Adobe for gamers

[BiggusGeekus]

I'm using illustrator to make maps. Anyone know of a quick-and-dirty tutorial on line that addresses gaming needs?

 

[MJEggertson]

I hate that program. We have it at work, and I still use Paint because I can't get Illustrator to do anyting. 30 minutes of playing, and I still couldn't get the damn thing to draw a straight line...and the so called 'help' system is just awful.

I'd love to see a good tutorial too, because, well MS Paint sucks (but at least I can get it to do stuff).

 

[cybernetic]

I use Adobe Photoshop, several Macromedia Programs (Freehand, Flash, & Fireworks) and Corel Painter...but some of them are somewhat hard to learn....Flash has some really good vector drawing tools....while Paint Shop Pro is prolly the easiest pro art program you can find...its fairly easy to learn without help and is almost as powerful as photoshop...I've never really liked Illustrator myself...but I have it..

 

[kreynolds]

I still couldn't get the damn thing to draw a straight line

Use the line tool. That's what it's there for. I make all of my maps with illustrator, and it works pretty darn good. Here's one of them.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I like that map, K. Reynolds. But all I really want to do is make black-and-white dungeon maps. So basically, I'll be happy with knowing how to make a grid.

 

[kreynolds]

I like that map, K. Reynolds. But all I really want to do is make black-and-white dungeon maps. So basically, I'll be happy with knowing how to make a grid.

There's a Grid tool in Illustrator 10 as well. It's pretty slick. The alternative to the Grid tool, if you don't have the latest version, is to create multiple squares and duplicate them across the page, preferably on their own layer. Basically, without the Grid tool, it's kinda tedious, but it works.

You can see some of my black and white maps here...
Wizard's Lab 1
Wizard's Lab 2
Wizard's Lab 3

 

[annadobritt]

Use the line tool. That's what it's there for. I make all of my maps with illustrator, and it works pretty darn good. Here's one of them.

How the heck did you get the shadowing under the the word

"Vauncalla"? That is great. But why does the map look like it was done in CC2?

 

[kreynolds]

How the heck did you get the shadowing under the the word

That part is really easy. Simply type the text you want to shadow and give it a black fill and a black stroke. Now, copy that text object and "paste in front". Tap your left and up arrow keys two to four times to get the distance you want, then give the text a white fill with the same black stroke. Voila!

"Vauncalla"?

Yeah, I pulled the name outta my butt.

But why does the map look like it was done in CC2?

I got a lot of my inspiration for top-down maps from CC2. I initially started mapping using CC2, but found it far to cumbersome and clunky to do what I wanted. So, I recreated a lot of the buildings in Illustrator by hand and made quite a few from scratch. That was the time consuming part. Once that was done, it was a simple matter of copy and past. The illustrator file for that map is also built in multiple layers, such as landscape, markets, building types, streets, lakes, folliage, walls, gates, legend, compass, etc, etc. Mostly, I just like the look of the maps from CC2, but like I said, I found it way too cumbersome.

 

[annadobritt]

That part is really easy. Simply type the text you want to shadow and give it a black fill and a black stroke. Now, copy that text object and "paste in front". Tap your left and up arrow keys two to four times to get the distance you want, then give the text a white fill with the same black stroke. Voila!

Yeah, I pulled the name outta my butt.

I got a lot of my inspiration for top-down maps from CC2. I initially started mapping using CC2, but found it far to cumbersome and clunky to do what I wanted. So, I recreated a lot of the buildings in Illustrator by hand and made quite a few from scratch. That was the time consuming part. Once that was done, it was a simple matter of copy and past. The illustrator file for that map is also built in multiple layers, such as landscape, markets, building types, streets, lakes, folliage, walls, gates, legend, compass, etc, etc. Mostly, I just like the look of the maps from CC2, but like I said, I found it way too cumbersome.

I really like how it turns out in Illustrator. I just got Illustrator 10, but haven't started using it yet.

It's funny, but after I learned how to use CC2 I find it hard to learn how to use other programs to make maps. I know you need to set aside time for working with new programs, which is probably part of my problem.

But the maps you've done with Illustrator are really great.

And thanks for the tip on how to do the shadowing for lettering.

 

[kreynolds]

But the maps you've done with Illustrator are really great.

Thanks. I've been working on building some Illustrator templates; files with all my buildings, structures, swatch colors, etc. Once those are done, I'll be putting them up on my FTP server for others to use.

And thanks for the tip on how to do the shadowing for lettering.

Not a problem.