[WIP]railroad/transit system/map in fictional slavic world

[Otviss]

... I think I have just come up with an idea for a tutorial... hmm, be right back

In the meanwhile, what software do you have or can get your hands on?

That's very generous of you! Extremely generous. Yes i have been looking at photos like that as well and kind of figuring out how i could use them. But i must be blinded by all the tutorials, since im not a PS expert either.

Photoshop i use photoshop CS5. I also have gimp i guess and inkscape!

[Pixie]

I don't know if this tutorial that I just finished is what you needed, as I might have gotten side tracked. But at the very least you are mentioned in it...

Hope it helps:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=31586

[Otviss]

Wow. Extremely helpful tutorial! Will definitely use this as reference to continue with the map. Thank you ever so much pixie!!

[Pixie]

No problem

Keep sharing your stuff and improvements. By the way, since you want to make a railroad/transportation map - have you ever played Rail Road Tycoon 3? It has an inbuilt editor that allows to make cool in-game maps in 3D, and the best part is that you can start with a DEM file.

[Otviss]

No problem

Keep sharing your stuff and improvements. By the way, since you want to make a railroad/transportation map - have you ever played Rail Road Tycoon 3? It has an inbuilt editor that allows to make cool in-game maps in 3D, and the best part is that you can start with a DEM file.

I have actually. But i dont have it anymore. The whole concept was to try and build an original concept world starting from an unconventional angle. Making a railroad map from it i think is beyond me and scrapped. Having that said, the map is still going to be finished but as a reference to the world obviously

[Otviss]

I don't know if this tutorial that I just finished is what you needed, as I might have gotten side tracked. But at the very least you are mentioned in it...

Hope it helps:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=31586

I have one question, I downloaded a bunch of DEM images but how do i open them up in photoshop cs5?.. File extensions i've got "BLW" and "HDR". Somehow photoshop does not support them. Should i have checked something from the "Earthexplorer" site?

Thanks, O.

[snodsy]

You don't open DEM's in Photoshop, open in QGIS ( a free GIS software), open a raster layer DEM and make a Hillshade, then save as a jpeg or other file Photoshop uses. You may need to take a look at the QGIS manual tutorials to get a quick grasp of it. I'm sure others on this site are know more, but this is my basic understanding and use.

[Otviss]

You don't open DEM's in Photoshop, open in QGIS ( a free GIS software), open a raster layer DEM and make a Hillshade, then save as a jpeg or other file Photoshop uses. You may need to take a look at the QGIS manual tutorials to get a quick grasp of it. I'm sure others on this site are know more, but this is my basic understanding and use.

I followed the tutorial and the steps explain as such: "From this point on, you can start opening the heightmaps you just downloaded. Worrying only about the
general shape and direction of the mountains and/or of the slopes, copy bits and paste them on your file"

I needed wilbur and photoshop. Is it perhaps wilbur i have to open them in?

[johnvanvliet]

I have one question, I downloaded a bunch of DEM images but how do i open them up in photoshop cs5?.. File extensions i've got "BLW" and "HDR".

use qgis
but qgis will use GDAL a terminal text based program

basically for converting formats qgis is just a GUI got GDAL
http://www.qgistutorials.com/en/docs...bsq_files.html

a hdr is only the header for the image data ( a short text description of the data )


now DEMS are 16 bit signed data ( pixel values from -32767 to +32768 )
now saving it to a 8 bit jpg ( values 0,255 ) you will loose a LOT of data
also JPG is what is called a LOUSY !!! image format
the compression tosses information in the trash can and ADDS!!!! ARTIFICIAL !!!! ARTIFACTS !!! that are NOT in the original data

it is a VERY VERY VERY bad choice for height data
-- very bad choice

save it a a 32 bit tiff ( no compression !! ) image
photoshop can open that

[Otviss]

use qgis
but qgis will use GDAL a terminal text based program...

...a hdr is only the header for the image data ( a short text description of the data )

I see. Before i start again then, could i have prevented that with saving the DEMs in other formats, or do i still need that program?

Because the tutorial doesn't mention anything.