New to Digital Cartography? Software General Information

[lucho]

I checked Gimp and Fractal Terrain, even though I don't use either one as much as most. I still prefer the Morgensen fractal generator; it's plenty flexible if you can get used to the lack of an interface (command line only).

[Gamerprinter]

Just to let you know, Waldronate, who mentioned trying Fractal Terrains Pro and Wilbur, is the actual developer to those applications. Might be good to try them out, Wilbur is free by the way.

GP

[Nomadic]

Found this and felt like piping in. I have used quite a number of applications over the years. Right now I am really getting into Photoshop. I have had CS for a couple years and it is amazing what you can do with it. I have also played with GIMP a bit and found that in most things Photoshop is a bit easier to use (not better, just easier). GIMP does have an incredibly capable cloud noise generator (very useful for mapping).

There is one question that I have though. I really need a good city mapping software and I am really liking the look of City Designer. Of course it requires Campaign Cartographer 3 as well. So then my questions are... what is the cheapest I can hope to get those two for (and can I get just those two by themselves as I have no use for the others... well other than the dungeon mapper maybe)? Also, how hard would it be to learn (I do have some CAD experience)?

[RPMiller]

For the price check the website.
Yes, you can get just those two.
If you have experience with CAD already it should be really easy since that seems to be the biggest hurdle to most people. (The "reverse" method of doing things)

[Midgardsormr]

And if you do decide to buy, don't forget to use the affiliate link on the front page of this site!

[The Good Doctor]

My copy of Freehand 7 is showing its age. I took my original digital map and doubled the size so that I could add in villages and towns, and try to add in trade routes, roads, weather patterns, etc. Doubling the size meant the map went from 1 to 4 pages. Then I added in space for the rest of the hand drawn stuff. 120 pages. 30+ layers.

Windows has changed how it does memory management, and "compatibility" hasn't helped. I need to upgrade, pure and simple. The past two months have been frustrating. Data elements sometimes show up on other layers; deleted layers reappear days later.

I want to use vector mapping, and want to be able to print sections of maps easily. I would also like the option of hotlinking (like CC3) smaller, detailed maps to the main map -- but that is not necessary, just a "wanna" feature.

Adobe has Freehand 10, but it's spendy at $400, and Adobe has stopped all further development. Has anyone tried Freehand 10? How does it compare to Illustrator? I want to import the work I've done without have to start from scratch (starting over would require HOURS of Red Alert and Starcraft, killing and nuking and - oh, the computer carnage before I could deal with it!)

I am also contemplating CC3 with a couple of wilderness modules and symbol set1, but haven't decided on that for sure.

Comments would be welcome.

[Gandwarf]

There is one question that I have though. I really need a good city mapping software and I am really liking the look of City Designer. Of course it requires Campaign Cartographer 3 as well. So then my questions are... what is the cheapest I can hope to get those two for (and can I get just those two by themselves as I have no use for the others... well other than the dungeon mapper maybe)? Also, how hard would it be to learn (I do have some CAD experience)?

Indeed, for prices check the website. Profantasy maintains a money-back guarantee if you don't like your purchase, even for the digital download.

You can get just CC3 and CD3. I first purchased CC3. Then Dungeon Designer 3 came out and I purchased that one. And last year CD3 came out and I purchased that. So I have CC3 and two addons, but you could have only CC3 with CD3. DD3 is really only necessary if you want to map buildings or dungeons.

CC3/CD3 has a learning curve and I had to teach myself to use the software. But it's the same with other software, like Photoshop. There's some excellent video tutorials for CC3 and DD3 that will teach you at least the basics (those weren't around when I started using the software!). And if you have any questions about CD3 you can always ask on this forum.

One thing I want to stress: you can use CC3/CD3 right from the start to create maps. It's really that easy and its the biggest compliment I can give this software. To master it however you will need to practice a lot.

That's the big difference between CD3 and Photoshop for example. With no skills in CD3 I could still use it to crank out a decent looking village. With no skills in Photoshop I would crank out a VERY poor looking map.
I think if you are very good in software like Photoshop or Gimp you can make more unique looking maps of course, but to master software like that.....

[Steel General]

@The Good Doctor - Have you considered Inkscape, its free, and its vector.

I know there are a few people here who use it, so they will hopefully pop-in and give a little more info.

[RobA]

While I love Inkscape and use it for a good many things, especially drawing elements, etc. It really bogs down with large images...

Give it a try, as it is free, but don't hold your breath

-Rob A>

[The Good Doctor]

Thanks thus far for the comments. I want something that will handle large images in vector format. The 120 pages is just for the 2 continents, and I've been planning for many years now to rebuild the northern arctic continent (destroyed in a deity war).

I have toyed with the idea of breaking things down into smaller sections. But Freehand offered the promise of being able to handle multiple pages. I am willing to save my $$ and buy Freehand 10 (I'm returning to school in next few months). But I want to know if Illustrator is capable of handling that many pages together? What would be really nice is if I could have the map information printed on a header or sidebar, but like the hot links to other maps, that's another "wanna." Can Illustrator handle that many pages, or should I go with Freehand X (10)?

I am seriously thinking of getting CC3 to handle the in-depth maps. Over the years, I've done about 30 or so hand drawn things, but would like to digitize them and clean them up. For the price, it would allow me to at least do the smaller projects.

Layering and such isn't a big concept for me. Layers are like styles in word processing. Add on it, and it affects the whole map; disable/hide it, and it's gone, all at once. Allows you to customize the maps for players to show political boundaries only, trade routes for merchant parties, etc. And I like Freehand's cloning, and some of the transform features.

I love maps. Did anyone else spend grade school free time tracing maps of other countries? Guilty.

Thanks again for the comments. I look forward to other input.