Is there any decent cartography programs around that doesnt cost a fortune?
We must get this question at least once a month.
I suppose it depends on your definition of 'fortune'.
I personally use Gimp which is basically a free version of Photoshop. Being essentially Photoshop its extremely powerful. If you ask the professional cartographers that hang here around, like Chrsitopher West, they'll tell you that their main cartography program is Photoshop. That means it can do amazing things and it also means that it takes some time to get good with. I've been using it for years and I probably don't use more then a quarter of its features. That said the maps I make with it are easily the best stuff I've ever done. You can get a heck of a long way using the 'make a straight line' (In Gimp you hold down shift), a grid and the setting telling the program to snap to the grid.
Beyond that there are a couple of other free programs out there but nothing remotely as powerful. Autorealm is one but I honestly could not get that to do anything close to what I wanted and I never found it really any more intuitive then Gimp. Its also very limited - Maps made with it can be made to look so good and then thats the best that can be done. With Gimp you learn new tricks every time you make a new map and every map looks better then the last one you made.
thanks
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I second everything Jeremy said.
GIMP is, by far, the best tool I came across for map making.
I usually draw the outlines by hand, scan it and then add colours, textures etc. .
But it's also possible (and recommended) to draw the whole map with GIMP.
I just like to draw by hand, that's the only reason I do it this way.
GIMP is really complex, but I found it quite easy to get into (but, like Jeremy already said, I'm only using about a quarter of its features for my maps).
There are lots of really good tutorials (even tutorials for map-making) on the net and you can highly customize your GIMP with lots of material that can be dl'ed off the net (like new brushes, textures etc.).
This program is the greatest tool I ever came across and it really enhanced the quality of my maps (which weren't that bad before).
What I also like really much is the possibility to alter the maps as needed.
Your PCs burned down several houses in the town?
No problem, a few clicks with GIMP will update the map in minutes.
My players really like it that actions like this can be seen now (and that it is over with explanations like "These houses here aren't there anymore. Imagine them burned down...").
It is just great and there's a very active community on the net supporting the program and coming up with new brushes etc. every week.
There's another free program called Inkscape, which is good too and very similar to GIMP, but isn't supported that much (this might change as it is quite new).
The only feature that I like better in Inkscape are the colour-tools.
I usually add the colours with Inkscape now and do the rest with GIMP.
Both programs are totally free and can easily be found using Google.
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Just a quick note: GIMP is approximately equivalent to Photoshop, and is designed for creating and manipulating images bitwise. Inkscape is approximately equivalent to Illustrator, and is designed for creating and manipulating vector-based images.
They're not meant to do the same sorts of tasks. (You can use both on the same image to do different things, though.)
This is done ONLY with a vector based program.
These days I'm doing most of the maps with vector and use pixel based programs for cleanup.
So, if I have Photoshop and Illustrator (and am proficient in both), is there any advantage to trying out GIMP?
Not really (at least in my opinion).
While some programs are more powerful than others, giving you more options (and may also cost alot more because of that), really, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. Perfectly servicable maps can be made with freeware. What does makes all the difference is design. Visit my "Guide to RPG Mapmaking" webpage for (mostly) program-independent advice on the subject, at http://melkot.com/mechanics/map-guide.html
Denis, aka "Maldin"
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
While some programs are more powerful than others, giving you more options (and may also cost alot more because of that), really, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. Perfectly servicable maps can be made with freeware. What does makes all the difference is design. Visit my "Guide to RPG Mapmaking" webpage for (mostly) program-independent advice on the subject, at http://melkot.com/mechanics/map-guide.html
Denis, aka "Maldin"
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
I ran across this page many months ago. Lot of awesome stuff there. I also ran across this on youtube back in September about the same time. There's a lot of useful advice on both those sites.
Have you seen the ZombieNirvana vids Maldin? And if so, what are your thoughts?
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Just a quick note: GIMP is approximately equivalent to Photoshop, and is designed for creating and manipulating images bitwise. Inkscape is approximately equivalent to Illustrator, and is designed for creating and manipulating vector-based images.
They're not meant to do the same sorts of tasks. (You can use both on the same image to do different things, though.)
But it's no problem at all to create a map in Inkscape as a vector-based image and to add to it using GIMP.
Later you'll transfer it to JPG anyway for size and easy printing.