... but the fact that I thought it might have been just goes to show you how confused I am about this contest thing! I think I shall steer a bit clear of all that for a couple of months till I've worked out what the heck is going on there
LadieStorm asked:Is there a way to make the roofs vanish when one zooms in?
Not with CC3, no. Sorry.
One trick is to make the roofs and put them on their own sheet (or on several ROOF * sheets, if necessary), and then make the sheet(s) semi-transparent, so viewers can see there's a roof yet also see inside. It can take some tweaking to get a good transparency level. In my opinion, I feel the technique is kind of hit or miss, depending on the map.
Nice map! If you're still open to suggestions, here are some things you might consider, but they really are just suggestions.
If those are campfire symbols near the tents, you might consider "melting" the snow in the immediate area around the fires.
I know you're looking for footprints, but if anyone travels in or out of the tents more than a few times, you might consider making trails, to or between some tents and to the fires, even if they have a semi-transparent snow sheet over them.
Is that a cave in the cliff at the top? If it's used, perhaps consider adding some paths or worn areas in the snow around there.
I look forward to seeing the map with full effects in place. The map gives a definite impression of cold!. I also like the critters in the water. That's a nice touch. What are the pointy/square symbols around the outer perimeter of the map? At first I thought the one on the left might be an unadorned compass rose but then I spotted the similar symbols along the top, right, and bottom.
Posted By: LadieStormIs there a way to make the roofs vanish when one zooms in?
Put them on a sheet of their own and hide the sheet on a zoom. There might be a better method that I don't know too. Remember that I don't make maps with CC3+, just CA3 character portraits. So when it comes to mapping tips and tricks, my knowledge is rather limited. With FM8 I can automate such an action upon zooming, but I don't know of any such option in CC3+, although one certainly might be there.
I just realized something...even if it can be done in the fcw, once it's converted to PNG or jpg...it becomes a fixed image, I would have to turn it into an animated gif, and I have neither the program, nor the expertise to do it.
So I will go with either the semi transparent option or the added art option. Probably the artwork option, because I already have an idea in mind.
I am almost finished with this map. All I have left to do is titles and copyrights. However, I'm running into a major snag. I can't seem to get my effects working for my title. I've done this countless times, so I can't figure out why it doesn't want to work this time. I'm hoping someone else can see what I've missed... I think I'm too close to, and it's probably something stupid... so I'm including my fcw to take a look at.
The past two days with this map has been an exorcise in frustration... as my program decided to quit during one of my saves, and I lost two hours worth of work. Now I can't get the effects on my text to work...
How about... and this IS only a suggestion... How about if you put the floor plans together on either the right or the left and the title on the other side to them? Are you going to label them ground and first floor?
EDIT: You know, I can understand you might be cross with me, but is there any need to keep ninja-ing me every time I make a post? LOL!
There's not a lot of point in me downloading that file, because for some strange reason I have a different arrangement to the rest of you (probably something I did during the beta tests), but most of that will only show as red crosses. I will however, and see if I can see the text to find out if the effects will work for me
This is what I see when I open it - but only after I moved the text to the TEXT TITLE sheet. I don't know which sheet you had it on, but it wasn't on the right one. Is that one problem down and only 99 to go?
Lol, Sue! No, I'm not cross with you, and I will think about moving the buildings on the map border... the only thing is to keep the effects, I have to move one sheet at a time, and that gets tedious! It was during the process of copying all this to the map border last night that caused my fcw32.exe to shut down mid save.
And these are actually two buildings... the Black Talon's storage room, and Ograth Blooddrinker's hut (Black Talon Leader).
Don't worry. I spent an entire day wondering why I couldn't see the gravel through my transparent water, only to realise that the gravel layer was beneath the sand layer!!!
You know... I've just also realised what an idiot I am about the red crosses thing. I just download the fcw and put it on my desktop and expect it to be able to find everything. What I should have done is ask you where you save it on your PC, because then I could have recreated the relative position on my own PC, and it would probably have found everything straight off.
Interesting though, how it managed to find the Bogie fills and a couple of the CSUAC symbol trees, but nothing else!
Sue, I'm so tired today, that I didn't truly process your suggestion until just a moment ago. I actually tried your suggestion last night. I wasn't able to fit things to my liking when I tried putting the two buildings side by side on the border. It's because of the odd configuration of the leader's hut. It might have worked if I hadn't enlarged the buildings so they could be seen...
Oh well, I'm still learning, so next time I won't make them so big! lol
I do! And your suggestions are usually spot on, and tend to point the finger at something I'm already looking at, which is why I usually follow them . But I don't always follow every suggestion... for example... Dogtag's wonderfull suggestion of melting the snow under my campfires, I followed, but because I had footprint tracks in the snow, I didn't make trails to the campsites
There is very little purpose in posting your FCW files here. I'd guess that most of the symbols and fill styles that LadieStorm used here are installed on my computer, but with CC3 and CC3+, that's meaningless. As a result, I get what you see below, and so does just about everyone else.
The reason that this happens is that we all have the third party (non-ProFantasy) material stored in different locations on our computers. CC3+ doesn't put the missing objects into a map; it just calls them into the display when the map is on the screen or being converted into a PNG or a JPG or being printed. When we call up your FCW files, our CC3+ installations look for those objects in the locations where you installed them on your computers and it can't find them, because they're somewhere else, if installed at all. For doing such a dastardly deed, then, CC3+ punishes us by battering us with a plethora of red Xs.
Moral of the story: If you're not making maps that use only official CC3+ symbols and fills, forget about posting FCW files.
------------------------------
All of that not withstanding, the Black Talon Reach cartography is some of the best I've ever seen here. You (LadieStorm) and Sue (I refuse to use the Loopy part) and Lorelei are taking CC3+ to places where it hasn't been before, as far as I'm concerned. With all three of you, I would have told you that CC3+ can't do this stuff; you need The GIMP or Photoshop. Shows you how little I know!
Congratulations, LadieStorm! This is a masterpiece. Keep them coming!
Comments
1) You might still be doing effects. If so, ignore this remark. Otherwise it seems strange to me that some objects have shadows and others don't. (Of course, it's also possible that some of the Dundjinni symbols produce artifacts when shadowed.)
2) I find it unusual that the buildings are roofless at this elevation. More normal would be to have them roofed at this level and then have the roofs vanished when one zooms in.
@ Sue - yes, I did, thanks!
That's only my opinion, however
I'm glad to hear the close of the contest wasn't today... but the fact that I thought it might have been just goes to show you how confused I am about this contest thing! I think I shall steer a bit clear of all that for a couple of months till I've worked out what the heck is going on there
One trick is to make the roofs and put them on their own sheet (or on several ROOF * sheets, if necessary), and then make the sheet(s) semi-transparent, so viewers can see there's a roof yet also see inside. It can take some tweaking to get a good transparency level. In my opinion, I feel the technique is kind of hit or miss, depending on the map.
Nice map! If you're still open to suggestions, here are some things you might consider, but they really are just suggestions.
- If those are campfire symbols near the tents, you might consider "melting" the snow in the immediate area around the fires.
- I know you're looking for footprints, but if anyone travels in or out of the tents more than a few times, you might consider making trails, to or between some tents and to the fires, even if they have a semi-transparent snow sheet over them.
- Is that a cave in the cliff at the top? If it's used, perhaps consider adding some paths or worn areas in the snow around there.
I look forward to seeing the map with full effects in place. The map gives a definite impression of cold!. I also like the critters in the water. That's a nice touch. What are the pointy/square symbols around the outer perimeter of the map? At first I thought the one on the left might be an unadorned compass rose but then I spotted the similar symbols along the top, right, and bottom.Good luck with the challenge!
Cheers,
~Dogtag
I will have to see about the snow issue...i'm afraid my footprints won't show without the snow. But around the fires? Maybe.
As for what is on top of the cliffs, those are watchtowers.
So I will go with either the semi transparent option or the added art option. Probably the artwork option, because I already have an idea in mind.
The past two days with this map has been an exorcise in frustration... as my program decided to quit during one of my saves, and I lost two hours worth of work. Now I can't get the effects on my text to work...
Is there still time for a suggestion?
(You are going to hate me by the end of this!)
How about... and this IS only a suggestion... How about if you put the floor plans together on either the right or the left and the title on the other side to them? Are you going to label them ground and first floor?
EDIT: You know, I can understand you might be cross with me, but is there any need to keep ninja-ing me every time I make a post? LOL!
There's not a lot of point in me downloading that file, because for some strange reason I have a different arrangement to the rest of you (probably something I did during the beta tests), but most of that will only show as red crosses. I will however, and see if I can see the text to find out if the effects will work for me
And these are actually two buildings... the Black Talon's storage room, and Ograth Blooddrinker's hut (Black Talon Leader).
Interesting though, how it managed to find the Bogie fills and a couple of the CSUAC symbol trees, but nothing else!
Oh well, I'm still learning, so next time I won't make them so big! lol
Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions along the way!
There is very little purpose in posting your FCW files here. I'd guess that most of the symbols and fill styles that LadieStorm used here are installed on my computer, but with CC3 and CC3+, that's meaningless. As a result, I get what you see below, and so does just about everyone else.
The reason that this happens is that we all have the third party (non-ProFantasy) material stored in different locations on our computers. CC3+ doesn't put the missing objects into a map; it just calls them into the display when the map is on the screen or being converted into a PNG or a JPG or being printed. When we call up your FCW files, our CC3+ installations look for those objects in the locations where you installed them on your computers and it can't find them, because they're somewhere else, if installed at all. For doing such a dastardly deed, then, CC3+ punishes us by battering us with a plethora of red Xs.
Moral of the story: If you're not making maps that use only official CC3+ symbols and fills, forget about posting FCW files.
------------------------------
All of that not withstanding, the Black Talon Reach cartography is some of the best I've ever seen here. You (LadieStorm) and Sue (I refuse to use the Loopy part) and Lorelei are taking CC3+ to places where it hasn't been before, as far as I'm concerned. With all three of you, I would have told you that CC3+ can't do this stuff; you need The GIMP or Photoshop. Shows you how little I know!
Congratulations, LadieStorm! This is a masterpiece. Keep them coming!