Battlemap - Dark Alley-

[Chronist]

The Battlemap shows a Backyard Alley of Port Grim. The small port is located on the east coast of Maracasar. The alley is well suited for an ambush. So far I like the Map - the only thing I want to change is the Lines of the Grid.
If someone has a idear how to make some nice Batllemap Gridlines, i will be happy

[Kitafox]

I think it looks good. Just the wood floor makes the grid disappear and could be a challenge.

[Arkidemis]

I like what you've done so far. I have a couple suggestions though. The scale in the top right feels a bit off being out of line with the grid. As for the gridlines themselves, perhaps making them a bit more bolded?

[wdmartin]

Grids: Consider lowering your grid lines layer. At the moment, the lines are superimposed on top of everything, which means the grid is hovering in mid-air somewhere above the tree tops.

Instead, I'd suggest placing the grid lines at foot level. They should pass underneath things like barrels, walls, trees and so on. Doing so helps establish the illusion of depth. If the grid line vanishes when it comes to a wall, that reinforces the perception that the wall is "on top" or "above" the line, even though really it's a two-dimensional image.

I wrote up some further thoughts on grids in an earlier post which may be relevant here.

Shadows: Where is your global light source? Some of the buildings are throwing shadows up and right, suggesting a light source in the bottom left; but others are throwing shadows up and left, suggesting a light source in the bottom right. Some of your barrels have shadows on all sides -- which is called ambient occlusion, and it's not necessarily bad but can be overdone -- while other barrels have no shadows at all. Getting your shadows going in a consistent direction will help a lot to tie the map together visually.

Also, your shadows could be darker. The map title says "Dark Alley", but it's pretty bright and sunny.

Detailing: From the point of verisimilitude, it's weird that all of the buildings are totally empty while the alley way is full of stuff. Based on the map title, it sounds like the houses are not actually the point; this is a battle map of an alley, and the contents of the houses are irrelevant. That being the case, consider putting roofs on the houses.

Set Dressing: It looks like you're using a mixture of pre-made assets for set dressing. Some of them are photo-realistic, like the barrels. Others are hand-drawn, like the rubble. Both styles are certainly workable, but it's a bit jarring to put them side-by-side like this. The obvious mismatch breaks the illusion pretty thoroughly. Pick one and stick with it for any given map.

I tend to do photorealistic, because it's a lot easier to get good quality canned assets in that style and my drawing skills are minimal at best. But if you can draw, or are willing to take the time to learn, you'll always be able to make the perfect doodad to fit your map. Hand-drawn maps can be absolutely gorgeous.

[Chronist]

Well thanks a lot for all the hints ;-) i alrready put the grid to the foot level. where the light is coming from i will think about, same to the different shadow style and the darkness of the alley shadows. If I make the shadows much darker, I am afraid of losing the details - which for my personal feeling are more important.
Maybe I'll just light a candle when we play the scenario and dark the rest of the rpg - room. but i will play a little with darkness at least.
The fact that the buildings are empty has a simple reason, the players do not see what is in the buildings, but they can still enter and then I set up the scenario in the building.
You are totally right with the two different styles i use. I chosse what i like and than mixed it, but I take the note seriously and try to find a way.
thank you very much wdMartin

[Chronist]

Well, I've reworked the Dark Alley. I think I can leave the Gridlines like that.
There are two main problems here, on the one hand the shadows of the alley seem very dark. The second is that I would like to have gridlines and the floor layer below the furniture layer.
To shade the Alley, I drew an extra line (Shadowline) on the Shadowlayer and then used the Sheet effect Outer Glow and Blur. These effects however ensure that the shadow on both sides of the Shadadowline is active

If the shadolayer is now above the floor layers, the shadow shines inside the building as well. I want to avoid that.

The Shadowlayer must therefore be located below the Floorlayers and above the Furniture layer so that the shade goes over the Furniture.

But if I now want the Gridlines run above the Floorlayers but below the Furniturlayers I get a problem. Since I have to place the furniture layer below the shadow layer, which is below the floor layer, while the gridline layer is above the floor layer.
Hell it is complicated, the easiest way is to create the four layers just with dd3, then the problem is probably clearer
or perhaps even easier to explain to me how to get a shadow that shines only to one side of my Shadowline.

[wdmartin]

Looks better! The more consistent shadows help, and the darkness looks fine to me.

What software are you using? If it's Photoshop or Gimp, you can use a mask on your shadow layer to mask out the areas that you don't want to fall in shadow. Either that or use a soft brush on a low flow to sketch in your shadows manually. But masks are probably faster.

In case you have Photoshop, here's a quick demo, as a JPG:



And the original PSD file:



This demonstrates a bunch of ways to add light and shadow, including:

1) The Outer Glow layer style (on the walls and door, set to black, low opacity, precise distance, multiply mode)
2) The Drop Shadow layer style (on the tree)
3) Adding general darkness (a layer of dark blue, multiply mode, low opacity, masked)
4) Adding shadows (two layers of black, multiply mode, low opacity, masked)
5) Adding general light (two layers of white, overlay mode, low opacity, masked)
6) Adding spot lights (around the candles, layer of yellow, overlay mode, masked)

I didn't get in the low-flow brush mode, but in that case you can draw in shadows by:

1) Make a new transparent layer, set to multiply mode
2) Brush tool; use a soft brush, set the flow at 5%
3) Click and drag where you want the shadow
4) Repeat #3 over and over until you're satisfied with the shadow.

The low flow setting means only a little bit of black gets deposited with each pass, so that you can slowly build up shadows where you want them.

[Chronist]

at the moment i try to learn ProFantasy´s DD3 but to work with Photoshop is also possible - i like more to work with Corel Photoshop but I think it´s nearly the same

but i´m thankful for leading me to a other option of mapmaking

[Niztael]

You don't see a lot of maps with that kind of foliage.