CC3 Advice

[Beowulf]

I've read quite a bit about CC3 and would like some advice. Years ago I purchased the original CC and sadly couldn't make heads nor tails of it. I plugged away for quite awhile before giving up on it completely. Now I know it made good maps, as I've seen some published, but it didn't work for me.

It seems like CC3 is much easier to use...plus, in the intervening span of years I've become pretty computer literate. My question is, how easy it CC3 to use? I realzie I'm asking a subjective question- easy compared to what? Let me say I have no CAD experience and while I'm a bit of a geek I lack the patience to spend weeks learning to make a simple island map.

One other question: at minimum, what add-ons are necessary if one's main aim is to product outdoor, campaign-type maps? We're talking islands, nations & continents. Initially I have no need for detailed city maps, although I'd probably upgrade to that eventually. Likewise, dungeon maps are not my priority at the moment.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[NeonKnight]

As an avid CC3 user with no cad experience, all I can say is 'FOLLOW THE TUTORIALS' they give you so much information, and now with smart symbols you pretty much know the template you choose will put the symbols on the right sheet/layer they belong.

As to add-ons, you realy only need the base CC3 program, but I find the Symbol Packs and the Annual are nice 'additions' to have as they give more options for the maps.

[NeonKnight]

Here are some examples of CC3 style outdoor maps. The first two were done entirely using the 'base' CC3 program, with the second having a parchment Bitmap I found on the web applied.

The third map is the same area but with the Sarah Wroot mapping style applied. This style is available through the Annual.

[Beowulf]

Wow! Very nice work. My experience with the original CC was long ago, and I wasn't very adept with PCs back then. I was baffled by the program but in retrospect it could have been my inexperience. Those are nice maps, just the sort of thing I'm looking to make.

May I ask, have you any experience with Fractal Mapper v8.0? I have been curious how the two compare.

[NeonKnight]

Looks similar to Fractal Mapper. I have no experience in Fractal Mapper, butt he concepts and applications look to be about the same.

[Beowulf]

For kicks I downloaded the trial version of FM v7.0 from NBOS' website. I'll say that in just 15 minutes of playing around with it I was starting to get the hang of it. The fractal mapping feature for random land masses is awesome! I imagine CC3 does at least as much stuff, probably more, but I was impressed by my limited exploration of FM. It gives me hope that I'd be able to actually use one of the mapping utilities! Probably CC3 would be much easier than I remember CC1 being.

Thanks for all the advice, NeonKnight. Perhaps I should try the demo of CC3 and compare the two.

[Beowulf]

Ooops...guess they don't have their demo version available just yet.

[jaerdaph]

I've been using CC since CC2 first came out (about ten years now). The learning curve for CC has been greatly reduced over the years, as has the time required to do things. While part of this I'm sure is due to my now intimate familiarity with the program, the rest of it is due to things such as the drawing tools first introduced in CC2 Pro. CC3 et al. is a CAD program, so it is a different way of thinking if you are coming from a map design background like PhotoShop. As has been mentioned, doing the tutorials/examples is still the best way of learning things. Fortunately, the manual included with CC3 that gives you the basics is now a short, 40 page pamphlet as opposed to the 100+ page manual that CC2 used to come with.