My first map - Continent of Maloria.
I was up till early in the morning playing with this, so this is my first real map of my own creation (barring a tutorial map.) Any advice would be great.
Is it too detailed? How do I make good beaches and such?
<img src="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5Ftpk0osTthaWpVQlpfcm9sS3c">
Is it too detailed? How do I make good beaches and such?
<img src="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5Ftpk0osTthaWpVQlpfcm9sS3c">
Comments
IF this is just a map of your own....well then....for a first map? Nice job! I would suggest working a bit on the mountain ranges....they seem to boxy and arranged to me, rather than natural. As far as making beaches and such look "good" there are all sorts of effects you can and should play with....edge fade, inner is a MUST to learn. Also, getting the Tome of Ultimate Mapping will be your best friend, as far as "how do I do this" stuff is concerned.
Keep working at it! You'll only improve with each new map you try!
We are always looking for new contributors!
Your first solo map is very nice (better than mine was!). It's hard to believe it's your first. I particularly like the general lay of the land. It looks rich and filled with adventuring opportunities. My biggest criterion for any map is whether it makes me want to go and explore and adventure there, and this map does that.
If I may make a few suggestions? Please note that these are just suggestions so feel free to follow them, ignore them, or cherry-pick from them as you see fit.
- Consider removing the cliff symbols from the northern half of the west side of the island, where the land starts curving back toward the east. It may help with the illusion that the cliffs curve around the land. To ensure readers know the cliffs continue, consider adding a label along the coast that identifies it as cliff face, such as "Land's End Cliffs" or something similar. If the label is placed along the whole length, including the part without the actual cliff symbols, it is a visual cue to the reader that the cliffs are still there.
- To that end, learn to use the Text along a curve command (see the online help file or the documentation mentioned below). It really helps to spice up your maps and, in many ways, it makes labels easier to add and more versatile.
- I notice that several of your rivers split as they move toward the coast. This is very uncommon [in the real world] outside of a river delta. Instead, most rivers are joined by others (tributaries) on their way to the mouth. Again, it does happen, it's just very uncommon unless there're other reasons, such as magic or whatnot.
- Are you using sheet effects? If not, I recommend them. It looks like you may be using sheet effects in some places but not others. I can't be sure because many of the Mike Schley Overland symbols include a gradient transparency that can make them look like effects are applied. In particular, I'm referring to the crisply defined edges to different terrain fills, such as the tundra to the north and the sandy/yellow terrain in the center, and to the text labels. Check the sheets the text and those terrains are on. Terrain sheets typically have an Edge Fade Inner effect that helps them to blend with the surrounding terrain. Text sheets typically have a glow that helps text remain legible against a variety of background colors and textures. If you have not already done so, I suggest you look through the CC3 Essentials guide. If you have already done so you may want to revisit it and/or the Campaign Cartographer 3+ User Manual to refresh the information about sheets. Both should be in the Documentation subfolder (C:\ProgramData\Profantasy\CC3Plus\Documentation by default). You can also open the User Manual from the Help menu. For information about learning what sheet an entity is on, check out Monsen's informative discussion about the List command.
- Consider the scale of your map. I don't know how big your continent is, but the Schley Overland style defaults to 1000 mi by 800 mi (or km). Symbols are scaled to match. If you change the scale of your map when you are first setting it up, the symbols are then scaled accordingly. Cities and town symbols are representative of the location and type of settlement but they are not scale representatives of the actual location. They are scaled large enough to be recognizable without zooming in on the map. Many of your settlements are very skillful combinations of multiple symbols but, at a continental scale, they could be hundreds of miles wide. That's not to say you shouldn't combine symbols to give the map flavor or to indicate a particular layout (e.g. a city spanning a river), or to discourage you from being creative. I would suggest, instead, that you save such uses for smaller, more regional maps. Even then, city symbols are not really meant to be used that way but it provides a nice compromise between creative use of combined symbols and size/area representation on the map. Think about global and continental maps of our own planet. If cities are indicated at all, they're typically just dots to indicate where they are and, possibly, the type of city they are (large, small, capitols, etc). Of course, this is all moot if the landmass is only a couple of hundred miles across and, again, these are just suggestions!. The cities and towns you created look fantastic.
- Consider enlarging the compass rose so it is easy to see and read without zooming. Also consider adding a scale bar.
As others have said here and I, myself, have said in many other discussion threads, I highly recommend the Tome of Ultimate Mapping. It's a treasure trove of information.Again, I think this is a great start, and you're already showing more comfort and proficiency than most folks who are just starting out. CC3 has a notoriously big Learning Curve™ but, as you're discovering, it's very powerful and can make beautiful maps.
Please continue to post your progress. I'm eager to see any adjustments you choose to make and to learn what's on those two southern landmasses!
Thanks for sharing and, again, welcome to the community!
Cheers,
~Dogtag
P.S. If you want to modify the title of this discussion so that it doesn't say "Community Atlas" (which, as you've discovered, is actually the name of a particular project), you can easily change it to avoid confusion. Just click the Edit link on the right side of your very first post in this discussion. When you do, you should see a small text field in the upper left, with the discussion title in it. Just edit the title there and then scroll down and click the Save Changes button at the bottom.
Thanks for that advice Dogtag. I really appreciate it. I have watched every tutorial I can find on youtube and have been playing with it. I actually plan on implementing every suggestion you made lol. My continent is quite large, and at present, I can't remember the exact dimensions but I know I did change it. I am running a session of DnD here shortly and after that I am going to sit and work on the map some more.
Thanks again for taking the time to offer advice!
Welcome to the Profantasy Forum, Dvsmp
The CC3 Essentials guide is not very long and it will familiarize you with the software quickly. It was written for CC3 but everything in there applies to CC3+. Some button images might be a little different but they are similar enough that it should not be an issue. The CC3+ User Manual is written for CC3+ and it explains things in more detail. Also, as I mentioned before, you can also open the CC3+ User Manual from the Help menu in CC3+.
Another good resource is the Interesting, Important, and Helpful Topics discussion. It's a "sticky" topic that always sits at the top of the forum discussion list.
Cheers and happy mapping!
~Dogtag