A bit of help, if you please?

[industrygothica]

I'm not exactly certain where this post should go, so feel free to move it should it fit better somewhere else.

I have a dilemma (other than that it took me a few times to spell "dilemma" correctly): I want to map. Not I want amap, but I want to map.

That being said, here's the sticky part... With a pencil, I'm a fair artist. I'm not great, but I'm not completely horrible either. I also know my way around the basics of Photoshop, and have been accused of putting together some pretty decent images. Try as I may, a satisfactory world map has never been one of those images.

I also have Illustrator 10, and even The Gimp and Inkscape, having learned about them from lurking here, but not a clue how to use any of them. I will learn them if that's what it takes, but I prefer Photoshop.

Isn't there anyone that would have pity on my poor, frustrated soul and take the time to point me in the right direction and give me a good kickstart for a nice, basic isometric map?

Thanks in advance,


-IG

[deanatglobe]

Have you checked out Butch Curry's tutorials at Zombie Nirvana. Very nice for creating parchment looking maps, also very helpful on using layer masks and adjustment masks in mapping.

http://www.zombienirvana.com/?cat=14

Hope that helps

[industrygothica]

Have you checked out Butch Curry's tutorials at Zombie Nirvana. Very nice for creating parchment looking maps, also very helpful on using layer masks and adjustment masks in mapping.

http://www.zombienirvana.com/?cat=14

Hope that helps

Indeed I have. Turns out I really suck at drawing mountains.

[Sigurd]

Well there is a tutorial section here that I can heartily recommend. Problem is without being you its hard to know where to start .

Why don't you start with the tutorials and bring back you questions and observations - those, people can help you with. Teaching a man to swim on dry land is almost impossible - you have to get your feet wet.


sigurd

[industrygothica]

Well there is a tutorial section here that I can heartily recommend. Problem is without being you its hard to know where to start .

Why don't you start with the tutorials and bring back you questions and observations - those, people can help you with. Teaching a man to swim on dry land is almost impossible - you have to get your feet wet.


sigurd

Yes, yes.. it is most assuredly hard being me. But someone has to do it.

On that note, I've got something I want to try, and I'll definitely be back with questions afterwards.

I do appreciate your willingness though.

I do have a questions that perhaps someone can help me with. It's got nothing to do with isometric maps, which is what I said I wanted help on, but still..

I see people using all these black and white heightmaps, I believe they're called. How does one incorporate that into the beginning stages of a map in Photoshop? I feel like an idiot for not knowing, but that still doesn't change the fact that I don't.

[ravells]

Well, if you like we can do a map together. Why don't you pick an area in the CWBP and I can (try) to talk you through making a map with photoshop. I can do a step and explain how I got there, you can follow using the similar techniques and we can see how we go?

(not that I'm an expert or anything, but it's just a thought to get you up and running).