Creating boarders.

[Christopher Mahood]

Hi all, I have been playing around with a few photoshop maps for a while now but one of the things that i am having trouble with is getting a good boarder to finish it off.

Not a boarder that separates states or countries but a boarder to surround the image as a whole.

Any ideas how these are created?

Thanks guys.

[Meshon]

There are approximately 92745972 ways to do map borders, but to do a simple border you could surround the outside of your map with a dashed line, with the stroke in white, and a few pixels (at least 10 or 20) left blank on the outside of the dashed line. Then place a black line that's a few pixels thicker than the white dashed line on a layer beneath it.

Hmm. In order to get the dashed line in the right spot you could try:
1. Create a new blank layer
2. Select All
3. Select > Modify Selection > Contract (say 20 pixels)
At this point I would probably create a work path from the selection to do the two operations I outlines above. You might also be able to use the Stroke Path option, though I'm not sure if it does dashes.

I've also tried repeating geometric shapes, various types of embossing, a simple line, a wiggly line, a tangle of wiggly lines… actually maybe I haven't done that one yet.

Anyway, there are lots of ways. I suggest you go play and find some things you like!

cheers,
Meshon

[Christopher Mahood]

Cheers Meshon! Appreciate that! Going to go and have a go now!

[arsheesh]

I've created a tutorial for border-construction using GIMP. I'm sure PS can achieve the same result as well. If you are interested, a link to the tutorial can be found in my sig.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh