First Map with CC3

Shutsumon · January 2017

Hi,

I'm new to these forum so hopefully I won't make any faux pas. A friend bought me Campaign Cartographer for Christmas and I've been playing with it. This is my first map. It's not done yet but I thought I'd see if anyone had any feedback on it so far.

Thanks,
Becka

Barliman · January 2017

Really nice start! My one suggestion is that the mountain symbols on the range at the center of the big island look too large relative to the island, itself. At least to me they don't look like they fit with that map.

Shutsumon · January 2017

Hi!

Thanks for your comments. Yeah they do look a bit large. Is it possible to resize them or will I have to delete and redo them?

Thanks,
Becka

CharlesWayneRobinson · January 2017

Not bad at all for your first map - I started with just doing islands at first. :-)

Tonnichiwa · January 2017

Hi Shutsumon, Welcome to the forums.

This is a great looking map for the most part. The rivers are done correctly and look great, the forests look great and most of the mountains look great too.

I think Barliman is right in that the mountains he talks about definitely look a little out of scale when you compare them to the rest of the map.

Yes, you can move your mountains. But because you are so far along, you will probably end up having to mess around with your forests and rivers near those mountains as well.

In my Mapping 101 class, you can read how to move Symbols if you want to.

Tell you what. I'll copy & paste that bit of the class here for you. Even though I am talking about hills the basic concept is the same. So it will work on your mountains.

So here are the instructions:

"So how do we fix this?

You have a few options. You could erase the hill Symbol and place another one at the top of the hill bitmap fill, or you could move the hill Symbol to the top of the hill bitmap fill.

To erase the hill Symbol, left click on the “Erase” button on your Campaign Cartographer User Interface. It is the button that looks like a pencil with an eraser on it on the left hand side. If you are unsure of it, hover your mouse over the button. It should say “ Erase”.

This will put a tiny box on the tip of your cursor. Now move your cursor over to the hill icon and make sure about half of that tiny box is on the actual hill Symbol and the other half is off of the hill Symbol, but not touching the edge of the hill bitmap fill.

Now left click your mouse again. This should put a purple box around your hill Symbol. This means it has been selected.

Now right click your mouse. This will bring up a window. In this window, find the part that says “Do It” and left click on it.
Your hill Symbol should disappear and a white box will be left in its place.

Now move your mouse up to the "Redraw" button and left click it. The redraw button looks like it has two arrows circling around each other. It is in the upper right of your Campaign Cartographer User Interface. If you are unsure, hover your mouse over it. It should then say “Redraw”.

Your map should now be redrawn and your hill Symbol should be gone.

But I want to show you how to move your hill Symbol as well. So please left click on your “undo” button.

The “undo” button is the one that looks like an arrow going in a circle to the left. It is located on the left hand side of your Campaign Cartographer User Interface somewhere near the middle. If you are unsure of which one it is, hover your mouse over it. It should then say “undo”.

You might have to left click it a few times, especially if your prompt to autosave came up right after you clicked it the first time. Just be aware that every time you left click the undo button, you are bringing your map back to something it has done before, so be careful. If you click the undo button too many times, you risk going too far back and may destroy something you have already placed and wish to keep on your map. So I urge caution when undoing something. I always pay very close attention to my map when using undo.

Now, your hill Symbol should be back on your map.

I want you to left click on the “Move, Scale, Rotate” button. It is the button that looks like it has a square in the top left corner of the button that has dotted lines around it. In the top right of the button is an arrow pointing diagonally down to the right. Below the arrow is a solid lined square.
This button is located on the left hand side of your Campaign Cartographer User Interface, right below the “Erase” button. If you are unsure, hover your mouse over it. It should read “Move, Scale, Rotate”.

Now that you have left clicked it, again, a small square should appear on your cursor, so move your cursor over and select the hill Symbol again.
A purple box should appear around your hill Symbol. This tells you that it is selected, just like when we erased it.

Now right click again, just like when we erased. The same window will come up. Again, left click the words “Do It”.
This will bring up the lines that cross each other again.

Now left click the hill Symbol. A white box will appear around your Symbol, but this time the hill Symbol will not disappear.

Move your cursor somewhere towards the top of the hill bitmap fill. Notice that the hill Symbol moves with your cursor and a black line points in the direction that you are moving the Symbol. This line shows you where you are going with the Symbol.

Go ahead and place that Symbol down somewhere at the top of the hill bitmap fill."

If all you are looking to do is to re size them then you can use the same button I showed you to move them, only this time while the icon is on your cursor, hold down the CTRL button and move your mouse. You will see the icon either shrink or grow, depending on which way the mouse moves.

Hope this helped.

Lorelei · January 2017

Nice map. I really like the where you've placed your mountain ranges and the rivers are lovely!

Shutsumon · January 2017

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone for their comments. Especial thanks to Tonnichiwa for the exhaustive instuctions on amending symbols. That was helpful.

I've redone the mountains on the central island. Does that look better?

Thanks,
Becka

Wyvern · January 2017

Personally, I had no problem with the mountains as they were. Things that initially seem weird happen in reality too, after all; all you need do is find or invent a plausible explanation!

I especially like the "splash-effect" look of the main mountain ring overall, and the "shattered fragments" of the islands in the middle of that. Makes you wonder what calamity occurred to cause it in the first place

Loopysue · January 2017

Great first map

Shutsumon · January 2017

I've added some cities and towns and labels to the map. Yhe central island might need some more towns in the eastern area but otherwise I think it's coming on well. I'm not sure if the labels are legible at this resolution. I'll see about uploading a larger one elsewhere if not... or do I need to make the text larger?

Once again comments welcome.

Loopysue · January 2017

You could try turning the glow around the labels white. That might make them easier to see here

(IMHO the bright yellow is just a bit 'clashy' with the rest of the map)

If white is too bright for you, try editing the Glow Sheet Effect and adjust the strength and blur radius a bit, so that it doesn't shine out so far from the letters

Shutsumon · January 2017

Thanks for the suggestion. White does look better though I'm not sure it makes them more readable.

Monsen · January 2017

Have you considered making your text labels larger? Now, I don't know what size you plan to actually use your map in, but one important thing about text labels is that they are legible in the size you intend to display the map. You shouldn't need to zoom in to be able to read the names of important locations (and less important locations can often be saved for a more detailed regional or local map)

Shutsumon · January 2017

Thanks. That's good advice.

I've made them a tad larger and I think they are readable now without taking over the map.

Tonnichiwa · January 2017

Nice, I like the new changes.

Dogtag · January 2017

This is a very, very nice first map (sooo much better than my first attempts)!

Wyvern wrote:Personally, I had no problem with the mountains as they were. Things that initially seem weird happen in reality too, after all; all you need do is find or invent a plausible explanation!

I especially like the "splash-effect" look of the main mountain ring overall, and the "shattered fragments" of the islands in the middle of that. Makes you wonder what calamity occurred to cause it in the first place

I agree. Mountains are not all the same size and I personally didn't really give it a second thought. That said, your new version looks really nice too. You seem to have a real good feel for laying out the mountains and, especially tricky, the forests.

I, too, also really like the landmasses and the sense they create of some cataclysm or even just a long period of separating away from a once-single or closer landmass. The "ring" of mountains is a particularly nice layout and I especially like the rocks in the water between some of the islands, giving a sense of undersea mountains along the same chain.

The rivers and forests seem very logically and "realistically" placed, and that also follows with the locations of your major settlements. The whole thing flows nicely and works very well, to me, as both a map of the general geography and as an aesthetically pleasing image.

Out of curiosity, is this for a game? My primary benchmark for the quality of a map is if I want my RPG characters to go exploring and adventuring there and this definitely hits (and passes) that mark. It looks like a great place to go adventuring.

I'm afraid I don't have much constructive criticism to add at this point, that hasn't already been provided by the others. This is a great start and I look forward to seeing the finished map. I hope you'll do some more detailed, regional, maps later. I'm very curious to know more about this place!

Cheers,
~Dogtag

Wyvern · January 2017

Dogtag askedOut of curiosity, is this for a game?

Surely it must be; there've just got to be monsters around Gila, haven't there? ;D

Dogtag · January 2017

*rimshot*

Gathar · January 2017

I totally agree that this map is quite good, with very nicely flowing landscapes. I may suggest two things, but they are mostly a matter of taste, just suggestions that you might follow, or not

- The first one is that you shallow waters are very shiny. You might want to tune the effect to have something that is still a lighter blue, but maybe less saturated?
- The second one is that you have a big empty place at your upper left corner. You might make advantage of it to add a legend, some back-story, a detail of a part of the map, or anything else that might come to your mind!

cpcunningham · January 2017

Nice map! I like the resizing of the mtns, myself. Are the forests part of the standard CC3 library (I can't zoom in to see them clearer)?

Shutsumon · January 2017

Dogtag: Thank you for your kind words. This map is actually for a story I'm writing. I intend to do some city maps for places that feature in it but that will be once I save up the pennies for City Designer.

Anyway here's the latest iteration. I'm not happy with the white text but I tried black and grey and neither worked. At least the white pops but it's too strong. I'm open to suggestions for a better colour choice.

Tonnichiwa · January 2017

It looks good Shutsumon.

For the text, you could always add a blend mode to the text layer and set it to soft light to see if it tones down the white for you.

Shutsumon · January 2017

oops. sorry It was telling me that it didn't post

Wyvern · January 2017

You could try a very pale yellow, something around colour 140 perhaps, or a similar pale brown (45 or 46 maybe), or cream (29). Possibly a different font might be the answer, alternatively.

Shutsumon · January 2017

I think it's done. At least I don't think I forgot anything. Decided to keep the white as it as was as it grew on me. Also changed a couple of spellings: Mell was just bizarre with my conlang rules and Saralei while possible creates some really awkward constructions.

Loopysue · January 2017

I think you made the right decision with the white.

A very good first map!

Congratulations

Barliman · January 2017

Very nice work!

RoyalWolf · January 2017

excellent map

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First Map with CC3

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