Island Map in two formats

[Torq]

Hi all

I am currently working on an island map. I have posted two versions for your comments and criticism. I'm actually preferring the black and white one because it hides the forests which I am really unhappy with. Any specific advice regarding how to make the forests look better would be much appreciated.

Tools: Gimp; Inkscape

Influences: RobA, Ravs, Pyrandon and RPMiller

Cheers
Torq

[ravells]

Wow, I'd prefer to the author of the map rather than an influence! I really like the texture you've used for the forests although I'm not sure if the distribution is believable - maybe it's just the way the forest is distributed that you find uncomfortable rather than the texture itself?

I ran into this problem with the Absalon map. By using trial and error I found a good way to get a believeable distribution was to use an 'HSB jiggle' filter which basically gave 'lumps' of varying sizes which I then used as a mask, if you add a mask of the coastline to this, you get the added benefit of having part of the forest exactly following your coastlines which is great for adding credibility. The real pain was finding a solution to overlaying forests onto mountains so it looked like the forest was following the curves of the landscape - I notice you've stopped the forest line at the mountains (wise decision!). I'll post up a copy of the mask I used tonight. Remind me if I forget!

In terms of which I like better - at full zoom, I like the colour one better, but zoomed out I prefer the black and white one as the textures seem to work a lot better when seen at a distance.

I think you've come up with a beautiful signature style there, Torq!

Ravs

[RobA]

Cool!

The terrain certainly carries across will to the B&W - probably due to the excellent heightfield you started out with

Was that just a straight edge detect? (if so, which, as I know GIMP has whole basket full)

-Rob A>

[pyrandon]

I like the color version more, mainly because the color scheme you've chosen is so wonderful. I agree with the forest issues, and I think rav's advice is good; I also think that at this scale you would not see individual trees--and the relief is so much on them that they appear at high as the mountains (which is wrong, if I'm gleaning the scale correctly); I would make the trees much flatter and more like "patches".

This is a great, great start!!

[RPMiller]

That is looking really good. The one thing that really stands out as a peeve for me are the rivers in the mountains. If you could switch that section to just a line and have it grow in width once it gets into the foothills, I think it would be not only more pleasing to the eye, but also offer more visual interpretation of height differences.

[The Cartographist]

I prefer the color.

I think ravs may be on to something re: the distribution of the forests. I like the texture that you used. But I think that making the forests "spotty" detracts from them. Before industrial logging took hold (with the exception of England which was cut flat 600-700 years ago, I believe), forests covered vast swaths of the entire world. If climate and soil conditions are the same across a given area, a forest would cover all of it or none of it (depending on some other factors), because over time a forest will grow to fill the entire area available to it.

Vast distances of unbroken forest is more realistic than having forest come and go.

[ravells]

This is the mask I used to get the forest distribution in Absalon. You can tweak it so that forests follow rivers, remain in valleys etc. It tiles, so just tile it as a fill mask to the desired dimensions and then convert it into a bitmap et Robert est ton oncle. I was using a vector drawing proggie which made the fill mask really easy...but I'm sure you could do it in Raster too. Or you could just draw the mask in by hand - but I'm just lazy!

I think Cartographist and Don have a point about the scale of the map being reflective of the distribution.

Ravs

[RobA]

Even now -the area around Vancouver, BC. Looks pretty foresty to me from this elevation!

-Rob A>

[RPMiller]

B.C.'s known for trees, you see, eh?

[Midgardsormr]

That just looks strange to my eye. But then I'm from the Great Plains, which has more trees now than it ever did before industrialization. Oddly, though, they all grow in straight lines...

I prefer the color version as well. The amount of noise in the b/w one is distracting. As Ravs said, though, that one does look better zoomed out.

The rivers look a bit artificial. There is plenty of jiggle in the coastlines and lake borders, not to mention the roughness in the terrain itself. The rivers are very smooth, though. I don't have the technical knowledge to suggest a solution to that, unfortunately.