Vinicium (WIP) - Workflow Questions

[Mneme]

WorldMap_Vinicium.jpg

This the the current working map I've been referencing for a long-term writing project. At full-size it's a fairly large image/file-size, which leads to a difficulty in using it to crop in. I'm curious what what kind of work-flow advice people would have for tiling the image for making the regional/city-level maps. I've tried using a mask of the image to zoom, which can help with lag issues but applying the textures and such as well as making sure everything aligns takes time. At the moment I've just been doing the math and cropping in on the original image, then adding the details and saving it out. The world itself is just slightly larger than Earth, so at this current scale I'm still figuring out how much detail to include and how much should be reserved for the more focused maps. Below is a one of the more zoomed maps I've made from it but I also know that for proper use I'll need to crop in even more. The end goal would be to consolidate it all into a zoom-able map, so the lines and such would have to properly align. Once I get the time for it, I'd certainly try to make some of the coastlines/areas more natural looking. Open to critiques of course and if anyone is curious how anything was made I'd be happy to share.

Map_9-23_14-26.jpg

Of course, I'd like to preemptively thank everyone for their input/thoughts and hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

[Rittmeister_Krefeld]

I would just break it up by continents, each continent a separate file and they when they are all done bring them as a flattened image back into the main file. the ocean would be the only thing I would keep in this file, making it easier to nify the whole image and texture in one image.
Also check out whole world maps in real life. To region maps I would just crop and resize and use this as a base for the region map. Don't forget you'll have rationalized some of the shapes for scale purposes so any regional map will reveal more details that wouldn't be seen on the world map.
Just look at the details you see when you start zooming in on Google maps. Focus in on how you see the details on places like Norway emerge as you zoom in closer and closer. Or scotland...and see when you start seein all the smaller isands that surround it actually visually discern them on the map...
So in short... it's not the same map. Just crop and rezise and have fun making up the extra details

[Mneme]

I would just break it up by continents, each continent a separate file and they when they are all done bring them as a flattened image back into the main file. the ocean would be the only thing I would keep in this file, making it easier to nify the whole image and texture in one image.
Also check out whole world maps in real life. To region maps I would just crop and resize and use this as a base for the region map. Don't forget you'll have rationalized some of the shapes for scale purposes so any regional map will reveal more details that wouldn't be seen on the world map.
Just look at the details you see when you start zooming in on Google maps. Focus in on how you see the details on places like Norway emerge as you zoom in closer and closer. Or scotland...and see when you start seein all the smaller isands that surround it actually visually discern them on the map...
So in short... it's not the same map. Just crop and rezise and have fun making up the extra details

Thanks for the input! I like your suggestion to basically make the tiles separately and then bring them back in after done. I think if I combine that with marking some of the grid cells for scaling reference, I should be able to re-use the vector image I'm using as a mask for for all the landmasses so that I at least have a general reference to make lining things up a little easier... can just make corrections later if they aren't perfect once brought back into the main file. It's like the opposite of the drawing technique of creating a grid on an image, then drawing each cell on its own larger paper in order to scale an image by hand. Thanks again, and hope you have a great day.

[Kellerica]

I want to stress that this is merely my opinion, but my honest advice would be: don't.

I used to approach mapping my first worldbuilding project in a similar way back when I started out, and the best lesson I think I personally ever learned was to let go of that kind of thinking. A huge-ass map like that, one that includes absolutely anything and everything on said world, would have required both the kind of machine I could never afford and the kind of patience and perseverance I will never have.

My advice is to chop the project into several maps. You can have a larger scale map showing the general view of the entire world, like the one you have here. Use that merely as a base for the smaller-scale regional maps. You can map out each continent or each country on the continents. It makes things easier for your computer as it doesn't need to handle monstrous file sizes, and saves you the, quite frankly, wasted time trying to find textures that would work on a project this size that simply do not exist.

It also gives you the freedom to play a bit more with the visuals of the maps you create. I know that having a world map / atlas with a completely unified look can be appealing, but I'd invite you to consider that having the separate maps be a little different from each other can also be all kinds of fun. Your world is bound to have different people and cultures inhabiting it, and the different maps can reflect this. It both makes the project interesting to look at, and more fun to make as well, as you get to try different things and play with colours and styles.

I don't know how that will work for you, but for me this kind of approach saved my sanity. I'm much, much happier creating several smaller maps I can actually get finished rather than working on one, big ultimate map that I will never, ever complete. I think the first two years of my mapping hobby were spent on trying to make that big ultimate map, and it was an endless cycle of working for hours and hours and starting from scratch as the approach I was trying that time proved ineffective. It wasn't until I finally scrapped that entire idea that I actually started getting anywhere.

So yeah, absolutely do not take this as gospel truth and feel free to disagree, but this is my two cents on this topic. If you are dead-set on approaching the project like this, I would recommend looking to make it entirely vector based - I think that is probably the only way you can accomplish the scale you are wanting without losing quality as you zoom in.

[Falconius]

I agree with Kellerica. Just do more localized maps that interest you and if you want to stitch together a world maps later, do that. Consider the high likelihood that what you do now may not interest you as much in the future, and then approaching them will feel far more laborious and very constricting. Leaving the world open allows you to keep putting maps that you enjoy doing at the time you are doing them. Besides which you learn more as you do more, and that also has an effect.

That said for what you want to do, forget about zooming or even taking details from the main map, if you want a localized map draw that localized map entirely at the scale you want it. Consider the "zoom i" as more of a "block in/outline" and work from there.

[Mneme]

Thanks Kellerica and Falconius for your input!

@Kellerica
I fully understand where you're coming from in reference to keeping the works less taxing on both the hardware and mind... certainly doesn't help a project to burn out in the process of trying to make it. In this particular case, the map/s in question are built upon a vector image that is then used as a mask, with the textures and everything else being added after. It helps with the process you mentioned of trying different styles by giving me something less resource intensive to use as a quick base when testing textures/colors/brushes/text just to get a general idea of what may work or not going forward. A map of this scale I feel is currently needed only because of the process I use of jumping between the writing, art, and plot creation that I have to cycle between to keep everything properly connected. It's helped with the story creation to be able to quickly reference the entire world when keeping track of the timelines of events and travel, as well as develop/track the Geo-political events that eventually encompass everything by the end of the story. I was lax to forget mentioning that the maps posted as examples were made years ago and were just meant to be 'good-enough' to use as practice, work-flow planning, and reference material as I cycled back to story creation mode. I very much appreciate giving your own experience as reference, thanks.

@Falconius
As with Kellerica's advice, I find yours great as well. I didn't want to bloat my first post with verbose backstory on the work and in leaving info out I can see where I left red flags that would be concerning. Your advice in particular about leaving things open to the change that can happen with time is something I've found myself giving to any of my friends when they start creative works, so I appreciate you taking the time to note that. The story project these maps are for is something I've been already working on for over a decade and also something I'm fortunate enough to know I want to spend my life on. As cool as it might be to get stuff published, the entire project is a lifelong pursuit in seeing how in-depth a world/characters/story I can make in one lifetime. The vector image base I use for the map luckily helps with your advice in using an outline to then create a more interesting detailed map, and I'm using it currently due to having at least finalized the general locations and names of the continents, if not the exact shapes. The need to make the map work in a zoom-able way simple stems from my interest in making a google-earth style interactive map for my own fun using some CSS, HTML, and Javascript.

Again, thank you both for your input. The thoughts, experiences, and techniques you both shared are the kinds of things I feel everyone working on this or similar works should definitely keep in mind. I think this particular project is something simply as odd as I am and the nature of it luckily doesn't give many time-constraints to worry about, so I hope describing it a bit more as I have will help give some peace of mind in regards to whether I'm risking my sanity in trying to work on it in such as way.

I hope you both have a great day and thanks for taking the time to reply!