mapping software out there

[CapNorge]

So, I'm planning on starting a campaign over the winter. I'd like to create and expand on an area of Faerun with lots of local detail and places to be explored.

So, I've seen images of Campaign Cartographer 2 before, and it's looked nice. I checked out the link for Dundjinni and it looks impressive. Has anyone used Dundjinni? Thoughts about on it versus CC2? Comments pro/con for one or both? Is there other mapping software out not as well known about?

I'd be very curious to hear what people say. It's still months away, but excited about creating and running a full-blown corner of a world again.

Thanks.

 

[Malar's Cow]

I've used Campaign Cartographer in conjunction with the FR Interactive Atlas. You can load any of the hundreds of maps into CC2, and then edit them at any scale you like. CC2 produces great maps, but it took a long time for me to get used to all of the options, and several crumpled printouts littered my den floor before I was able to get the map just right.

I've never tried Dundjinni.

 

[Kershek]

CC2 is like a CAD program, so prepared to learn arcane ways to draw things. There's also Gridsmith (http://www.gridsmith.com) but the owners haven't been responding for a while.

Perhaps this should be in the software forum?

 

[Plane Sailing]

I tried the demo version of Dundjinni and it appeared at that point to be a Java app which ran dog-slow on my PC and was difficult to get to grips with (unintuitive compared to most other graphics software I've used, which is quite a lot).

Cheers

 

[Targeteron]

my experience is totally opposite to Plane Sailing. I have and use dundjinni frequently. Even before reading the manual and just starting to play with it i achieved some amazing results. One can learn it pretty fast imho. I would suggest visiting the forums on the dundjinni website and check the user creation area. there are alot of examples there. Granted its not as well suited for maps of whole continents or worlds as is CC2, but i find it alot easier to handle. also the upcoming patch for their Campaign artpack looks quiet promising. It is still a Java application and needs a healthy amount of ram to run smoothly if you want to draw really large and very detailed maps. I highly recommend it tough.

 

[Zulithe]

I agree Dundjinni runs slowly, mostly since it requires Java. any complex Java software isn't going to give you decent performance unless you have a PC with a 1gigahertz processor or better (which is not uncommon these days, but mine is a bit slower)

I personally paint mine in Photoshop. They aren't as exacting but they are very stylized and don't look like something CC2 puts out (which all look very similar, regardless of your design style)

 

[Hand of Evil]

You also have AutoRealms (free), NBOS Fractal Mapper, and Dungon Creator.

I am a CC2 user and is is a lot easier to use than it once was. Dundjinni looks nice but I did not like the interface (personal thing) and it was a resource hog.

Check out the the Software forum and the Art, Cartogrphy forums for thoughts and examples.

http://www.enworld.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=55

http://www.enworld.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=6