Hello Everybody!

[HansR]

Hi everyone,

Despite visiting the forum from time to time only now I decided to join the Guild.

Since my teen age I love maps and use to buy them from everywhere I visit, not only street maps but topographic ones too.

Fictional maps are not different for me. I like to have them when reading a story or playing a game. Visual material always helps your imagination (or strategy if you’re playing a game).

Being a Sci-fi fan, and after reading hundreds of books in the las few years I decided to put together resources to write a good fiction and that include maps from specific regions, planetary, and galaxy regions maps.

After seeing the wonderful work, you, members of the guild, do, I decided to join the forum to see if I can learn something.

Sometimes I think I’m too old to start learning how to draw maps and that it would be easier to hire someone to do it for me but then I ask myself: Where’s the fun hiring someone and not doing it yourself?

To start learning, I already bought some software like Astrosynthesis 3 (to develop space regions), Fractal Mapper 8.0 (not sure if it was a good choice), Campaign Cartographer 3 and 3+, Fractal Terrain 3 and Cosmographer 3.

I’m also using Inspiration Pad Pro to create random generators for a lot of things, like names (People, planets), basic character profiles, etc.

My idea is to create a sector in space using Astrosynthesis and real stars (renaming them and creating planets according to my ideas) use Fractal Terrain to generate a planetary mass and use FM8 or CC3 to generate terrain maps of particular points like colonies ore mines, cities and surrounding areas, etc.

If anyone has any other idea of better software to do this, I’ll sure welcome it.

Once maps are minimally presentable, I’ll be sharing them with you.

Hans

[ChickPea]

Hi Hans, welcome to the Guild and thanks for introducing yourself.

There are quite a few users of the apps you mention in the Guild, so I'm sure they'll be able to share some tips with you. Other (free) software to consider is Gimp and Inkscape, or, of course, the big daddy: Photoshop (though it obviously costs a bit). However, it would probably be best to work with what you've got right now before you start drowning in software!

Once you've started on a map you'd like to share, feel free to post in one of the work-in-progress folders for advice and critique. I'll look forward to seeing some maps from you.

[Mouse]

Hello Hans

I'm sorry I missed your introduction thread till now, but welcome to the Guild, and with all that different software you're going to have plenty of fun

Enjoy!