|
Hey all! I saw a post on Paizo that linked to the Cartographer's Guild, and I have to say it's a great site to help you make a professional map.
They recommended and have a tutorial for GIMP, a free drawing program, which let me develop this ...
I'm still plugging away, but I should have a professional map before our next gaming session ...
|
I downloaded GIMP last month and think it is a most excellent tool, and who can beat the price?!
Between, GIMP, Photoshop Elements6, Dundjinni, Campaign Cartographer3, and Fractal Mapper7 (I didn't upgrade yet), I think I can do just about anything. Now, all I need to do is continue to practice and develop better skill.
Making great gaming maps (and sharing them) is an aspect of this hobby that I wish would spread out more to players.
Thanks for sharing your success.
P.s. I got GIMP because I needed a tool to square already-existing PAZIO maps to a 1" scale before I brought it into Posterazor (another great tool) for slicing and printing.
Keep up the great work. Cartographer's Guild rocks!
|
Nice map Archade! I've been to Cartographer's Guild, tried to make myself a map with the Gimp and always got stuck with the mountains. They never turned out correctly and made the maps ugly. Maybe I should go back through the tutorials and see if anything is different now.
I also remember a long-ish discussion on the boards here about using Gimp and Photoshop to make nice maps. Absinth, I think, had a unique way to make maps and I really wish there were a tutorial for that style.
You can look to resources like The Mad Mapper and Gamemaster's Apprenticefor some nice mapping assistance as well. The pre-made objects can really speed up the creation process.
RPG Map Share is great too.
Oh yes, Steel Rat has been collecting stuff for a long time! He's even got some of my work up there (mostly floor tiles, plus a huge set of shells and sea-related items). Definitely a must-visit site for map makers.
|
|
On a side note, can you help with this:
I was in GIMP 2 this morning. I heard that resizing an image would be easy by changing the pixels/inch to like...100. However, when I did that, I'm not sure the size of the image was adjusted properly. Given that it is a battlemap - of say 27 inches across, is anyone using GIMP where they could give me a 1-2-3 step lesson on this process. Maybe because its been a few months since I used GIMP I might be rusty. Thanks.
|
|
As it turns out, there used to be a thread in the 3.5/'d20 boards that specified why there's value in scaling with GIMP2 even over the use of photoshop. Someone said it did this one thing much better.
Now, as I actually find the time to try it, I cannot remember what the short step process was. Anyone use GIMP 2 for scaling maps i.e., ...
1. copy map from source
2. set something to be 100 pixels per inch
3. save map & open with Posterazor
4. Print
Its step 2 that I have trouble with. How do I highlight the square & what is its relation to the scale function in GIMP that's better than photoshop (an app where I pretty much just eyeball the size based on the ruler measurements...) Can anyone help?
Agh, how frustrating - I know what you mean because I've done it! But I can't remember how. I'll have a look when I get the chance. But someone will probably be able to help before then! :D
|
|
Agh, how frustrating - I know what you mean because I've done it! But I can't remember how. I'll have a look when I get the chance. But someone will probably be able to help before then! :D
Hey Fabes! I see you've selected a new icon - I didn't recognize ya at first. Thanks for checking on this for me.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Okay, here you go.
1. Open map in Gimp.
2. Take the measuring tool (shift-M) and measure the number of pixels in a square (probably best to measure the number in 10 squares and divide by ten to get the number per square. It's more accurate). Note that the measurement appears on the bottom bar of the main window. Make sure the tool is measuring in pixels (there's a drop down on the bottom bar you can sue to set this).
3. Go to Image->Scale Image and set the dpi to the number of pixels in a grid square.
4. Save As... the file to a new jpg file.
5. Import the file into posterazor - it should recognise the same dpi you set earlier.
6. Walk through the posterazor steps to get the pdf.
Hope that helps.
Jon
Just as well, as I couldn't remember for the life of me!
|
|
Okay, here you go.
1. Open map in Gimp.
2. Take the measuring tool (shift-M) and measure the number of pixels in a square (probably best to measure the number in 10 squares and divide by ten to get the number per square. It's more accurate). Note that the measurement appears on the bottom bar of the main window. Make sure the tool is measuring in pixels (there's a drop down on the bottom bar you can sue to set this).
3. Go to Image->Scale Image and set the dpi to the number of pixels in a grid square.
4. Save As... the file to a new jpg file.
5. Import the file into posterazor - it should recognise the same dpi you set earlier.
6. Walk through the posterazor steps to get the pdf.Hope that helps.
Jon
Manythanks!!!
I will try this out tomorrow night. Thanks again!
You're welcome. Hope it works out for you. Post again if you get stuck.
Jon