Eino, My First Map

[Gidde]

It's one of two major advantages to using Gimp, in my humble opinion. The second being the bump map. I can't stress enough how much easier to work with it is than bevel/emboss layer styles in PS.

[tilt]

well, you can work with bump maps in photoshop - but I find it a little ... eh... not difficult but time consuming. I guess I've gotta test GIMP one of these days

[nai888]

Since you're using gimp, it's not as bad as all that. Just grab (or make) a brush pipe. It randomly picks one of its set of symbols every time you click. For example, I've got a few tree pipe sets posted in the mapping elements section. Just download them, drop them into your gimp brush directory, and with some clever spacing setup, you can just paint in your forests in no time.

I've never even heard of that. It was exactly what I was looking for, and it turns out I could have had it! Argh! I'll have to look into that. The other thing I was contemplating was somehow making a tileable pattern of trees and just putting those down, meaning I could go in larger clumps than just single trees at a time. I suppose that would be noticeably repetitive, though, and I don't know how to do that, either.

It's one of two major advantages to using Gimp, in my humble opinion. The second being the bump map.

With the third major advantage being that it's completely free.

[ravells]

Great first map! Have some more rep and keep going!

[nai888]

So, Gidde, I just looked at your finished maps, and I especially liked your Velaedin Empire. I don't want to make this map exactly like that one, I like how a lot of my map looks, but the mountains and forests at least I would love to make look something like that. You said in that other thread that you used a tutorial by Ironmetal. Assuming you still have it, do you think you might be able to give me a link to that tutorial?

[Seretur]

@nai: I think this may be it. It's the only tutorial ironmetal wrote.

@Gidde: How do you make a brush pipe? I downloaded yours from the "Hand-Drawn Mapping for the Artistically Challenged", but I'd like to make some of my own, and I'm sure nai would find the information useful as well.

[Gidde]

This tutorial on the GIMP.org site is fantastic. It'll take you right through the whole process.

Edit: forgot to answer the other question. The tut Seretur linked is indeed the ironmetal tut I used to develop the VE style.

[Gidde]

Sorry for double post ... I really need to read slower before I post, lol. You may also want to try fluesopp's Automatic Forester.

[Diamond]

Hey, that's a pretty durn good first map, Nai! I can only repeat what others have said r.e. the forest/mountain size, but I'm confident you'll do fine. Welcome to the Guild, and have some rep from me also.

[nai888]

Thanks Seretur and Gidde, I'll look through those and see what I can do with them.