Recommend me a Battlemap creation tool

[jrh18]

I use Clip Studio paint with resources from patreon organizations, specifically Forgotten Adventures, but other patreons create resources too. I find that using a painting tool like CSP with layers and materials allows for a lot more control over the end map.

 

[LordEntrails]

I did consider Campaign Cartographer, but it looked my geared towards creating overland/town maps rather than the sort of 5x5 battlemaps i am after, I could be wrong though?

The core package is geared to overland maps. The City Designer has cities icons and the ability to generate random houses along a road and other "city/civilization" types of things. Dungeon Designer has what you want for dungeons AND for battle maps; top down symbols, wall and ground fills, etc.

And there are various Annuals that have different styles so you can change the look of your map as well. Plus, if you like the Way Mike Schley's maps look, then you can buy the Cities of Schley or the Dungeons of Schley add-ons to get a bunch of symbols he made in his own style plus color palettes etc so you can make maps that look near identical to his.

Also, the PF community is pretty darn amazing and friendly. Don't underestimate the importance of the community. Besides the PF forums, their is also a FB group; Campaign Cartographer 3+ Facebook User Group

I mostly do battlemaps myself, and if you want to take a look, I have some of mine posted here; quality varies, but none of them took me very long to make; Lord Entrail's Maps - Page 2

There are also a few I've posted on imgur like this one;
BUT, you have to decide what you want/need. Not every package is going to be best for everyone.

 

[Zio_the_dark]

Also for campaign cartographer you can take a look to The Vintyri™ Project for free add-ons

 

[Nilbog]

The core package is geared to overland maps. The City Designer has cities icons and the ability to generate random houses along a road and other "city/civilization" types of things. Dungeon Designer has what you want for dungeons AND for battle maps; top down symbols, wall and ground fills, etc.

And there are various Annuals that have different styles so you can change the look of your map as well. Plus, if you like the Way Mike Schley's maps look, then you can buy the Cities of Schley or the Dungeons of Schley add-ons to get a bunch of symbols he made in his own style plus color palettes etc so you can make maps that look near identical to his.

Also, the PF community is pretty darn amazing and friendly. Don't underestimate the importance of the community. Besides the PF forums, their is also a FB group; Campaign Cartographer 3+ Facebook User Group

I mostly do battlemaps myself, and if you want to take a look, I have some of mine posted here; quality varies, but none of them took me very long to make; Lord Entrail's Maps - Page 2

There are also a few I've posted on imgur like this one;
BUT, you have to decide what you want/need. Not every package is going to be best for everyone.

Your maps look amazing! CC3, loks a great package, I may have to take a peak

 

[Fanaelialae]

I like to use Dungeon Painter Studio for dungeon maps. It's a very easy tool to learn and use, and has useful features like grouping a set of tiles together (say a fully furnished room) so that you can drag it as a unit to anywhere else on the map.

For overworld maps, I prefer Wonderdraft. It's again a toolset that's easy to learn and use, and while I haven't managed to produce anything nearly as nice as @LordEntrails I'm always happy with the results from Wonderdraft, despite my dearth of artistic talent.

I tried CC3, and went though the various tutorials, but I just couldn't seem to get the hang of it. I understood how to do things in theory, but I couldn't seem to get them to come out the way I wanted in practice (or to even look good). Just my 2 cents.

 

[LordEntrails]

Your maps look amazing! CC3, loks a great package, I may have to take a peak

Thanks
Just make sure when you start you forget what you know about making maps in other applications and do the CC tutorials. A lot of those maps in that thread are the tutorial maps. So I did those when I had little experience with CC. IMO, that shows how easy it is to get great results.

 

[Zio_the_dark]

Just make sure when you start you forget what you know about making maps in other applications and do the CC tutorials.

Really follow this advice otherwise you'll think that CC3 was a waste of money