Maps maps I hate maps

[Poseptune]

If I haven't said it in a while, I hate you Raelifin... but in a good way. :D


Your area of noise, and blending is something I tried to do early on, but I could never get anything to work. I really have a problem with blending as you can see in the deserty region as it doesn't blend well into the surrounding area. (I miss diffusion clouds :( )

The water I'm not too worried about right now. That was going to be phase two. I was already planning on making the ocean slightly textured as well as getting rid of the white and making it a closer match to the darker blue.

I thought I turned off the old stamped forest layer... guess I didn't.


I know you had a problem with the rivers when I first posted them, what is wrong with the forests? (Besides the fact I placed them randomly when I was using the stamp)


I've never been the artistic one, that was my sister. I can design and see things in my mind, but they never come out like what I see when I try to do it. Any tips and tricks would be welcomed. (I did many google searches for terrain tutorials and not finding much that would help)

[Ninja D!]

I've never been the artistic one, that was my sister. I can design and see things in my mind, but they never come out like what I see when I try to do it. Any tips and tricks would be welcomed. (I did many google searches for terrain tutorials and not finding much that would help)

I know how you feel, man.  Keep at it and eventually things will work.

[khyron1144]

I can see map 1 now.  I think overall map 1 looks better.  Somehow the mounmtains look more mountainous.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

I like 1 better.

[Raelifin]

Forests

Forests are one of the most vital aspects of a con-region's geography. Forests provide fertile land, wood for building and a lush habitat for all kind of wildlife.

When placing forests, it's important to consider that anywhere a tree can grow easily you'll find a forest (with a few exceptions). Trees are tenacious buggers, too; from the slopes of the Rocky Mountains to the Australian savanna you'll find trees -- and forests.

Because of how prolific trees are, it's typically helpful to think about where trees aren't rather than where they are.

Trees are killed by glaciers, permafrost and tundra. Heavy snows, however, are typically survivable.

* Trees are killed by rain-shadow and very arid climates. See also: Deserts

* Bad soil can prevent heavy forestation, though usually not enough to stamp out all tree growth. Acidic or salty
soil will prevent growth, as will volcanic activity.

* Trees only grow below a

certain altitude, due to the above factors and difficulty with air pressure.

* Lastly, tree growth is sometimes inhibited by fauna, even where it might be possible otherwise. Humans and large grazers tend to create their own plains.[/list]

If you determine elevations, wind and sea currents and average temperatures, the forests will fall into place. Alternatively, you can place the forests and then alter the surrounding geography appropriately.

With regard to Adveria, I see no reason why the entire Mediterranean region, particularly near the big lake, would not be entirely forest. If anything, the region most likely not to be forested (IMO) would be the far north-west, where the mountains block coastal rains and produce a colder environment.

As a quick last-note, bodies of water act as heat-sinks, which means that arctic coasts are typically warmer than inland, while tropical coasts are cooler. If nothing else, most large bodies of water (that aren't salt-lakes) should be surrounded by forest.

I'll post a mini-tutorial later on producing a forest-effect on maps.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

That was a very good presentation on forests when pertaining to maps.  I'll be completely honest, I never gave that much consideration when I was making my maps either, and now I'm giving a bit of thought to redrawing them...

[Poseptune]

Ah but there is one thing you haven't taken into consideration. Deforestation! One of my nations is a ship building nation and they use a lot of wood... yeah that's it.

I guess it makes sense (I have another continent that is almost completely forested because of the lack of "civilized" inhabitants). I want the southern area to be similar to the Midwest US, little forests, mostly farmlands. The northeast however could probably use more trees. I'll have to play with it some more.

[Acrimone]

Just a nitpick, if I may...  there are several downstream-direction branches to your rivers.  Most rivers branch upstream, and while downstream branches do occur, you've got an awful lot of them.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Good point, Acrimone.  Speaking of rivers, I didn't notice this before, but there are two rivers that almost seem to be crossing each other in the NW quadrant of the map.  Maybe I'm seeing it wrong, but they look to be one going from NE - SW, and one going N-S, and crossing.  This brings to my attention an old bit of wisdom that you may have heard before, now brought into the realm of cartography:




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Ready for it?



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Don't Cross the Streams!  !turtle




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Yeah, I went there

[SDragon]

Do you have either Photoshop or GIMP? If so, put these in files with a million and ten layers. Make each layer, except for the basic "map" layer (what you have so far) at 25-50% opacity, and run a filter through each of those layers. If you want to see how a filter works for a texture, just make it's layer visible, and the rest invisible. You can even have layers for combining filters and effects, if you want. The biggest problem, I think, would only be keeping track of what combination of filters had which effect.

[Ninja D!]

Raelifin, if you made that up please post more.  If you got that from a tutorial elsewhere, please post a link.  I have yet to do a serious map for my setting and would love to have such information going into the process.

[Poseptune]

I come here looking for advice and I get attacked and put down. FINE I've erased my rivers. I'll just start over because I suck so much...

[Raelifin]

Raelifin, if you made that up please post more.  If you got that from a tutorial elsewhere, please post a link.  I have yet to do a serious map for my setting and would love to have such information going into the process.

Aw hell, thanks.

If I have time, I'll throw up a whole mapping/geography tutorial. Step-by-step.

[Acrimone]

I come here looking for advice and I get attacked and put down. FINE I've erased my rivers. I'll just start over because I suck so much...

On the off chance you're serious... I should point out that it's called a "nitpick" because it's not that big of a deal.

But I suspect you're being tongue in cheek.  SO hard to tell in a textual medium, especially when I don't know all the players as well as I might.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

I come here looking for advice and I get attacked and put down. FINE I've erased my rivers. I'll just start over because I suck so much...

You're kidding, right? :(