Extremely stupid question...

[Doubling]

For building a campaign, (world map, town maps, dungeon maps, etc.) can I make all of them in one program or would I have to use multiple different programs based on what I want to do? Also, what program would be best (I'm new here, sorry!)

[eViLe_eAgLe]

It really depends on how you want to work, I think for the most part people stick to one program, ala Gimp or Photoshop, but it's not unheard of for people (myself included) to use things like Wilbur, GeoControl, World Machine, and sometimes 3D programs (Okay maybe that part is just me.).
You should be able to stick with just Gimp or Photoshop, or even CC3 for mapping a campaign.

[Doubling]

Thank you. Again because I'm new to this, is there anywhere I can get any of those for free? I know GIMP is free, but what about PS or CC3?

[Chick]

Photoshop is the most powerful and versatile, but it's not free. It is however, much more affordable than it used to be, with the $10/month options for PS CC. Just do a search for Photoshop Creative Cloud and I'm sure you'll find the offers.

[soggymuse]

You can sometimes get older versions of Photoshop for free, and I'm reasonably sure it's legal but not enough to stake any money on it.

I used Paint Tool SAI to draw the original map of my world of Anuur, and then Photoshop for the texture version. I've also used SAI for other hand-drawn maps like the Tahnih Burrows and town sketches. You could use Photoshop instead (or GIMP for that matter) but I prefer the way SAI renders lines and brushes.

I've used Photoshop to make constellation maps of the night sky, a solar system, and city maps, too. It's got kind of a steep learning curve, especially compared to my old mapping/graphics software (Corel Paint Shop Pro 8 through X), but it's very robust and allows you to make a lot of different styles of map using layer effects.

(I've also used SketchUp to make several versions of the same keep (in an attempt to get a handle on scale and size) and a vertical city I couldn't figure out how to draw otherwise. This is completely unnecessary normally, though, and it's quite difficult to learn. (There are several versions of said city on my hard drive just because I kept figuring out how to do things better.) I wouldn't recommend it for beginner mappers, for sure.)

To summarise, to me Photoshop would be the complete package if you can get it, but GIMP is supposedly just as capable. (I wouldn't know, though, I've never gotten far when trying to use it because I don't like the non-window approach to the workspace.)

Another non-mapping programme that crops up often is Illustrator, or the free version, Inkscape. These use vectors (where Photoshop and GIMP are raster-based) so you'd be able to resize fairly indiscriminately, but I haven't really tried them so I can't speak to how easy they are to use for maps. (This is another reason I love SAI, though. You can do lineart as vectors or paint on raster layers, and the vector line tool is much more intuitive and easier to use than the one in Photoshop. Much easier to edit and resize, too!)

It ultimately depends on what kind of mapper you are, though. If you like to hand-draw maps, or you can figure out layers and textures and masks and brushes, then you won't need actual mapping software because you can do it in the graphics programmes already mentioned in this thread. On the other hand, if you need something that's designed to make mapping easier, then you'll probably want something like Campaign Cartographer (though I had CC2 years back and "easy" is relative. It, too, has a steep learning curve if you're not familiar with CAD software) and I'm afraid that, yes, you'll probably need several add-ons to do the different types of map like the City Designer and the Dungeon Designer et al. (I did just read the title of a thread that suggested you might be able to do city maps in CC3 rather than buy the add-on for it, but I didn't read the thread itself so maybe not.)

If it were me, I'd try GIMP out first because it is free. I couldn't get on with it, personally, but many mappers do and there are tons of tutorials here on how to use it for mapping. (Tons of resources for it, as well. Most Photoshop brushes now come in .png format so you can use them in GIMP, too, and any texture or pattern saved as an image will also be available to you. I'm not sure if GIMP imports Photoshop files like .pat or .abr, though.)

[ChickPea]

To follow up on soggymuse's excellent comment, Gimp will (most of the time) handle Photoshop brushes without any issues. I've imported .abr files often without problems. Once in a while I get one that doesn't work, though I'm never quite certain whether the problem is with gimp or with whoever created the file originally. But it works 99% of the time.

Also, the multiple windows thing can be altered too. As of Gimp 2.8 (the current release), you can set it for Single Window mode, which I vastly prefer.

I'd also recommend giving Gimp a try simply because it is free and there's no outlay if it doesn't suit you. Many of the basic techniques are the same between PS and Gimp (I'm not sure how much experience you have with image editors?) but if you're starting from scratch, anything you learn about layers, selections, paint tools etc. won't be that different between the two programs. Once you start to go more advanced however, things start to change.

[Midgardsormr]

I believe I can speak semi-definitively on the topic of "free Photoshop." Adobe did make installers for Creative Suite 2 available that do not require activation. Although the installer is available to anyone with a free Adobe ID, only people who have a valid license for the CS2 product are legally permitted to install it.

So you can indeed get Photoshop 2 without paying for it, and Adobe really doesn't have any way of preventing its use, and you are virtually guaranteed that it won't come conveniently packaged with a virus. Is it legal? No, it is not. Is it ethical? Maybe; I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

[johnvanvliet]

Adobe released the source code for Photoshop 1.0.1
the pascal code is free to grab and compile

mind you it fits in a 1.44 meg 3.5 in floppy "Mac" disk
and it is 25 years old

and you will need a Motorola 68000 cpu or a VM that can sim it

Gimp is FREE
Krita is free
inkscape is free
there are a ton of GPL image editors