Which is best? Campaign Cartographer? Dundjinni?

[ki11erDM]

It probably has something to do with me going back and forth between the two with many weeks off in the mean time. I just want a simple intuitive interface with lots of nice art to add to my (world) maps. And none of the products out there are that. Maybe I should look to see if I can import the art elements into AutoREALM but I have a feeling that is not going to happen. Hehe

But there is no doubt that CC3 makes really nice maps and if you are going to sell your map to someone that is the software to use.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

It probably has something to do with me going back and forth between the two with many weeks off in the mean time. I just want a simple intuitive interface with lots of nice art to add to my (world) maps. And none of the products out there are that. Maybe I should look to see if I can import the art elements into AutoREALM but I have a feeling that is not going to happen. Hehe

But there is no doubt that CC3 makes really nice maps and if you are going to sell your map to someone that is the software to use.

It occurred to me afterwards that playing with mapping programs is something that I do for fun - what you found frustrating may have been part of my enjoyment. And, as with so many things, if you enjoy doing something then you are more likely to like what you end up with. Frustration can beget frustration. While I do not make maps for publication I do make them to hang on my wall and look pretty.

That I enjoy map programs does speak volumes about how user unfriendly CC2 was - even I did not enjoy playing with it. I did not do much more than take a peek at CC2 Pro - I gather that some of the problems I had with CC2 got addressed.

Also, I was not going from AutoRealm to CC3 - I went from AutoRealm (and a host of others) to Fractal Mapper (6, 7, and even 8, even though I already had CC3... like I said, I enjoy mapping programs).

Fractal Mapper might be a good compromise between our extremes - a decent program, with a good range of both features and graphic elements. TheFool1972 (Ancient Awakenings) on these forums made a nice set of tools for making towns in FM7 that more than doubled my use of the program.

The Auld Grump

 

[FoolishFrost]

Fractal Mapper might be a good compromise between our extremes - a decent program, with a good range of both features and graphic elements. TheFool1972 (Ancient Awakenings) on these forums made a nice set of tools for making towns in FM7 that more than doubled my use of the program.

The Auld Grump

You might want to find a place to re-release that old set of tools, Auld! I honestly have been out of RPGs for the last couple of years, and the old system died, along with the copy of that toolkit.

Honestly, I'm glad people got use out of it. I made those tools especially for making the Valley of Frozen Tears maps, and they saved me more time making a few maps than they lost me making them, really.

Anyway, AA's mostly shutdown now. We just dumped our line of books down to $0.10 each, and plan on just setting them up for free someplace if they decide to hold them. We've moved on like a lot of people to virtual development.

They call me Foolish Frost now.

Anyway, have fun, whatever you do!

 

[Aloïsius]

I think I know why those programs are so damn annoying : they want to do too much different things.

A world map is not a cities map is not a dungeon map, and yet those programs try to do all that.

I would rather have many specific programs, each tailored to its use, than those bloated CAD derived things.

1) a simple one for drawing regional/worl map. You just need to define landmasses (or more precisely, coastlines, because all of them should not be fractal...), rivers and terrain type (eg : this area is forest, this area is desert, this area is jungle, this are is mountain...), plus a few symbols for cities and other special sites. You don't need to have the bazillions tools/menus/buttons that are cramped on the CC3 UI to make that !
If you want to put advanced options, the ability to choose between "plane" cartography and "spherical" cartography would be nice.


2) A simple program to make city plans. There is no need to integrate it within the worldmapper ! And above all, no need to mix their UI so as to create a huge confusing stuff. Just a few options : size, type of towns (medieval, western, modern, futuristic...), and the tools required to draw the main avenues, place landmarks (hill, rivers, cliff, temples, castel...).

3) same kindof thing for dungeons.

Above all, what would be nice would be to have fantasy mapping oriented UI, and not CAD based ones. This would make the UI much more intuitive to casual cartographers, aka the vast majority of players.

 

[fademaster]

RPGplaneMapMaker

Try this (it's for Photoshop CS3 or better version)

DM tips + Map Maker | RPGplane

 

[Blastin]

Lol...seeing as the OP was from 2008...I'm not sure he's still looking

 

[fademaster]

I know

Topics are read by all people who look for the same thing. So here's my answer again (because we started a new page). RPGplaneMapMaker

 

[Jupp]

Having used both applications for quite some time I have to say that CC3 is superior to Dundjinni mainly for the sophisticated functions that you would normally find in a CAD program. The complexity of CC3 is much lower than it was with CC2 so I'd say that in terms of a learning curve it is not that far away from Dundjinni IF you want to achive the same things in both applications. CC3 has a quite powerful toolset and if you would want to have the same results in Dundjinni you will have to fudge around some of the limitations that Dundjinni has, which can cost alot of time.

I have to agree that the user created content surpasses the one of CC3 but fortunately you can rip all the content from the Dundjinni forums and plug it directly in to CC3.

Obviously my vote goes to CC3. The only real hindrance is the high price of CC3 but if you are willing to make that step I think it's worth the investment.

Edit says: Even if the thread is that old. The question about which mapping tool is good or best resurfaces every few weeks. So in that regard we just saved another persons time on creating a new post asking this question

 

[Andaran]

map maker to create a land map?

Since a long time I'm on my search for the right map maker. I stumbled over a lot of map makers and reduced the (probably) best map makers to:

• campaign cartographer 3
• fractal mapper 8.0
• dundjinni

Unfortunately I'm still as confused as I was when I started my search. I really hope you guys can help me finding the best map maker for me.

Spoiler: short story why I need a map maker

Some years ago I started a D&D campaign in an own world and created a small map of the kingdom and its sourroundings. (crayons and paper for the win!) My plan was to start the campaign in that kingdom and to fill the world, main events, et cetera with playing time, exploration of my groups characters and so on. I ever had a plan of the world in my head so I drew one sheet of paper after sheet of paper. It all started with a DIN A4 sheet, nowadays that map is larger than DIN A1 size. (I guess in north america you have other sizes? DIN A4 = 8.27 × 11.69 inches and DIN A1 = 23.4 x 33.1 inches or 2x "ledger")

After years the paper is dirty and the adhesive tape on the map back is not very ornamental.
​

I tried a map maker 2 or 3 years ago but my map looked awful and all other stuff I found was too complicated for a casual mapper like me. Now I found that programs above.

What I need the map maker for:
I do not want to create dungeons or cities or floor tiles. I just need a map maker to re-draw my map, to expand that map and to print that map. (probably in a copy shop)
At last it should be a good looking map (like at the campaign cartographer gallery).

What is my skill level:
basement to first floor.
I do not have much time to spend (sadly!) and I am far away from beeing an professional grafics artist. I'm just a casual user. So I do not want learn that map maker program for hours and hours before I can start to re-draw my map. (okay I would spend some hours but not days..)

I ogle with the CC3, plus fractal terrains 3 and the fantasy overland addon but I'm not sure about the difficulty.

So the last question is for you guys:
what map maker would you advice me to buy?

 

[TanisFrey]

I have been mapping a bit more old school. In part because I have little artistic talent. I have been using Hexographer, it allows you to use the only BECM hex style maps. You can some features be hand drawn like rivers, roads, coastlines and political borders or you can have them snap to the hex corners. If you just want a random map, it will do that and you then add in things like city/town/village/fortification locations. It has options for DM only icons and you can embed child maps (zoom in for certain locations). It even allows you to import a hand drawn (or real world) map for a base for your map.

I find it extremely useful because I have little drawing talent. Everyone has a different abilities and this may be useful to others like myself or you just like the style.