Mapping Software

[Ashrum the Black]

Morning All,

I'm currently attempting to create a new world for my AU campaign and I'm wondering what folks are using to map thier creations. So far I've got four different versions that I've made using MS Paint, and while good enough for the DM (me) I'd love to have something that's prettier and easier to change things around if I just want to try something.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated, and please keep in mind, while the $200 software program may do a wonderful job, something cheaper (free) is better for us poor EDS employee's. Oh, and if you have a suggestion if you can provide a link as well that would be great for both me and any others that are interested in this.

Thanks!

-Ashrum

 

[Hand of Evil]

Autorealms with some playing can provide great results. It's free.
http://autorealm.sourceforge.net/

NBOS Mapper does a lot for the price.

Campaign Cartographer Pro from Profantasy is great.

 

[Ashrum the Black]

Thanks o' mighty Hand of evil. How much of a price are we talking about. I'm not apposed to picking something up, but I don't want to face the wrath of my wife if I tell her I want a $80.00 piece of mapping software.

Thanks!
-Ashurm

 

[Hand of Evil]

Thanks o' mighty Hand of evil. How much of a price are we talking about. I'm not apposed to picking something up, but I don't want to face the wrath of my wife if I tell her I want a $80.00 piece of mapping software.

Thanks!
-Ashurm

NBOS Fractal Mapper v7.0 is $35.00
http://www.nbos.com/index.htm

They have a trial version to can try before you buy.

Profantasy Campaign Cartographer Pro is $76.00 (more with add-ons)
http://www.profantasy.com/

They have a demo you can download too.

 

[Jhamin]

A word of warning: While Campaign Cartographer is one of my favorite software programs, the learing curve is beyond steep.

It is a CAD based program, not a Paint Based one, so all your Photoshop expertese is useless.

Once you get used to the way it works it is very fast and very pretty, but you will be frustrated until you get a few skills under your belt.

 

[Chaz]

Fractal Mapper7 has my vote. Ive been using this program since ver 6. ITS EXCELLENT! Super easy to use and extremely powerfull. It has so many cool features that I cant imagine not using it. Its simple and fast to create whole worlds/continents/islands/caverns/dungeons/starship deck plans etc. etc. that its amazing. Try the demo and tutorial. You wont be sorry.

http://www.nbos.com/

 

[Ashrum the Black]

Thanks guys for all the replies and the recommendations. Looks like I'm going to be doing some research on lunch hour tomorrow.

If anyone else has some recommendations throw them in, I'm still open and haven't setteled on anything yet.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Thanks guys for all the replies and the recommendations. Looks like I'm going to be doing some research on lunch hour tomorrow.

If anyone else has some recommendations throw them in, I'm still open and haven't setteled on anything yet.

Download the demos, play with them, look at examples of maps created.

 

[RC Hagy]

Out of your set price...

I am using Adobe Illustrator 10 (with what I know now I would probably have tried CorelDraw, but anyhow...).
It lets me adjust my objects size and shape in batches or in singles. The layers let me go back in to add or remove things (as long as I keep those 'redundant' final files).
The vector graphics let me scale things up to have a close up view of a certain area for a retouched view of a specific area while maintaining the objects visuals (bitmaps pixal real quick).

Mostly I wanted 10 for the symbols. 100 trees equaling a few Kb come off of one Mb sized object. Unlike when I was using AI9, cutting and pasting and having huge file sizes before I was even half finished.

AI11 will be out soon, Adobe has made a new 'suite' of programs and many Illustrator users dislike 9 and 10 and went back to AI8. So AI10 should be pretty cheap at some point at an auction site.

In short, if you want a little more flexability at some point check out auctions for AI10 or CorelDraw 11 (both have symbols) and you should find one in your price range one day.

www.adobe.com/

www.corel.com/


Hagy
Vermont

 

[Fast Learner]

Macromedia Freehand 9, 10, and MX all have objects as well.

http://www.macromedia.com