D+1
First Post
The learning curve is something nearly everyone who uses CC2 will mention and it tends to scare people off more than it should. CC2 is NOT difficult to use, nor difficult to actually learn to use. It just takes TIME to do it, and to do it RIGHT. It is like buying a computer game and leaping in to play it without even glancing at a manual. You have to work with CC2 to learn HOW it works, WHY it does things the way it does, what implications that has for making it do what you want and finding out what it CAN do, etc.
You can't just buy it, load it and rip off a whole game world map in an hour before the game starts tomorrow. This is software for people who not only don't mind, but actually WANT to put time and effort into their game maps. Essentially treating mapmaking as a related hobby in and of itself. If you consider simply mapping your game world in the first place to be part of the fun, this is the software for you. If all you want is to throw down something in front of the players with the minimum of time and effort - look elsewhere. This is really not software that will make maps FOR you, you have to know what you want, what the software can do, and be willing to spend time to obtain the results you're after.
But again, it isn't that you CAN'T use CC2 to quickly prepare a map. There are examples of people making excellent maps only an hour after being introduced to CC2. The point is what do you want or NEED that map to look like? The more time and effort you WANT to devote to your maps - the better CC2 will work for you. The more time and effor you devote to CC2 itself - the better the maps that you produce with CC2 will be. Some people can produce just ASTOUNDING results with CC2 alone. Others will do work in CC2 and then import the result into Photoshop or the like to spiff it up. Even if the best maps you can do with CC2 are no better than you could produce with pencil and paper then you still have the advantage of being able to change them, reprint them, and manipulate them without having to REDRAW them over and over and over every time.
It cannot be repeated enough that if you buy it you need to do the tutorials to begin to grasp how and why it works the way it does. It's based on CAD software, so it works very differently from "paint" programs. This makes it both more complicated to use (even counter-intuitive), BUT ALSO more powerful and useful in what it can do.
You can't just buy it, load it and rip off a whole game world map in an hour before the game starts tomorrow. This is software for people who not only don't mind, but actually WANT to put time and effort into their game maps. Essentially treating mapmaking as a related hobby in and of itself. If you consider simply mapping your game world in the first place to be part of the fun, this is the software for you. If all you want is to throw down something in front of the players with the minimum of time and effort - look elsewhere. This is really not software that will make maps FOR you, you have to know what you want, what the software can do, and be willing to spend time to obtain the results you're after.
But again, it isn't that you CAN'T use CC2 to quickly prepare a map. There are examples of people making excellent maps only an hour after being introduced to CC2. The point is what do you want or NEED that map to look like? The more time and effort you WANT to devote to your maps - the better CC2 will work for you. The more time and effor you devote to CC2 itself - the better the maps that you produce with CC2 will be. Some people can produce just ASTOUNDING results with CC2 alone. Others will do work in CC2 and then import the result into Photoshop or the like to spiff it up. Even if the best maps you can do with CC2 are no better than you could produce with pencil and paper then you still have the advantage of being able to change them, reprint them, and manipulate them without having to REDRAW them over and over and over every time.
It cannot be repeated enough that if you buy it you need to do the tutorials to begin to grasp how and why it works the way it does. It's based on CAD software, so it works very differently from "paint" programs. This makes it both more complicated to use (even counter-intuitive), BUT ALSO more powerful and useful in what it can do.
