Mapping software

[Vargr]

Originally Posted by Paragon

Hexographer is good for what it is, but people need to be aware what that is: terrain hex maps (and Traveller style sector/system maps); if you also want something for buildings or battlemaps, its not going to do it.

Quite right.

The mapping software seem to be divided into two main sectors (as far as I can tell):
- Really strong and capable world mapping, that also requires time and studying to get right
- Battle maps/table top maps for combat

And then Hexographer, that allows you to make world maps but without all the bells and whistles of - say - Fractal Mapper or CC3.
And in Hex mode, but it gets the job done, is easy and fast to work with.

And I think there must be others like me, who would love to make fantastic maps in CC3 or Fractal Mapper but does not have the time nor the inclination to spend time studying yet another application.

Hence the mentioning of Hexographer.

[MNBlockHead]

Learning CC3 is worth the effort. Set aside 2 hours to go through the Joe Sweeny "Overland Mapping with Campaign Cartographer" videos and build "Parrot Island" along with him. After you do that you'll be able to build a pretty professional looking overland map. You may have to refer back on a few things but it is worth the time. Once you get a feel for the program and know where to find the main tools you need, you'll love how easy it is to put together great maps.

What I really love about it is that I can take an existing map, enter it as a laywer at scale and then trace over it. I use this a lot because I have a huge "known world" map that someone helped me with and they didn't use CC3 so I only have a high-res JPEG. But I can screen clip and crop a section of it and put it into to CC3 to make area maps pretty quickly, put a properly scaled grid over it and made a non-grid sepia "players" version.

Now that I can make decent overland and area maps, and I'm able to quickly build out cities with city designer 3 (though I still need to make time to go through some proper tutorials), my next thing to tackle is dungeon designer, which will save me quite a bit of money. Too often do I find my self needing to prepare for a session with not enough time and just buy a "bandits hideout" or tavern or something that I need to round things out. If I can get my dungeon designer skills up to my overland mapping skills I should be able to spit out various buildings quickly.

Actually, one of my favorite features is that you can select a building in city designer and have it map out that building in dungeon designer. I just need to improve my dungeon designer skills to properly customize the results.

If you don't mind the price, I highly encourage investing the time to learn the program. Just set aside a day or an hour every night or so. The time you'll save and the money and the pride at really being able to do your own world building is well worth the investment.

[Paragon]

By the way, if anyone is interested in a really simple hex mapping program with an interesting tier-up/tier-down function, this might be of interest:

http://www.mentalwasteland.net/HexMapper/

[Vargr]

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

Learning CC3 is worth the effort.

Yes, you are probably right.

But between my job, my wife and preparing my game sessions, I don't feel like I have the time for that.

If only I could get the salary without the time-consuming job...

Nah, that's OK - I like my job.

[Dark Lord Galen]

Originally Posted by Paragon

By the way, if anyone is interested in a really simple hex mapping program with an interesting tier-up/tier-down function, this might be of interest:

http://www.mentalwasteland.net/HexMapper/

Its an interesting approach.

Originally Posted by Hexmapper

"Any hex can be decomposed into 49 sub-hexes. Once decomposed, a hex is represented as the average of its sub-hexes, recursively. "

Although I wonder if it is constrained by being tied to java (as so many programs can be), and file bloat could become an issue. It would certainly mimic the Darlene type maps of the greyhawk days.

Thanks for sharing Paragon!

[Paragon]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord Galen

Its an interesting approach.

Although I wonder if it is constrained by being tied to java (as so many programs can be), and file bloat could become an issue. It would certainly mimic the Darlene type maps of the greyhawk days.

Thanks for sharing Paragon!

I used it a bit for one campaign, and I can see some risk of file bloat. But honestly, its only liable to be an issue if you try to really map down all over; and there's no overwhelming reason to do that. What I ended up with was some areas that had propagated down quite a bit, some that did it part way, and some were just high level maps. The Java issue is of course a potential problem in the long term, but as you say, its not alone in that.

[MNBlockHead]

Originally Posted by Vargr

... between my job, my wife and preparing my game sessions, I don't feel like I have the time for that.

I hear you. CC3 sat for months mostly unused after I bought it, but after finally making the time to learn it, I wish I had skipped some gaming and game prep and made the time because it has radically improved my game prep.

Reamworks is the same way. It is easy to buy and then be overwhelmed and not use or under-use, but taking a few hours to go through all the materials, read the forums, watch videos, pays big dividends.

[weogarth]

Chiming in (in no particular order):

I use CC3, infrequently, and pay for it with having to semi-relearn it every time. I need to just keep using it steadily. I have many maps which need to go from scribbles on paper to CC3 to properly share with my players and help stay organized. Ok, ok....GET organized.

Tutorials are NOT optional for this software but you'll love it. I appreciate the tips about the vids and Parrot Island.

DLG's list of questions is quite nice. No, I'm not smart enough to do that.

I own CC3 and most add-ons and about 4 years of the Annual. On top of that, RW, HeroLab, MyInfo (what I used before RW) and Fantasy Grounds II. So yeah, mid/upper-level nutter here.

One of my players (quasi-co-GM) and a GM of another campaign I play in uses Photoshop for her maps. She does an amazing job. PS is more expensive than CC I think but she'd already had it as she's an artsy type who likes to draw.

[jkthomsen9]

I am curious. I mainly use AP's for my campaigns. Are you able to import PDF's in CC?

[AEIOU]

You can convert a PDF to a PNG and import it as a background. I sometimes do this if I want to "trace" a map. Then when I'm done, I can delete the background layer to make the file smaller.

You can't edit the PNG of the PDF but you can draw over it, make it transparent, add to it....