Mini-dungeon: Small Cave System

[mearrin69]

The last two use multiple layers in the shape of the entire water area. I usually use a PS filter called Render Clouds using a light and a dark shade. Sometimes I'll run a filter called Difference Clouds over that. I'm not sure *exactly* what that one does technically but visually it makes the differences in coloration more dramatic. I simply mess with the transparency of these layers until I come up with something that approximates what I want. Generally I make the deeper layer colors muddier and the upper layer colors bluer and lighter - outdoor water looks best to me when it's reflecting the sky. Over all of that I will usually use a layer with Render Clouds and then use the Ocean Ripple filter and put that on top (sometimes Overlay, sometimes with Soft Light or something else that looks good).

I may have used a mask with partially transparent edges to make bits of the darkest water layer go away so you can see a little bit of the bed/ground beneath. On the ground itself I painted that fully, just like the land, with dirt, sand, rocks, etc. In the one with docks I think there might even be some sunken boats and crab traps and things...but you really can't make them out.

The whitecaps are simply done by selecting the water shape, creating a new layer, reducing the size of the selection (in PS it's Selection->Modify->Contract I think) by a few pixels and then stroking with white and repeating until it looks good - I varied the size of the reduction and the stroke size each time. Once done I used the smudge tool and eraser with a grunge brush to muck it up until it looked good.

On the map with "Tarina" on it I also used a couple of Hue-Brightness adjustment layers with masks to get that bright sea color...because it didn't really come out right from my color selections.

Just remembered I did one of water in a cavern here (room D):
http://www.cartographersguild.com/al...chmentid=31905

There's also some crazy, shiny polluted Gamma World water here, but I doubt it's of much use to you!:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/al...chmentid=31907

Hope any of this helps.
M

Edit: On slippery, gradual, here's a bigger zoom in of the ruined bridge map:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/al...chmentid=34353
It actually is a fairly gradual entry to the water (you can see better on the full-sized map but...) and you can see some of the bottom near the edges, less towards the middle of the stream. Same techniques, maybe with more masking of layers since I wanted to show more of the bed. I actually botched up the shore line some in this one...trying to make it seem as if the water was lapping around the rocks there. Didn't really come off very well.

[surfarcher]

That's very, very similar to the way I do oceans and large lakes on continent scale in GIMP.

I think I'll tinker with that and your ideas and see what I come up with. I could hand edit but other than as a final touch-up I'd prefer not to.

I had thought about trying this for the river but.... (insert mechanical "out of time" excuse here)

Cheers!

[Kolyana]

I loooooooveeee these maps - particularly Tarnia; the water is outstanding! Thanks for posting your technique and tool list ... the results are very clean and the colors/hues perfect.

[torstan]

Surfarcher - that's a great encounter map. Are you using it in a virtual tabletop program, or just as a personal reference? Some highlights on the water would certainly work well, i'd also recommend sharpening the banks a little. That would give the water areas a more clearly defined edge.

[surfarcher]

@torstan

Thanks mate! In fact it was used for both. Our game is primarily face-to-face... For maps like that maptool is just great for exploration and I pull out sections to print full colour battlemaps for the table. As fate would have it one of our players is overseas for a few months so he'll be playing via maptool for several sessions.

Since I'm now working on a village near a keep snuggled in a bend in a river I'll be doing a fair bit of river work now. Damn, how did I get bogged down in this? I need to do more battlemaps! LOL!