Nivian Valley

[Lord Herman]

First of all, hi! I'm Lord Herman, and I'm new here.

I've been working on this map of the area where my 4E D&D campaign takes place. It is centered around Silverhelm, the northernmost outpost of old Nerath, built to protect the empire against the hobgoblins to the north.

Nivian Valley.jpg

I made the map with Campaign Cartograper 3, with some finishing touches (mostly the canvas effect) done in Photoshop. I mostly just used the symbols and textures included in CC3, but the forest and sea textures are from these boards, and I drew the compass rose and the scale thingie in Illustrator.

Any advice and critique is appreciated. I'm not sure if I got the mountains right; I don't get to see too many of them in real life, seeing as I live in the Netherlands.

[Steel General]

Welcome Aboard!

For showing us a map in your intro post have a bit of what we around here call 'rep' *bonk*

I'm not a CC user, but there are plenty here as well as some really great tutorials.

Your map is pretty nice - I think it could use some blurring where the different terrain types come together so that the transition isn't so 'sudden', but not sure if that can be done in CC or not.

We have several other members here who are also from the Netherlands.

[Flaterectomy]

Welcome! A fellow Dutch new-comer like myself, maybe we're a virus that is spreading.

Having no experience with CC at all, I can't really give advice on the practical aspect, but like Steel General has said, the terrain transitions are pretty sudden. You could use photoshop to blend it somewhat, though I don't think that's a small task, and it limits adaptability if you plan to change things around still.

The smaller fonts over the forests are a little difficult to read, and it might be cool if the origins of the rivers forks together from out the mountains. Aside from that, it's a pretty cool map!

[NeonKnight]

Ok, (rolls up his sleevs and gets out Ye Old Book of CC3 effects).

The map is indeed good, but to my eyes, everything is as said before to 'sudden'. Now if that is the 'stylized' way you are going for then all is good. BUT, you could apply some of the following:

First. If you to change all those straight edged mountains to nice curves use the STRAIGHT TO SMOOTH tool (see example 1 below). Now you will end up with some odd looking mountains (see example 2) but that can be fixed. Myself I tend to draw thing like the Mountains and forest and other things that will go off maps by drawing my paths (straight or smooth) from an edge of the map around and then ending at another edge, then joining those with straight paths (lines) to form the edge of the map and then using the multipoly tool to join them together into a single polygon. It may be too much for you to apply the smooth effect right now, so if you feel like experimenting let me know and I can help further.

The best method would be to apply the EDGE FADE INNER to the mountains. Unfortunately, this ALSO will require some work for you. You will need to make a separate sheet for each contour level for the mountains. and apply the edge fade to each. (See example 3)

Failing that, you could simply play with the BLUR effect to the whole mountain sheet. This closely emulate the Edge Fade, but unfortunately applies the blur to the whole sheet and so can distort the bitmap.

Again, some things to think on and play with. But the map does indeed look really well done!

[Lord Herman]

Thanks for the welcome, the rep, and the advice!

I've made a few changes to my map. I smoothed the mountains, gave them an inner fade effect, and coloured the lower slopes brown. I also fiddled with the edges of the forests, giving them a greenish fade.

The photoshop effects are a bit different this time, since I had to redo them completely. I haven't been able to figure out how to make photoshop do the same exact things to the picture every time; any tips on that would be most helpful.

So here's the second version of Nivian Valley:
Nivian Valley v2.jpg

Edit: D'oh! I just printed this version of the map, and realised I messed up with the creases. They're all straight, while I should have mirrored the horizontal creases over the vertical one to make it fold correctly.

[Bohunk]

Nice map Herm! I liked your first version as well. Might wanna fade the color a bit if ya want that worn look.

[Lord Herman]

Here's a new version. I drew some more rivers, which should give a clearer contrast between the relatively fertile Nivian Valley and the barren lands surrounding it.

I found a way to save the filters and stuff I used in photoshop, so this is probably the last time I'll have to draw those creases and tears in the map. Huzzah!

I'm not sure about the photoshop effects I used this time, though. I used some faint lighting effects to give the canvas some depth, but I had to make sure everything remained legible. Tell me what you think.

Nivian-Valley-v3.jpg

[CartoGeo]

Here's a new version. I drew some more rivers, which should give a clearer contrast between the relatively fertile Nivian Valley and the barren lands surrounding it.

I found a way to save the filters and stuff I used in photoshop, so this is probably the last time I'll have to draw those creases and tears in the map. Huzzah!

I'm not sure about the photoshop effects I used this time, though. I used some faint lighting effects to give the canvas some depth, but I had to make sure everything remained legible. Tell me what you think.

Nivian-Valley-v3.jpg

I like specific things going on in your map, like for example the obvious river valley with raised land or slightly higher next to land that is a deeper greenish color that illustrates lower river valley land. IN my mind the forests could have been 'smooth' polygons in CC3 (i use it also) with more variation on the edges (undulation in areas), even. I really like the color choice as it seems very appropriate for this map. The sea/water body could have a lighter area near the shore and that would be easy to do in CC3. As for the mountains I think in my mind they might be more fractal polygons perhaps (emphasizing details at the edge) or smoothed polygons with undulations in the edges. Don't get me wrong, I like your map, but I just think you should explore the less straight edge approach.

[Steel General]

Very nice, the only thing that "bugs" me is that the lakes in the valley are 'to smooth'. Now if that's intended then just ignore my blatherings. But I think I would 'rough-up' the edges a bit.

[Ascension]

Whoa, unique, colorful and artsy. I'd call this done and conduct further experiments on something new. Only thing buggin me is the beveling of the mountains...edges are kinda straight.