Reply With QuoteOkay, I had to reduce the filesize a bit - the original .xcf file is 21MB! Anyway, here is the zipped .xcf of the shipwreck map at 50% of the original size:
draft7Small.zip
Hmmm, Arcana - could we get the forums to allow us to upload xcf files in the same way it allows the upload of psd files?
Okay, I had to reduce the filesize a bit - the original .xcf file is 21MB! Anyway, here is the zipped .xcf of the shipwreck map at 50% of the original size:
draft7Small.zip
Repped!!!
Great tutorial .... I don't know GIMP at all... tho I believe i have a downloaded version.. I prefer my PhotoshopCS3... from what i've read most of this can be applied to photoshop maps...
I'll most likely be confused for a long time until I sort it outbut you are my hero, great advice on the burn/dodge and the application of layer masks and how to bring in a scanned handdrawn map...
A couple of points I wanted to ask or note on ....
When you do your first sketches... why desaturate each layer instead of just lowering the opacity... or is this just a matter of terminology?
Since I'm GIMP-retarded (that just sounds BAD) I don't know if they have the equivelant .. but when doing the sea block with different fuzzy brush colors... I found (when doing the forests for Stormwatch) that selecting both a foreground color and background color of light and dark of your preffered colors (this case, darker blue and lighter blue) Photoshop has a brush function called 'color dynamics' the settings allow you to adjust the foreground/background jitter (around 80%) saturation jitter (20%) brightness jitter (8%) and Purity (+9%) you get a nice random assorted blends of between your two colors.... maybe this helps ... maybe this doesn't ... but I found the effect quite interesting to play with and could apply to numerous mapping elements.
I could be totally missing some points in the tutorial... but I thought I might mention that locking the layers I currently aren't using a useful way to avoid erasing or otherwise selecting the wrong layer or being on the wrong layer when working with a map ...
In some areas, would(n't) using a saved selection be a shorter route than five million layer masks when you only want to affect one area of your map? This is more of a general question for any map really that I've been meaning to ask someone who is obviously far more learned than I. I do understand that having a layermask is probably a far more useful tool than just a saved selection, i was just curious.
is there a way that I can just make a copy of all your cool abilities to make maps and useful tutorials and then transfer it into my brain *instantly* .... ya know... like in the Matrix? That would just save me LOADS of time and energy
Great work... I'd of repped you fifty dozen more times if I could have... but .. you know... rules and stuff
Thanks! I was wondering if anyone had gone through this, but then I looked at the view count. Wow.
Right, a few answers. Firstly, yes, I meant lower the opacity rather than desaturate when dealing with the sketch layers. A low opacity sketch layer set to overlay will allow you to see the sketch but not let it get in the way.
Secondly, Gimp is the retarded one, not you. It doesn't have any brsuh dynamics of the type you mention from photoshop. Colour from gradient does a good job though.
Locking layers is a great idea. I just don't bother and make sure that I am careful, but still screw up every now and again. Locking layers that aren't in use would be a very good habit to get into.
The reason for using a layer mask rather than a saved selection is that layer masks can be altered after the fact. Say I later decided that I want more sea, I can go back and just rub out a little more of the layer mask to let a little more of the sea show through. Also, you might want a little of the colour to bleed over an edge - say for the sea colours over the sunken sails. For that you really need a greyscale layer mask to get the smooth decrease in opacity - and a layer mask makes it easy to apply the same fade to lots of layers. To get the same effect with a selection would be pretty tricky.
Glad the tute was useful/interesting.
Maybe its me .... but I can't seem to find a ... ? what was it.. oh ya .. a SCALE!! lol
actually i went to start setting this up ... couldn't find the actual size of the image you started with .. the blank canvas as it were... pixel wise
It was for the challenge so this one was 1280x1024 px as that was the specified size. I usually start with 2000x2000 or 3000x3000. All the battlemaps are at 50px per 5ft as they are to be used in maptool. They don't have a scale on them because that makes them more useful to others who may want to scale them up or down a little for their own use.
i figured that is what it might have been since it was for the challenge ... and I was just giving ya a hardtime
I actually did not know that all battlemaps for Maptool were 50px for 5' ... that makes it neat and tidy tho.. thanks
another dumb question .. do you keep the ppi at 300? or does it make more sense to lower it to a screen resolution for VTT's or does a higher resolution help?
ppi, or dpi don't have any effect on a map for a VTT so I never change them. These maps don't get printed so I leave them at the default of (I believe) 72dpi.
great ..... that really helps keep the MB down
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