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Thread: Help - How to label a map with many deep colours?

  1. #1

    Help Help - How to label a map with many deep colours?

    Any suggestions on how to label the attached map which I've started in GIMP?

    There are many deep colours in the map, which makes it difficult for labels to stand out.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  2. #2
    Administrator Redrobes's Avatar
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    The usual method is to have a glow around the text which is in a colour that makes the text maintain contrast. For this map your glow could be a lighter shade of the background map. You could add a layer of white with a mask and where you put text down you mask in a bit of white. You can get some apps to put the glow on for you. Or you can use something like image magick which can add glow to text. Or you can greate the text in black on a new layer, blur it a lot so that it spreads out a bit and use that as the mask. Inkscape is probably the best app for doing text but it can seem a bit fiddly to start with. It has nice control over putting down text along curved paths.

    Have a search for some of Ravells maps as he had great text labeling on a lot of his maps.

    The first one I came across from him is an excellent example:
    https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=15718
    Last edited by Redrobes; 07-18-2019 at 06:47 AM.

  3. #3
    Guild Journeyer Misjay Maps's Avatar
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    I haven't used GIMP for a while.... is it able to put a white line around the text? in a layer style?
    or you could make little white boxes for the text to sit in/on... or scrolls or something like that?
    I have seen other people make little icon badges for each location and the name is a part of the badge. ...

  4. #4
    Professional Artist Tiana's Avatar
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    I don't know about Gimp, but you can use Photopea, an in-browser Photoshop clone which will let you stick a stroke on your text with ease. I'd also grab a more unified texture instead of just the rendered clouds option, something nice and parchmenty or a watercolor wash and stick it on an overlay type layer, you can really pull the shading in a more painted direction with the right texture decision. Right now, the texture is quite severe in both light and darks, and different coloration, so if you were to use just that, the only way to get a good read on the text will be with a heavy stroke of black around white, or white around black. It is too strong of a texture to pull off the "glow" option which is pretty typical as demonstrated above.

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  5. #5
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    Simple way:
    1. Write the label using the writing tool. Size and place it over an area that's uniformly dark (don't have it run over one of your mountains)
    2. Make the label white.
    3. (Optional) Repeat as necessary for all your labels that go into dark areas, then merge them all into a single layer called "White labels."
    4. Duplicate your white label layer.
    5. Move the white label layer copy to underneath the white label layer.
    6. Go to Filters-Blur-Gaussian Blur and blur the underlying white label layer copy. You want the edges of your white labels to look very fuzzy, and you don't want any sharpness to where the fuzzy begins.
    7. Go to Colors-Invert for the white label layer copy.
    8. Now click on your white label layer and use a Drop Shadow filter. This will introduce some extra contrast and make your labels pop a bit more.
    9. Lower the opacity of your white label layer. A good starting point is 25% or so, but you can adjust as necessary.
    10. Use your "Select by Color" tool and click on a letter in the White Label Layer.
    11. Keeping that selection, click on your dropshadow layer, and hit the delete button.
    12. Keeping that same selection, click on your white label copy layer and hit the delete button.
    13. Balance the opacities of the three layers to something you like. I usually go with around 25% for the white label layer, 50% for the white label layer copy, and 35% for the dropshadow layer.

    Longer method:
    1. Import your image into Inkscape. Place this image in its own layer and lock the layer. Create a new layer called "Labels"
    2. Write out all your labels as independent text objects.
    3. Create curves where you want these labels to go using the Bezier tool.
    4. Select each label with its corresponding curve and hit Text-Put On Path.
    5. Adjust the spacing and size of the text as necessary.
    6. Lock your Labels layer.
    7. Unlock your underlying image layer.
    8. Click on the underlying image.
    9. Hide the underlying image layer.
    10. Export the selection as a PNG in the same size as the original image. Name this "White labels"
    11. Now in GIMP, open the White Labels.png as a layer.
    12. Follow the first series of steps.

    If you have predominantly light areas, you can follow the same steps with black labels; just don't use the "drop shadows" filter. You might try this with your water areas, which are quite bright, but you might do just as well to darken the water or just use light labels on them, too.

    If you want to make certain types of labels pop out, you can use a bevel/emboss filter and drop shadow filter to give them a solid look. You can use this to make them look shiny and metallic by placing the dropshadow layer above the label layer, too. Solid labels work best when they're small or on top of nothing interesting, because they cover up terrain.

    Hope this helps.

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