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Thread: Mathig's introduction

  1. #1

    Default Mathig's introduction

    Greetings, I am Mathig Nihilcehk. Rearrange the letters of my name, and you'll know who I am... I am the Lich King H.
    Anyway, I've been doing a bit of mapping for around two years and just now, decided to check this guild out. That said, I've probably been doing everything the long, stupid, inaccurate, and disgusting way. If I can learn how to make new maps even better than before, then I'd absolutely love to.

    If anyone cares for a longer introduction...

    I am currently an engineering student at a university. Thus, I have PLENTY of time to do mapping and such (/sarcasm). I heard about D&D from the internet, not any actual D&D groups, so... I spent 40+ hours, taught myself D&D, became a Dungeon Master for a group of four/five who have never heard of D&D before. It was legitimately awesome. I decided, instead of making a 2D map, to make a 3D world in Minecraft. The game itself ran fully in D&D's table-top system, but the environment was a custom made 3D dungeon displayed as the group progressed. Then I made a 2D map of the world at large using Dwarf Fortress, Perfect World, and CharonM72's Satellite Map making software. I've since made a total of five maps, with each being drastically different in almost every way.

    Just this last week or so, I've been screaming at Sword Art Online for developing my all-time favorite story-hook into my all-time most hated story. So, obviously, I'm now working on writing my own story. (This is supposed to be a joke at my expense) Long story short, I need a planet for this story that is similar to Earth but not Earth. I looked online for Tectonic Plate formations and find this site. Unfortunately, the best(read first) post I can find here isn't at the detail and physical accuracy I want. Yeah, if I'm writing a story, no one will notice if the continents are realistically formed... If anyone knows how to model the Mantel's convective currents to accurately predict the shape and motion of tectonic plates, let me know. I'm currently creating pseudo-random continents, picking magnitude and axis to rotate them on, and building a function to do that in C#.

    If anyone cares for critiquing my work, let me know. The only people who've ever seen my maps say "WOW this is the best thing I've ever seen!" Every. Single. Time... or they just say nothing after I've spent two hundred hours on it and I'm left to ponder WHAT WENT WRONG!?! Since I haven't EVER talked to another map-maker,(wait, unless you count this post. Hi all!) I am 95% certain that I'm horrible at this... I've made 3D Minecraft maps, 2D Dwarf-Fortress sourced maps, 3D surface C# maps, and 2D strategic overlays for D&D heavily using paint. I have zero formal training... oh, and I've never used gimp or most of the other programs mentioned here... maybe I should just leave... I'll definitely check out those tutorials on the sticky thread before I go. Let me check my schedule... *every second is filled with school, and sleep*, it seems I have time. *crosses out sleep, and writes read tutorials*.

  2. #2
    Guild Journeyer Facebook Connected darcycardinal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mathig View Post
    Greetings, I am Mathig Nihilcehk. Rearrange the letters of my name, and you'll know who I am... I am the Lich King H.
    Anyway, I've been doing a bit of mapping for around two years and just now, decided to check this guild out. That said, I've probably been doing everything the long, stupid, inaccurate, and disgusting way. If I can learn how to make new maps even better than before, then I'd absolutely love to.

    If anyone cares for a longer introduction...

    I am currently an engineering student at a university. Thus, I have PLENTY of time to do mapping and such (/sarcasm). I heard about D&D from the internet, not any actual D&D groups, so... I spent 40+ hours, taught myself D&D, became a Dungeon Master for a group of four/five who have never heard of D&D before. It was legitimately awesome. I decided, instead of making a 2D map, to make a 3D world in Minecraft. The game itself ran fully in D&D's table-top system, but the environment was a custom made 3D dungeon displayed as the group progressed. Then I made a 2D map of the world at large using Dwarf Fortress, Perfect World, and CharonM72's Satellite Map making software. I've since made a total of five maps, with each being drastically different in almost every way.

    Just this last week or so, I've been screaming at Sword Art Online for developing my all-time favorite story-hook into my all-time most hated story. So, obviously, I'm now working on writing my own story. (This is supposed to be a joke at my expense) Long story short, I need a planet for this story that is similar to Earth but not Earth. I looked online for Tectonic Plate formations and find this site. Unfortunately, the best(read first) post I can find here isn't at the detail and physical accuracy I want. Yeah, if I'm writing a story, no one will notice if the continents are realistically formed... If anyone knows how to model the Mantel's convective currents to accurately predict the shape and motion of tectonic plates, let me know. I'm currently creating pseudo-random continents, picking magnitude and axis to rotate them on, and building a function to do that in C#.

    If anyone cares for critiquing my work, let me know. The only people who've ever seen my maps say "WOW this is the best thing I've ever seen!" Every. Single. Time... or they just say nothing after I've spent two hundred hours on it and I'm left to ponder WHAT WENT WRONG!?! Since I haven't EVER talked to another map-maker,(wait, unless you count this post. Hi all!) I am 95% certain that I'm horrible at this... I've made 3D Minecraft maps, 2D Dwarf-Fortress sourced maps, 3D surface C# maps, and 2D strategic overlays for D&D heavily using paint. I have zero formal training... oh, and I've never used gimp or most of the other programs mentioned here... maybe I should just leave... I'll definitely check out those tutorials on the sticky thread before I go. Let me check my schedule... *every second is filled with school, and sleep*, it seems I have time. *crosses out sleep, and writes read tutorials*.
    Welcome Mathig to the guild! I am curious to know what your maps look like. I am on minecraft these days as well, but mostly work with sketchup and gimp. My maps are hand drawn though. Lets see your work! Drop me a line if you need any advice.

    Darcy

  3. #3
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    Hello Mathig, Welcome to the Guild!

    To get you started, there is a great tutorial in the sticky section of Tutorials, called
    Quickstart Guide to Fantasy Mapping: http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=4276

    Most of these tutorials are GIMP/Photoshop oriented, but the concepts are applicable to any software system.

    From there, go to
    Hand Drawn Mapping for the Artistically Challenged: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=10655

    Once you have completed those two tutorials, you'll be well on your way!!

    And be sure not to miss
    How to Get Your Rivers in the Right Place: http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3822

    and
    The Most Common Reality Errors:
    http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=30156

    Have fun and I'll look forward to seeing your first map post!

  4. #4

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by darcycardinal View Post
    Welcome Mathig to the guild! I am curious to know what your maps look like. I am on minecraft these days as well, but mostly work with sketchup and gimp. My maps are hand drawn though. Lets see your work! Drop me a line if you need any advice.

    Darcy
    Well, here is a spoiler of some of my Minecraft work.
    2015-11-14_19.03.48.png

    Also, I made a post on the map itself located here.
    Last edited by Mathig; 03-02-2016 at 10:39 PM.

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