Cloudhaven, flying prison (Photoshop)

[Nytmare]

Now, if I only knew how to instantly transform my scanned maps into clean black'n white images.....whenever I scan a pencil drawing, all I get is...well...grey pencil strokes, a not so grey paper background (but certainly nowhere near white) and a lot of grids.

You might be able to pull the information out by adjusting the contrast after you've scanned it. Do you have one you can upload?

[Elvish Presley]

Try this one:

stonevale.jpg

There is also one in the first post of this thread, a portion of the map I'm currently working on.

[ravells]

Here you go - just used 'levels' in PS to get rid of the squares.

[jfrazierjr]

Thanks for the advice

Now, if I only knew how to instantly transform my scanned maps into clean black'n white images.....whenever I scan a pencil drawing, all I get is...well...grey pencil strokes, a not so grey paper background (but certainly nowhere near white) and a lot of grids.

And even when I start digitalizing the drawing, I end up making a whole new map/drawing from skratch because I can't incorporate the original, scanned drawing satisfyingly

So, is there a reason your doing your originals on gridded paper? or are you trying to reuse stuff that was created long time ago?

Also, I would highly suggest anyone who needs to do more than a tiny bit of digital drawing get an inexpensive tablet. Of course, I know that some people may be on a tight budget, but if you do more than a few maps here and there, the money is well worth it. If your on a tight budget, you could always check out Craigslist or Ebay and get a used one, though I would highly suggest getting WACOM that was originally sold in the past 3 years or so if going that route. You can typically find them for 1/4 to 1/2 retail price or less as many people buy a cheap one to start out with and then save up the money to upgrade to one with more features later. A new small (about the size of a postcard in drawing area, plus an inch or so of border) Bamboo is roughly $100 US, and can be found in some of the big box retail stores such as Circuit City or Best Buy. Also, since Circuit City is going out of business, you might be able to get a good deal right now if there is one near you and they still have any they need to get rid of. You could even try haggling!!!

[Elvish Presley]

Yes, I'm currently trying to redo and improve a lot of maps I have on grid paper. I just bought a tablet, though - so I might be building some maps from scratch on the computer in the future.....although, I do love grid paper and the control and overview it adds when I draw.

I still feel a bit uncomfortable with the tablet as well, since I can't look at the physical drawing while I draw. But I'll get accumstomed to it, I'm sure.

[RobA]

@Elvish - If you want to draw by hand, pick up a pad of tracing paper and use that with graph paper under. (Just speaking from experience

Attached is the best cleanup I could manage...

I ran your image through a FFT grid de-noise, then used the curves tool (which gives much more control than levels) to get as much contrast as I could:

clean.png

-Rob A>

[Elvish Presley]

I will go to the store first thing and get some tracing paper! (as soon as I find out what that translates to in norwegian, heh he). That was a pretty nice cleanup, though. I bet I could almost just toss it on top of a parchment background and call it a day

Ah, just remembered another thing about my tablet that irks me. Everything I draw with it looks so...smooth and computerized. I'm such a fan of the hand drawn look, gotta find a fix for that

[jfrazierjr]

@Elvish - If you want to draw by hand, pick up a pad of tracing paper and use that with graph paper under. (Just speaking from experience

Great idea Rob! I was thinking of that earlier, but could not get my mind to spit out the right sequence of words to put in my post.

[jfrazierjr]

I will go to the store first thing and get some tracing paper! (as soon as I find out what that translates to in norwegian, heh he). That was a pretty nice cleanup, though. I bet I could almost just toss it on top of a parchment background and call it a day

Ah, just remembered another thing about my tablet that irks me. Everything I draw with it looks so...smooth and computerized. I'm such a fan of the hand drawn look, gotta find a fix for that

If in GIMP, use the ink tool for more calligraphy stylized lines. If using the paint/pencil tool, turn on the pressure sensitivity options and tweak to suit your tastes. Someone somewhere posted a link (RobA or RPMiller most likely) about a set of exercises for getting used to a tablet. I think it was in the Tablet vs Mouse thread, but can't look right now...

[Elvish Presley]

Good idea about the pressure sensitivity! I'll try that next time I use the tablet

Also time for a tiny update on the map. What did I do today? Well, I added the structure in the middle. It's supposed to be metal and when it opens, an elevator going down appears in the floor. I also tried to make some windows and put some ugly golems on a couple of strategic places.

I'm also toying with other kinds of "themes" to get away from the polished look and make it more hand drawn looking (but not too cartoonish, if I can help it...)

cloudhaven level 1 WIP 03.jpg