Software for maps

G

Godofredo

First Post

• May 24, 2003

• #1

Hi guys, i want to make some maps for my campaign, but my skills are not among the best in the world...so i'm looking for a good , easy to use software, to make some simple maps, can you give me some help about this?

Godo

 

Last edited: May 24, 2003

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Hand of Evil

Hero

Epic

• May 25, 2003

• #2

Try AutoRealm a free one.
http://autorealm.sourceforge.net/

Try DungonCrafter another free one.
http://www.dungeoncrafter.com/

Check out the Art & Cartograph forum for others.

 

Last edited: May 25, 2003

Umbran

Mod Squad

Staff member

Supporter

• May 25, 2003

• #3

Also try the Software and Computers forum, also for free

 

drnuncheon

Explorer

• May 25, 2003

• #4

If you liked the old Basic D&D-style hex maps, try Hexmapper (for PCs). Simpler than the CADD-style mappers but looks pretty slick.

J

 

Mark

CreativeMountainGames.com

• May 25, 2003

• #5

The Fractal Mapper 6.0 is currenty on sale and perhaps the most powerful mapping software for its price anywhere. CADD-like results with a very simple-to-use windows-type interface. best.mapper.evar

You can try their demo for free but be warned, once you see what it can do you will not be satisfied with other mappers.

 

Ampolitor

Explorer

• May 25, 2003

• #6

CC2 Pro

I actually prefer Campaign Cartographer 2 Pro myself but it is $$$

 

L

LazarusLong42

First Post

• May 25, 2003

• #7

If you know how to use Illustrator and Photoshop, I'd actually recommend those over a dedicated mapping program. Illustrator especially--layered vector graphics that ou can detail as much as you want and then blow up sections of are a *good thing*.

 

dave_o

Explorer

• May 25, 2003

• #8

I second that. I've been doing graphic design for a while, and I just use Paint Shop Pro 7 for maps.

What's Illustrator? I've heard of it, but never gotten a chance to play. Is it a tablet-thingy?

 

L

LazarusLong42

First Post

• May 25, 2003

• #9

Illustrator is the complementary software to Photoshop. Photoshop/PSP/GIMP are for editing bitmap/raster graphics: photographs, paintings, and the like where individual pixels are the important thing.

Illustrator and most CAD programs use vector graphics. Instead of the pictures being composed of pixels, it's composed of lines and curves which have certain characteristics. When you magnify raster graphics by a factor of ten, you have huge pixels; when you magnify vector graphics, you have the same lines you had before.

Vector graphics are generally used for (as mentioned before) CAD projects, corporate logos, maps--anywhere where scalability is more important than absolute size.

 

Pbartender

First Post

• May 25, 2003

• #10

One other thing I've done quite a bit is to make a map in your favorite strategy game map editor... Age of Wonder, Civilization, Heroes of Might and Magic, etc... then take a couple of screen captures. Piece the screen captures back together into one large map in Photoshop, maybe fancy it up with an artistic filter. Finally, add in some labels.