Reply With QuoteDitto what Ascension said...
I'd say that it depends on what your needs are and what you're looking to do. If you're just doing up stuff for your D&D group then it doesn't really have to be all that spectacular so I'd say CC3 is the way to go. CC3 can do some pretty nice things as there is evidence of many maps here that don't look like a CC3 map. If you want to do quick towns, CC3 is the way to go as well. If you can't draw at all then CC3 is also the best way to go.
If, however, you want to get more artsy and learn things for yourself and develop your own style then Photoshop/Gimp is the way to go. The styles are virtually limitless there and are only dependent upon how creative you are and not the people who do the artwork for Pro Fantasy.
Price is also a factor; Gimp/Inkscape are free, CC3 and its add-ons are affordable, Photoshop/Illustrator are pricey.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
Ditto what Ascension said...
My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
I'd stay away from gimpshop, as it is several versions behind the current gimp release, and is (to the best if my knowledge) unsupported.Originally Posted by Darken
If you want a SDI interface for gimp, there is an old plugin for it, or even easier, get portable gimp which gets bundled with a maintained version of said plugin.
-Rob A>
My tutorials: Using GIMP to Create an Artistic Regional Map ~ All My Tutorials
My GIMP Scripts: Rotating Brush ~ Gradient from Image ~ Mosaic Tile Helper ~ Random Density Map ~ Subterranean Map Prettier ~ Tapered Stroke Path ~ Random Rotate Floating Layer ~ Batch Image to Pattern ~ Better Seamless Tiles ~ Tile Shuffle ~ Scale Pattern ~ Grid of Guides ~ Fractalize path ~ Label Points
My Maps: Finished Maps ~ Challenge Entries ~ My Portfolio: www.cartocopia.com
I downloaded Gimpshop yesterday... unfortunately it keeps crashing for me as soon as I want to create a new image. Very frustrating. I noticed it is a bug that has been around since 2005 (obviously only on some configurations).
So I uninstalled and now I am messing with The Gimp. This is the second time I am trying The Gimp. About half a year ago I turned away disgusted because of the interface. I have been editing some images and somehow the interface doesn't seem to bother me anymore.
Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.
Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...
Given that you're a CC3 user, I find that statement hilarious.
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
Haha, now that you mention it...
I feel the need to explain
For general image manipulation I am used to the inferface of either Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. They are pretty similar. Now enter The Gimp, which uses a pretty different interface, to do the same stuff...
Admittedly, CC3 has a very different interface as well. But I see this as a unique program to make maps with. I haven't used anything similar, so I can't really compare the interface to anything.
Another example: we use an older version of Lotus Notes as the e-mail client at work. I despise it's interface, as it's so different from other e-mail clients, like Outlook or Thunderbird (but then I am comparing again).
And don't even get me started on another program we use for time management. It actually uses the function keys for commands like copy or paste. So the shortcut to copy something is not CTRL-C but the F2 key for example. Very old school, especially for a program that was written only a few years ago.
It drives me nuts. NUTS, I tell you...
Last edited by Gandwarf; 04-13-2009 at 04:22 PM.
Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.
Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...
Lotus Notes has been a waste of time for the past 5 (if not 10) years. No one should be using it anymore. But that is a personal opinion
I cant use GIMP... I just can't. I learned advanced graphical editing on photoshop and dealing with GIMPs interface after 5 years of photoshop is like driving a $1500 used car after 5 years with a sports car. Sure the clunker will get you from point A to point B fine but it isn't near as good at doing so. Of course you pay for what you get when it comes to photoshop vs GIMP.
My Map Portfolio
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Unless otherwise stated, all my work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
I'm a fan of CC3. I do my initial map creation in it, then use Photoshop to do labeling and various other bits of post-processing.
Check out this post, someone specifically asked what I did in Photoshop vs. CC3, so I figured out what I used each for. http://forum.profantasy.com/comments...page=1#Item_33
Last edited by loydb; 04-14-2009 at 08:59 AM.
Funny, I would say the same thing moving from GIMP to Photoshop. I find the weird interface completely counter-intuitive, and feel like the I am fighting the software to do what I know how to do so well in Gimp....
Guess it is little thing called perspective(You wouldn't believe the MDI/SDI holy wars, with both sides arguing valid points...)
And if you want to compare getting what you pay for, the cost to feature ratio makes Gimp the hands down winner
-Rob A>
My GIMP Scripts: Rotating Brush ~ Gradient from Image ~ Mosaic Tile Helper ~ Random Density Map ~ Subterranean Map Prettier ~ Tapered Stroke Path ~ Random Rotate Floating Layer ~ Batch Image to Pattern ~ Better Seamless Tiles ~ Tile Shuffle ~ Scale Pattern ~ Grid of Guides ~ Fractalize path ~ Label Points
My Maps: Finished Maps ~ Challenge Entries ~ My Portfolio: www.cartocopia.com
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