Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Geek Talk & Media
Cartography Workshop
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Silverblade The Ench" data-source="post: 4425402" data-attributes="member: 19083"><p>I actually like using 3d art programs, for doing smaller scale stuff, like a cavern, forts, etc <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Not only can you do top down views, and add grids for scale, but in 3d views you can get a real "feel" for how the actual place looks and would "work", which is important if you're after realism/long term games.</p><p></p><p>I did this version of the "Rock of Bral", an asteroid space port form Spelljammer, early last year. before I got a 64 bit PC, alas. Had reached the limit of what my 32bit PC could take, lol. </p><p>Wanted ot do more detail, so I think I'll have to go back, and completley rebuild it on the new art PC, one day, 8 gigs RAM quad core and 64 bit is amazing!</p><p></p><p>Anyway, I couldn't get more work done on the sides of the asteroid, nor all the mansions/estates, as I wished, due ot simple limitations of RAM.</p><p></p><p>I used the original illustrations of the Rock, to work on a height scale in Photoshop. Note, in Vue or bryce, use 16 bit greyscale images for precision, *NOT* 8bit, or you end up with hellish "staircasing", as 256 (8bit) grey shades doesn't have enough blending, too few colours, so you get a "staircase" or step pyramid blocky look on the terrains, need to export as 16 bit tga or tif</p><p></p><p>I used greysacale images, just simple .gif images will do, to drive "material distribution and ecosystems", that is, a black and white image, is used to tell the program, where on the asteroid model, I want buildings, or rock, or grass.</p><p>So the streets/buildings are based off a simple street map, sort of, and I can vary that at will.</p><p></p><p>Vue uses "ecosystems", you assing trees, or buildings, whatever, and it uses "instances" of them, sort of like ghost copies in memory, so they don'tuse up all your computer memory.</p><p></p><p>You can make armies of soldiers/orcs, or forests, what have you. Here, I used it to replicate a few houses many, many times, in organized 90 degree directions, to give streets of houses.</p><p></p><p>[sblock="The Rock of Bral, in 3D"]</p><p><img src="http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/sj/bral/bral5a1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>[/sblock]</p><p></p><p>THis is an illustration I made years ago in Bryce, for an encounter at a gnoll mine</p><p><a href="http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/erynavar/htm/adventures1.htm" target="_blank">http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/erynavar/htm/adventures1.htm</a></p><p>I built the watch towers in 3D (and give 'em away as a freebie on my site too), and sculpted the terrain inside bryce to fit what I imagined.</p><p>Also did CC maps.</p><p><a href="http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/erynavar/htm/gnollmine.htm" target="_blank">http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/erynavar/htm/gnollmine.htm</a></p><p></p><p>[sblock="Gnoll mine"]</p><p><img src="http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/erynavar/images/excavation2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>[/sblock]</p><p></p><p>And this is a pic from a layout of a hobgoblin mountain cave fortress, created in Rhino3D</p><p></p><p>[sblock="Hobgoblin Fortress"]</p><p><img src="http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/erynavar/images/fortress1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>[/sblock]</p><p></p><p>So, much as I like Campaign Cartogrpaher, Paint Shop Pro...my absolutely crappy drawing skills make me go towards 3D <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silverblade The Ench, post: 4425402, member: 19083"] I actually like using 3d art programs, for doing smaller scale stuff, like a cavern, forts, etc :) Not only can you do top down views, and add grids for scale, but in 3d views you can get a real "feel" for how the actual place looks and would "work", which is important if you're after realism/long term games. I did this version of the "Rock of Bral", an asteroid space port form Spelljammer, early last year. before I got a 64 bit PC, alas. Had reached the limit of what my 32bit PC could take, lol. Wanted ot do more detail, so I think I'll have to go back, and completley rebuild it on the new art PC, one day, 8 gigs RAM quad core and 64 bit is amazing! Anyway, I couldn't get more work done on the sides of the asteroid, nor all the mansions/estates, as I wished, due ot simple limitations of RAM. I used the original illustrations of the Rock, to work on a height scale in Photoshop. Note, in Vue or bryce, use 16 bit greyscale images for precision, *NOT* 8bit, or you end up with hellish "staircasing", as 256 (8bit) grey shades doesn't have enough blending, too few colours, so you get a "staircase" or step pyramid blocky look on the terrains, need to export as 16 bit tga or tif I used greysacale images, just simple .gif images will do, to drive "material distribution and ecosystems", that is, a black and white image, is used to tell the program, where on the asteroid model, I want buildings, or rock, or grass. So the streets/buildings are based off a simple street map, sort of, and I can vary that at will. Vue uses "ecosystems", you assing trees, or buildings, whatever, and it uses "instances" of them, sort of like ghost copies in memory, so they don'tuse up all your computer memory. You can make armies of soldiers/orcs, or forests, what have you. Here, I used it to replicate a few houses many, many times, in organized 90 degree directions, to give streets of houses. [sblock="The Rock of Bral, in 3D"] [img]http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/sj/bral/bral5a1.jpg[/img] [/sblock] THis is an illustration I made years ago in Bryce, for an encounter at a gnoll mine [url]http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/erynavar/htm/adventures1.htm[/url] I built the watch towers in 3D (and give 'em away as a freebie on my site too), and sculpted the terrain inside bryce to fit what I imagined. Also did CC maps. [url]http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/erynavar/htm/gnollmine.htm[/url] [sblock="Gnoll mine"] [img]http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/erynavar/images/excavation2.jpg[/img] [/sblock] And this is a pic from a layout of a hobgoblin mountain cave fortress, created in Rhino3D [sblock="Hobgoblin Fortress"] [img]http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/erynavar/images/fortress1.jpg[/img] [/sblock] So, much as I like Campaign Cartogrpaher, Paint Shop Pro...my absolutely crappy drawing skills make me go towards 3D ;) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Geek Talk & Media
Cartography Workshop
Top