Ah...

[Yevin]

After much confusion in the past ten minutes.... I have finally found the forums.

Hello, I'm new here - extremely. I've only been on this site once or twice before for the tutorials I find on google searches. And hopefully I'll get a feel around this place soon.

....and I just went on my email and saw a very convenient link to the forums. Something must be wrong with me today...

I've only very recently started an interest in digital map making, today literally. I do have questions and the one that keeps knocking around in my head is: What programs do you people use?

I did my research, and so far World Machine, Vue and Terragen are popular. There are a few others like that profantasy site - but I don't like the chincy graphics in the demo photos. So, my dear peers and pros in this game, can you give a lead in which programs (listed here or not) you would recommend to someone who wants to do a realistic world map?

[lostatsea]

Go to the software discussion forum on this site for alot of advice on the ups and downs of various software that can be used for mapping ! Welcome aboard !!

[Yevin]

All right. Thanks!

[Hai-Etlik]

I did my research, and so far World Machine, Vue and Terragen are popular. There are a few others like that profantasy site - but I don't like the chincy graphics in the demo photos. So, my dear peers and pros in this game, can you give a lead in which programs (listed here or not) you would recommend to someone who wants to do a realistic world map?

Making a realistic map of a world is much more about having an understanding of geography than any particular software. Physical geography is particularly important, it's a mix of Geology, Climatology, Biology, etc. You'll also want an understanding of geodesy and map projections.

You might want to use a Geographic Information System like QuantumGIS. This is the software used for dealing with geographic information and maps of the real world. I've been writing a thread providing a basic introduction to QuantumGIS here: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...-for-using-GIS

[Yevin]

Awesome! Thanks, I'll look into this.