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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jürgen Hubert" data-source="post: 3444926" data-attributes="member: 7177">Thanks to <a href="http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?8659.last" target="_blank">Ra-Tiel</a>, I figured out a nifty new trick for scaleable random maps with coastlines and height lines.First of all, call up <a href="http://direpress.bin.sh/tools/world.cgi" target="_blank">this site</a> and create a random map you feel comfortable with. Use higher scales if you want more detail. (First Attachment)Load the map into GIMP. Now you need to divide the map into clear, distinct colors representing the ocean, ice caps, and different elevations. For the purposes of this tutorial, I will use three different land heights. First, change Image->Mode to RPG - GIF images like these maps have predefined palettes, and if you continue to use them you will not be able to pick your colors freely.Use the Select by Color tool and pick a low but non-zero tolerance (I used 32). Select an ocean color with it. Then press the SHIFT key and klick on the other ocean colors until you have all ocean areas in your selection. Bucket fill the selection with a nice blue color. Use the same procedure with the ice caps, but fill it with white. (Second Attachment)Go back to the Select by Color tool and select a lower tolerance (I picked 16). Select the highest elevations and expand from them (you will need to decide for yourself how much of the land masses should be at these elevations). Fill it with a grey color. (Third Attachment)Select the next lower elevations and fill them with orange. Fill the remaining land masses and fill them with green. (Fourth Attachment)Now save the image as a PNG file - not as jpg, since we want the colors as crisp as possible and jpegs always have some weird pixelating effects at boundary areas. Load the image into Inkscape. Select the bitmap, and use Path->Trace Path: Multiple Scans with Color and 8 scans.And now you have a vectorized map with height lines which you can scale as much as you want, and which you can now use further with Inkscape or export as a new map in a different scale. (Fifth Attachment)There seem to be some sort of weird effects when the colors you picked are too similar to each other. But I am trying to work them out...Your thoughts?</blockquote>

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