How to choose a tool for mapping?

[Anri]

Not sure if you're wanting to make battlemap or campaign scale maps, but on the battlemap side I've had pretty good luck with a combination of Bryce, Poser, and Photoshop.

I create the terrains in Bryce then export them to Poser to render them and any trees, houses, objects, etc. Everything gets composited together in Photoshop with shading/lighting and effects.

For someone just getting started, DAZ studio may be the better choice than Poser these days, but I'm pretty well entrenched in that regard.

As others have said, if you're willing to put the time in, you can do anything with photoshop.

[Mark Oliva]

As others have said, if you're willing to put the time in, you can do anything with photoshop.

I would change that to read:

you can do anything with photoshop or the GIMP.

And then I would agree 100%, as long as the following clause remains:

if you're willing to put the time in

However, if time is a factor, one can make a lighted dungeon corridor with special effects with CC3+ and DD3 in substantially less time than it would take to create exactly the same dungeon corridor with Photoshop or the GIMP.

[Anri]

I would change that to read:

you can do anything with photoshop or the GIMP.

And then I would agree 100%...

I'll admit I probably haven't given the GIMP enough of a chance.
Tried it once about 10 years ago. There were a few features I use all the time that didn't seem to be there so I went back to Photoshop.
I think it was something with layer blending modes and complex brushes (scatter, dual brush, etc.)
Of course, given how long ago that was, they may both have all the same feature sets now, just in a different flavor.

So, yes, try everything (especially the free programs) to find what works for you.

Thank you for the addition, Mark.