Cartography....Ultimate Tools Thread

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Ulric

First Post

• Feb 25, 2007

• #1

I've been reading this forum (Art Gallery, Cartography & Miniatures Painting) for a few weeks now and I've figured out what it is missing: a "tools discussion" thread. So many people seem to be using so many different types of software, tablets, color brushes etc. that it is very hard to learn stuff. So please tell us what tools you are using for what parts of your maps; even "I do everything with Photoshop" is fine. Let's discuss what tools people are using and the merits of each as it applies to map making. I'll start with a list of possible tools:

Photoshop (bitmap editor/manipulator)
CorelDraw (vector editor/manipulator)
PainterX
Graphics Tablets
GIMP (bitmap and vector? editor?)
Scanners
Campaign Cartographer 3 and Dundjinni

And I'll add a comment and a question (to give you an idea of the type of things I'd like to talk about: It seems to me that lots of hardcore artist types use PainterX and/or Adobe Illustrator and a Wacom tablet. What are your experiences with these tools and do you have any map examples you've made with these tools?

Thanks.

 

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Meloncov

First Post

• Feb 26, 2007

• #2

Ulric said:

GIMP (bitmap and vector? editor?)

Click to expand...

Just a bitmap editor, IIRC. I think their is an open source vector program available, but I can't remember the name.

 

Cergorach

The Laughing One

• Feb 26, 2007

• #3

Meloncov said:

I think their is an open source vector program available, but I can't remember the name.

Click to expand...

Inkscape
http://www.inkscape.org/

 

JVisgaitis

Explorer

• Feb 26, 2007

• #4

Illustrator
Bryce

 

D

Demarest

First Post

• Feb 26, 2007

• #5

Graph paper, mechanical pencils and colored pencils. I do everything by hand. And my maps are pretty good - I'd post them but I don't have a scanner. Oh, and then I color photocopy my maps so I can keep the originals and use the copies during play.

 

kensanata

Explorer

• Feb 27, 2007

• #6

Most of the time, I use a pencil and paper, then scan it, stretch contrast so that the lines are black and the background is 100% white in the Gimp, and that's it.

I've been dabbling in the use of the Gimp & Inkscape for color maps, but that's mostly out of curiosity, since I wouldn't be printing them in full color for my players anyway.

 

Ebonyr

First Post

• Mar 6, 2007

• #7

I use autorealm, paint shop pro and mapx for my cartography

 

ZombieButch

First Post

• Mar 6, 2007

• #8

Either Photoshop, Illustrator, or a combination of the two. This one and this one were done entirely in Photoshop, for instance, while this one is all Illustrator, and this one is a combo job.