Thank you, Errandir

The Hanging Gardens was completed entirely in GIMP using a method I call 'texture painting' involving lots of layer masks. It is one of the two maps that never saw the inside of a CC3+ window. While I think of it - some of the textures I used in that map (notably the rock of the cliffs) are part of one of the vast collections of third party art supplied free at Vintyri which can be downloaded and installed on CC3+, but which may also be used in lots of different apps, not just CC3+. The advantage of using the building symbols in those free sets in CC3+, however, is that the rooftops are automatically shaded according to the height and angle of CC3s global sun - cutting out a lot of hard work in other apps.

Possibly the best illustration of my method when using CC3+ in combination with GIMP is Scribble Rock. The background of that map was done in GIMP - the ocean and the background grass (meaning the background was drawn in GIMP but using fills borrowed from CC3+). I then imported the image into CC3 and did the rest of the mapping there - buildings, paths, trees, flowering shrubs, boats, text, labels, title, scale bar, frame and compass rose (a CC3+ symbol from the Herwin Wielink Style). The buildings, trees and flowering shrubs are all my own home made symbol sets, which I created in GIMP and Blender (Blender trees), and imported to CC3+ in such a way as to make it possible to re-use them in any of my CC3 maps.

Gymnopus P was done entirely in CC3+, using no add ons or extras with only the addition of a home made forest texture, and a wood texture I made for the frame.

So to try and sum up my rather wordy comment:

  • My home made symbols are mostly created as drawings in GIMP and imported to CC3+, where I create catalogues of them for use in all my maps.
  • The seamless textures I create in apps like GIMP, Krita (both free), and Genetica (not so free) are similarly imported and incorporated into my CC3+ software
  • I often paint backgrounds in GIMP and import them into CC3+, where the important detail is added using vector drawing tools and symbols - some of them my own.


I can't tell you whether this would be the best way for anyone else to do their mapping - only that it works for me