[Award Winner] Using GIMP to Create an Artistic Regional RPG Map

[strebalicious]

So this is my first try at this stuff. The DM said he wanted to play so I started tossing ideas around for a game. I may have been too ambitious in the size to start with. Too cheap to try CC3, so I decided to go for this method instead. I must say, this is a pretty damn fine tutorial. As others have, I too went from not knowing what GIMP stood for to being able to create something like the above in mere hours. Hats off to you, good sir.

*Deleted some maps stuff*

[Redrobes]

Hey thats not too bad. I think the noise is quite fine for the map but thats not a prob. Whack some big noise in there and multiply it in to get some big mountains going. Id have to read that tut a bit more to see what steps need doing. I am not a Gimp man myself tho.

Just realized that theres three 1st time posters here almost in a row. So a) well done you guys for having a go and b) wheres the CL's and the Gimp squad to give a hand to help out with these tut results. This thread has so many posts that its one that we might pass by.

Poke poke...

[Karro]

Yeah, in general I think these first map posts get more replies when they're posted in the relevant map forum.

Strebalicious: your base map looks pretty good, but the forests and mountains do need a bit of work. Post this up in the Regional Maps forum, and you'll probably get more specific critiques and thoughts that can help you improve them.

[strebalicious]

Yeah, in general I think these first map posts get more replies when they're posted in the relevant map forum.

Strebalicious: your base map looks pretty good, but the forests and mountains do need a bit of work. Post this up in the Regional Maps forum, and you'll probably get more specific critiques and thoughts that can help you improve them.

Took your advice. I must say, I expected this process to be more of a hassle, but I find myself preferring to make a map instead of playing Warhammer Online. I don't think I've touched the game in the past couple of days of doing this.

[RobA]

Took your advice. I must say, I expected this process to be more of a hassle, but I find myself preferring to make a map instead of playing Warhammer Online. I don't think I've touched the game in the past couple of days of doing this.

Welcome to the addictive practice of drawing maps

-Rob A>

[Ascension]

Count me in as another...I hardly ever play my old fav games anymore...they seem to have lost their appeal. In fact I deleted all but two of them to make more room on my hard drive for my maps

[Lute]

I would first like to thank RobA for writing this tutorial.

It looks like a lot of time and effort was put forth here and I want to make sure they know I really appreciate it.

Quick critique. For the total new Gimp user (like me) every time you put "add a new layer" please put "add a forground/background/white/transparent" (pick one) instead. I know you put in there "unless otherwise specified you should use a transparent layer", but... When you are as new to this as I am, one needs explicit instructions on evey step.



I have a few questions about steps in the tutorial.

My first question starts on Page one at the bottom; "Post 8:Let there be Land." I have a few questions about this post. (I had a ton of questions in post 1-7 but through trial/error and a lot of googling I muddled my way through after only 10-15 hours and 4-6 attempts)

You said "Looking better, but it could use some texture.
Create a new layer called “Grass Bump Map”. Fill it with rendered cloud noise again, this time setting the size and detail to the max, and selecting Turbulent."

(what type of layer. fore/back/white/trans)


Then you go on and say; "Hide this new layer (by clicking off the eye icon). Create a new layer called “Grass Bumps” and fill it with 50% grey. Set its layer mode to overlay. It will appear to be gone now. That is how overlay works. 50% grey doesn’t change the underlying image, while darker shades darken the image and lighter shades lighten the image.
Now apply a bump map to this “Grass Bumps” layer using Filters->Map->Bump Map."

Ok...

So you had me create the layer "Grass Bump Map" and then I hide it and never do anything with it (why did I make the layer in the 1st place?) Is it supposed to be "Normal" or "Overlay" or what? (granted, it's hidden and I can't see it and you never say what we are supposed to do with it)


I THEN create a new layer called "Grass Bumps" and fill it with 50% grey.

That can mean two things. (probably more, but i'm none too bright) Are you saying I need to create a new transparent layer and with the fill bucket I need to fill the layer with 50% grey?

OR are you saying that I need to create a new layer and set it's FILL to BACKGROUND or FORGROUND and have THAT (4 or back) color set to 50% grey.

(which i'm not even 100% how one figures out when the grey is 50%. I 'guessed' and went in and changed the VALUE of a grey to 50 in the FOREGROUND/BACKGROUND colors. But that was just a guess)

The whole "fill" LAYER (fore/back) vs. "fill" bucket can be confusing. I don't understand if I am supposed to create a layer that is FILLED with a FORGROUND/BACKGROUND color that I have to pre-change in gimp at the fore/back color selection thingy (color pallette? the place where you can tweak the colors) OR do I create a transparent layer and then use the BUCKET FILL to change the layers color to say, 50% grey. (or white, or black. that came up earlier in the tutorial.)

You then add "Lastly, apply the “Land Mask” channel as a layer mask like before."

What before? Do you mean "Now Invert the selection (Select->Invert), create a new black layer called “Land Mask” and fill the selection with white." as you had us do in at the end of 'Post 4: I have an idea – part 2' ????? Do you mean "Again, add a layer mask using the “Land Mask” channel, and set the blend mode of the layer to overlay."??

Total confusion here on my part. Before throws me. I wish the ending was explained in a bit more detail.


So I create a “Grass Bump Map” layer, then hide it and do nothing with it, and it apparently serves no purpose as that layer is never refrenced to again.

I then create a layer and fill it with grey somehow. I don't add any noise to this layer, and I am supposed to "bump map" it and create texture. How do I bump map texture on a layer that is 50% grey that is overlaid with no texture? "Grass Bump Map" has the texture, but we unchecked the EYE and can't see it. The layer we are adding the Bump Map to (Grass Bump) is 50% grey and has no texture.

Huh? Please enlighten me on just how one does that.

I then do something "like before". (which before?)

When I do the Bump Map, what should the Bump Map setting be? How do those settings affect the image? Should I use Linear? I saw later in the thread someone mention you used Spherical (or Sinusoidal) in the Mountain steps. How should I have the Bump Map setup for this step?




My suggestion (humble one I might add) would be to maybe take the time to dumb it down more than you allready have.

Pretend the reader is borderline mentally challenged and they need explicit step by step instructions. (like for example... me!)

When I start a new layer, tell me what type of layer each time.

Possibly repeat the TLS each time it comes up as opposed to assuming I know what I am doing.

Write the extra sentence or two explaining things instead of glossing over it because it was dealt with earlier on in the tutorial. For some (like me) "earlier on" was a 1-2 days and 10 hours of "do overs" ago.

I fullly understand that would require you to type some, and spend even more time editing the posts to clear things up, but for someone like me who has never used GIMP before it would be those little touches that mean the difference between "getting it" and "brain aneurysm"


I am dreading the Mountains steps (which is the whole reason I am doing the tutorial. I like the photo realistic looking mountains that it creates) I tried to skip ahead but one can't do that w/ this tutorial (not when you have been using gimp for a couple days and have little to no other image editing experience save MS PAINT you can't)


If only I knew a GIMP master in real life who I could just call on the phone and have this stuff explained to me. I tried that with someone that is supposed to be "good" with Photoshop and they ended up frustrated as well.


(edit: am I supposed to be merging layers at some point? How many layers am I supposed to have at the end of Post 8:Let there be Land.????)

(edit: edit: ok... so I create a layer, transparent is fine, and fill it with 50% grey (think I am doing that right). I then fill it with the noise, and then bump map it. THEN I add the layer mask and overlay it. I THINK that is the right order and how it is supposed to be done. I skipped the "create a layer of noise then uncheck it" part. Geez this is frustrating)




(on a sidenote, how do I stay logged into this forum for longer stretches? I have to log back all the time)

[jfrazierjr]

You said "Looking better, but it could use some texture.
Create a new layer called “Grass Bump Map”. Fill it with rendered cloud noise again, this time setting the size and detail to the max, and selecting Turbulent."

(what type of layer. fore/back/white/trans)

It does not matter. The solid noise filter modifies the entire layer (or what is selected if you a selection) and fills with some shade of black or white randomly. If you used the same solid noise settings and tried it with new each of the above as your new layer, it would end up exactly the same (again, assuming the exact same settings in the solid noise filter). To sort of answer your question, I always start with new layers being transparent unless I know ahead of time that I want it filled with a specific color. Most of the time, I am going to either paint or use a selection to fill a part with something, so for me, transparent is always the best choice.

Then you go on and say; "Hide this new layer (by clicking off the eye icon). Create a new layer called “Grass Bumps” and fill it with 50% grey. Set its layer mode to overlay. It will appear to be gone now. That is how overlay works. 50% grey doesn’t change the underlying image, while darker shades darken the image and lighter shades lighten the image.
Now apply a bump map to this “Grass Bumps” layer using Filters->Map->Bump Map."

Ok...

So you had me create the layer "Grass Bump Map" and then I hide it and never do anything with it (why did I make the layer in the 1st place?) Is it supposed to be "Normal" or "Overlay" or what? (granted, it's hidden and I can't see it and you never say what we are supposed to do with it)

Your going to use it. You apply the 50% grey layer with the Bump map filter shortly and point it to the noise layer as the source of the bumpiness. You just want to get it out of your way for now so you can see what your doing in the mean time.

[Lute]

It does not matter. The solid noise filter modifies the entire layer (or what is selected if you a selection) and fills with some shade of black or white randomly. If you used the same solid noise settings and tried it with new each of the above as your new layer, it would end up exactly the same (again, assuming the exact same settings in the solid noise filter). To sort of answer your question, I always start with new layers being transparent unless I know ahead of time that I want it filled with a specific color. Most of the time, I am going to either paint or use a selection to fill a part with something, so for me, transparent is always the best choice.

Good to know. I'm not 100% on it all, but I would like to know WHEN you would use a solid Filll when you create a layer. (i.e. white or forground color set to a certain color)

When would one use that over transparent? Bear in mind I am talking just map making "stuff". I ran accross something in the tutorial where I would do the step w/ a transparent layer and it didn't work. I went back and made sure the layer was FILLED with FOREGROUND color (black, and I guess I could have just done a transparent and BUCKET FILLED it black) and it worked.

Post 6: Create the sea. (in the beginning...) IIRC.

Your going to use it. You apply the 50% grey layer with the Bump map filter shortly and point it to the noise layer as the source of the bumpiness. You just want to get it out of your way for now so you can see what your doing in the mean time.

Now there is some interesting info not clearly explained in the tutorial.

So the layer I created but unclicked the eye on I will point the Bump Map filter to it.

I now see in the image it does have the Bump Map filter pointed to the Grass Bump Map. Why isn't that written down anywhere?

It's the little things like that where someone who has used GIMP for some time would probably catch, wheras some total noob such as myself would not even know to look for.

Maybe add "Make sure the Bump Map Filter is pointed to the Grass Bump Map" to the tutorial. It would help some poor tortured soul down the road.

[jfrazierjr]

Good to know. I'm not 100% on it all, but I would like to know WHEN you would use a solid Filll when you create a layer. (i.e. white or forground color set to a certain color)

When would one use that over transparent? Bear in mind I am talking just map making "stuff". I ran accross something in the tutorial where I would do the step w/ a transparent layer and it didn't work. I went back and made sure the layer was FILLED with FOREGROUND color (black, and I guess I could have just done a transparent and BUCKET FILLED it black) and it worked.

Post 6: Create the sea. (in the beginning...) IIRC.

Well... for me, the only time I would create a new layer specifically with a solid color fill is if I was making something that would be in the background of the entire image (with other stuff on higher layers (transparent with parts colored in in some way) covering the parts they should). An ocean or parchment texture are two prefect examples of this.

However, to be fair and honest, you have to make sure the color you want is either fore/background before you start the new layer, and I always forget, hence why I just almost always use transparent. If I need a layer that is transparent with a solid fill, it is as simple as getting the right color and drag n drop into the image window (make sure your on the correct layer in the layers menu!!!!!!)


BTW, in a simular vein to the three layer sandwich mentioned by RobA, the 50% grey set to Overlay is a often used technique. As a matter of a fact, I tend to use at least one possibly more of them on pretty much every map I use. In a nutshell, 50% grey in overlay mode make the grey totally disapear. Then, any lightneing or darkening done on this layer shows up. Since the bump map creates a series of dark/light in tones of white/black, this is a very useful technique for bump mapping as it is NON DESTRUCTIVE to the original layer. For example, let say instead of doing a bump map on the 50% grey layer you did it on a green layer instead. Where the dark bits were in layer you applied the bump map from, the green would darken and likewise where the lighter parts were, the green would lighten. The problem with directly bumpmapping the layer with the green on it is that if you want to change the color to a different shade of green, you would have to run the bump map again. In contrast, if you did the bump map on the 50% grey layer, then you could change the green to a different color or apply any differnt effects and the bumpmapped 50% grey layer would be totally intact. ie, non destructive techniques.