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Hello Everyone;
I was not sure where to put this thread, so admin or mods feel free to move it if necessary.
My question is the following; where can I buy the software you use (you meaning official paizo people who makes modules) to create the maps, locations, charts that we see in the modules?.
For example; in the free module "Falcon´s Hollow" you travel to a ruined monastery. The map of the monastery is built with walls, trees, walls in ruins and so on. The questions intends to find out which software paizo people used to create this map and the other maps they have created.
I am well aware that there are several map editors, creators and so on. However it seems that this particular software, or whatever it is, has exactly what is required to create this kind of maps. I tried some free software, but I always encountered that something was missing.
Thank you for your information.
Regards,
Me.-
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There is no 'official' software. Most professional cartographers use Adobe Photoshop as their primary application, often supplemented by other applications such as Illustrator, Painter etc.
The reason maps in professional adventures look so good has as much to do with the skill of the cartographer as it does the software (although Photoshop, etc. are pretty big reasons too!)
Charts are typically created in InDesign as part of the layout process.
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Marc already explained everything. They use general-purpose professional grade image editting software, not specialzed map making programs. The maps look good because they're skilled professionals. They know how to create a unified art style and aesthetic.
Try this website to make your own maps. It's browser-based, so you don't even need to download any software.
Various games have map editors which can be quite helpful.
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This has pretty much been answered. But I'll chip in anyway.
Paizo doesn't use a special map software to generate our maps. We hire professional cartographers to do so (if you open the cover of almost any of our books with a map in it, you're probably going to see the name Robert Lazzaretti in it under "Cartographer" [he's not the only cartographer we use, but he's the one we use most often]).
It's not that Lazz has special software that we can't get. It's that he has decades of experience making maps for fantasy games and thousands of them made.
It's much like if you said, oh, "What software does Paizo use to generate their iconics?" It doesn't work like that. It's not about the materials used, it's about the skill. There's nothing special about what Wayne Reynolds uses to make the iconics (in fact, he uses Reaper minis paints). It's all about the skill and practice.
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This has pretty much been answered. But I'll chip in anyway.
Paizo doesn't use a special map software to generate our maps. We hire professional cartographers to do so (if you open the cover of almost any of our books with a map in it, you're probably going to see the name Robert Lazzaretti in it under "Cartographer" [he's not the only cartographer we use, but he's the one we use most often]).
It's not that Lazz has special software that we can't get. It's that he has decades of experience making maps for fantasy games and thousands of them made.
It's much like if you said, oh, "What software does Paizo use to generate their iconics?" It doesn't work like that. It's not about the materials used, it's about the skill. There's nothing special about what Wayne Reynolds uses to make the iconics (in fact, he uses Reaper minis paints). It's all about the skill and practice.
Thank you very much for the clarification.
Indeed, incredible skills.
Regards,
Me.-
Marc already explained everything. They use general-purpose professional grade image editting software, not specialzed map making programs. The maps look good because they're skilled professionals. They know how to create a unified art style and aesthetic.
Try this website to make your own maps. It's browser-based, so you don't even need to download any software.
That's pretty awesome. Thanks.
I'm going to try it.
Also, I use Cityographer, DungeonoGrapher and Hexographer.
Because, in the end, maping software doesn't usually do nice maps, it does accurate/technical maps. There's some fluff option for aesthetics, but they don't generate really pretty stuff.
Artists do pretty stuff. The maps they create are works of art, things that are nice to look at. They don't use mapping (GIS) software, they use drawing software. I've used GIS for my studies and for work some, and I've never seen anything really flashing done with it, not anything I'd expect published in a fantasy game book at least. You can make fantasy map with GIS software, but it's needlessly complicated for the task, and you are unlikely to reap any of the benefits of using it instead of, say, MS Paint, if you lack any experience and training with it.
For my setting, I used Civ5's map editor, which produces convenient hexes in 2D, and can render a nice terrain in 3D if desired. I might end up mapping it with GIS software eventually, but probably only if I start using the kingdom building rules for it, I otherwise would see no point to it. Age of Wonders and other fantasy games have map editors that can also be used.
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Because, in the end, maping software doesn't usually do nice maps, it does accurate/technical maps. There's some fluff option for aesthetics, but they don't generate really pretty stuff.
Artists do pretty stuff. The maps they create are works of art, things that are nice to look at. They don't use mapping (GIS) software, they use drawing software. I've used GIS for my studies and for work some, and I've never seen anything really flashing done with it, not anything I'd expect published in a fantasy game book at least. You can make fantasy map with GIS software, but it's needlessly complicated for the task, and you are unlikely to reap any of the benefits of using it instead of, say, MS Paint, if you lack any experience and training with it.
For my setting, I used Civ5's map editor, which produces convenient hexes in 2D, and can render a nice terrain in 3D if desired. I might end up mapping it with GIS software eventually, but probably only if I start using the kingdom building rules for it, I otherwise would see no point to it. Age of Wonders and other fantasy games have map editors that can also be used.
Civ5 map editor, interesting. Could you send me an example of any map you have made with this?, This might finally convince me to buy Civ5 aswel hahahaha.
Thanks :).-
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This gives an idea on how it is done with photoshop.
Here is a way to do it using the free Inkscape software instead of Adobe Illustrator.
While not as pretty, I've made fairly good maps using Dungeonographer.
Another free software, GIMP, can be used instead of Adobe Photoshop to make classic blue and white D&D module maps.
You can even do it with Excel.
Creative Director
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If you use a Mac, I strongly recommend Pixelmator. In my opinion, it's BETTER than Photoshop. Particularly in its price point.
Regardless of the tool you chose to use, The Fantasy Art Kit provides a good base of professional "tiles" to work with. A number of the Virtual Table-Top products (such as Roll20 also include a marketplace in which to purchase other, similar content.
Because, in the end, maping software doesn't usually do nice maps, it does accurate/technical maps. There's some fluff option for aesthetics, but they don't generate really pretty stuff.
Artists do pretty stuff. The maps they create are works of art, things that are nice to look at. They don't use mapping (GIS) software, they use drawing software. I've used GIS for my studies and for work some, and I've never seen anything really flashing done with it, not anything I'd expect published in a fantasy game book at least. You can make fantasy map with GIS software, but it's needlessly complicated for the task, and you are unlikely to reap any of the benefits of using it instead of, say, MS Paint, if you lack any experience and training with it.
For my setting, I used Civ5's map editor, which produces convenient hexes in 2D, and can render a nice terrain in 3D if desired. I might end up mapping it with GIS software eventually, but probably only if I start using the kingdom building rules for it, I otherwise would see no point to it. Age of Wonders and other fantasy games have map editors that can also be used.
Civ5 map editor, interesting. Could you send me an example of any map you have made with this?, This might finally convince me to buy Civ5 aswel hahahaha.
Thanks :).-
Sure. I've got maps done in Civ5 (rendered both in 2D and 3D), maps done with paint from AoW, and maps done with GIS software (also based off AoW). How do I share them? Any way to put pictures in the forum?
For an example of various map making tools, see what I did here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4Ja4LBEKg-8MmtyMGpnRUZuc1k&usp =sharing
The Armaly and Wasilur maps I did with the Civ5 map editor for my homebrew campaign (Gouvaria). Some were touched-up with MS paint, nothing fancy.
Age of Wonders can also be used to make maps, the game is actually free now (don't remember where to get it for free, though, but it's from a legal game site). Beluaterra is an example of what can be done with it. I believe it was retouched with MS Paint as well (though I am not the maker of that map). The GIS rendering was a quick attempt to convert static raster maps into dynamic vector maps, so that various features of it can be changed within instants. As you can see, it's pretty darn close to the original. Cities were not rendered, however (though I'm fairly sure I could manage a decent job at it). Mountains were the least pleasing result, visually, and that would have been a harder fix. But the core of the problem was that I was trying to replicate an existing game-generated map, and these issues could mostly have been avoided if the map had been made from scratch.
GIS maps take a while, though, and it's a technical process. As I said earlier, I'd only imagine doing my Gouvaria maps with GIS if my players ever show any interest in the kingdom building rules, as it would allow me to tie data (BP, loyalty, buildings, whatever) directly to "geospatial" data, allowing quick visual representations of it.
If you're interested in mapping using software, you should go visit the Cartograhper's Guild website. They are (primarily) rpg mapping enthusiasts, and have a lot of tutorials for many different types of maps and software tools, as well as a proliferate forum of users who are more than happy to lend a hand with suggestions and assistance to others.
Thorfinn Tait, a friend of mine that has done some really good fantasy mapping (notably for Bruce Heard's Caladar setting recently) initially turned me on to the guild, and it's been a really useful site, even for an amateur cartographer like me!
(Also, Thorf's own website- linked under his name above- features links to cartographic websites as well as several blog posts/tutorials where he talks about his own processes. It's pretty cool!)
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It's much like if you said, oh, "What software does Paizo use to generate their iconics?" It doesn't work like that. It's not about the materials used, it's about the skill. There's nothing special about what Wayne Reynolds uses to make the iconics (in fact, he uses Reaper minis paints). It's all about the skill and practice.
Really, wow, my jaw dropped when I read that.
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"What program do you use to write in?"
Same thing for us writers.
"What program do you use to write in?"
Same thing for us writers.
Ain't that the truth.