Quote Originally Posted by EpicBradley129 View Post
...Okay, so if I'm understanding things correctly, there are two main ways I can make this map. The first would be to find some image of England in jpeg, png or bmp format, import that into CC3, trace it, and then use the traced outline with a parchment background. This is actually a promising method, because I can also trace things like roads and rivers and city locations, which otherwise I'd likely have to freehand. My only concern is that tracing the coastline of England, especially in high res, sounds like a very long and arduous task to do by hand, and I'm not sure I could do it very well. Does CC3 have tools that can automate this process or make it easier in some way? Or do I just have to trace everything by hand?...
I keep forgetting that everyone automatically uses the preset drawing tools, because I usually don't bother with them.

If you decide to go down the road of importing and tracing a bitmap...

I trace things using the freehand drawing tool on the right hand toolbar, so it's very much like tracing it with a pencil on a piece of paper. When I've got the tracing right I join all the segments up together (very few people can draw an entire outline all in one go without the need to stop somewhere) using the combine path tool you can get to by right clicking the fractalize button on the left, and then I convert my outline tracing to a polygon by right clicking the fractalize tool again and picking 'convert path to poly'.

Its not an approved method of doing a tracing. I just find it easier than any of the other methods

As for which is faster/better/smoother I really wouldn't know, since I've never imported data and used it to make a map. I don't have the annual, you see