Continent of Celanta - complete!

[Gamerprinter]

I finally finished my continent of Celanta map - its quite a small continent. I am sure I could have populated it with more sites and cities, however, this is as complete as I require for my D&D 3e campaign I plan to use it with for my own gaming group. The WIP is in the Continent/Regional Map WIP Forum.

I pulled the "Google Farmland", but I added a dune-like beach texture for the Shattered Desert. Since this map has sort of temporal anamoly situation going on, I decided to create an "alien looking" compass rose.

Of course this map is available for free use under the Creative Commons license, as usual.

I am happy with the results!

If I develope any regional, city or tactical scale maps for this campaign, I will post them as well.

GP

[Steel General]

Very nice! I really like the various forest types, really makes them "pop".

[JoeyD473]

Lovely Map

[stuamn]

WOW, and that was before i noticed firefox had it zoomed out to 23%. When i zoomed in i though "Holy Hell" . Thats fantastic. Do you normally make maps that big. Do most map makers here make maps this sort of scale ( i get nervous if my map is bigger than my screen resolution )

I'm now expecting some posts telling me this sort of scale is normal

If so, I've got a lot to learn.

I'm off to check out the WIP thread you mentioned


stuamn

[Ascension]

What I wanna know is how to get a map that big under the file size restrictions.

[Redrobes]

Firstly, GP thats a great map - your usual excellent standard.

For the file size I think that there is a general 5K limit or so which is some kind of bug in the forum. This one is 3K or so and less than this limit.

For file byte size then you can save images as reduced quality in JPG to reduce the file size. There was a lot of banter about all of this in the May 08 challenge which had an upper file size limit as part of the challenge. Threads for tips about reducing file size were posted as part of that. Notably...

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=1956

[Midgardsormr]

Do most map makers here make maps this sort of scale

There's not really a "correct" scale. It all depends on what you're going to be using the map for and what the target display is. GP, as his handle might tell you, runs a print shop, so his images are frequently very large so they can be printed at larger sizes without any loss of detail.

For a final image, I usually shoot for something in the vicinity of my screen resolution--1024 px wide at the moment. My working resolution is often much higher than that. My current WIP, for instance, has a working resolution around 6000 X 4000. It started at 9000 wide, but I had to do some cropping.

An earlier map--the Tawaren Basin for the CWBP--started at around 1200 wide and pretty well stayed there the entire time. Actually, I think I started at 800 or so, but I felt crowded so I blew it up a bit.

[Gamerprinter]

Thanks, Redrobes!

Midgardsormr is quite correct. I created the map at the intended print scale of 24" x 36". The posted file is a 100 ppi, JPG reduced to 70% quality to achieve its current file size. Just to make a smaller file to upload/download.

Because I created this map in Xara, I still have the .xar file, which because is a vector file is resolution independant until I export it. When I do print, I will export the file as a 300 ppi TIF or just print in native scale and format directly from Xara to my new Canon printer.

I create the scale and dimensions based on intended end result, yet with the freedom to go larger or smaller as need arises.

Of course, see the thread "Regional Maps in Xara Xtreme 4.0" in the Tutorials Forum to get an idea, how I created this map.

[akhena]

Wow, this map is just awesome ! I really love your mountains.

Is there a way to get your map free of any text and town symbols ? I would love to use it for my own gaming group, if that's ok with you. And it would be great if I could add myself my own names.

[ravells]

Breathtaking map, GP!!! You're in for a great game! (or at least many accolades from your players!)