Congrats for the Featured Map status!
We all agreed you deserved it!
-Rob A>
Thanks guys - I'm gonna like it in here. It's a lovely shade of colo(u)r here...
Congrats for the Featured Map status!
We all agreed you deserved it!
-Rob A>
I've posted the tutorial in the Tutorial board.
http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=1035
AidyBaby,
I think I'm a little late in coming to this thread, but I wanted to say, "Great Map!" as well, and to ask a question:
Could you go into more detail about how you made that building pattern? I read through your wonderful tutorial, but I'd love some more information on that aspect of your map.
Thanks and congratulations once again!
-Leonid
Cheers Leonid. I made the building pattern quite simply in photoshop, here's how I did it:
Create a new square document (I picked 800x800px). Make sure it is transparent.
Use the polygonal lasso tool (in 'Add to Selection' mode) to manually draw your buildings. Draw lots of variations and don't worry about the corners not being 90deg angles - just do it by eye. Keep a distance from the image edge. Draw some circles with Eliptical marquee tool, etc. When you get bored of drawing marquees, alt-backspace to fill the selections with your forground colour (say black). Press ctrl-D to clear the selections and draw some more building outlines. Repeat ad-nauseum.
Now to make it tiling; use the offset filter (located under 'other' filters) to move the image horizontally and vertically (make sure 'wrap around' is selected). I generally pick values of around half the height and width of the image. Now you can see a gap that needs filling with buildings. Add some new buildings and you're done - again keep again from the edges. Offset once more to check.
I can't remember if I've posted the pattern before but here it is anyway.
Good luck...
One more thing, I'm not sure I'm gonna use the pattern method for my buildings in future maps (or I may use it sparingly) as I think the hand drawn method gives much better results (albeit painstaking) especially when you integrate roads.
--AidyBaby--
Thanks, AidyBaby! I tried what you said and quickly realized that what I was missing was artistic ability. Yikes! I've spent years hand-drawing buildings on city maps and am always seeking an easier way. That said, I guess you get out of it that which you put in.
Back to the drawing board...
-L