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Does campaign cartographer really worth it?

Started by Sylmenor, January 26, 2013, 12:01:51 PM

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Sylmenor

January 26, 2013, 12:01:51 PM
I've been looking for a program to help me draw my campaign's map. So far, campaign cartographer seems nice enough, but its not free. So I want to know your opinion about it, guys.

Ghostman

#1
January 26, 2013, 01:21:00 PM
It's overpriced IMO. Buy only if you're totally hopeless drawing a map by hand/in a free graphics software such as GIMP or Inkscape. Or if you're so filthy rich that money makes no difference to you -  but then you wouldn't be asking this question in the first place :P
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Elemental_Elf

#2
January 26, 2013, 06:22:20 PM
If you have a Photoshop program (adobe/gimp/etc.), then you should have the ability - with practice - to do pretty much anything the Campaign Cartographer's program can do (and more). Look at me, I have zero artistic skill and yet I have created a ton of maps (many of which looks pretty darn good, IMHO). Fifty dollars is a lot of money to spend on a program that is - essentially - giving you a set of icons and the ability to use layers. You can draw acceptable looking maps in MSPaint, if you really wanted to (I did it for years). Sure the results won't look stunning but a map is a map, especially when you're just beginning. If you want something gorgeous, then you'll have to get a hold of a photoshop program and spend years practicing and learning. If you want a cookie-cutter map, then go for Campaign Cartographer. If you just want to draw something simple (like this map from the Sword of Truth Books (not counting the border)), then all you need is MSpaint (or maybe GIMP, if you want it to look fancier).

My honest to goodness opinion is to just try it yourself and see what you can come up with. :)

LD

#3
January 26, 2013, 06:26:18 PM
The hexographer free version on the hexographer website is good if you want an old-school style hexmap. The only drawback is that the program is hosted online on Java. But if you have no opposition to Java, then it's solid.

sparkletwist

#4
January 26, 2013, 06:40:41 PM
I don't own it, so my opinion isn't worth much, but I feel sort of the same way as EE. I didn't really see anything you could do with it that a good paint program wouldn't let you do also.

Seraph

#5
January 26, 2013, 06:58:48 PM
Yes, I'd say that something like GIMP, which is free, would do everything you'd need to to, and with a bit of searching, you can find brushes and tutorials for them that would do just about anything you'd want to do.
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Xathan

#6
January 27, 2013, 01:51:45 AM
I used a friend's copy once. It's a handy tool if you're totally drawing impaired, but really only for generating coastlines that look semi-realistic. I'd go with most people in this thread: get a free program like GIMP, and find some icons you like and download them. :P
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Seraph

#7
January 27, 2013, 02:19:58 AM
Also, if you need some interesting coastlines and can't draw them on your own, there are ways to get around that too.  Cloud formations make for some interesting shapes that you can use as landforms.  With some playing you can turn those into pretty cool islands and whatnot.
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Nomadic

#8
January 27, 2013, 02:20:46 AM
I bought it, absolutely worth it. And this is from someone who does professional maps in photoshop. The real thing you get out of CC is access to those icons. A brush pack of equivalent size and quality would cost you a similar amount. So if you're looking for a large library of available symbols to use in mapmaking it's great for that. It also offers you a great tool for laying out preliminary maps and planning things before you dive into them. Still I'd probably avoid it unless you want to go the direction I did and actually commission map projects for people as you only really start to get value out of it over a steady period of repeated mapmaking.

Xeviat

#9
January 28, 2013, 01:04:07 AM
I really like GIMP. Sadly, I learned to use Photoshop first, so GIMP feels clumsy to me, but you can't beat free. I haven't used CC, but I would trust Nomadic's opinion here; the Nomad helped me greatly with my own setting map, on GIMP, so if they like CC, then I like CC.
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LordVreeg

#10
January 28, 2013, 09:15:45 AM
Quote from: Nomadic
I bought it, absolutely worth it. And this is from someone who does professional maps in photoshop. The real thing you get out of CC is access to those icons. A brush pack of equivalent size and quality would cost you a similar amount. So if you're looking for a large library of available symbols to use in mapmaking it's great for that. It also offers you a great tool for laying out preliminary maps and planning things before you dive into them. Still I'd probably avoid it unless you want to go the direction I did and actually commission map projects for people as you only really start to get value out of it over a steady period of repeated mapmaking.
Nice comment set.  Guess I will pick it up.
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Sylmenor

#11
January 29, 2013, 09:52:32 PM
The thing is that I'm totally unexperienced at drawing on computer and I'm too perfectionist for my own good. Also I want a beautiful map like one you get from a campaign setting book. So yeah... CC seems to be the best option for me. Still, could anyone show me how a campaign setting map from gimp looks like? I couldn't find any good example from google.

Seraph

#12
January 29, 2013, 11:09:48 PM
Here are some maps I made using gimp.

This one I made with downloaded "brush sets" (basically stamps) and a parchment tutorial
[spoiler=Thiodonn][/spoiler]
This is one I made from a tutorial on the Cartographer's Guild, and a couple images
[spoiler=Prospero's Island][/spoiler]
This one took a lot of work.  The coastlines were from a photo of clouds, and the cloud images are a layer of the final map (forming bits of ocean).  There are stamps for the flags, trees, and mountains, but I also went back and colored these in. 
[spoiler=The Realm of Camulus][/spoiler]
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Xeviat

#13
January 30, 2013, 12:10:52 AM
Wow Seraphine; you should host a class. I need to work on my setting's map now.
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Nomadic

#14
January 30, 2013, 10:17:37 PM
I use Photoshop not GIMP but you can check out some of my stuff here. You'll find that mapmaking has little to do with drawing (other than scribbling out rough ideas) and alot more to do with design elements and geographic knowledge. So the good news is even if you're an awful "artist" you can still be an amazing digital cartographer in GIMP or Photoshop.
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