Help save my map!

[eleran]

OK, I started the map of the campaign area for my upcoming 4e campaign. And I have already fouled it up beyond belief. It isn't very far along and I hate it.

I will post it in pdf format as I cant get the png version to upload to the forum for some reason.

The things I don't like;

1 The river looks horrible. (It looks to me that the places where I clicked as I was drawing the river don't show up, although they are there when you zoom in)

2. The test has turned blue (I think is a glow problem, but I have glowed turned off for the text sheet.

3. I put a text name in the forest but it doesn't show up at all.

4. The lake off to the left doesn't look very good at all.

There is a lot more to be added to the map, but I got to this point and was so disappointed I thought I would break down and ask for help.

[NeonKnight]

I'll see what I can do. If you don't mind, email me your map, as I think for some things I can quickly fix their issue.

[eleran]

Attached is what it looks like after Neonknight brushed up what I had done and gave me a couple of pointers. So, now I am going to do the next step which is to add more terrain features and play around with fonts til I find some I like, because I definitely dislike the ones I have on there now.

[eleran]

Had a lot of energy after my poker game tonight so I did some work. I definitely feel like I am gaining some skill, now I need to work more on my artistic eye. The map looks rather amateurish, but hey, its my first.

[Airith]

what did u make it with? Seems to be quite a good first try, although i hope you find a good font soon

Also, the changes in color for the coastal lake on the left side don't really match the islands/coast. Maybe make it all the lighter one? One last thing, below the spider----? forest is that a mini forest? Can't tell with my monitor xD

[NeonKnight]

Looking Good! Like some people say, the learning curve may be steep, but I think if you follow the Tuts, and just play around a bit the skills come to real quick.

Airith:

The area beneath the Spider Haunt woods appears to be swamp (from the symbols I know).

As to the program, it is Profantasy's Campaign Cartographer:

www.profantasy.com

[eleran]

OK, i started over. It is starting to look better, although it still looks pretty n00bish.

I would appreciate any criticisms you folks have

On the eastern side of the woods bordering the mountains a river ends. I had drawn a lake there, but when I went back to a full size map the lake disappeared and I cannot seem to find it. I have drawn it 2 or 3 times and it keep disappearing. I think it is on the wrong layer, but i cant seem to isolate it to find it so i can change the properties.

[eleran]

newest version is up.

I changed the background fill. Not convinced I like it yet.

I also changed the trees for the spiderhaunt woods to reflect how the trees look with webs filling them to the point where they are largely unrecognizable as trees.

More to be done this weekend. Finish filling in all the forested areas, also going to add some more easter eggs for my players to find.

[Badger]

Here are two tiles I came up with a day or so ago, just playing around with fills and what not, trying to feel my way around Paintshop. Thought I'd at least offer them

Its looking good, btw. Can't wait to see the next update

**After looking for a second and third time.. these might be a little too much in the way of land fills.. too much noise that is...

[Midgardsormr]

They may not be the best for a general land fill, but they might work out well as forest fills.

There's an unresolved question in the thread regarding separating objects that are in a stack while selecting. I was wondering about the same thing. I have figured out how to exclude an item of a particular color (NOT), but surely there must be a way to exclude everything that doesn't meet a test. Can I select only the black objects in a stack, for instance?