Map Making

[CrashBlizz]

Lately I've seen a few new maps, some of which look really good. One of my characters is looking into becoming a cartographer but as a player I've little idea how to actually go about it.

Can anyone suggest any tips or good software that I could use?

I know the most accurate way is to take screen shots of the location screen until you have the whole of the island you want. This is NOT the way I want to do it. I'm looking to use exisitng materials/knowledge without having to travel around for ages.

[freiana]

If your character wants to become a carthographer he/she has to travel around. You can't make a good map of an area you have never seen, unless you simply copy and paste from other maps you already know (which would kind of beat the purpose of making a new map, right?).
I don't think there are better ways to make a good map than using the screenshots...

[CrashBlizz]

(Unless you're trying to make a whole map using parts from other incomplete maps.)

[SumBum]

I know of one "cartographer" who has plenty of fans by simply copying the work of others and putting it on a pretty background.

[Rugila]

Cartographers work is pretty much like Historians.

My character is Historian in Finnish lands.
- no, i cannot avoid travelling. How could i write history about something i don't know
- yes, they need to be written and brought back to a library then.
- no, you cannot avoid long discussions with village elders and those old man, that will tell their stories "When i was young, your kinds used to..."

If you wish to be cartographer, it is necessary you to travel, unless you copy the old maps or then someone else will tell you what's there and there and there.

[SekoETC]

I used to make maps with just Paint but for the most recent one, I used Photoshop and it naturally made it much neater. I'm sure it's always possible to improve other people's work but if you don't visit all the locations the original mappers visited, you can't know for sure if it's accurate.

[viktor]

well, i always used paint when i made maps, jpg or png format are easy but for high quality bmp can be used but u gotta make the map into many slices and load each of them in.

but if you dont want screenshots. at least travel so you can get all the dots(cities) in the right spots and the outline of the coast, and fill it in however you want.

i did consider making a model and taking a picture and loading that into the computer... i did make a model of the plaekur peninsula when i had eudora dyson running the place, however... i hit a low time and her among a couple others starved out before i could take pictures and post as an in game ad for immigrants lol

[Nathan89]

nothing bad in redoing a map. Look at the treefeather map. Ever seen the first copy. Ugly as shit. Now its the best map out there.

[lulkoek]

Real cartographers didn't always travel either. Mercator for one never got to the Americas, yet they are on his maps.

[Doug R.]

nothing bad in redoing a map. Look at the treefeather map. Ever seen the first copy. Ugly as shit. Now its the best map out there.

No it isn't. It is, and always has been, horribly disproportionate. If you set bearings based on those coastlines, you'll never wind up where you want to go. The Vacabou map is the best. Its laid out on a grid based on sextant coordinates, so it 100% accurate.

[magnus]

Making maps in Paint is possible, but painful, Photoshop/Gimp are better options, but Adobe Fireworks is the best choice I think. It has almost all capabilities of PS (ie. layers, effects like shadows etc.) but is simpler and produce smaller files (full-layered PNGs). Not mention it's much cheaper than PS

[guilletierno]

Paint dot net

[EchoMan]

I use Gimp, and work with layered images. The lowest layer consist of copies of the in game graphics, the next is a grid based on sextant coordinates (which is not visible on the result) where the in game copies are positioned. Then I have a layer where I draw the background terrain visible on the "finished" map, and one for town squares.

I then scale down this image and use it as background on a second layered image, where I add roads and town names and other things, which then become the finished map.

[xXNathXx]

nothing bad in redoing a map. Look at the treefeather map. Ever seen the first copy. Ugly as shit. Now its the best map out there.

No it isn't. It is, and always has been, horribly disproportionate. If you set bearings based on those coastlines, you'll never wind up where you want to go. The Vacabou map is the best. Its laid out on a grid based on sextant coordinates, so it 100% accurate.

THIS. Spanish cartographers are the best so far... With the only exception of the Bauer Atlas (nice CSS work).

Also, there are some other maps (you know, Fu Island and all that shit) which are pretty lame and inaccurate, but beautiful as hell.

[Bowser]

I am no map maker, no picture copy/paste person but I believe I made some good maps back 10 years ago and people copied my style of pure whats what and where goes to where