Grimmsmouth

[Weery]

### Latest WIP ###
Attachment 98250

One more to go and I can then place the image in a map sheet with some text information

[Mouse]

Hey Weery

It seems so strange to be seeing you at the Victorian mapping epic again after that fantastic sc-fi map you did for the challenge, but... here we are

Its beautifully detailed and very precise in all ways. I'm just a bit worried by the overly rough nature of the background. I think there are a few compression artefacts getting in the way, but it might not be so noticeable if you reduce the contrast on that background paper so that you can hardly see its there, or choose a texture that is much finer grain.

[Weery]

Hey Mouse,

I'm just beginning to wonder if this might be an issue with the image quality I'm saving this at so it's not too large to upload.

When you say compression artefacts what exactly do you mean?

When I look at my original I still like it a lot with the background (supplied by you thank you very much ) as it is. But in any case I'll tell you what I'm thinking of doing. When I have the last sq km done I'll prepare the composite map sheet with a range of textures so I can see if what you're suggesting improves it.

I find that applying others' advice in a trial run can often be revealing. So stand on me and when I'm ready I'll give a few different textures a shot

And as always thanks for the advice

[Mouse]

I just downloaded your map to see how big it was (and instantly deleted it since its not mine to keep). I make it to be about 4.9 MB?

You can go all the way up to 9.4 I think, though I usually try to keep mine down to no more than 8.5 or so.

The kind of compression artefacts you get when something has been squished down to less than 80% are kind of odd blurry blockish outlines. Its pretty difficult to describe, really. The best way to see what I mean is to run a test on one of your own images and compress the bejesus out of it to make sure you get some to have a look at

That sample trial of different backgrounds is probably a really good idea

[Eld]

Hey Weery,

great map, looking really stunning and beautiful. Could you explain more on separating the map in parts and working on these? What to look for, what to do, what to do not?
I'm on a huge city map on my own and finally decided to divide it up, too, though I'm not sure about what to take care about. So if you could share some experience I would be very thankful.

I hope we're going to see the last part of that map soon.

[Weery]

Hey Weery,

great map, looking really stunning and beautiful. Could you explain more on separating the map in parts and working on these? What to look for, what to do, what to do not?
I'm on a huge city map on my own and finally decided to divide it up, too, though I'm not sure about what to take care about. So if you could share some experience I would be very thankful.

I hope we're going to see the last part of that map soon.

Hi Eld,

Thank you so much for having a look and taking an interest I really appreciate it! And sincere apologies for only responding to your query now so many months later!

I begin the process of mapping such a large city by sketching the whole city first. Then I divide it into areas of 1 square km and work on each of these in turn.

This makes the images slightly more manageable for my computer but they still consist of multiple layers. On individual layers I have lines, buildings, trees, water, line pattern on buildings, various patterns on ground areas, several different fonts with specific effects etc.

There's quite a lot in it but I hope someday (year?) to make a tutorial on how I've gone about this. That's a whole other body of work for me though!

For now I'm just slowly trying to piece together my city.

Thanks again so much for taking an interest in my map. I really appreciate it

[Weery]

I've been working on my city while I've been away from CG over the last while. I'm up to 8 sq km now.

Hope you like it!

### Latest WIP ###
Attachment 106758

[Mouse]

Yay!

I had thought that you maybe gave up on this project - and I couldn't have blamed you if you had. This is a really epic mapping event, and must have taken you tens of thousands of hours so far.

Hats off to you!

Its looking great

[damonjynx]

Man, that is a seriously good map. Don't be surprised if it gets nominated for a CC award when you're done. As we say at Scouts, B-R-A-V-O Bravo!

I hope you're saving every layer setting as a style, every stroke type as brush etc. It's something I didn't do on my earlier maps, and I wish I had, it saves a bucket load of time and keeps things consistent, particularly on a large project like this.

[Weery]

Thanks so much Mouse and Damonjynx!

I really appreciate the encouragement A lot of hours into this, true, but I still think I may be 2 - 3 years off what I want to achieve. That might end up at about 6 (very slow) years in total. But I guess I'm not going anywhere. I was a fair bit into it before I began to properly manage the stroke types and opacity settings as well! Live and learn and learn some more.

What really slows me down is probably the same thing that slows a lot of members down. I can't help getting distracted by world building around the map. It's great (necessary for me I would say) for building up a coherent and detailed story which then plays into how the map is formed but my goodness, it is slow going.

Thanks again