The Three Rivers Region Map Atlas

[dedgren]

I am working on creating a set of map atlases for my Sim City 4 (SC4) region Three Rivers Region in my project thread on the SC4 fansite SC4Devotion.

3RR is a 256 quad (large city tile) SC4 region that I have described in the completed maps forum section here [linkie]. The overall region is mapped, and I have placed two of them in that thread.

Last fall I completed the 64 maps (one per township; a township comprised of four quads) that make up the 3RR Road Atlas. They are the first two attachments below. I have compiled these maps here [linkie].

I am currently working on a "topo" map for each quad- ultimately I will produce 256 maps that look like the third attachment. They take approximately two hours apiece to do, and I have completed 15 so far.

I'd be delighted to have your thoughts and input on these.


David

[ravells]

They look really beautiful. I really like your understated colour choices. Did you do these in illustrator?

[Steel General]

I don't know much about producing atlases, etc. But these look like they could have come right out of something you'd buy at Barnes & Noble.

Great job.

[dedgren]

Hi ravells and Steel General- thanks for commenting on my initial post here.

ravells, I appreciate the kind words. The landform colors on the "topo" map actually come straight out of the SC4 game. There's a Data View window that creates a 256x256 "maplet" (for lack of a better term). That's the first thumbnail below. I then process that by adding contour lines, names, water bodies, rivers and streams, and the like. The second thumb shows the end of the process before I place the "collar" around it. The two 3RR Atlas maps, I have to admit, were just whatever colors felt right. I was an avid road map collector as a kid, and I pretty much just went with the colors that called to mind those old maps ('50s and '60s oil company US state and city maps). The third thumb is another one I think you might find interesting.

I started out using Paint Shop Pro at version 8 when it was still owned by JASC Software. About eight months ago I upgraded to PSP X2, which is now marketed by Corel. I wouldn't have bothered except I purchased a new laptop and had lost the PSP8 install disk. I really don't see a huge difference in the features, and most of my mapping was well underway before I upgraded.

Steel General- you are too kind. I've actually got a master plan for a whole new set of atlas maps, which I intend to document in this thread over the next few months.

If anyone is interested, I can post a tutorial I did over at 3RR [linkie] on creating the contour lines. The fourth thumb shows them to pretty good effect.

Thanks again, folks, for taking a look.


David

[ravells]

I had no idea that Sim City had become so complex. As a Call of Cthulhu fan, I would love to see this model used for the modern Code Green version of CoC....It looks perfect!

I used to be a PSP user too (in fact I still find it more intuitive than photoshop), but I defected.