Reply With QuoteMy first suggestion would be to work hard on the physical layer and then apply any political changes on separate layers. Isolate what doesn't change so you don't have to do it over again.
Interactive History/Campaign Mapping
The world building project I'm currently working on has quite an expansive history of well over 2,000 years. During this time many changes occured, including, but not limited to, the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires; expansions and colonizations; border clashes; rebellions; the founding of independent city-states; civil wars; the building and destruction of cities, walls, monuments, and fortresses; and some minor explorations.
I have the physical world mapped out, minor details still pending revision and addition, but the foundation is there. I've made dozens of maps of the territorial claims in different time periods but these are usually seperated by several centuries and only show the most significant shifts. So leafing through them doesn't quite do justice to the ebb and flow of the historic timeline insofar as continuity.
What I'm looking to create is a progressive map, showing historic changes in real-time (sped up, of course). Unfortunately I'm not quite sure how to go about doing this. What specific software would be involved is the best place for me to start. I know using Flash is probably going to be necessary but I'm confident I can wiggle with that as I already know some of the basics of the software. Other additional tools or resources, though, I'm drawing a blank.
Does anyone have any suggestions or help they could offer me in this? Has anybody had experience with this type of idea or tackled this type of 'video-mapping' scenario before? I am greatful for any and all feedback on this one.
A fair example of what I'm talking about can be found here: Maps of War
Last edited by bhanain03; 04-11-2010 at 02:37 PM.
My first suggestion would be to work hard on the physical layer and then apply any political changes on separate layers. Isolate what doesn't change so you don't have to do it over again.
Dollhouse Syndrome = The temptation to turn a map into a picture, obscuring the goal of the image with the appeal of cute, or simply available, parts. Maps have clarity through simplification.
--- Sigurd
Sory if this is a bit of necroposting.
Flash is the ticket. You can make a map like the one in the link using simple timeline animations without getting into actionscript (The flash coding language). I don't think you would need any other software beyond a vector editor (The drawing software in flash drives me absolutely nuts!).
I've been toying with the idea of doing somethings similar myself, but with using animated icons (shields and banners, etc) rather than solid blocks of color. That's a few projects away, however.
"The medium is the message." -- Marshall McLuhan
Ive done something like this using adobe imageready (as I do not own an flash programs) and saving as a gif
I wish you the best of luck with it
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