Orion Spur Map

[barrataria]

Really cool, I like how it's evolving!

How do you use this map? Do you print it out, or print out zoom views, or just use it electronically?

[bartmoss]

Thanks. I need to post some updates to this thread. - I mostly use it electronically but I have a printed A2 sized wall poster of it as well (without checking, if I recall correctly I set the map up as A1 sized).

[bartmoss]

Hey guys - it's The Map That Never Gets Done (do I have any other type?).

In the past few days I've been working on improving the Orion Spur map. Nothing too wrong with the old version, just a couple of things that kept nagging me. So I sat down and began to analyse Human Space in order to make it more consistent.

I won't go into detail about the process (because I spent a lot of time to write it up already: Building a Better Star Map | Enderra - second part is here: Building a Better Star Map II: The Leapfrog Effect | Enderra ) but I figured I'd post this as a "WIP":

sketch-02f.jpg

As you can see, human space will shrink a bit. The yellow circles are the expansion of the colonized area at various times. The black dashed line is the approximate area in which Federation and Empire will meet - in actuality, probably a bit closer to Empire than that.

I've tried to support this new "layout" of human space with a bit of math and everything. It's certainly not scientific, but it makes me happy to think that I am tightening the world-building up a bit.

And, by Niflheim, once I am done with this "fix" I will actually call it done and not fiddle with it anymore.

[bartmoss]

This is a sample of a smoothed version of the background. I really liked the grainy one, but it was causing compression artifacts all the time.

Watcha think?

starmap-smoothed.jpg

[eburacum45]

The smoothing looks very nice. How much blur did you use?

[bartmoss]

Thanks. - I used a straight 5x5 gaussian blur (Gimp) on the background; but the stars, nebulae etc are on separate layers and were not affected.

[eburacum45]

Susskind's world is named after Leonard Susskind, I guess?

[bartmoss]

That is correct.

[eburacum45]

That is correct.

Excellent. The naming of sci-fi planets is an art in itself; your worlds have particularly apt names.

[Wired]

Just wanted to chime in and say that bartmoss' work was instrumental in getting my own map underway (yes Nils, I finally remembered I still had an old Guild account :p ).