Another newborn saying hi

[Ruinweaver]

Hello all

I'm a 35 going on 15 (I'm a high school teacher) bloke from Warrandyte near Melbourne, Australia. I grew up playing in abandoned gold mines in the nearby bush, and couldn't help been caught in the then new D&D craze.

I have designed umpteen pen-and-paper maps to go with my campaign worlds, but never one using any software. I just got FM v8, and now I'm trying to figure out the best place to start.

I've read the tutorial in FM, but it seems to cover only the basics. I want to make realistic looking world and then regional maps.

Does anyone know any more indepth tutes on FM v8?

Cheers

[NeonKnight]

welcome aboard RuinWeaver. I'm not sure if anyone here abouts uses FM (Fractal Mapper?)

[jfrazierjr]

Hello all

I'm a 35 going on 15 (I'm a high school teacher) bloke from Warrandyte near Melbourne, Australia. I grew up playing in abandoned gold mines in the nearby bush, and couldn't help been caught in the then new D&D craze.

I have designed umpteen pen-and-paper maps to go with my campaign worlds, but never one using any software. I just got FM v8, and now I'm trying to figure out the best place to start.

I've read the tutorial in FM, but it seems to cover only the basics. I want to make realistic looking world and then regional maps.

Does anyone know any more indepth tutes on FM v8?

Cheers

Welcome to the Guild Ruinweaver! Unfortunately, the FM community is rather small on samples, and even smaller on tutorials.

Define "realistic"? I have yet to see any FM or CC world maps which match my definition of realistic. Don't get me wrong, you can make some beautiful maps with either software package, but for me, the real strong point of both of these programs is their raster images for making town and battle map style maps , their ability to create some great fractals and the ability to fairly quickly throw up a world/region map that conveys the information needed such as where mountains/forests, etc are located.

Here is a good sample: http://www.nbos.com/products/mapper/...le-nazrain.jpg

Also, if you want to get a good idea of how someone actually made a map take look at Christopher Rodrigues Macias post of Eberron http://www.nbos.com/nox/download.php?id=76. You can download the map in FM native format and hide/show layers to see the techniques he used which are quite good for FM (he even used FM 7 which had some features missing that FM8 could have used to make this map quite a bit better)

Also, make SURE you get the hugh CSAUC from http://www.gmsapprentice.com as the included art will make a hugh difference in the number of fills and town/battlemap symbols you have available.

Joe

[jfrazierjr]

Here is an example map I made in a few hours using FM8 about a year and a half ago, only using the vector tools a few texture fills.

My plan at this point is to go back through and remake this in GIMP at a fairly high resolution in the near future to make a more realistic map. Since my DM does not use any mapping software at the table, a good high res print out can be much prettier and realistic than anything in FM 8. Now, if I was DM'ing, I would probably use FM8s native format to take advantage of the map linking at the expense of beauty.

The first map is the original my DM created in Campaign Mapper (stripped down version of CC from about 10 years ago) and my version second.

Joe

[ravells]

Welcome to the Guild, Ruinweaver! As Neon said, our FM8 user numbers are still very small but I think it's great to have users of all sorts of different software here. I think I'm the only Drawplus user here, so you're not alone!

[CartoGeo]

Howdy Ruinweaver! FM is a good little program I think if you are not wanting to really put an exhaustive amount of 'graphic detail' into your maps. I think, imo, that FM is good for a first sketchy pass and solidifying the basics of what is on your map. I think in terms of FM as good with the content you want to include.

I have Corel Painter, (soon to grab gimp), CC3 and its various mapping extensions, etc... BUT, granted I have all this, but it is really about the MAP and what you put down on it, NOT about the 'TOOLS' that you use to make it.

I was an architect intern for years and used CAD, Photoshop, etc.. for years, but no matter what you use, its not about the TOOLs its about the content.

Imagine of workflow as you start to become familiar with GIMP, FM v8, etc... then find a way to use them all, if you need to. Sometimes creating something is about the path you take to get to the finished work...

Just some thoughts...

[ravells]

Well howdy, CartoGeo! You can have your first post on your own thread you know!

Great to see you here and welcome to our little guild. It's great to have a proper architect here....most of us have no idea about architecture apart from what is self taught and it would be wonderful if you could share your knowledge on the subject.

I entirely agree that it's what you make rather than the software you make it with that counts.

cheers!

Ravs

[CartoGeo]

Great to see you here and welcome to our little guild. It's great to have a proper architect here....most of us have no idea about architecture apart from what is self taught and it would be wonderful if you could share your knowledge on the subject.

Ravs

I would be happy to answer any questions anyone has about the profession of architecture or making maps, building drawings, etc... I have extensive CAD training as well... I say this since a lot of people see CC3 as difficult to grasp right off the bat sometimes. CAD is CAD, and CC3 is CAD-based engine to it, so I would be happy to try to answer any questions in general about it.

[ravells]

Ummmm well if you could draw a building and talk us though it, that would be a wonderful start. I have Ching's book on Form, Space and Order which has taught me so much, but I'd love to see a professional in action!

[CartoGeo]

Ummmm well if you could draw a building and talk us though it, that would be a wonderful start. I have Ching's book on Form, Space and Order which has taught me so much, but I'd love to see a professional in action!

Ching's book is a standard for all architectural students, good choice! In fact any of Ching's books are just pure golden goodness I will take a few days and think what I might be able to type up and create a PDF of and also post here what would be interesting and useful to everyone here. It will be fantasy based not modern realism.