Distort has been possible for at least 5 years. All I did was work out how to affect the whole map by adding the effect to just the one sheet, called OPTIONAL DISTORT. The distort is optional because it doesn't make reading the map all that easy. It's more of an artistic effect.

A rectangle of transparent white that covers the map on the OPTIONAL DISTORT sheet is multiplied (Blend mode sheet effect) to the result of the render so far. The Distort effect is then applied. The white of the rectangle itself is no longer visible thanks to the multiply effect (which removes all the white on it's own sheet) but those other colours it has been blended to are treated as part of the white rectangle and distorted by the following Distort effect.

Blend and Distort. Just two effects in that order.

The only thing you need to be careful about is making sure that all your backgrounds and anything that vanishes off the edge of the map extend as far beyond the edge of the map as the distort is set to act, or you get the edges of things pulled back into the map by the distort.

Thanks Wyvern - that's good to know.

Most of the detailed stuff you mention is controlled by sheet effects, so it can all be adjusted quite easily.

The colour of the water is causing quite a lot of comments both here and on the FB page. It appears that what one person finds wonderful and perfect is a psychedelic and completely artificial horror to others. So to solve that issue I will include a range of colour palettes with the annual so that you can pick a theme and modify it if it isn't quite to taste. PALLOAD will access them, but to 'fix' them to each map individually mappers will have to 'Attach to drawing' in the Drawing Presets dialog.

There is even a brand new optional distort sheet that distorts the underwater scene as if it really was underwater, but this will be more useful for people more interested in the illustrative side of things rather than the mapping side, since it plays hell with the clarity of the map :P

@Wyvern - take away the coral, leave the starfish and urchin, and add barnacles, mussels and limpets instead... do you think these colours would be a nice compromise for both tropical and temperate seas?

I've also split the rocks so that the underwater ones are darker, and the shore ones have wet sides.

When the world gives you loads of noise at 4am, use it to do something useful and sleep later in the day.

How am I doing for colours, rocks, and overall appearance?

Well... maybe, on the font size.

It's bit hard to tell when the map is so small in all that white.

If you want to get rid of it and get the maximum map for the minimum MB, try using the "JPEG Bitmap file" save as type, and making your settings a bit like this:

The area of the map is then automatically rendered within the map border, and trimmed on the short side so that the long side is 3000 px.