New to Digital Cartography? Software General Information

[Immolate]

I am new enough that saying what kind of software I "use" is probably wishful thinking. I can at least say what kind of software I "have" at my disposal.

In my history, most of my experience has been with vector-based software. although I've toyed with everything from 3d to raster-based over the years. None of it is extensive or deep.

The tools I currently own are Campaign Cartographer 3, Dungeon Designer 3, City Designer 3, Fractal Terrains and Perspective, all from Profantasy. I also own Paint Shop Pro X, recently "upgraded" to Photoshop CS4. I have Inkscape and MSPaint like everyone else.

I've created a couple of maps on CC3, one for practice and one for a website my wife hosts. I've owned PS Pro for years so I have tinkered with it some. Oddly enough, I probably have the most hands-on time with Fractal Terrains as I've played with it in the past on several occasions and devoted a few dozen hours overall to getting it to do what I want. I only recently bought it.

I also have a trial version of Dundjinni on the computer, although my focus is more toward overland maps as opposed to tactical scale or (so far) cities.

[mrrkyl]

I checked "Raster" (PSP) and "Vector" (CC2) although I should clarify that I currently create/design my maps with CC2 and only modify them with Paint Shop. When I initially began playing ADnD online (via chat & whiteboard) I used DC1.4.1 (interior dungeon/structure & some town layouts) and PSP (rural/regional areas) to create the maps for my weekly games. I stopped mapping with Paint Shop because I find it much faster to use Campaign Cartographer. I've been doing this for the past 6 years, and, although there might be better software currently available, all of my gaming needs are met with what I've got. I should also add that I do not create maps to be works of art; my maps are a gaming utility to illustrate what words can't do better.

[Skaryn]

I am fairly new to cartography in general, so when I initially did some googling, I found dunjdinni and campaign cartographer 3. I am a programmer by trade, this means by law my art skills are horrible I will admit I am intrigued by the realistic maps I have seen done in PS, I will probably give those a whirl here soon.

For my maps to be used in my Persistent Browser Based Game (PBBG) I am developing, I will use Dunjdinni and Bryce, with Photoshop for some touchup for the maps the characters can move around on. I recently sorted out 10 gbs of art to be used in dunjdinni, but the world/continental/goverment maps needs to be completed in CC3 first. If a player wants to see their location in the world, or region, the CC3 maps I am building will work fine.

[Mark Oliva]

This poll is a bit whacky in categorizing Dundjinni, CC3, etc. as vector programs. Dundjinni isn't a vector program at all. CC2 was a pure vector program, but CC3 let's one do raster, vector or a combination of both. The same is true of Fractal Mapper 8.

[ravells]

Sadly there doesn't seem to be a way to edit the poll.

[Quillz]

I use Adobe Illustrator CS4 whenever possible, as I prefer to generate my drawings in a vector format, rather than raster.

[jerriecan]

I use Adobe Photoshop CS - I've tried some others, but PS is what I have the most experience with.

Jerriecan

[Juggernaut1981]

As I mentioned in my September Challenge entry, when I do my maps I use a combination of AutoREALM (probably Vector?) and GIMP with a tablet laptop (Fujitsu Lifebook T Series)

Generally the process is:

#1 Stick in all the big features (land, rivers, etc)
#2 Export into JPGs the icons available in AutoREALM (because I don't know how to export the individual icons in AutoREALM so I could use them as brushes in GIMP)
#3 Build a number of layers in GIMP to deal with the different sections of the map (oceans, landscape, roads, structures, map-notes/labels)
#4 Tweak around by inserting layers and fidgeting with their interplay to get the effects I want. Fidget with colouring,etc.

[mearrin69]

Hi all,
I'm pretty new to making maps - been doing some of the tutorials here over the past week or so - but I'm not totally new to graphics software.

Specific to mapping, I have purchased (but barely used) Dundjinni, Fractal Mapper, and Astrosynthesis (I guess that sort of counts). I use Fireworks for web work but like the way it functions so I've used that quite a bit as a GM for making and editing images to use in-game...and I've also made a couple of maps with it. I also have Photoshop and Illustrator (not current versions) but I've never used them for mapping until recently (using PS for tutorials found here). I have a very old version of Painter but haven't used it for mapping either...not sure if it even *would* be useful.

Beyond 2D, I've used a number of modeling and rendering apps - ranging from Sketchup and Silo all of the way to Maya and Max. I'm tangentially involved in the 3D content creation world (as a business analyst) and have had the opportunity to use review units of a lot of this stuff and have bought quite a bit more just because it interested me. I'm considering trying out 3D to render objects for maps (buildings, trees, etc.) to see if I like the look. trueSpace 7 (now free, I think), and maybe some others, allow you to render to PSD layers and I think that'd be useful for this.

Since coming here (one week maybe) I've bumped into some new apps like Wilbur. Hoping to try these out when I get time. I downloaded and took a brief look at Wilbur but have to admit I didn't get a chance to check it out fully - looks cool though!
M

[Tom_Cardin]

Ok lets see here. I really lean on 3D Studio Max heavily to do everything from vector lines to shapes and shading, you name it, I do it in there. Then I take what I have rendered into Photoshop and do the main compositing of elements, close up pixel work and color overlaying.

I use illustrator as well in the same capacity as Max, though not as much...most often when the art is going to have to get very large or is going to be printed at multiple sizes, honestly I have more control over the vector lines in Max though.

I also use both a mouse and a wacom cintique...mouse everywhere that I just have to move something, navigate, transform etc. But when I have to get down a natural line or push pixels I am using my stylus. Nothing has improved my workflow more than the Cintique.

I am a professional artist anything that improves production and workflow is really desireable.

Cartography is a long time hobby of mine but only recently has it come to the computer. I have drawn maps for Dungeons and Dragons since the early 80's and before that I had a keen interest in geography and cartography in school. At 15 I navigated a family trip across country using a good old Rand Mcnally road atlas...we only got lost once, when my Mom followed the instructions of a truck driver outside of Pittsburgh.

As much as I love creating art on the computer, I am still sketching and drawing all the time as well. Many of the maps I have for D&D are quick sketches so that players had a basic understanding of the layout. It is going to be fun to take some of those and really bring them up to finished quality on the computer.