[Award Winner] Making maps in Photoshop

[jgerman]

jgerman: no worries if you're a new - I like to make sure everyone can follow it, so I'll look into editing the instructions when I get some time.

When creating the Alpha map, you're erasing away the black rivers gently so you have a gradient from black to white (or visa-versa if the rivers are white) once flattened down, it'll just be read as a gray scale gradient.

When this is selected (in the tutorial you are working on) - make sure you select it while in the channels tab. This will retain the gradient information. If you select it in the layers tab and fill it in, it'll loose the gradient fall off and just fill everything in with your selected colour.

These instructions are for Photoshop, so it may be just that they don't translate to GIMP that well. Not had the time to test in GIMP. I've now got it installed, but will need to find the equivalent UI things. Hopefully will get get back this week - sooner rather than later.

hang in there

cheers
jez

Thanks! I'll keep at it.

[jezelf]

Ok, I've had a quick go - not really much time, so with further work, I'm sure it could be done. First I had a look at tutorials like http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=2707

Is this what you wanted in GIMP? I should add - the last two images are on the LAYERS tab

[jgerman]

Ok, I've had a quick go - not really much time, so with further work, I'm sure it could be done. First I had a look at tutorials like http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=2707

Is this what you wanted in GIMP? I should add - the last two images are on the LAYERS tab

Yes that's exactly it, I'll have another try at it, I must be selecting the alpha channel incorrectly.

Thanks for taking the time to look into it, I really appreciate it.

[Larb]

I went through all those tutorials except the last one. I got a bit confused in a couple of places as it wasn't very clear but managed to figure out what it was asking. It was very helpful though, I picked up a few new techniques, which is great as I'm just learning photoshop.

Anyway, ended up with this:
http://www.imperialcross.co.uk/stuff/lerbworld1.jpg

I thing the sea turned out badly, but it's all layered so I can go back and try to fix that. I deviated from the tutorial at the end of the coloured one, using reticulation and difference clouds/emboss to add texture to the land. I also played around a bit with some of the other functions. Basically, I'm still just experimenting with photoshop's features.

[Ascension]

Larb, don't change a thing, it looks awesome! The sea works really well with the colors...do up some more

[jfrazierjr]

OMG! I love the 'blur sketchy colours' step ! What a great way of getting gradients without having to use them and getting a lot more control besides! That tip by itself is pure golddust not to mention the rest of the tutorials which are fantastic.

Yes, PURE GOLD...

[Steel General]

That's quite nicely done... bravo!

[fabio0069]

Wow, these tutorials look amazing. I've just skimmed through them and they appear to be full of useful advise. I'll be looking at them in more detail once I've cleared a couple of projects and, hopefully, I can display my results here soon.

Nice one, Jezelf.

[jezelf]

Hi thanks - glad they could be helpful. Since i put them up there are some steps folks have found confusing and I noticed a bunch of typos. My apologies about all these. I will refine them when I get some time - which is looking about a month away right now.

but if if something is confusing, or not explained well, then feel free to post here, or message me - and I'll certainly try to get back to you soon.

cheers

[jameswllorimer]

I think the results you've got are brilliant, especially the height maps. However I do find the tutorials unclear and lacking in concise wording. I've tried copying the effects several times and I still can't get replicable results near to yours.