Best Software for Structure/Building Maps?

[IllustratedPageBookDesign]

Hello everyone!

I mostly do world and city maps. I don't as often do interiors. The couple of occasions I've done floor plans involved lots of Photoshop drawing, and I found getting the scale and consistency across floors to be a real pill.

I'll probably continue making city maps in Photoshop, but I'd also like to do maps of some of the buildings in my cities. My main hesitancy is just my hatred of finicky Photoshop architecture. So I thought maybe I should explore some alternative programs.

I've heard of Dungeon Draft and it looks like it'd be a good fit, but are there any other competitors I should research?

I'd appreciate any help!

[Falconius]

Depends what you are aiming for because you could also draw them out using vectors etc, That said I've heard good things about Dungeon Draft, and it has some good features like the ease it integrates with virtual tabletops like Foundry (or so I've heard) and possibly Roll 20. I've seen videos of it being used an it looked quick and 'easy' especially based around grid units.

[IllustratedPageBookDesign]

From what I've seen about Dungeon Draft, the integration looks useful. It apparently also lets you use a drawing as a overlay/guide while you build, which would be great. That'd be super useful for doing structure maps of different buildings in my cities.

[Tiana]

Yeah, DungeonDraft is a top choice, and it's cheap and a one time purchase. Inkarnate has some decent features but you'll have to subscribe to get the full featureset. Other World Mapper is okay for it, that would be my choice if I wanted a program that does regions and cities too, since you have to get Wonderdraft if you want to do regions and they don't have a Citydraft, heh. But you use Photoshop for those kinds of maps. So, DungeonDraft would be my suggestion.

But you CAN use Photoshop for the purpose. You could just use Photoshop's grid, set it up to the appropriate grid size and use snap to grid. You can set up things like layer styles that would serve as outlines for walls and whatnot.

[IllustratedPageBookDesign]

I hadn't heard of Other World Mapper. From checking it out, I think I like the style of Dungeon Draft better. I've messed around with Inkarnate some but have always preferred what I can do in Photoshop.

I've done a couple structure maps in Photoshop. It was a lot of creating shapes and working with lines/rectangles instead of just drawing with my Wacom, which is what I was used to. I think on the whole, I'd prefer Dungeon Draft. I've also thought about using Dungeon Draft for the base layout then exporting to Photoshop and painting/drawing on top, using it as a reference.

[Tiana]

I've also thought about using Dungeon Draft for the base layout then exporting to Photoshop and painting/drawing on top, using it as a reference.

That's what I do with OWM except I pipeline it to Clip Studio Paint, lol. I think this makes the best looking results and given your feelings about Inkarnate, it'll make you happiest. I will note, in Dungeon Draft you're still going to be making shapes like squares. While it has a painting style interface to set up the base texture, the shape of the interior is still going to be constructed in a vector-esque way, where you click to add lines and drag to make a room. That's just how interiors be. Then you'll be populating it by clicking stamps down, possibly stamps that you made by drawing but it will be stamp-style construction in any program to populate an interior.

There's one trick you can use that maybe you haven't thought of yet for working in a Photoshop-esque program to 'paint' or 'draw' instead of building shapes... you can draw with the clone stamp tool and not just stamp with it. So if you have a texture set up You can also make a styled vector square and resize it to fit different rooms and keep a master file full of various styles you've created. Finally, you can set up brushes to stamp decor.

[IllustratedPageBookDesign]

I've paid the $20 and have been experimenting with DuneonDraft. I don't mind the squares so much in there, and I do like that the scale is in-built. It's certainly easier than working in Photoshop. And I think you're right. I just find the pre-built stuff like Inkarnate so limiting, even if it's useful as a guide. Many of the authors I work with send me Inkarnate maps as reference for what I'm creating for them.

Painting with the clone toll is a neat trick! I need to give that a go.

[waldronate]

It's certainly easier than working in Photoshop.

That's the point of custom-built tools as opposed to general tools, is it not?

[waldronate]

It's certainly easier than working in Photoshop.

That's the point of custom-built tools as opposed to general tools, is it not?

[IllustratedPageBookDesign]

In the last month, I've been experimented some more with DungeonDraft vs Photoshop. I used DungeonDraft to set up a base/scale reference and then went to Photoshop for the actual creation, which is my first go at a battlemap type thing. My previous structure maps have all been more like architectural floorplans.

Top is DungeonDraft, bottom is Photoshop. The Photoshop one is still obviously far from finished.

The Broken Barrel Tavern WIP2.png

Right now I'm realizing that to achieve what I'd want with this sort of map, I'd have to put A LOT of time into it. I'd prefer to use my own stuff for tables, trees, decor, etc... which means I'd have to make all of that from scratch. So large time input. Which would be fine, except I think that I think I enjoy city and world maps more!

I might try a different approach and use 3D programs (Blender and/or DAZ) to try and make some interior maps. If I do that, I might also play with isometric viewpoints, since that's what I've sometimes drawn other maps in.