Rheia: one final try at ground-up worldbuilding

[Peter Toth]

Very impressive!

So you've switched to Photoshop for the creation of your latest WIP? I remember you telling me that vector-based programs such as Illustrator are much more effective at creating detailed maps such as these; also, vector-based files are smaller and thus easier to handle. You previously sold me on Illustrator but now I'm not so certain.

Do you use real life DEMs in your work, or is it all hand-drawn? And, finally, in your opinion, could I achieve good results with only Photoshop and not Illustrator?

Again, fascinating work!

Peter

[Naima]

Very impressive!

So you've switched to Photoshop for the creation of your latest WIP? I remember you telling me that vector-based programs such as Illustrator are much more effective at creating detailed maps such as these; also, vector-based files are smaller and thus easier to handle. You previously sold me on Illustrator but now I'm not so certain.

Do you use real life DEMs in your work, or is it all hand-drawn? And, finally, in your opinion, could I achieve good results with only Photoshop and not Illustrator?

Again, fascinating work!

Peter

I think the best is still Photoshop , I do not understand how illustrator, inkscape or other vector programs could halp in making a realistic DEM .

[Tiluchi]

Just a quick update that I was able to figure out a workaround for G.Projector- for those using Photoshop just a heads-up that Flexify is a very useful plug-in with a free trial!

[Tiluchi]

Very impressive!

So you've switched to Photoshop for the creation of your latest WIP? I remember you telling me that vector-based programs such as Illustrator are much more effective at creating detailed maps such as these; also, vector-based files are smaller and thus easier to handle. You previously sold me on Illustrator but now I'm not so certain.

Well that's a complicated question... I used Illustrator for hand-drawing the elevation map, and I think it's unmatched if you're wanting to have a zoomable master-map with lots of detail thanks to the vectors and smaller file size. That said, for making an actually presentable, somewhat artistic map there are some things you can only do with a raster program like Photoshop. In this case it was the lighting effects that I combined with the DEM to make the shaded relief, as well as the various filters. I expect I'll transfer it back to Illustrator soon to work on things like graticules, labels, etc.

Do you use real life DEMs in your work, or is it all hand-drawn? And, finally, in your opinion, could I achieve good results with only Photoshop and not Illustrator?

Again, fascinating work!

Peter

Honestly I think that depends entirely on how you're doing your DEM. If you're hand-drawing a DEM, either as a standalone or something to input into Wilbur, then Illustrator or another vector-based program will allow you to get way more detail and is generally easier to edit. If you're patching together real-world DEMs then I think Photoshop is by far the better option. I hand-drew my DEMs which I enjoyed since it gave me full control over the world and felt like it was something totally original, but I don't necessarily recommend it as it was probably about a hundred hours of work for something that still isn't as detailed as what I'd have if I just got DEMs from Earth and repurposed them. Depends entirely on your tech-savviness and your philosophy of mapmakling and worldbuilding...