Mac Mapping Software

[rvhguy]

After some long hiatus, I'm running the sorts of tabletop games that require maps again.

Here is what I have:

- A 2013 MacBook Air
- Adobe Creative Suite

Frankly, Illustrator and Photoshop seem to do a fine dandy job of doing overland maps, though it takes some work. Here's a (smaller web version) of a map I did last summer in Photoshop:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pC...=w1426-h750-rw

For drawing dungeon-style maps, though, Illustrator and Photoshop seem like quite a bit of work, especially if I want to generate things that 'feel' like old-school black or blue maps. Additionally, for those sorts of functional 'play at the table' maps, it's nice to be able to have things like notes or nested maps.

Years ago, when I was a PC guy, I used to run Campaign Cartographer. I could upgrade it to a present version and run Crossover -- do people think that works well? Is that going to meet my needs? Any advice folks have would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[acrosome]

The GIMP is an obvious choice, but it's basically a freeware Photoshop clone, so if Photoshop is too complex for you then GIMP will be also. Krita is more of an art application, but you might like it. Likewise with Inkscape.

What you may be looking for is Dundjinni, but I'm at work so I can't get to the website to see if a Mac version is available.

Unfortunately I'm pretty sure that ProFantasy's many RPG mapping utilities- including Campaign Cartographer and Dungeon Designer- are only available for PC. If you were really motivated you could try running it in Wine or something. Or Bootcamp it, but then you'd have to buy a Windows license.

[Mouse]

I am reliably informed that CC3+ runs in WINE. There is a font size discrepancy between maps saved in WINE and maps saved on a PC, and there may be things that work slightly differently to the way they work on a PC.

(I asked recently on the PF forum)

If you need to know more detail than that why not visit the PF forum and ask more detailed questions of the people who really know from experience

[Azélor]

Sadly, we cannot access the link you provided.

If you are already used to Photoshop and Illustrator, then maybe you should stick with these. You can do anything you want and the limitation are small compared to automated software.
Automation = faster but also= less choice/less flexibility.

It might take some time but you can make the process a lot faster if you are using the same style on all maps. You could make premade tiles or a template that you can use as needed and add need content if you need to.

[rvhguy]

RoK-City-Web.jpg

I believe I successfully uploaded the map I did last summer.

I'm perfectly proficient in Photoshop and Illustrator -- but for mapping on the fly they are slow. That map took me maybe 10-15 hours to do, and when mapping dungeons "for play" in a weekly game I don't have that sort of prep time.

[elboe]

You don't say what version of Adobe Creative Suite you have but if its the subscription plan then you will have the newest version. I use Illustrator 2018 at work and was thinking how that would work for mapping as well. I have Illustrator 5 at home on a 2009 MacBook Pro and was going to use that.

I think set up for the first map would be a bit of work but using symbols and custom brushes seems like the way to go. You can draw all of the objects for the interior (stairs, doors, desks, rocks, etc.) and save them as symbols to place as needed. Custom brushes for walls and such.

Adding shadows and glow and other affects using the appearance panel would work. The appearance can be copied from object to object to save time.

That's my 2 cents anyway. Hope you find something that works.