Which is the best drawing program for generating maps?

[jameswilliamogle]

I haven't had too much (well, any) experience w/ Photoshop (nor do I have access on my home computer, anyways), and I'm guessing there's some shareware out there that I could use for making maps and such. Anyone have any links? I'm looking for ease of use, primarily. Thanks in advance!

 

[helium3]

What kind of map do you want to make. If you're looking for something generic you could always go with one of the campaign cartographer programs. If you want something that looks hand drawn, you could use Inkscape. It's similar to photoshop, but doesn't cost you any money and is relatively stable.

 

[Pbartender]

What kind of map do you want to make. If you're looking for something generic you could always go with one of the campaign cartographer programs. If you want something that looks hand drawn, you could use Inkscape. It's similar to photoshop, but doesn't cost you any money and is relatively stable.

That's what you used for your Burning Sky map, right?

I might have to try it out.

 

[awayfarer]

My MERP group uses Dundjinni and I will say it's a pretty nice program. On the downside it is rather expensive, upwards of $60 IIRC.

Dungeoncrafter is alright if you're willing to work around its little foibles. You can make your own tiles in another program (such as MS paint) and jsut set them in a folder where you can easily access them once inside the program. DC is very easy to get the hang of but your options within it are a bit limited. The main draw here is the price, which is $0.00

 

[JVisgaitis]

For something that's free, try the GIMP. Also, I have a thread where I'm showing people how I created my entry for the Burning Sky Contest and some other people are chiming in and showing how they create maps. Here's a link to that thread: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=187863

 

[helium3]

That's what you used for your Burning Sky map, right?

I might have to try it out.

yeah . . that and some other stuff. i'll put up a more detailed response in jvis' thread.

 

[jameswilliamogle]

thanks, everyone! this gives me a lot to look over; i'll check out that other thread. I'm mainly looking for dungeon quality maps, that i can print out and use on the table. It just adds so much more depth. For large cities and the campaign world, I don't mind scanning handdrawn maps, as they won't be used as much.

 

[AE020704]

Also, AutoRealm is actually surprisingly good, and is FREE! Also allows you to create your own tiles for different feels.

See: AutoRealm Home Page

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I'd also like to point out my old Cartography Workshop - all the programs I use in it are Open Source and freely downloadable for multiple operating systems.

 

[airwalkrr]

dundjinni