Mars Map (redone)

[Ilanthar]

Oups, sorry, I assumed it was from the USGS site (I found this a while ago). After a new search, I found it here.
It's under Creative Commons.

Appears to be the work of Daniel Machacek, based on the MOLA data. Hey, he did great topo maps of Venus and Titan too!

[Wired]

Thank you!

[Ilanthar]

By Lingon
Lol Ilanthar We should do a challenge of that, maps that look like animals…

Something like "there's an animal hidden in this map, would you find it?" ?

A before/after comparison would be interesting for me!

Sure, here's a quick explanation of my current work :
A piece of the base map

I just want the topography, so I removed the rest

I turn it in grayscale

Then a layer for the color of the water, and three other for the coastlines... My current test on a eighth of the map !

What do you think of the coastlines?

[Lingon]

Something like "there's an animal hidden in this map, would you find it?" ?

Hehehe, exactly Thanks for the explanation! I like to see other people's processes, there's always something to pick up, and understanding what you're doing makes it easier to comment too! I love the colors you're putting on this, very Ilanthar-esque Regarding the three versions, I like the last one, it's subtler in the shading which I think is what a map of this size and detail level needs. Will be very interesting to see the rivers placed.

[Ilanthar]

I expand the colors and tried a few things. And I'm partly satisfied, the desert is probably too blank and to bright and I don't know if this is really working without getting further in the details anyway.

[Ilanthar]

Many things are posing problems right now with this map... First, the source map is not using a gradiant from dark to bright for the altitude, hence a problem. Second, with this level of details, I realize than many rivers are just having impossible paths...
My first try, with no corrections.

Then I tried to correct the first issue by almost eliminating the constrast of the different colors, in PSP7.

An other try with a comparable Inkscape filter.

Which one do you find better?

Concerning the second problem, I think I'll probably change as much as I can the course of the problematic rivers...
And I know I need to rework the snow. It's not at all what I want.

[Ilanthar]

Thanks! The third had my preference too, but I wasn't sure if it wasn't too much.
I reworked the snow and think it's better now.
I've also done a few tests about rivers, cities and borders. The placements aren't correct, I'm just testing to see how it looks. I think I'll need the details and infos from the original map to do it right anyway.

[Ilanthar]

Some more tests about fonts/labels, an exploration camp (hedekas, near mount olympus) and a portal in the "mist" (SE of Sayansk).

I'm currently preparing the rest of the base map.

[smiler127]

As always you never fail to inspire! I can't wait to see how this project unfolds and learn from it!

[Lingon]

Östersund The new additions look great, nice fonts, lovely borders, cool symbols. The city dots could perhaps be a touch bigger, and less 3D-ish to fit more with the style of the borders? I'd also prefer less faint rivers, closer to the coastlines in thickness, though I guess that depends on how much other stuff you're going to put into the map and how important the rivers are.