# Mapping Resources > Tutorials/How-To >  [Award Winner] Using GIMP to Create an Artistic Regional RPG Map

## RobA

*Post 1:Introduction*

  First off, let me say that it was Pyrandons city map tutorial that inspired me to write up this one, so I will steal his format  :Smile: .  I have been working on a variety of techniques to make (what I consider to be) nice looking maps using GIMP, and felt they are polished enough now so that anyone can follow along and do the same.

  I intend to publish this tutorial serially, in the How-To forum at the Cartographers Guild web site, and hope to coalesce it into a single pdf for download when complete.

*Why GIMP?*
  In case you are not aware, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a raster graphic editor.  It is free software available under the _GNU General Public License_ and can be downloaded from www.gimp.org for a number of computer systems, including Windows and Linux.

  This tutorial has been developed with GIMP version 2.4, and may refer to features not available in older versions.  Additionally, the menu structures have been shuffled about as of this version.  There are some super new features that make upgrading worth it (in my opinion).

  Most of these techniques will also have equivalents in Photoshop, PaintShop Pro, and other raster editors.  The key features that will be used are Layers, Layer Blending Modes, Layer Masks, Blue and Noise (cloud) filters, Gradient Mapping, and Bump Mapping.  Additionally, some of the more advanced techniques will involve Channels and Paths.

*How well do I have to know GIMP?*
Dont worry, as everything will be explained fairly methodically, with a lot of screen grabs to show what is meant.  Hopefully, full menu paths (like *Color->Auto->Normalize)* will be provided all the time, though there may be the occasional miss for the more common commands.

*What type of map?*
The result of this tutorial will produce a map similar (but not exactly the same as some techniques have changed) to this:


  This type of map is good for representing larger overland areas where details like mountain ranges, rivers, lakes, roads and forests would be discernible.  The techniques explored here will not work well for whole world maps or local maps.

*What do I need to begin?*
1) Well, GIMP (of course).
  2) Hopefully an idea for a map.  Ideally this will be a rough sketch showing the general shape of the land, with locations like mountains, forests and possibly cities marked out.  It is best not to be too detailed at this point, as the techniques used will auto-magically provide a lot of the details for you.  If you have NO idea or concern of one,  a few options for completely random map generation will also be thrown in, for good measure.
  3) A colour scheme.  This is the thing that will really give the map its characteristic appearance.  For this example, I will be using the same colour than Pyrandon used in his city tutorial.  A GIMP palette has been put together with these colours, and will be attached for download.

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## RobA

*Post 2:Are You Sitting Comfortably?*

  The following things need to done to get started, but only once…

*Download the palette and install it. * 
(Located at bottom of this post in the attachment section)

  The _City-Map-Colors.gpl_ file should go into _C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\.gimp-<version>\palette\_ and GIMP will see it the next time it is run.  These are the colours available in the palette:


  The top row shows the grass and forest colours, along with a gradient from the lightest of these to the darkest.

  The second row shows the dirt and rock colours as well as the gradient.

  The third row shows the water colours and the gradient.  (The light one is used for the coastline and rivers.)

  The bottom row has colours for roads, 50% grey (used a lot when making overlay masks), a coastline stroke colour, and a label colour.  All of these are available in the palette.  Or use your own.  Just keep roughly the same number of colours.  Keeping the Colour set small makes the map look consistent, and will make all your maps look similar.

*Set up the GIMP windows.*
  When you start GIMP, you will notice that unlike most Windows application, the dialogs and images all float in their own windows.  This can be a pain until you get used to it.  The first thing to do is make sure the dialogs you need will be available.  

  If the dialogs that came up when you started GIMP did not have all these: 


  For convenience, you will want them  set up this way.  You can add new dialogs (called Docks) by going from the main GIMP window,  *File->Dialogs->Create New Dock->Layers, Channels & Paths* and *File->Dialogs->Create New Dock->Brushes, Patterns & Gradients*.

  There are a couple more useful dialogs to have available as well.

  Select *File->Dialogs->Histogram* to bring up the image histogram.

  Select the Palette tab in the Brushes, Patterns and Gradients dialog and click the *Edit Palette* button.


  These two new dialogs can be attached to the existing docs by dragging their titles to where you want them.  I like the Palette editor to be a tab on the Brushes, Patterns & Gradients Dock, and the Histogram to be stuck below the tab group, so it is always open.  This is the GIMP layout that will be used throughout the tutorial:

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## RPMiller

As a quick aside, if you don't get buckets of rep from everyone for this, I'm going to start knocking on doors with a big piece of ceder in hand.  :Wink:

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## RobA

*Post 3:  Then Let's Begin (if I have an idea)*

  Now that the environment is set up, it is time to begin.  At this point you may have a rough sketch of a map, either drawn on paper or on the computer.  Here is the rough sketch I will work with for this tutorial:


  I was doodling a coast-line with a crater like shape, and decided to put places around it line the numbers of a clock.  This will be my starting point for *The Region of Closh*

  Load this image into GIMP, and scale it to the page size you want.  Ill keep this one smaller (500x500) to make the tutorial more manageable, but it can be as large as you want.  Ensure that the image is RGB, and the size you want.  You may have to adjust some of the techniques (scaling, bump mapping amounts, etc) depending on the size and scale of your map.

  Now create a new transparent layer (*Layer->New Layer)* and name it Land, pick a big, solid brush in black and trace out the contours using the Pencil Tool, then fill the area you want land in black, and everything else white.
*GIMP TIP!  You can drag a colour from the palette or the color selector to an image and it will fill the current selection with that colour.*
 

    Now invert the layer *(Color->Invert)* and blur the image (*Filters->Bur->Gaussian Blur)*  The amount of blur will determine how random the final coast will be.  The larger the blur, the more random the coastline will be (in the blurry area).  If you have a well defined coast already (like here) use a smaller blur (50px).  If you have a poorly defined coast (as is the case when using a random coast technique) make it a large blur.
 

  I went back and blurred a few areas more by hand on the main coast to get more randomness there but keeping the detail in the island ring.  Note the histogram.  What you want is a nice level image, with dark and light more evenly spread out, as opposed to a U shape.
 

  Create new layer called Land Noise and fill it with clouds (*Filter->Render->Clouds->Solid Noise*)  Set the detail to the maximum (15) and the X and Y size to the max (16.0).  The larger the size, the more randomness your final coast will have.  Give it a new random seed and jot down the number (I put it in the layer name afterwards as a reminder). And change the blend mode to Overlay.

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## RobA

*Post 4:  I have an idea  part 2*

  Create a new layer called Land Clip, filled with white above that, and set its blend mode to Lighten.  You will have a white image.  Now, with this layer selected, Open the levels dialog (*Colors->Levels)* and grab the white output slider, and drag it down.  As this happens, the land will be revealed.  Stop at a place you like, and click OK.


  Now using the Magic Wand Tool, (making sure Sample Merged is Checked and the Threshold is 0) click anywhere in the dark area.  This will define your coast.  If you want to adjust it, just undo the selection (*ctrl-Z*) and change the levels of the Land Clip layer.  I wand back and tightened the coast a bit.
 

  Now Invert the selection (*Select->Invert*), create a new black layer called Land Mask and fill the selection with white.  Now save the selection to a Channel (*Select->Save to Channel*) and rename the channel to Land Mask.  This will be used a fit bit later.  
 

  Now clear the selection (*Select->None)*.

  That technique (the Three-Layer-Sandwich of noise, shape and threshold clip layer, or TLS for short  :Smile: ) will be a basic technique that will be used over and over again, using different blending modes between the noise layer (to give some variegation to the surface) and the shape definition layer.  It will be used to define forests  and mountains, even clouds in the sky.

  This is probably a good time to save.  Always save your work as an _.xcf_ file.  That is the native GIMP format and will preserve all the image information, including layers, channels, etc. It is similar in that way to the Photoshop native _.psd_ format.

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## RobA

*Post 5:  Detour - Then Lets Begin (But I have No Idea!)*

    If you have no idea for a map, here are a couple of options to generate a more random mapJust use a noise layer (set to smaller size, but keep the detail)  This will five a variety of island shapes.  Or use a gradient fill for the original shape definition layer.  Or blurry geometric shapes (circles, arcs) Each of these will give different results.  Here are 4 examples (from top left, clockwise: 50%grey, linear gradient at an angle, radial gradient, arc shape, blurred) all made following the TLS technique:
 

  And blended with the noise layer and a clip layer (lighten) applied:


  The selected, solid mask:


  And converted to an outline:


  You may now see some similarities in this technique to the Creating Random Coastlines in GIMP and Creating Not-So Random Coastlines in GIMP tutorials I had posted a while ago.

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## RobA

*Post 6:  Create the sea. (in the beginning...)*

  To make the ocean/water (and the base contour for the land as well) a two layer variant of the three layer sandwich will be used.
  Copy the Land Mask Layer, and rename it Sea Shape.  Apply a Gaussian Blur (*Filter->Blue->Gaussian Blur*) large enough to eliminate the absolute black and whites of the image.  In this case, I used the same size as the image (500px).
 

  Create a new layer and call it Sea Noise  Fill this with Clouds (*Filters->Render->Clouds->Solid Noise)* set to a low size (3) and detail of 15, reseeding the random number.  Set the layer blend mode to mode to Overlay, then merge it down with the Sea Shape layer by right clicking on the layer and selecting Merge Down.
 

  Duplicate this layer and rename it Sea.  Add a layer mask by right clicking on the Sea layer, and selecting Add Layer Mask.  When the dialog opens, select Channel (By default it should have the Land Mask channel shown and check Invert.  Click Add.
 

  Nothing much will appear to have happened, but there will be a mask next to the layer thumbnail:
 

  Layer masks act like filters that let parts of the image show though. Areas where the mask is white will allow the layer to be visible.  Areas where the mask is black will be transparent, and the various shades of grey will be varying degrees of transparency.  Now right click on the Sea layer and select Apply Layer Mask.  This will remove pieces of the layer based on what was showing through the layer mask.  Here I have made all the other layers invisible to see the result:
 

  Also, check out the histogram.that is where we start next.

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## RobA

*Post 7:  Create the sea, continued.*

  Now we want to stretch out the colours in the Sea layer across the entire black to white range. With the sea layer selected, auto normalize the image (*Colors->Auto->Normalize).*  The histogram will now have little gaps in it. As the greys have all been spread out.  To fix this, select the non-transparent area (by clicking on the Sea layer and selecting Alpha to Selection.   Invert the selection (*Select->Invert)* and fill the area with white.  Remove the selection (*Select->None)* and apply a 20px Gaussian blur.
 

  Note the histogram is now filled in.

  Now the next bit of magic.  Set the foreground colour to the darkest water colour (water 5) by clicking on it in the Palette Editor (that we set up at the beginning), and set the background colour to the second lightest water color (water 5) by Ctrl-clicking on it. 
 

  Now we will turn the B/W into colour, by clicking *Color->Map->Gradient Map*, and the water is almost (for now).
 

  Recently, I came up with a nice technique (in my opinion) to finish the shoreline water.  Often people will stroke the shoreline with a light colour, or add a light blur.  Here is a quick technique for making a unique look

  Create a new layer called Seashore, and fill it with the really light water colour (Water 1).  Add a layer mask, using the Land Mask channel, and ensure Invert is unchecked.

  (Any edits you do now will be on the mask shape, unless the layer thumbnail is clicked.  The one you are editing will have a white box:
 

  Give the layer mask a 10 px Gaussian blur.

  Now apply a displacement map (*Filters->Map->Displace).*  Use an X displacement of 20, and a Y displacement of -20.  For both, pick the Land Noise layer.  Set the Displacement Mode to Cartesian and the Edge Behavior to Smear.

  Repeat this, flipping the signs, so set X to -20 and Y to 20.  This screen grab is after the first one.


  This will give a nice wispy, random looking water edge, once the land is put in place

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## RobA

*(And now for a commercial message...)
*

I'm pausing here.  I'll try to get more up shortly...

Attached is a pdf (5MB) of the process up to this point.

-Rob A>

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## RobA

*Post 8:Let there be Land.*

  Now that the ocean is completed, the land can be build up.  Create a cop of the Sea Shape layer and name it Grass.  Create a layer mask using the Land Maskchannel. Click on the layer icon so we now edit the layer, not the mask.
 

  Ctrl-Click on the dark green (Ditch) colour to make it the background and click on the light green (high ground) to make it the foreground colours, then *Colour->Map->Gradient Map*.
 

  This is bland, so lets spice it up a bitcreate a new layer called Grass Texture, and fill it with clouds noise (*Filters->Render->Clouds->Solid Noise)*, detail 15, size 3, and new seed.
  Again, add a layer mask using the Land Mask channel, and set the blend mode of the layer to overlay.
 

  Looking better, but it could use some texture.
  Create a new layer called Grass Bump Map. Fill it with rendered cloud noise again, this time setting the size and detail to the max, and selecting Turbulent.
 

  Hide this new layer (by clicking off the eye icon).  Create a new layer called Grass Bumps and fill it with 50% grey.  Set its layer mode to overlay.  It will appear to be gone now.  That is how overlay works.  50% grey doesnt change the underlying image, while darker shades darken the image and lighter shades lighten the image.
  Now apply a bump map to this Grass Bumps layer using *Filters->Map->Bump Map*.
 

  Lastly, apply the Land Mask channel as a layer mask like before.

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## RobA

*Post 9:Finishing the Land.*

  After the bump map we now have this.  You can adjust the opacity of the bump map to make it less noticeable if desired:


  This is OK, but it is a little two green for me. One option is to change the overall colour by adjusting the hue, and that would be that.  Instead, we’ll add a dirt layer.  This will be a combination of a filter generated mask layer, and hand painting the mask.

  Create a new layer called “Dirt” and fill it with the “med dirt” colour.  Add some noise (*Filters->Noise->HSV Noise)*:
 

  Now bump map this layer on itself to give a bit of lighting texture:
 

  Duplicate the “Land Mask” layer, bring it up to the top of the layer stack.
 

  and blur it by 50px or so:

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## RobA

*Post 10:Finishing the Land (cont.)*

  Create a new layer on top of the blurry one, and fill it with rendered clouds, maximum detail and maximum size, then set its layer mode to Difference.  This gives a noisy blaxck outline of the coast.  (This is also a nice technique to make a light water effect along shores)


  Merge down the difference layer, invert it, then bring up the layers dialog and adjust it to be a wider band of white on black.  This will be used as the layer mask for the dirt.
 

  Go back to the Dirt Layer and add a layer mask, using the Land Mask channel.  Now right click on the layer mask and select Apply layer.  This will erase everything that is not above the land.

  Go back to the noisy blended layer you had created in the last stop (called land mask copy).  Select all and copy this layer (ctrl+a, ctrl-c), Then select the Dirt: layer, and add a layer mask and just select White.  Now with the dirt layer mask active, paste the copy (ctrl-v).  This will create a floating layer.  Just hit the anchor icon to drop it down into the dirt layer mask.  Now you can delete the temporary land mask copy layer:
 

  This can be improved by applying a Gaussian blur (*Filters->Blur->Gaussian Blur, 10 px)* and some pixel spread (*Filters->Noise->Spread 10 px)* to the mask.  I also took a soft white brush with 60% opacity and coloured in the areas I want to be desert.  To make this easier, I moved my original sketch up to the top and set its blend mode to burn.  This let me see where I needed to fill in deserts.  Lastly, I reduced the opacity of the Dirt level down to get a nice looking blend.


  Here is where we are so far:


Coming soon... Mountains.

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## RobA

*Post 11:Let There be Mountains*
*
Before you continue, there is a better way I found to make mountains located over here.  It works well with the rest of this tutorial, and seems much easier and predictable than what follows here...*


  The technique for making the mountains is very similar to that of making the land. Because we have an idea for a map, we will start in this case by sketching a blurred representation of where they should be.  Otherwise, just use one of the random techniques:

  Create a new layer “Mountains”.  Fill in white for the general areas of the mountain ranges, and apply a 50 px (or so) Gaussian blur.  It is helpful to keep the original sketch on top with reduced opacity to act as a guide.  Don’t worry about going in to the sea, because we can we can erase those areas later:
 

  Now the noise layer (I used detail 8 and size of  :Cool:  and set the blend mode to multiply.  Then add a third layer (remember the TLS) as a clipping layer, and use the levels dialog to bring it down to show the mountains you want  Here is the screen showing the three layers


  Use the magic wand again to select the  non-mountain area (like with the land) and create a new layer called “Mountains Mask” with a white on black.  (Also the white colour selection as a new selection mask using *Select->Save to Channel*).

  Now we want to create a heightfield from this.  The easiest way I have found to do this is to copy the current visible image (*Edit->Copy Visible)* then paste it (CTRL-V) to a floating selection.  Click the New Layer button to get it on its own layer rather than a floating layer.  Now stretch the colour range out (*Color->Auto->Normalize*):
 

Rename this layer to “mountain colour”.  Make a duplicate and call it “mountain bump map”.  Now set the foreground colour to “lowest dirt” and the background colour to “highest dirt”, and on the “mountain colour” layer, do a *Color->Map->Gradient Map.*
 

  Normalize the colours (*Colors->Auto->Normalize)* and add a layer mask, using the mountain mask channel. (Note, the Dirt layer was turned of in this image by accident).

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## RobA

*Post 12: Let There be Mountains – continued*

  Similar to the dirt, apply a Gaussian blur and noise spread to the layer mask blend the mountains in a bit better.  (Note, the Dirt layer was turned of in this image by accident)
 

  Create a new layer called “Mountains Bump” and fill it with 50% grey, and set its mode to overlay.  Now run a bump map filter, using the “mountain bump map” layer you had made a duplicate of a while back.  Play with the elevation and depth to get something that look good.
 

  To make the mountains pop a bit more, you may want to duplicate the “mountains bump layer.


This is another useful technique.  Make bumpmaps on a 50% grey layer and they can be overlayed on colour below.  That lets you go back and edit the colour layer without affecting the bumpmap.  Since GIMP doesn't support layer effects this is one of the ways I have come up with to to keep the image editing flexible.

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## RobA

*Post 13:Finishing the land up.*

  Forests are done the exact same way.  EDIT - A Good Tutorial to making nice forests in this style in Gimp  is here (Thanks arsheeshA).  I used the same bump map as for the grass but increased the depth effect.  I also put all the forest stuff below the mountain layers, so the mountains would appear to come out through the forest.  You could do it the other way, and the forests would appear to run on the mountains. (as long as you make the forest colour layer slightly transparent.  Here I duplicated the forest layer colour layer and set the mode to Grain Merge to emphasize the colours a bit.


  This is where you can start playing with colours to get them balances, adjusting the hue and saturation, etc….Here I also added a new bump map hinting at under-water features.  I also added a layer of low detail , small scale cloud noise over the whole map in overlay mode, and toned down the dirt bumpiness.


  The last thing is to stroke the shoreline to give it a less jaggy edge.  Go to the Chanels tab and right click on the Land Mask channel, and go *Channel to Selection*.  Set the foreground colour to the High Dirt colour (or a colour that complements the piece), and stroke the selection (*Edit->Stroke Selection)* with a 3 px fuzzy paintbrush:
 

  Rivers can be added by drawing with a fine fuzzy black brush on the “Grass” layer mask.  
  It helps to apply a small blur and then sharpen to clean up the lines:
 

  For additional effect, this mask can be turned into a bump map and applied to give the rivers a bit of a bevel:
 

  End of Part 2.

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## RobA

And here is a pdf of everything in Part 2 (up to this point)...

I haven't written the rest (yet), but plan to continue with part 3:

It should finish up the map and include:
-Cities/towns
-Roads/trails
-Labels
-Legend/scale/compass rose
-Border

-Rob A>

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## Joshua_101

Loving it! Can't wait for part three, this is a REALLY helpful tutorial. I really like the way you've done the lakes & rivers.

Is there anybody with an idea of how to create that wispy cloud effect on the coastline in Photoshop?

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## RobA

FAIK, there is a displace filter in photoshop.

Here is a tutorial

-Rob A>

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## RobA

*Post 14:  Cities*
  At this point, you can spend some time playing with colours, saturation, different overlays, etc. to get the land looking the way you want.  Once all that is time, it is time to start detailing the non-terrain elements of the map.  If you have an idea where cities and roads are to be located that is great.  If not, here are a few suggestions:
All settlements need water - fresh water for drinking and agriculture.Communities usually have a reason/industry for existing in the first place  farming, mining, shipping, commerce, defense etc.  This purpose is often tied to natural resources in the area.Accessibility is important for communities to interact with the world, and people will take the easiest path possible, not the shortest path.  Water is one of the easiest ways to travel.
  Once you have a mental idea of where you want settlements and roads, start adding them.  I have found the simplest way to make cities is using dingbat fonts.  The one installed on every windows machine is called wingdings.  Here is the character map for wingdings generated by a free Windows font manager called The Font Thing.  (You can get the link by searching in the forums.):


  As you can see, there are some nice symbols for mapping here, depending on your map style.  Using a font manager will let you find these easier.  For this tutorial, I will use some similar characters to indicate settlements; I will use the symbol that looks like a ships wheel (])to indicate ports, the little square cloverleaf (z) for walled settlements, and the simple dot (l) for all others.

  Create a new transparent layer called Towns.  When using GIMPs text tool, it creates text on new layers above the currently selected layer, but we will be merging all of them down to the Towns layer.  Select the Towns Layer, and click on the text tool.  Pick the font Wingdings. You can leave the colour the default (black) or pick a different colour now.  Click in the general area you want a town marker:


  You can change the text size, alignment, spacing and such at this time.  Notice the new text layer created in the layers dialog.  Selecting the Move tool and toggling Move the Active Layer will allow fine positioning of the icon.  This process can be repeated with as many icons desired.
*Note:* I have not found a way to get non-keyboard symbols into GIMP text.  In other Windows applications you can hold the alt key and type the keycode (like ALT+177 to get the crosshair dingbat).  Cutting and pasting from another application into the GIMP text dialog does produce non-keyboard fonts, but not what you would expect.
  Once this is done, all the icons will sit on their own layers.  (I used a smaller size for the solid dots as they looked too big at 22px):
 

  Now merge all the text layers down into the town layer.  This can be done one at a time right clicking the layer and selecting Merge Down or by turning off all the other layers and selecting Merge Visible Layers.  (I added a keyboard shortcut via *File->Keyboard Shortcuts* to make Alt-m merge down to speed up this action.)   You should end up with all the text layers gone, and just the Town layer left.

  The colour can be changes very simply at this time by checking the Lock Alpha Channel checkbox.  You can then just drag colours (or patterns, or paint with tools) from the Palette Dialog, and all the transparent areas will remain transparent!
 

  Create a new layer below Towns called Towns Outline.  This layer will be used to help the town icons stand out.  Right click and *Alpha to Selection* on the Towns layer.  Enlarge the selection by 2 px or so (*Selection->Grow*) and optionally soften the selection (*Select->Feather*).  I used 5 px on the feather.  Now with the Town Outline layer active, drag black (or a contrasting colour to the town icons) to the screen.  Lock the transparency.

  With both layers having transparency locked, you can drag different colours, or play with the colour adjustments (hue, saturation, lightness) and layer blending modes.  Here I ended up with the icons using the Roofs 3 colour and the outline the Roads colour.  


  White on black (or vice versa) also work well if set to overlay mode.

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## RobA

*Post 15:  Roads*

  Now that you have some civilization, they need to get around.  A few things to remember are that people will travel the easiest way possible, even if it is longer.  That means that one thing that roads are not is straight (at least in a pre-industrial world!).  Even so, roads should be smooth.  Trying to draw roads by hand is extremely difficult (especially if you do not have a tablet).  My preference is to use paths, and stroke them as desired.  
  In truth, I prefer Inkscape for editing paths as I find it easier, and it is very trivial to have a workflow that integrates GIMP and Inkscape.  However, this tutorial said using GIMP, so thats what well use.
*ASIDE TIP:*  To bring an Inkscape SVG into GIMP as paths, right click on the little triangle in the Path palette to bring up the Path Menu option, then go to Import Path.


  Just follow the dialog.  There are two options at the bottom.  *Merge Imported Paths* will cause all the vectors to be imported as one path.  *Scale Imported Paths to fit Layer* will scale op the extents of the SVG image to fit your gimp image size.  If not merged, each path will come from Inkscape as a separate path, so combine (not group) any paths you want to be imported as a single element. 
  Once you have decided where your roads go, start drawing them with the path tool.  Click on the path tool (pen icon) and to draw curves, uncheck the Polygonal option.  
 

  Click on the drawing where you want a path to start (a town) and drag in the direction you want it to go.  Then click the next node of the path and drag to set the curve again.  This can be continued as long as desires.  The edit mode can be used to move and change the handles of notes.  It is also worth mentioning that paths can be edited while zoomed in.  This makes it easy to accurately set where they are:
 

  Using the path tool will automatically create a new path in the image.  Paths are not really visible on an image, but can be turned into selection or stroked with any of the tools.  Paths can be made visible by clicking on the eyeball icon (just like layers).  
  Paths can even extend beyond the drawing edge.
 

  Once you have all the paths that represent your roads (or all the roads of a particular style) merge them into one path my making them (and only them) visible in the path dialog and right clicking *Merge Visible Paths*.  Then rename this path to Roads.

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## RobA

*Post 16:  Roads (continued)*

  Once the paths for the roads are defined (either using the path tool in GIMP or imported from Inkscape) it is time to actual render them onto the map.  There are two main styles for roads – single stroke, and over-stroked.  Single stroked roads look like a line (dashed or solid).   Over-stroked consist of multiple strokes layered over one another.  For example, a wide dark stroke with a light narrow stroke on top will look like a light road outlined in dark.  The type of stokes used will be depend on the style you develop, and you might want to use several, along with a legend, to indicate what they represent.
  Here we will make a road similar to that of the ones I used in my Niagara map.

  Create a new, transparent layer below the town layers, called “Road1”.  Select white as a colour, and click *Edit->Stroke Path* (since there is only one path, it is selected as the current path).  Choose a width that goes with your map scale (I used 3 px) and pick a solid line with curved end caps.  Click Stroke. (I brought the dialog up again after stroking to show the options used).


  Change the drawing colour to black and bring up the stroke dialog again.  This time, use 1.5 px, and a custom pattern.  Draw the dash pattern you want to use.  I made it short dashes.
 

  Change the layer blend mode to Overlay to get a nice road that blends in well.  Alternately, different colours could have been chosen up front for the roads if you wanted specific colours.  I want them a bit darker, so duplicate the Road1 layer.
 

  This looks nice now, but the roads are hard to see in the forest, so lets fix that.  (And here is where the power of paths really comes into play.)
  Select the “Forest Bumps” layer, ensuring the mask is selected for editing.  Pick the paintbrush tool, with black paint, and a fuzzy brush slightly wider than the road.
  Now again, stoke the path (*Edit->Stroke Path*) but this time select *“Stroke with a paint Tool”* and make sure paintbrush is selected.  
  This will paint a black line on the bump layer mask to make the road more visible.  You could do the same thing to the colour layers as well to define it more.
  Alternately you could stroke with the erase tool to erase areas along a path, or the smudge tool, or anything!
 

    Finally, as an optional step, to make the roads more jittery, I went back and applied a small (3px) displacement map to them (*Filters->Map->Displace*) selecting one of the noise layers in the drawing.  This just makes the roads less smooth, and a bit more hand-drawn. (though it does look better to do this on a single stroke map)

----------


## RobA

A small diversion-

I am working on the next installment, but have been....distracted.  :Smile: 

I just wanted to jump here with a variation of the map used in the tutorial until this point.  I changed the colour layers (forest, grass, and mountain) to represent a more autumnal environment.  This is one of the advantages I have found in keeping the colour and textures on separate layers...



-Rob A>

----------


## RobA

I was pm'd with a question on how the TLS works.  Here is a sample xcf file you can look at that will explain better than I can (hopefully).

I have also created and added the mask layer on top, and turned off its visibility.

-Rob A>

----------


## RobA

Here is a clarification of the overlay mode.. The way overlay works is that anything white in the lower layer will remain white, and anything black will remain black, it is only in the greys that the noise layer will come through and have an effect... 

Here is a sample:


See how the randomness of the coast is restricted to the width of the greys in the blur?

-Rob A>

----------


## RobA

*Post 17:  Labels*

  It is now time to start labeling the map.  Most of the horizontal text will be made using the text tool just like the city icons were done. So I wont provide the detail here.  Just merge all the text down to one layer when happy with its look, and apply an outline glow to separate it from the background.  I am going to use the same colours as the cities themselves for most labels.
  One thing to remember is that more is not better when it comes to font text.  If there is more than four different fonts then something should be reconsidered.  I would suggest one font for most labels, optionally a different, possibly more ornate font for a map title, and a clear small font for labeling rivers, roads, etc.
  Colour in labels can be useful as well, keeping cities in one, territories in another, etc can help make a complex map easier to read.
  I am using a font called Chaucer Ultra-Light for most of my labels.  I also duplicated the text layer to make it a bit heavier, and reduced the opacity of the outline to 50%.  To make things fit better, I also used different font sizes corresponding to the importance of the city. (_Hedge_ and _Il-Lac_ are both in a smaller font.)
 

  labeling terrain requires a slightly different approach, as terrain labels often follow terrain (for example, labels follow mountain ranges and rivers).  For those labels that are horizontal, just do them the same way as the city labels.  For others, here is the way to do them using GIMP 2.4, which now supports a Text along Path function.  
  This does not actually bend the text to a path.  Instead, it creates a new path outlining the text that is bent along the previously active path.  As an example, lets add a label to the mountains.
  Select the path tool (just like when making roads) and create a new path along the line where the text should go (I have changed to the path dialog as well to show the new path):
 

  Now pick the text tool, and click in the middle of the screen. You can set the font and size, but there is no point setting the colours.  Set the alignment to centered, and type the desired text.  
  Click on the *Text along Path* button.  This will create a new path outlining your text, bent along the first path drawn.  If you need to change the text (font, style, spacing) or the path, undo (ctrl-z) and make the changes in the text or path and redo the whole Text along Path process.
  Depending on how bendy the path is, the letter spacing might have to be changed to prevent the letters from being either to mashed up or too spread out.
 

Now in the path dialog, click on Path to selection (or right click->Path to Selection).  In the Layers dialog, create a new Transparent layer called Labels (or what ever you want to call it) and fill it with your desired colour.  Here I chose to keep the colours the same as the city labels, but flipped around (light text with a dark outline).  Remember you can fill a selection simply by dragging from the colour palette.

*GIMP Note: ctrl-t will toggle displaying the marching ants outline around selections.  This is handy to see the results of a fill.*



  Now create the outline layer Labels Outline below this, and (as for the previous text) grow the selection and feather the selection.  Now fill on this new layer with the desired colour:
 

  You can see that the text layer is still there but is not necessary.  It is however handy to just reuse this text layer to create any additional labels you want.  I tend to put all the labels on one layer, so after getting the text selection, make sure you select the proper layer to fill on.
  Finally, all of the paths used for lining up the text can be deleted (if desired) or keep them in case you need to redo the text later.
*GIMP Note: The transform tools (rotate, move, scale, skew and flip) can all be used on paths as well as layers and selections.  This means that if the text isnt exactly where you want it after putting it on a path, you can move it, rotate it, etc.*

----------


## RobA

Here is the map after adding a number of titles and labels using these techniques:



And of course, by keeping each type of text on a different layer, it is simple to change their colour by locking the transparency and dragging a new colour from the colour palette to the drawing area... 

-Rob A>

----------


## RobA

*Post 18:  Titles and Legend*

  Now come a title and a legend.  These will be set on a paper-like background fitting the feel of the map.  First the title.  Create a new transparent layer named Title Background. Select a rectangular selection, and fill it with a suitable texture.  Use one downloaded, or create your own.



  Using the Text Tool, add your title above this in any color desired.



  Here the new Align tool GIMP 2.4 provides will be handy to align the title text entered in the center of the title background.
  Right click on the title background and choose Alpha to Selection to select just the rectangle we had filled with texture.  Click on the Title layer, and choose the Align Tool.
  Using the Align tool is fairly straightforward.  First, choose what to align to.  In this case make it Relative to Selection (as the current selection is the Title Background rectangle).  The Align Tool looks like a hand with a pointing finger when over the image.  Click on the title text, and it will get boxed with a marching-ant marquis that has blue corners.  Now back in the Align Tool pane, click on the two buttons to center horizontally and vertically.
  The text should now be centered on the background.



  To make the Title blend with the paper a bit more, Duplicate the text layer, and blur the copy by 5-10 pixels, then play with the blend modes.  Here the text is 50% opacity, normal blend mode and a blurred copy above it is set to multiply, 100%.

 

  I want to apply some distortion to the title, so now will merge all three of these layers into one, then copy the merged layer and call it Title Shadow.

*GIMP NOTE:  When merging down several layers that have different blend modes applied, start merging them down from the bottom layer to maintain the final look.*

  Lock the alpha, fill this Title Shadow layer with black, unlock the alpha and apply a 10 px. Gaussian blur.

----------


## RobA

*Post 19:  Title Distortion*

  To distort the title, we will be using the displacement map filter again.  First, a displacement map needs to be created.
  Create a new layer (it will be a throw-away so do not worry about naming it).  Select the gradient tools with the default colour, and stroke a linear gradient diagonally across the area the title is.  Here the opacity of the gradients layer has been reduced slightly to see how it should line up.



  Now open the curves dialog (*Colours->Curves)* and change the straight line to a squiggle.  This will end up turning the single black to white gradient in to a whole bunch of smaller gradients.

 

  Turn off the visibility of this new layer.  Now it can be used as a displacement map.  Select the Title Background layer (left after merging down) and apply a displacement map filter *(Filters->Map->Displace)*



  Now a few more things to liven up the distortion  (and I changed my mind here, well keep the gradient layer I said was throw away before).
  Right click on the Title Background layer and Alpha to Selection.  Right-click on the gradient layer and add a layer mask, choosing Selection.  Make the gradient layer visible, and change its mode to Overlay, adjusting the opacity down a bit. 



  Right-click on the Title Background layer again, and Alpha to Selection.  Now distress the outside by stroking the selection with the eraser tool, using a hard brush with jitter.  Here I used the hard Circle (05) brush, scale of  1.0 and a jitter setting of 1.0
  Then *Edit->Stroke Selection* and choose the eraser tool.  I have brought the dialog up again to see the effect and the settings.

 

  Lastly, shift the shadow selection over and down, and decrease the opacity.  Additionally, I played a bit with the colour and saturation until I was happy with it.

----------


## RobA

*Post 20:  Finishing it up*

  Before starting the legend this is where the image was at:



  Now repeat the same process used for the title for the legend.  Here I decreased the distortions amounts so the smaller text would remain legible (though it did get a bit blurry).

  I also didnt jot down the colour changes when making the Title colours, so I had to match the legend by eye, and didnt get it quite right.

 

  Since this map is small, and it is getting cluttered, the only thing Ill add is a compass rose.
  Ill just grab one from a clipart collectionAnd at the last minute I decided I didnt like the legend, so I dumped it and moved the compass to where the legend was.



  To finish it just needs a simple border.  If there is detail near the edges you want to keep, just enlarge the canvas to get working space for the border.  In this case lets add a six pixel border in the roof3 brown.  *Image->Canvas Size* to get the dialog.  The new canvas will be 512x512, and clicking the Center button puts the existing map in the middle.  Leave the Resize Layers option as None.



  Create  new transparent Layer called Border at the top.  Select the whole image (*Select->All)* then shrink the selection *(Select->Shrink)* by 3 pixels (half the border).  Select the desired color, and stroke the selection (*Edit->Stroke Selection)*.  Use a Stroke Like of 6 px, and make the dash preset is Line.
  Now pretty it up by stroking a solid 3 px line with the Road colour. Picking an odd px size will give a nice blur to the line, as it interpolates the half pixel colouring.  Lastly, I went back to the Roof 3 colour, and stoked a third time, 2px, choosing the dash preset Stipples:

----------


## RobA

*In Conclusion*

  Here is the final map:



  I hope this tutorial was beneficial, even if you do not use GIMP. If you have any comments, suggestions, or criticisms, please post in the forums here, or PM 
me.

The pdf is coming...


-Rob A>

----------


## RobA

The promised pdfs.  I had to break it into parts 3 and 4 because of the size limitation...

Also attached is a zip of the final xcf file (it just fits under the limit) in case anyone wants to dissect this thing to get a better understanding on any of the steps or layers.

And now that this is over, I can get back to some other things on the back burner  :Smile:  

Cheers!

-Rob A>

----------


## pyrandon

This tutorial is amazing, Rob.  I can't even imagine how many hours you put into both developing the system and the writing/posting of that system.  Thank you so much.  

I can't wait to see what maps users make from it, too!

----------


## RPMiller

I agree, and I really hope you get a bucket load of rep for it as well.

----------


## Istarlome

the results are 100% fantastic. i'm going to refer to this thread at gimp dome. i'm sure your techniques can be used for many other apps. thanks for sharing.

you're one of the best gimp users i've seen. very inspiring......

----------


## RobA

Thanks!  I'm glad someone is reading this thread  :Smile:  

As no one has been posting with comments are questions I was worried this exercise was for naught.  Now is the time - any question?  Post them here!  I wil be adding any clarification that people ask for in an edited version that at some point will be set up as a single file PDF for download.

-Rob A>

----------


## GlennZilla

Oh, no, I have been reading and building on this thread on my own. I'm currently doing a lot of world building with my gaming group to prep for the release of D&D 4.0. And this tutorial was how I got them to start sketching out the areas as we discussed them.

I'm hoping to provide a few examples once I've had the change to get something finished.

----------


## Darth_Gimp

This is my first post to this forum, let me assure you that this excersize is not a waste. I have gotten through the first two PDF and have learned some interesting techniques. I will be applying them to how I create textures for Planets in Spacescapes as well.

I hope to post something of a map from your tut soon. I just want to make my own rather than the provided sketch.

Thanks for this tutorial!

----------


## Istarlome

> This is my first post to this forum, let me assure you that this excersize is not a waste. I have gotten through the first two PDF and have learned some interesting techniques. I will be applying them to how I create textures for Planets in Spacescapes as well.
> 
> I hope to post something of a map from your tut soon. I just want to make my own rather than the provided sketch.
> 
> Thanks for this tutorial!



hey,

good to see you made it here. its a nice place ti visit. can't wait to see what you come up with.

----------


## Robber Baron

RobA:

I just downloaded and installed GIMP today. I'm looking forward to using your tutorial as a learning tool. It's the best way to learn the features of any software package. 

Thank you for your time and effort!! I'm looking forward to digging in.

----------


## Robbie

Make sure everyone gives RobA some rep over this!

----------


## The Cartographist

RobA - Fantastic and _thanks_.  All of us GIMP noobies really appreciate the time and effort that went into this.

Quick question: Where is Pyandon's city map tutorial?  I can't find it...

----------


## RobA

Right here:

Eneini: a medieval city tutorial (in Photoshop)

-Rob A>

----------


## Darth_Gimp

Uhmm how? I would love to give him some rep.. for his work and the fact that he's from Ontario! Makes me homesick.

----------


## RobA

> Uhmm how? I would love to give him some rep.. for his work and the fact that he's from Ontario! Makes me homesick.




 :Cool: 

-Rob A>

----------


## tannjew

Hi,

I'm a gimp newbie and there is something I do not understand, regarding one of the first steps (as quoted and marked in blue):




> *Post 4:  I have an idea  part 2*
> 
>   Now Invert the selection (*Select->Invert*), create a new black layer called Land Mask and fill the selection with white.  Now save the selection to a Channel (*Select->Save to Channel*) and rename the channel to Land Mask.  This will be used a fit bit later.  
> Attachment 1431 
> 
>   Now clear the selection (*Select->None)*.


I am not able to fill the selection with white. I've selected the land area with the wand as mentioned above (in the tutorial), but with the bucket fill tool I can only fill the sea part with white color... :Surprised:

----------


## RobA

Where is the "marching ants" selection outline?  Still around the dark sea?  When you invert the selection the marching ants should be surrounding the land area.  Make sure it inverted correctly.

And as a quick-tip, you can just drag from the colour-box directly to the canvas, rather than using the paintbucket tool.

-Rob A>

----------


## tannjew

After inverting the selected area the "marching ants" did not surround the land area... but now they do. My mistake: I have selected the land area with the magic wand and after inverting selection the selected area changed to the sea area.

----------


## tannjew

Now I want to create the mountains and I'm here in the tutorial:




> Now we want to create a heightfield from this.  The easiest way I have found to do this is to copy the current visible image (*Edit->Copy Visible)* then paste it (CTRL-V) to a floating selection.  Click the New Layer button to get it on its own layer rather than a floating layer.


But always when I click an the New Layer button I get the following Error message:

Cannot create a new layer from the floating selection because it belongs to a layer mask or channel.

----------


## RobA

> Now I want to create the mountains and I'm here in the tutorial:
> 
> 
> 
> But always when I click an the New Layer button I get the following Error message:
> 
> Cannot create a new layer from the floating selection because it belongs to a layer mask or channel.


I think you are doing the "Copy Visible" while having the layer mask selected on a layer.  Try selecting a different layer (or at least not the layer mask) before the "Copy Visible"

-Rob A>

----------


## Craig158

This tutorial is brilliant (It's actually making me think about switching to GIMP for map making), but I'm having trouble getting the mountains to look 'natural'.

By that I mean that unlike yours, which vary in elevation after the bump mapping, they just appear as raised blocks. Could it be that I need to blur them some more to show the cloud noise?

Thanks

----------


## xcorvis

Craig,

I had some trouble with that too, but I realized from a screenshot that RobA was using the "sinusoidal" setting in the Bump Map filter, which makes the mountains look much better than the "linear" setting. Maybe that will help?

----------


## Craig158

I only realised that after looking at one of the screens, but they still don't look anything close to the ones in the tutorial. I might restart from that point, and see if I can get better results the next time round.

----------


## RobA

Can you post a grab of what your mountain layer looks like?

-Rob A>

----------


## falcata

> Create new layer called Land Noise and fill it with clouds (*Filter->Render->Clouds->Solid Noise*)  Set the detail to the maximum (15) and the X and Y size to the max (16.0).  The larger the size, the more randomness your final coast will have.  Give it a new random seed and jot down the number (I put it in the layer name afterwards as a reminder). And change the blend mode to Overlay.
> *snip image*


I've tried this (and some steps after) over and over again in the past days, but it never really works for me  :Question: 
All I get is a big square with clouds texture. Should I use the fuzzy selection before applying the filter?

I've downloaded your example file but couldn't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

This probably sounds to easy for you, but it's the first time I'm REALLY using GIMP and its features...

----------


## RobA

No - The clouds will fill the entire screen.  It is the blending mode of the layer that does the magic.  Ensure the layers are in the correct order and each have the correct blending modes set.

-Rob A>

----------


## Crymoon

I'm sorry to bother you with such a trivial question, but I'm GIMP newbie, and have tried to follow your tutorial but encountered a problem just at the start. 

I created a simple map, scanned it and opened in GIMP. I made sure it was RGB and created a new clear layer. I traced the outline and filled it black. But when I try to invert the colors the black changes to white, but the rest of the layer stays white too. I'm using GIMP 2.4.3.
[edit] Can it be caused by transparency of the layer and thus lack of background color to invert? 
[edit2] Ok I worked around it by creating a new white layer, moving it beneath the Land layer and merging them. Then applied inversion and it worked.

----------


## RobA

Crymoon-

Glad you worked out something that got you the desired result!

I'll reread the steps to ensure I didn't miss something that a GIMP newbie might not know.

-Rob A>

----------


## Crymoon

Thanks for your answer. I have forgotten to mention in the first post, although it was to be in the first line, how great the tutorial is. I'm now playing with grass and it looks better and better with each minute. And as I said I'm GIMP newbie (to be exact this is my first time trying doing something really useful with it). 

I must congratulate you on your work.

----------


## scytale

This is a great tutorial, no doubt. I'm having a problem, though. Being a complete newbie at graphics I can follow the steps closely (that's difficult enough, already!), but more often than not I have no idea what I'm actually doing. This makes adjusting the steps to suit my own needs very hard. 
Does anyone know of an intermediate but general GIMP tutorial? I know about basic procedures, using brushes, selection, copy-paste and all that, but an "alpha layer", the settings to most filters (and what the filters actually do), a floating layer etc. are quite a mystery to me.

----------


## RobA

For general GIMP stuff, try http://www.gimptalk.com/

Also, if you have the time and bandwidth, I'd also recommend the Meet the GIMP podcast (http://meetthegimp.org/) .  There is a lot of focus on photo editing, but it will cover the basics of layers, adjustments, what the tools do, etc.

-Rob A>

----------


## Remko1981

Before reading your tutorial i couldnt do anything with Gimp. This is my result after a few(5) hours of hard work.



Only things which i couldnt do are those beautiful rivers of yours. And i cant get the color like youve gotten for the forests.

Any more advice? (your map still looks way better!)

My next step will be loading this map into viewingdale and start adding villages, ruines, etc as my players will discover them.

Thanks a lot for the great tutorial!

----------


## RobA

Remko-

Did you use the "turbulent" check box when generating the forest?  I find it makes for a nicer bump map.  Also, when applying the bump map, try the other options (linear, spherical, sinusoidal) as they have very different results.

As for the colour, I just tend to keep playing with the HSV, as well as had painting on the colours layer with different shades until I get something I like.

Is there something specific about the rivers (generating the emboss?) that is giving you problems?


And you're welcome!

-Rob A>

----------


## Remko1981

My rivers are a bit blocky. But my biggest problem is there height map. They just dont look like they are going down. Tried a lot of settings but cant seem to get it to work.

----------


## RobA

> My rivers are a bit blocky. But my biggest problem is there height map. They just dont look like they are going down. Tried a lot of settings but cant seem to get it to work.


I think I explained it a bit better in this posting:

http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...8&postcount=19

See if that clarifies things.

-Rob A>

----------


## Kasim

Just a quick post as I work on this.  I'm embarrased to say how long it took me to get past step 8 but here I am so far.  These layers and masks are kicking my butt pretty well.  But atleast I'm learning.

Note: the 4 circular shapes on the coastline were by design, not an error or oversight.  (Old meteor impacts.. there will be two inland on the peninsula as well.)  Next iteration I'm going to cut these down to 1 or 2 on the coastline as the chances of 4 out of 6 impacts landing in the exact spots to create neat little bays are pretty slim.

This isn't anywhere near where I want it but I'm going to complete the tutorial before restarting to do it right..  I'm in a hotel atm with no scanner so it was hand drawn via laser mouse on a crappy surface in GIMP.  I plan on using a map quite close to this as the beginnings from a remap of my campaign in ViewingDale.

We'll see how well I can mold mountains, input a desert and direct rivers tomorrow evening.   :Confused: 

And yes, I've repped the author for his tutorial, without it I wouldn't even dare using this method.

----------


## Remko1981

Thanks, the link you send helped indeed.

----------


## Kasim

Having some issues with the mountains.  I did use "sinusoidal" like the sceen shots had set up.

----------


## Kasim

Anyone else see off hand what I'm doing wrong just from the images?

----------


## Midgardsormr

I was kind of hoping that someone who knew what they were talking about would speak up, but I'll give it a shot.  Your mountains look a bit like my early experiments with bump maps.  They leap up out of the ground and then plateau suddenly, which suggests that you need to reduce the brightness of your alpha channel quite a bit.  

That flat top you're seeing is the result of very high whites in the center of the "blob."  I would guarantee that if you sampled any point in that plateau in your alpha channel, the luminosity would read 255, which means the height there is maxed out.  

Now, this is just guess-work because I am a beginner at this process, myself.  I'll bet, though, that if you go back to your alpha, select the white areas, put some clouds in it, then play with the levels a bit, you'll get the results you're after.  

If anyone who's actually done this before would like to chime in and correct any of my misconceptions, I'd welcome it!

----------


## Remko1981

Kasim: It looks like you used your normal black on white layer for the bump map.



Instead of one which has a bit of fuzzyness in it.



See the difference in the selection box called bumpprojectie.

----------


## RobA

I have to agree with Remko - That is exactly what it looks like!

-Rob A>

----------


## Airith

Well here's my try at it. My first or second time with GIMP. I know I screwed up on the mountains somewhere, but I've done that part 3 times and I can't look at it without glaring  :Frown:  Same with the forests. I got really lazy at the text part, especially the title.

My big question is adding the rivers, you might notice some blue squigglys randomly placed behind a mountain, because I guess I added to the wrong layer. Could not find the one you mentioned. Paths-do they just take time to get used to? They seemed so strange to use...

The tutorial is great though, I think I'm going to try it again and hopefully get closer.

Also, like my gross font color/outline  :Smile:

----------


## The Cartographist

Airith,
  I think that it is a fantastic start considering it was only your first or second time using Gimp.  That just shows the power of the tutorials that we are lucky enough to have here at the Guild.  Nice job.

----------


## RobA

Good first effort Airith!

One of MY problems is that I tended to skip steps when writing this all down  :Smile:   And I tend to "futz" with the image as I am working on it, adjusting levels redoing various things (lots of ctrl-Z  :Razz:  )  

So if there are specific steps you want clarified, please ask!

And yes, paths do take a while to get used to in GIMP.  I personally find them very unintuitive, which is why I now do any extensive path work in Inkscape.  GIMP will import the Inkscape SVG file as a path (or paths) without any problem.

-Rob A>

----------


## Kasim

Honestly, I'd prefer a few more screen shots that show exactly what you should be doing.

Also you should double check the descriptions for creating layers.




> Create new layer called Land Noise and fill it with clouds (Filter->Render->Clouds->Solid Noise) Set the detail to the maximum (15) and the X and Y size to the max (16.0).


I wasn't sure on many of them if it was transparent, white or whatever.  Some you did specify, which helped.

There were quite a few steps that I had to guess on or use some trial and error.  Next run through, I'll make sure to take notes on what I felt wasn't clear or would like to see a screen shot for.

----------


## RobA

Thanks for the feedback - I'll read through it again to add those clarification.  Generally though, if I didn't mention an option, it doesn't matter  :Smile:   Seriously.  In the case you provided, if you are filling the layer with rendered cloud it doesn't matter if the layer starts a any particular colour or is transparent.   Bu t I can see how by NOT stating, it could be confusing.

-Rob A>

----------


## DarkOne

RobA, this tutorial should be made an official GIMP tutorial. I learnt more of using GIMP than I ever done in the past year of using GIMP. Thanx for showing us the more interesting features of GIMP and how to use them together to produce stunning results.

----------


## RobA

Geee.  Thanks  :Blush: 

-Rob A>

----------


## ravells

It's about time RobA quit slacking and made another one!

----------


## pyrandon

> It's about time RobA quit slacking and made another one!


Hear hear!   

This tutorial is the flagship of the Guild, netting more hits than any other thread, I believe (and definitely more than any other tutorial).  It's well written, complete, and amazingly helpful.

Rob, you are hereby commanded to get to work!   :Wink: 

(PS:  a video tutorial would be even better, I say!)

----------


## Zar Peter

My three cents:
Great tutorial. I downloaded Gimp because of that and started to try two days ago. My efforts after about 7 hours work you can see below. I'm not very happy with the tree-texture but all I need now is some experience.

For me the hardest part was to translate the english terms and the inversion at the beginning (as described in Crymoons post. In the tutorial post you write "Now create a new _transparent_ layer (Layer->New Layer) and name it Land..." it should be a white layer, otherwise the inversion doesn't work as shown.)

----------


## nwelte

First time using gimp for anything other than cropping ans sizing.  Not happy with my forest or the coast line.  I also seem to have messed up the color of the water.  I don't have the white wisps.  But I feel the map is a good start.  I will have to finish the rest of the map later.  

Comments? Suggestions?

----------


## RobA

Good effort, nwelte!

You might want to try a turbulent bump map with a larger x-size and y-size for the forrest texture.  Just decreasing the opacity of the forest bump map overlay would also help make then less intense.

-Rob A>

----------


## Airith

"Mountains, EVERYTHING almost. sorry, just a lot of spots during mountains that were odd. Bump map area in particular.

Is there a better way to do forests?

-Rivers-, mine turned out strange several times. had to erase a lot of upper layers to get it to look right."

These are just things I wrote down while I was going through the tutorial, hopefully you can understand them  :Smile:

----------


## nwelte

Hmm I gave this tutorial another try and combined it with another tutorial I think you made.  What do you think?  Better than the first attempt I posted earlier?  Still not happy with the mountains.  And I have "dead space" on the image I need to fill.   Think a compass would fill the space.  Any suggestions for a a good compass?

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...lte/Zurgas.png

----------


## RobA

Looks nice nwelte.  

A little neon for my tasted (esp. the forest region) but I think it is the right scaled map for the technique.  I'm also sure there is a a reason the roads are so straight (Other than curved paths in GIMP are awkward to work with  :Razz:  )

Here is a compass I used in my quarry map:


Feel free to use it (the full image is a transparent background png).

-Rob A>

----------


## nwelte

I had trouble with the color of the map once I imposed it under the fuzzy layer in your paper tutorial.  Found that the map was to dark and needed to be lightened.  Unfortunately that created the neon look.  Any suggestions on how to correct that?

----------


## RobA

Did you put it on the paper as a flattened layer, or is the whole thing a single many layered image?

I tend to make my maps as one image, them export/flatten them to a single layer which I then add the paper/background/weathering, etc.  That lets you adjust the levels and saturation a bit easier.

-Rob A>

----------


## nwelte

I created the map itself as one multi layer image.  I then create the paper as a seperate multi-layer image. I then copied all visible from the map and pasted it in to the paper image at the right layer. 

I also think when I did the color normalization step that somehow that lightened the trees.

You have any suggests as to how to make artistic farm fields in this same style.  As you can see from my map I tried to put furrows around a few settlements.

----------


## RobA

> You have any suggests as to how to make artistic farm fields in this same style.  As you can see from my map I tried to put furrows around a few settlements.


mmmm. 

Off the top of my head (and without gimp at hand) and if the scale is local enough....

Create a new gradient type that goes from white to black, but make sure you set the blend to be sinusoidal (the default blends are all linear).
Select the area's you want to be fields using the pen tool to make a straight edged selection.
Create a new transparent layer, and with the gradient tool, set it to triangular repeats, and fill the selection(s) with the gradient in the size desired for the row spacing.  You can do it with different selection in different directions to make the furrows go different ways.

Use this as a base heightfield for: 
-bumpmap (on a 50% grey level like everything else)
-colourmap (might have to create a brown-green gradient to represent the green crops on brown dirt.. a bit of pixel spread might work well on the colour after as well.. ) 

-Rob A>

----------


## nijineko

i'm reinstalling gimp just to try this and the old paper tutorial out. =D thank you very much!

----------


## Dayzie

Hey, this is brilliant.  :Smile:   Being the insomniac that I am, I've been playing with this all night.  I've never touched anything outside of paint, seeing as I have no artistic ability whatsoever, but this was very easy to follow.  I've just hit the mountains and have run out of steam for now - but wanted to let you know that from a total newbie's perspective, this is a very well written tutorial.  

E

----------


## ggdancer

this is such a cool tutorial. I've been using Gimp for ages and this is one of the best tuts I've seen. It has inspired me to restart a project i started about 10 years ago. maybe i'll finish it now  :Smile:

----------


## RobA

Thanks ggdancer!

Hope you share your results.

-Rob A>

----------


## Skycast

This thread has inspired me to download GIMP and give it a try to make a map in this style. However I didn't get very far before hitting a bump in the road. Using the PDF as a reference, here's where I'm at:

Part 1, Page 8 - Created the "Land Noise" layer with clouds and changed the blend mode to overlay (I think I did that part right, but I'm not sure).

Part 1, Page 8,9 - Created the "Land Clip" layer and filled it with white using the bucket tool. Opened up COLORS > LEVELS and started changing the white output slider and nothing happened.

Obviously I've missed something here and being utterly new to GIMP it's not surprising. One question, when adding a new layer, what should the layer fill type be: foreground color, background color, white, or transparency? The only layer creation step that stipulated that part was the initial "Land" layer and it said transparency so I've created all my layers since there with that same type.

Thanks in advance...I'm eager to keep moving along with this experiement.

----------


## Xeviat

It's possible you're playing with the wrong slider in the Levels. There's two bars, one for input and one for output. Check if you're fiddling with output. Oh, and that white layer should be set to "lighten" for its blend mode. That looks like the step you missed.

----------


## Skycast

> It's possible you're playing with the wrong slider in the Levels. There's two bars, one for input and one for output. Check if you're fiddling with output. Oh, and that white layer should be set to "lighten" for its blend mode. That looks like the step you missed.



I'm using the correct output slider, but I did miss changing the blend mode to lighten. I went back and did that with still no success. All I get is the layer going from white to gray to black when I adjust the slider, nothing underneath shows up.

----------


## jfrazierjr

> This thread has inspired me to download GIMP and give it a try to make a map in this style. However I didn't get very far before hitting a bump in the road. Using the PDF as a reference, here's where I'm at:
> 
> Part 1, Page 8 - Created the "Land Noise" layer with clouds and changed the blend mode to overlay (I think I did that part right, but I'm not sure).
> 
> Part 1, Page 8,9 - Created the "Land Clip" layer and filled it with white using the bucket tool. Opened up COLORS > LEVELS and started changing the white output slider and nothing happened.
> 
> Obviously I've missed something here and being utterly new to GIMP it's not surprising. One question, when adding a new layer, what should the layer fill type be: foreground color, background color, white, or transparency? The only layer creation step that stipulated that part was the initial "Land" layer and it said transparency so I've created all my layers since there with that same type.
> 
> Thanks in advance...I'm eager to keep moving along with this experiement.


Bottom Layer: Black with white where the land should be, and then blurred
Layer 2 (Noise): color does not matter since this is the noise layer.   Mode should be overlay
Layer 3 (Clip): White layer with mode set to lighten only.   

After your third layer, you then use the levels dialog to remove the solid white and it turns "grey" to black as you slide the output from right to left (whiter to darker).  As the white goes down, it will reveal the "clouds" underneath on the grey/black background.

Hope that helps.   Goodness knows, I have gotten a lot of practice with this since I got GIMP and this Tut. last week.

Joe

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## RobA

Thanks Joe - that said it better than I could have  :Smile: 

-Rob A>

----------


## DanChops

RobA - Thanks for superb tutorial.  I stumbled across the guild here a few months ago and have been itching to do this sort of map work, but have been at a complete loss as to how to start.  This tutorial was exactly what I was looknig for.  A very sincere thank you.

Here is my attempt so far at putting this tutorial in practice.  This is my first go with GIMP (indeed, with any image editing software) so it took a bit of doing to get to this point.  (i should note that this map is just a doodle - it's not intended to be realistic or usable at all.)  By and large I'm quite please with where I've gotten so far, although I do have a number of problems.

The most glaring issue to me is that my mountains are simply too orange.  I'm not really sure how to address that.  I tried playing with the levels, but to no avail.  

Another issue is that the edge of the forests seems too sharp.  Perhaps I should do a larger gaussian blur on the "Forest Color" layer mask?  (I think that's what it's called anyway - the cookie cutter template that limits the contents of the Forest Color layer to a certain area of the map.)  That may work, I'll have to try it out tomorrow.

A final issue is that I'm not happy with the desert transistion in the north-east of the map.  I suppose I could create a third layer with colors that would transition between the desert and grass layers - a "Sahel" layer as it were.  Is there a better way to deal with this transition?

Anyway, thanks again for the tutorial!

----------


## RobA

A blur (or spread filter) on the mask would probably help the forest blend a bit better.

To change the mountain colour, go into the mountain colour layer and use Colours->Hue-Saturation.  This will let you shift the colours (using the hue slider) around the spectrum and decrease the colour intensity with the saturation and lightness sliders.  Getting a good brown is always hard on computer screens...(at least for me...)

Nice first effort, though!  Glad you found the tutorial useful.

-Rob A>

----------


## jfrazierjr

> A blur (or spread filter) on the mask would probably help the forest blend a bit better.
> 
> To change the mountain colour, go into the mountain colour layer and use Colours->Hue-Saturation.  This will let you shift the colours (using the hue slider) around the spectrum and decrease the colour intensity with the saturation and lightness sliders.  Getting a good brown is always hard on computer screens...(at least for me...)
> 
> Nice first effort, though!  Glad you found the tutorial useful.
> 
> -Rob A>


heh.. so the update to clarify the mountain section is coming when?   :Razz:

----------


## Skycast

> Bottom Layer: Black with white where the land should be, and then blurred
> Layer 2 (Noise): color does not matter since this is the noise layer.   Mode should be overlay
> Layer 3 (Clip): White layer with mode set to lighten only.   
> 
> After your third layer, you then use the levels dialog to remove the solid white and it turns "grey" to black as you slide the output from right to left (whiter to darker).  As the white goes down, it will reveal the "clouds" underneath on the grey/black background.
> 
> Hope that helps.   Goodness knows, I have gotten a lot of practice with this since I got GIMP and this Tut. last week.
> 
> Joe


I have still got to be missing something PAINFULLY obvious, I'm following these steps closely and still can't get it to work. I've attached the file, can one of you fellas look at it?

----------


## Skycast

After goofing around a bit more the only thing I see is that when setting the blend I only see a "LIGHTEN ONLY" option and not just a "LIGHTEN" option. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong there.

----------


## RobA

Sorry to disappoint you Skycast, but the big issue is that your coastline already has as much "randomness" as you could expect to add with noise.  The technique is designed to work with very smooth, general shapes, applying a large blur, and the noise gets added into the area of the blur.  In your case, the blur is tiny (5 px or so) and the noise is just not fine enough to show up.

Beyond that, you missed setting the noise layer to overlay blend mode (but it doesn't really help here...)

You might be better off just getting a better detailed map of the area, alternately, Jump ahead to the shoreline section, and use that technique (a small positive, then negative displacement map using the same noise) to add some distortion to the shoreline.

Attached is an updated zip with the layer set how they should be (no real effect, for the reason's stated) along with a  new layer I created by taking the blurred coast, thresholding it, then displacement mapping it twice so show what I meant.

----------


## Skycast

Thanks Rob, I'm a long time CC2/3 user, but GIMP is brand new to me; I'll get there eventually! What post number in your PDF would you suggest I start at then?

----------


## RobA

I guess I'm not sure exactly what you want to do...

This whole tutorial is based on my efforts to make a nice looking map from a vague idea, without having to draw anything  :Smile:  as opposed to mapping based on a well defined area....

What are you hoping to end up with, and what is it for?

-Rob A>

----------


## Skycast

I'm looking to produce a map similar to the one shown in the tutorial with the colors, textures, etc.

----------


## Thanin

First off, as everyone else has said, this guide is brilliant.  I was a complete Gimp newb, and still probably am, when I started working on these.  But now I at least feel comfortable with the software.

Now, Ive been living with this guide for awhile now, using it to work on my maps when Ive had the free time.  And Im pretty happy with what Ive done so far.  The more complete map isnt finished yet -- Im still goofing around with text, testing things out.  But Id like to know what you all think, and if you have the time maybe throw out some suggestions.

The other map is me trying to use this method to produce a more tundra/snow region.  So again Id like to hear any feedback, positive or negative.  Two of my main concerns are to keep the snow from looking like water and if the tundra/more grassy border is too abrupt.

----------


## jfrazierjr

One thing that annoyed me was the pixelization when using the Noise->Spead filter on the mountains.   I "just" last night found a solution that I prefer more that using this filter.   Here is what I found and like:   After adding the layer mask to the layers with the moutains on them, in the layers dialog box select the layer mask (right most icon) and run a G. Blur.   I like somewhere around 100-200 px, but that depends quite a bit on the size/resolution of your original map.  For a map with smaller height/width, smaller would probably be better, my map is like 3000x3600.

It really makes the mountain layer really blend into the underlying background (grass) much more smothly IMO and allows zooming in for more detail at a closer level before pixilization happens.  

Thanin, if you have a layer mask for the tundra picture, you could try this technique to get a more natural looking blend from one layer to another, though I have no idea if it wil work or not.

----------


## Thanin

Thanks jfrazierjr!  I agree that, once I looked at the map in the jpg format, the spread filter was way too high, so I went back and readjusted all the masks to a lower setting.  I also experimented with your mountain suggestion.  I think Id like it for some mountains, but this specific map isnt built for that look, unfortunately.  Although I took your advice on the tundra and I think youre right, it integrates much better.  Though Ill probably go back and keep the snow/tundra part less blurry.  

Anyone else have any thoughts?

----------


## jfrazierjr

I have to say I really like how my suggestion turned out, even if you did not.  Looking below the town of Pashvie, the blur created a nice "pass" type effect in the new copy while that area looked kind of odd in the original technique.   

Also, I LOVE the mountain lake idea (and am trying to do something like that on my current map) but I can see how using my blur messed that up a bit.  I am sure there is a way to fix that area a bit while keeping the rest of the blur area intact.  I have been playing (though not perfected) creating multiple channels from the same selection and making each selection a bit different in size by changing the threshold and using a bit different blur for each.   I am far from being artistically inclined, but I am just playing around with some ideas and trying to learn how GIMP works.  The only problem with the approach of having multple maskes is that ones you merge mask and go past your undo buffer size, you can't get rid of it, so I have been playing with saving the file under multiple names to allow me to go back if needed.

Oh, and if you feel like playing with it, you could also try doing the same bluring thing on the dirt layer to make the dirt->grass transision a bit more naturual looking.   Again, not sure how it would work (I have not gotten my latest map to have the dirt layer look good yet so skipped ahead) but give it a try if you like.   

Over all, very nice map.  The rivers look a bit blocky, but that might just be an artifact of saving to this format or the original map may not have been big enough.   My only real complaint is that the city icons don't really match the map style.  They are very pretty, but I would probably use overhead type views of the towns in some way as you have for the rest of the map.   Not a big deal, just something to think about.

----------


## Thanin

Man I think youve convinced me; the super blur on the mountains just might be the way to go.  And I _think_ I can save the mountain lake.  As for the towns, theyre really just straight copies from CC3, so they arent that important... but Ill probably end up keeping them cause I spent so much freaking time putting a blur and bump map behind each one.

----------


## jfrazierjr

The less blur you have on the mountains (perhaps 35-50 px or so) the more the details are going to stay somewhat sharp.   Again, the amount of blur you use on the layer mask will go down the smaller you original map resolution is to make the same effect.  


Personally (I keep finding more things that I like about it), the moutains above Mirkarna that got blured down into some nice hill things looks really cool.  The blur actually made them "pop" a bit more as their own features instead of fading into the brown background as in the original.

Another thing I found was the river "peeking" through bits of Farileaf Forest.   That's really a nice touch.

Joe

----------


## jfrazierjr

Also, check out Rob's quick tutorial about how to create variable blurs in GIMP here: http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=2016

I have not played with it, but I can see how this might be a way to make for some fairly precisely controled blurs for creating layer masks and blending two layers into each other.

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## Thanin

Ahh another great tutorial by RobA on exactly what I was needing.  Thanks for the heads up

----------


## su_liam

Heheh... I thought the towns were made of love.

----------


## RobA

Re: blur vs. spread...

I tried a lot of things, but found that blurring the mask often left the mountain edges too soft for my liking, hence the spread technique...but as said it really depends on the map.  The last I made with this technique I kept blurring then spreading, then applying a mosaic filter then blurring some more...

I guess this is a bit more art then science  :Smile: 

Glad you all liked the tutorial, and it is really nice to see people's efforts posted here!

-Rob A>

----------


## jfrazierjr

> I tried a lot of things, but found that blurring the mask often left the mountain edges too soft for my liking, hence the spread technique...but as said it really depends on the map.  The last I made with this technique I kept blurring then spreading, then applying a mosaic filter then blurring some more...


Perhaps when you have a few minutes, you can post up few screenshots to show this technique.





> Glad you all liked the tutorial, and it is really nice to see people's efforts posted here!



Your welcome.  I even repped you for the tut.    I am not very artistic, but I have learned quite a bit about GIMP from your tut's and playing around.

Joe

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## Lucjan

My God, this is exactly the style of map I've been wanting to do, and the tutorial is amazing!  :Exclamation:  :Smile: 

Much thanks to the fellow who spent so much time developing and writing this.

----------


## Azrof

New to the site - I've been using Bryce with various results up until now. As a semi-artistic enthusiast, I've tried combining Bryce with PSP for years without really knowing how to do much successfully and recently broken down to using SnagIt! This tutorial has inspired me to work again on more artistic maps and more - shows me which directions to go.

Thank you very much.

As an aside (let the questions fly!):

Would importing an existing Bryce or similar 3D image work with this process, or would it be too much effort? (I'm thinking the existing 3D shapes would cause visual collision in the methods referenced here).

----------


## ravells

Sorry, which tutorial and process are you referring to?

----------


## Azrof

> Sorry, which tutorial and process are you referring to?


Ah, the use of GIMP indicated in this tutorial.

----------


## Azrof

I get to this point...




> Now Invert the selection (Select->Invert), create a new black layer called Land Mask
> and fill the selection with white. Now save the selection to a Channel (Select->Save to
> Channel) and rename the channel to Land Mask. This will be used a fit bit later.
> 
> To make the ocean/water (and the base contour for the land as well) a two layer variant of
> the three layer sandwich will be used.
> Copy the Land Mask Layer, and rename it Sea Shape. Apply a Gaussian Blur
> (Filter->Blue->Gaussian Blur) large enough to eliminate the absolute black and whites
> of the image. In this case, I used the same size as the image (500px).


1: I don't see a black layer? When I make it a "Back" layer - it turns out white and when I copy the layer...it's just white...so when I blur it, nothing happens?

Thoughts?

----------


## RobA

> I get to this point...
> 
> 
> 
> 1: I don't see a black layer? When I make it a "Back" layer - it turns out white and when I copy the layer...it's just white...so when I blur it, nothing happens?
> 
> Thoughts?


Create a new layer that is completely filled with black.
Fill the current selection with white.  You should now have a B&W picture, with the land white and the water black.

With the land still selected, save the selection as a channel.

Select None.

Duplicate the B&W layer.

(continue)

Hope that clarifies things.

-Rob A>

----------


## RobA

> Would importing an existing Bryce or similar 3D image work with this process, or would it be too much effort? (I'm thinking the existing 3D shapes would cause visual collision in the methods referenced here).


Many of the techniques (cloud rendering, etc.) are just ways to create moderately decent looking heightfields.  You should be able to export any bryce  image as a heightfield image an use in place of any of those.

The only problem would be the 8 bit limit in GIMP leading to stairstep terrain, having only 256 possible values...

-Rob A>

----------


## Karro

Okay, so stupid questions time:

1: I know at the beginning this is labeled as a regional map technique, not appropriate for whole world maps and not for local maps.  But what, generally, do you consider the scale of this map (as in comparitive size to a region on real-world earth, or miles/km)

2.  In obtaining some randomness to a coastline, what would the best method be to obtain such geographic features as barrier islands be... and at what scale would these even be features a map would normally show?  

I was considering taking a fairly specific regional map, scaling it up to a very high pixel density (to within several thousands by several thousands) then using this method on a high blur that maintains the general shape to attempt to draw out some interesting geographic features like barrier islands within that framework, then scaling back down to a slightly smaller number of pixels while hopefully retaining those features.  I haven't tried it yet.  The idea is to take something like England or Nova Scotia or a similar regional area that on a world map is relatively small, but when viewed closely has tons of very interesting geographic features, including outlying islands that are too small to get picked up on the world map.  Would this work, you think, for taking a general shape from a world map to produce a more detailed regional map?

----------


## RobA

> Okay, so stupid questions time:
> 
> 1: I know at the beginning this is labeled as a regional map technique, not appropriate for whole world maps and not for local maps.  But what, generally, do you consider the scale of this map (as in comparitive size to a region on real-world earth, or miles/km)


Mentally, I was scaling things to be in the 5px/km range.  So a 800x800 map would be around 160km (ish).  But as mentioned, the textures can be scaled up or down appropriately.




> 2.  In obtaining some randomness to a coastline, what would the best method be to obtain such geographic features as barrier islands be... and at what scale would these even be features a map would normally show?  
> 
> I was considering taking a fairly specific regional map, scaling it up to a very high pixel density (to within several thousands by several thousands) then using this method on a high blur that maintains the general shape to attempt to draw out some interesting geographic features like barrier islands within that framework, then scaling back down to a slightly smaller number of pixels while hopefully retaining those features.  I haven't tried it yet.  The idea is to take something like England or Nova Scotia or a similar regional area that on a world map is relatively small, but when viewed closely has tons of very interesting geographic features, including outlying islands that are too small to get picked up on the world map.  Would this work, you think, for taking a general shape from a world map to produce a more detailed regional map?


I show one technique in this thread for progressively adding coastline detail.  A similar technique could be used for adding detail to areas: rivers/lakes/borders, etc.

-Rob A>

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## delgondahntelius

just over 9,000 views.... does this make it the top viewed post ?? I don't remember seeing another higher .... you go YoDa ... make the thread Explode when you 10K ....  :Very Happy:

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## Karro

> Mentally, I was scaling things to be in the 5px/km range.  So a 800x800 map would be around 160km (ish).  But as mentioned, the textures can be scaled up or down appropriately.
> 
> 
> 
> I show one technique in this thread for progressively adding coastline detail.  A similar technique could be used for adding detail to areas: rivers/lakes/borders, etc.
> 
> -Rob A>


I saw this before, but I forgot about it before posting.  I should really look before opening my mouth and asking stupid questions...

Thanks man!  I'd give you more rep (I don't even know if mine counts yet), but it tells me I need to spread it around a little first...

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## dhalsimrocks

This tutorial is just beyond outstanding.  It was quite literally EXACTLY what I was looking for.  See, I'm a Linux user, and as such, the most readily available image software is GIMP.  However, I never had a moment's thought that I might find a tutorial this thorough, SPECIFICALLY for the GIMP.  I'm blown away.

A huge "Thank you!" (and some rep) goes out to RobA for taking the time to make this extraordinary guide.

Not only is it going to be a godsend for my map making, but it has taught me a lot about using GIMP that I'm sure I can apply to other tasks.

Now, I got a chance to play around with these techniques this evening, and I must say, the results are very satisfactory.  I'm still just practicing, so I haven't done any editing on my current map project, but I've gotten the hang of it and even added my own technique.

I made a mountain range and decided I wanted snow caps on the tallest peaks.  So I made a new layer by copying the uncolored/greyscale mountain range (let's call it "Snow").  I then used the magic wand with a very high tolerance and clicked in the dark "non mountainous area", so everything but the lightest colors were selected.  I inverted the selection, created a new layer, saved the selection to a channel and created a mask.  I then applied that mask to the "Snow" layer", reduced the opacity to about 90% and this was the result:

NOTE: when I made this, I had no internet connection and was doing this from memory and I couldn't remember how to do the heightfield.

----------


## jfrazierjr

Looks pretty nice.    You may also want to take a look a Karro's WIP thread as he took (yet another ) of RobA's tutotial techniques to make his mountains and the results are quite good I must say.   It all depends on the style you are looking for.  I would highly suggest looking up DanChops technique in his WIP thread for the forests, using plasma noise.  The results are great.  

Open a new thread and keep posting your WIP's up for everyone to see!

Joe

----------


## Karro

> --snip--


My sentiments exactly!




> --snip the sequel--


RobA's other mountain tutorial is here.

I demonstrate the results of RobA's other mountain tutorial here, then make my own adjustments to the process here.

DanChop's forest ideas can be found in this thread starting at post 18.

----------


## jfrazierjr

Thanks for posting the direct links Karro..  I just did not have the time to search when replying as I was on the way out the door.

Joe

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## Karro

I was deadly bored at work.  This was more fun.

----------


## Karro

> Looks pretty nice.    You may also want to take a look a Karro's WIP thread as he took (yet another ) of RobA's tutotial techniques to make his mountains and the results are quite good I must say.   It all depends on the style you are looking for.  I would highly suggest looking up DanChops technique in his WIP thread for the forests, using plasma noise.  The results are great.  
> 
> Open a new thread and keep posting your WIP's up for everyone to see!
> 
> Joe


I'd also like to point out that Joe, I'm guessing through modesty, neglected to point out his own efforts at producing mountain ranges, which by the end are fantastic looking.  (Joe... the public wants to know, when are you doing a tutorial on those?)

----------


## jfrazierjr

> I'd also like to point out that Joe, I'm guessing through modesty, neglected to point out his own efforts at producing mountain ranges, which by the end are fantastic looking.  (Joe... the public wants to know, when are you doing a tutorial on those?)


 :Surprised:  <blush>

Thanks Karro, that means a ton.  I was hoping to get it done this past weekend but stuff come up.   Also, I have been thinking of how to do my part of the World building project, but am having a bit of trouble figuring out the style since around 85% of the tile is mountains and I have quite a few things I want to pack into the map so real estate is a real issue.  Side view hand drawn mountains are out just because then I could not fit anything except into the small bit of clear areas.  

I hope I can get some time this weekend or next and throw something together.   Also, I have been playing a lot the past few weeks with various minor alterations to the technique to see which I like best and is easiest and I am still having trouble making up my mind.  What I will probably do is go with one alternative and maybe make a few quick side screenshots to show a few variations at different stages and how they changes the final result.  

Joe

----------


## Karro

> --snips the good news--
> Joe


That's excellent!  I look forward to seeing it!

----------


## megabyter5

I got to post nine before I realized everything was purple for some reason. Does this work with the newest version of GIMP?

----------


## jfrazierjr

> I got to post nine before I realized everything was purple for some reason. Does this work with the newest version of GIMP?


Yep.  There are a few things that might need to be cleared up, but it does you started.   Save a copy as a .jpg file, start a new thread, and upload so we can check out your progress and help from there.

Joe

----------


## RobA

> I got to post nine before I realized everything was purple for some reason. Does this work with the newest version of GIMP?


2.4 and up...

Like Joe said, post a sample (in a new thread, please....this one is getting way big) and we'll try and help you along.

-Rob A>

----------


## megabyter5

Strangely, I downloaded the colors file to exactly where it said to, but nothing happened. Does it matter that I had to MAKE a palette folder where it said it would be?

----------


## Steel General

HI all, I've been trying to follow this tutorial (which has been great up to this point), and I have hit a snag. I am confused by the following step...




> Now we want to create a heightfield from this. The easiest way I have found to do this is to copy the current visible image (Edit->Copy Visible) then paste it (CTRL-V) to a floating selection. Click the New Layer button to get it on its own layer rather than a floating layer. Now stretch the colour range out (Color->Auto->Normalize):



What layer should I be making a copy of?

Thanks in advance for your help.

----------


## Steel General

> Strangely, I downloaded the colors file to exactly where it said to, but nothing happened. Does it matter that I had to MAKE a palette folder where it said it would be?


I found I had to manually add the palette even after extracting it to the appropriate location. Go to the palettes menu and *IMPORT PALETTE*

----------


## RobA

> Strangely, I downloaded the colors file to exactly where it said to, but nothing happened. Does it matter that I had to MAKE a palette folder where it said it would be?


As far as I can remember, gimp should have set up the directories.....

Did you put it in the install path directory, or in the user directory?

-Rob A>

----------


## megabyter5

Er... I opened the ZIP file and extracted it to the (newly created) palette folder.

EDIT: Didn't notice the other guy's post. I got it now.

----------


## Ambroise

I also am having troubles at this stage. I ma getting to this point then get confused with your layers and masks. The pasting of the new layer is about where I get lost then my screen doesnt match you posts.
Any input would be helpfull.

----------


## RobA

> HI all, I've been trying to follow this tutorial (which has been great up to this point), and I have hit a snag. I am confused by the following step...
> 
> 
> What layer should I be making a copy of?
> 
> Thanks in advance for your help.


*Edit->Copy Visible* will make a copy of the image, exactly as you see it (with all the layers).  It is kind of like flattening the image into one layer then copying that into a new layer.

Ambroise - I hope that helps you, too.

-Rob A>

----------


## Steel General

> *Edit->Copy Visible* will make a copy of the image, exactly as you see it (with all the layers).  It is kind of like flattening the image into one layer then copying that into a new layer.
> 
> Ambroise - I hope that helps you, too.
> 
> -Rob A>


Thanks Rob, I forgot to post that I had got it worked out.

----------


## A. Smith

Rob, you are my hero.

----------


## angellus00

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!  I've been looking for a step by step to do something like this for AGES!!  Thank you x100000

Here is the first map I made using this tutorial.

----------


## JadeEliott

Rob,

Awesome tute. I, like others are completely new to Gimp and was using Microsoft Publisher before this! (Don't laugh.)

I have gotten to the mountains stage and the directions are becomig a bit "ragged" so that I am having a hard time keeping up. I am stuck here:




> Use the magic wand again to select the non-mountain area (like with the land) and create a new layer called Mountains Mask with a white on black. (Also the white colour selection as a new selection mask using Select->Save to Channel).


What does "with a white on black" mean?

What does the second sentence mean? How specifically do I do this?

In the land mask step, you selected then inverted the selection. Do I do the same here? Otherwise, my mask ends up with the mountains black instead of white like the land mass was?

I have repped you for this tute, it is very helpful!

My only complaint is how your directions started out very clear and step by step and then degraded, skipping key points or assuming the reader would know what you meant. Like you just wanted to be finished and rushed (which you probably did just want to be finished after all that work!)

Thanks for any help you can give.

----------


## jfrazierjr

> Rob,
> 
> Awesome tute. I, like others are completely new to Gimp and was using Microsoft Publisher before this! (Don't laugh.)
> 
> I have gotten to the mountains stage and the directions are becomig a bit "ragged" so that I am having a hard time keeping up. I am stuck here:
> 
> 
> 
> What does "with a white on black" mean?


Create a new layer.  Make it black.   reduce the opacity down enough so you can see the underlying land shape.  This will allow you to know where you need to make your mountains (so you don't put any into the ocean for example.)   Where you want the mountains to be, you draw in some white, making sure to fill the entire "insides".

Se second part, just like with the land is to invert the selection and the do the save to Channel under the "Selection" menu.  This should switch you over to the "Channels" tab (you will need to switch back to the layer tab)  Make SURE that the areas that are white are in the correct locations on the little thumbnail icon.  If not , you forgot to invert the selection.

Joe

----------


## RobA

> My only complaint is how your directions started out very clear and step by step and then degraded, skipping key points or assuming the reader would know what you meant. Like you just wanted to be finished and rushed (which you probably did just want to be finished after all that work!)


Somewhat guilty as charged.  I intentionally decided NOT repeat the details whenever I used a similar technique, figuring people could just reference back.

I believe jfrazierjr provided a great answer... hopefully that will get you through the step.

Alternatively, there is a somewhat nicer mountain technique described here (and stf for more) that I would suggest using in place.  (There is also a link to a video tutorial).

-Rob A>

-Rob A>

----------


## Carto

I just love your tutorial!!! It´s amazing!!!!

Here is the map I created (hope you like it)

----------


## jfrazierjr

> I just love your tutorial!!! It´s amazing!!!!
> 
> Here is the map I created (hope you like it)


Welcome to the Guild Carto!   Not bad for your first attempt.   I know Rob has a few updates (or a new one) for this since he and others have come up with several new techniques since this was first created 8 months ago.  You may want to search the forums in the past 3 months as there have been a lot of attempts by various people who have used this as a base and made some really nice results.

Also, feel free to post up your works in progress in the future!

Joe

----------


## nolgroth

> I just love your tutorial!!! It´s amazing!!!!
> 
> Here is the map I created (hope you like it)


I like it.  Not that I'm RobA, but I still felt compelled to answer.  :Wink:

----------


## RobA

Nice job Carto!  You managed the forest exactly as I tried to explain, something a lot of people seem to trip over.

Thanks for sharing the results!

-Rob A>

----------


## Phynix

Im having one major problem on the step that first tells you to apply a Gradient Map to the Sea layer, to color it blue.  I have the correct two blue colors chosen, but when I tell it to apply the map, it turns into a red>green>blue gradient, instead of dark blue>light blue.  I cant seem to resolve this myself... did I change some option somewhere?

I also tested this on a new file by making one, adding clouds, and trying the gradient map there, to see if some odd combination of layering was throwing my colors off, but I still got the wacky unintended color scheme from the gradient : /

----------


## nolgroth

I was just playing around with using Channels as Masks and I noticed a couple of things.  One, if all of the Channels are not activated or selected, it does some weird stuff with Gradient Maps.  Also, if you used existing Channels to create new ones, it does some weird stuff.

Try just to have a "virgin" RGB channel set up to see what Happens. Make sure the Red Green and Blue Channels are all active and highlighted.  Don't worry about the Land Mask.  It shouldn't be causing any problems.  If that isn't the problem, I don't know what is wrong. You may try checking the Layer Mode to make sure it isn't set to something weird.

Here is what mine looks like.

----------


## RobA

@Phynix - In the normal gradient options you can choose the gradient to go between the two endpoint colours around the hue, or directly.  This might be respected in the gradient map (sorry, no gimp handy today).

@Nolgroth - If you don't have all the channels selected anything you do will only apply to the selected channel.  I.E. if only blue is selected and you fill with a pattern, it will only fill the blue component, even once all channels are selected later.  Useful for a few things, annoying for most other if you de-select one channel unintentionally  :Razz: 

-Rob A>

----------


## Phynix

> @Phynix - In the normal gradient options you can choose the gradient to go between the two endpoint colours around the hue, or directly.  This might be respected in the gradient map (sorry, no gimp handy today).
> :
> Try just to have a "virgin" RGB channel set up to see what Happens. Make sure the Red Green and Blue Channels are all active and highlighted. Don't worry about the Land Mask. It shouldn't be causing any problems. If that isn't the problem, I don't know what is wrong. You may try checking the Layer Mode to make sure it isn't set to something weird.


Cant explain it, but today I tried again (just selecting the colors from the palette again, and telling it to apply the gradient map) and it worked.  No idea what was wrong... but maybe I was messing something up from tiredness, 'cause it was late at night.  :Question: 

Thanks for the response so quickly though, it was nice to see I wasnt ignored or something.

(And hello everyone, new to the forums :Smile: )

----------


## Ascension

Oh, we never ignore anyone here.  This is probably one of the more helpful forums around.  Even if we don't know what the heck we're talking about (like me) we always try to help out or give a pointer or 2 or 5  :Smile:

----------


## l3eater

> Now the noise layer (I used detail 8 and size of and set the blend mode to multiply. Then add a third layer (remember the TLS) as a clipping layer, and use the levels dialog to bring it down to show the mountains you want Here is the screen showing the three layers


Can you tell me in more detail about this step? thank you.

----------


## bryguy

> Can you tell me in more detail about this step? thank you.



I would like to know more about this step also. I use solid noise alot, and what your saying makes no sense. or is it since? i dont know which to use for this... 

anyways, your saying to use a detail 8 and size of 8 if im correct, but i have never seen a blend mode on it. Are you just talking about the layer modes?

----------


## Steel General

haven't used GIMP in about a month... IIRC the detail and size settings are for the cloud layer... 

I hope I have this correct. The third layer is set initially to all white and then you use the 'levels' adjustments to "unhide" the mountains. Similar to what you do in Step 4 earlier in the tutorial.

----------


## l3eater

> I would like to know more about this step also. I use solid noise alot, and what your saying makes no sense. or is it since? i dont know which to use for this... 
> 
> anyways, your saying to use a detail 8 and size of 8 if im correct, but i have never seen a blend mode on it. Are you just talking about the layer modes?


That is want i think he is trying to say, i've tried that and the result was similar the the image



Edit: I finished creating a mountain! 



I just need to know, on Post 12, when you have to do another G.Blur, does it stay the same as in 50 px blur or is it up to you?

----------


## Grizou

Hi there, 
just registered here  a few days ago after i found this tutorial via google. It's really great! I had some problems with some things (i have the german GIMP, and some features are hard to translate ^^). But i think i managed most of it  :Smile: 




> Nice job Carto!  You managed the forest exactly as I tried to explain, something *a lot of people seem to trip over*.
> ...
> -Rob A>


I think I am one of these peple  :Frown: 
I just don't get a nice colour, already tried various things, an now i am already closer to your example, bit not close enough ^^. Either its too shiny or to matt/dull  :Frown:  or just the "wrong" green  :Wink:

----------


## RobA

Try using the colours->hue/saturation dialog to get the green you want.

-Rob A>

----------


## heathan666

I have to say I just started using gimp and did what me and my friends thought was a pretty decent map...but I just have to say, "Whoa". This is freakin' saweet tutorial and I'm actually redoin' the map so I can make it the way I wanted to.

----------


## heathan666

ok my first attempt at layering...I'm not happy with it, but hey first time this is actually a world map for my 4th Edition game, I got alot of stuff I have to add, I can only hope that I make it look as good as your stuff does there man. Its still a work in progress but here's a before and after shot...lol...I think I need to redo the mountains......just delete and start from scratch.

BEFORE TUTORIAL:


AFTER TUTORIAL:

----------


## RobA

Looks nice!

Mountains are always the hardest thing to get looking good. There are a few other posts on mountains. Try searching the tutorial forum for gimp+mountain and you should get a few additional ideas. 

-Rob A>

----------


## Karro

> ok my first attempt at layering...I'm not happy with it, but hey first time this is actually a world map for my 4th Edition game, I got alot of stuff I have to add, I can only hope that I make it look as good as your stuff does there man. Its still a work in progress but here's a before and after shot...lol...I think I need to redo the mountains......just delete and start from scratch.




Just wanted to point out: it looks like your coastline changed a bit from the original version to RobA's GIMP Tutorial Version.  I imagine this is due to the fractalizing the coastline steps right in the beginning: i.e. using the 3-layer-sandwich and the cloud fill to make a rough and jaggedy coastline.

I thought I'd mention that if you were particularly liked your old coastline (which already looked reasonably jaggedy and fractalized, imho), then it's perfectly possible to sort of skip these early steps on RobA's tutorial and move to the later steps (the sea, etc.)  To do this, however, you'd need to convert your existing coastline into a black-and-white layer (white land, black ocean).

You can do this several different ways, probably.  It looks like you already have a black line for the coast.  You can probably use the Wand-select tool to select the ocean and, on a new layer, fill it with black.  (You should be able to select all the ocean blues by changing the settings on the wand tool.)  This should fill black up to the same point at which your coastal line begins.  Then, you just invert your selection and fill the rest with white.  If you've done this all on a different layer, you'll still have the original you can use as a guide.

----------


## jfrazierjr

Tis sad to see such a wonderful tutorial which has close to 20000 (that's right!!!) in less than a year and yet it only have 13 rating votes.   RATE THIS THREAD PEOPLE!!!  please???

----------


## Steel General

> Tis sad to see such a wonderful tutorial which has close to 20000 (that's right!!!) in less than a year and yet it only have 13 rating votes.   RATE THIS THREAD PEOPLE!!!  please???


Duly noted and now rated.

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## sivilark

I'm not even sure if the owner of this thread is online, but I saw the map and I was baffled so I decided to follow it and was doing pretty good until I got to the mountains... It's soo random? I finished with the dirt part... but I got lost after that.

----------


## jfrazierjr

> I'm not even sure if the owner of this thread is online, but I saw the map and I was baffled so I decided to follow it and was doing pretty good until I got to the mountains... It's soo random? I finished with the dirt part... but I got lost after that.



What exactly has you troubled with the mountains?

----------


## sivilark

Well, first off it kind of started with the black background and the mountains outlined and i was lost in the transition actually.

I read the side note that said it was similar to the land making, but I'm a little slow with tuts and I need to really study them before I can get the whole thing down.

----------


## jfrazierjr

> Well, first off it kind of started with the black background and the mountains outlined and i was lost in the transition actually.
> 
> I read the side note that said it was similar to the land making, but I'm a little slow with tuts and I need to really study them before I can get the whole thing down.



The best thing to do is to attack an image of what you have and let us know exactly where in the tutorial you are (page number if following the PDF file, or post number and section if following the thread itself).  We will be glad to help you get over the hump.

----------


## RPMiller

> The best thing to do is to attack an image...


I don't know that attacking the image is really the right thing to do.  :Wink:

----------


## sivilark

Pardon for the slow reply.

When I first began to read this I got lost because all of the sudden the blurry shape of the mountain was already done, and I'm not sure how he actually made it.



> *Post 11:Let There be Mountains*
> 
>   The technique for making the mountains is very similar to that of making the land. Because we have an idea for a map, we will start in this case by sketching a blurred representation of where they should be.  Otherwise, just use one of the random techniques:
> 
>   Create a new layer Mountains.  Fill in white for the general areas of the mountain ranges, and apply a 50 px (or so) Gaussian blur.  It is helpful to keep the original sketch on top with reduced opacity to act as a guide.  Dont worry about going in to the sea, because we can we can erase those areas later:
> Attachment 1485 
> 
>   Now the noise layer (I used detail 8 and size of  and set the blend mode to multiply.  Then add a third layer (remember the TLS) as a clipping layer, and use the levels dialog to bring it down to show the mountains you want  Here is the screen showing the three layers
> Attachment 1486
> ...


This is what my lap looks like currently. 

A little noobish I know, but I'll get better with practice.

----------


## jfrazierjr

> I don't know that attacking the image is really the right thing to do.


 :Razz:  :Razz:  :Razz: 

I think it is entirely acceptable when you get frustrated!

----------


## jfrazierjr

> Pardon for the slow reply.
> 
> When I first began to read this I got lost because all of the sudden the blurry shape of the mountain was already done, and I'm not sure how he actually made it.
> 
> 
> This is what my lap looks like currently. 
> 
> A little noobish I know, but I'll get better with practice.



Would a short video using your existing landform help?  If so, let me know and I will "try" to bang one out tonight (though it may be somewhat largish in the 50MB range)

----------


## RobA

> Pardon for the slow reply.
> 
> When I first began to read this I got lost because all of the sudden the blurry shape of the mountain was already done, and I'm not sure how he actually made it.


Hi-

I read through the steps, and am not sure what you mean above... "the blurry shape of the mountain was already done"... 

Go through a step at a time and tell me where things are different than in the tutorial, ok?

-Rob A>

----------


## sivilark

I got it working never mind.

I had to go back to the first part of the tutorial to make my mountain range.

sorry >.>

----------


## sivilark

Let it be known that even a noob can make maps with this guide.

I skipped some stuff since I'm just plain tired of not knowing how to do everything, (I'll get the hang of it later.)

Heres my improvised map with a key:



(ignore anything that sounds too weird. Its for my rpg.)
Index
I. Cities(Black)
.....A. Rubious
......B. Cyclos
......C. Generia
......D. Levitha
......E. Solovis
......F. Tritam
….G. Dissidia
….H. Cryous

II. Geography(Red)
.....A. Sinking Desert
.....B. Hyperian Sea
.....C. Gulf of Celestia
.....D. Celestia Mountain Range
.....E. Eos Lake
.....F. Dolphin Peninsula
.....G. Phoenix Beach


III. Special Locations ()


I.Cities
A. Rubious: Emissary city for the fire nation, Ember. A place where any Ember native will be reminded of his/her home country. Found on dolphin's peninsula, it's a rather exciting place. Flamboyant colors rule the streets and parades are monthly. Rather suiting for the typical wild nature of A fire soulston wielder.


B. Cyclos: Emissary city for the wind nation, Aeria. Its elegant buildings almost seem aerodynamic, like the city might lift itself of the ground. Found on the Great Planes where the breeze passes periodically. The people here might seem rather mysterious, but the city recieves plenty of travelers looking for exotic items.


C. Generia: Emissary city for the earth nation, Harthen. Home away from home. Found on the great Celestia mountain range. Usually a buzz of miners, hard workers are a dime a dozen. Many crystals and ores are constantly brought from within the mountain range. Even soulstones are found on rare occasions, probably left behind by careless travelers. The city is filled with hearty Harthenians and the occasional band of petty thieves.


D. Levitha: Emissary city for the water nation, Aquarius. Found near all the region's most important port cities. The best sailors use their soulstones to gain extraspeed on the dangerous deep waters. Also home of the best fishers. Thanks to their control over water, taking water from the fish is an easy task. The people here are gentle faced. Although they have a very simple look in their city, they do not lack in technology. Their always searching for the fabled city of Atlantis under the Hyperian sea.


E. Solovis: Directly across Tritam, this dea treade route is the quickest to travel from Celestia to Drome and viceversa. Solovis has been known to have smugglers trying to sell unathourized merchandise in Celestia.


F. Tritam: It is considered the older brother of Solovis. Though not as corrupt it, it represents Solovis on a much larger scale. This port city is home to the finest goods from Drome.

G. Dissidia – Capital of Celestia

H. Cryous – Capital of Drome

II.Geography
A. Sinking Desert: This desert is rumored to swallow anything brave enough to step on it. Scientists have observed it and their final analysis was that the whole desert was made of quicksand. Once a thriving forest it was drained of all its riches by the Drome government.


B. Hyperian Sea: A sea not unlike any other. Its fauna thrive in crystal clear water and the great coral reefs. Of course this sea where various lake monsters have been "spotted". Rumor has it that these lake monsters were born from soulstones of seamen that never went through a proper burial. Therefore never entering the lifestream. It also offers the most direct route between Celestia and Drome.


C. Gulf of Celestia: Gulf busy with fishermen. 


D. Celestia Mountain Range: Huge mountain range in the north of Celestia. In it there are plenty of small dwarf mining villages along with the dangers of the mountain.


E. Eos Lake/River: Thousands of years old, this lake is nothing, but water. Thanks to Celestian care the lake has survived this long with very few contamination of the lake itself. Eos river flows into Eos lake from the Celestian Mountain Range and then flows back out to empty itself in the Hyperian sea.


F. Dolphin Peninsula: Strangely representing a dolphin, archeologists have searched for many reasons to why the peninsula is shaped by so. Coincidence or man made?


G. Phoenix Beach: Although the name seems attractive enough to draw tourists upon tourists, the heat in the beach is infernal. Usually the only creatures that manage to survive there are Seraphines with a former fire soulstone.

----------


## jfrazierjr

Violation... Lakes will rarely have two or more outlets and over time one will win out and the other one will run dry.  Fix that up and you have a nice start..

----------


## sivilark

I have a special lake? lol

I pretty much need the multiple outlets for the rpg.

----------


## Ascension

This is actually quite nice for a first go.  It seems to me that the tuts helped and you certainly understand the process...now to go forth and tinker with it and create your own style is the challenge.  Nice job.

----------


## JrFan88

After giving the tut several shots, I have come here to vent my frustration and/or cluelessness (?)......

I have followed the tutorial step-by-step, trying to make sure I haven't missed anything, and yet I run up against the same stone wall time and again.  Everything goes more or less peachy until I get to the "grass" level; when I apply the gradient map, the thumbnail shows the color layer, but the main window doesn't.  If I start hiding layers, the color finally shows up, but goes away again as soon as I make the other layers visible again.  There must be something that I'm missing, but I cannot figger out what in billy-blue hell it is.  Has anyone else had this cunundrum?  Or am I hallucinating?

----------


## jfrazierjr

> After giving the tut several shots, I have come here to vent my frustration and/or cluelessness (?)......
> 
> I have followed the tutorial step-by-step, trying to make sure I haven't missed anything, and yet I run up against the same stone wall time and again.  Everything goes more or less peachy until I get to the "grass" level; when I apply the gradient map, the thumbnail shows the color layer, but the main window doesn't.  If I start hiding layers, the color finally shows up, but goes away again as soon as I make the other layers visible again.  There must be something that I'm missing, but I cannot figger out what in billy-blue hell it is.  Has anyone else had this cunundrum?  Or am I hallucinating?


Take a screenshot that shows your image and your layers dialog window and post up here.  In case you don't know how:

Make sure it's all visible on the screen and then press the Print Screen button on your keyboard (it will look like nothing happened).On your image go to Edit->Paste As->New ImageSave the image as a .jpegOn the forum in reply, find the icon on the menu that looks like a paperclip.  If you don't see it, you may have to click the "Go Advanced" button.This opens a popup window where you can upload an image fileFinish your post and submit.

----------


## JrFan88

OK, here it is, hope someone can help.  I mean, I think alles en ordnung (my bad HS German).

----------


## jfrazierjr

> OK, here it is, hope someone can help.  I mean, I think alles en ordnung (my bad HS German).


Unfortunatly, I don't have the tutorial in front of me at the moment, but double check your layer order AND the modes RobA told you to set layers to.   The way this works is that layers HIGHER are on top and thus any colors on those layers will "cover" the layers below them, in this case, your sea and seashore layers are above the grass, and thus they "cover" the grass color.  There are ways to keep the layer order the same as you have here but let the higher layers "come through" either via layer modes (the slider at the top) or via a layer mask(where in the mask, what is white on the mask allows that to show through and what is black is hidden.)   Carefully go back over the turorial from the creation of the land through where the displacement map is applied to make sure you have them in the right order.  If nothing else, you can manually change the order of the layers by dragging and dropping in the layers dialog window.

As an aside, if you want to learn how masks work, please visit my tutorial on layer masks in GIMP, when you get some time as learning proper use of layer masks will go a long way toward making your maps better and easier to make to boot.

----------


## JrFan88

*WELL DUUUHHH!!!!!*  :Confused:   That makes perfect sense, which is probably why I didn't think of it.  :Rolling Eyes:   Far too simple of a solution, so simple, a ten year-old could have figgered out ( but lacking a 10yo, it was beyond my meager brain power).  Thank you, jfrazierjr, the gradient map  worked perfectly after I re-ordered the layers; just like RobA intended.  

Thanx for the quick response and help, and I'll be sure to take a look at the tutorial you mentioned.  The mysteries of GIMP had eluded me until I started reading the tutorial posts; I ain't a pro yet, but with all the help I've gotten, I just might get there yet (God willin' and th' crick don't rise!).

----------


## jfrazierjr

> *WELL DUUUHHH!!!!!*   That makes perfect sense, which is probably why I didn't think of it.   Far too simple of a solution, so simple, a ten year-old could have figgered out ( but lacking a 10yo, it was beyond my meager brain power).  Thank you, jfrazierjr, the gradient map  worked perfectly after I re-ordered the layers; just like RobA intended.  
> 
> Thanx for the quick response and help, and I'll be sure to take a look at the tutorial you mentioned.  The mysteries of GIMP had eluded me until I started reading the tutorial posts; I ain't a pro yet, but with all the help I've gotten, I just might get there yet (God willin' and th' crick don't rise!).


I like RobA's GIMP tutorial not so much for the map you create from it, but from the huge array of GIMP techniques he exposes in the process of creating said map.   While the mountains and forests are passable, I have found some techniques I like a bit more, but as I said, the main thing about this tutorial is that it is such an excellent introduction to many GIMP techniques you will use over and over again, pretty much on ever single map you will make.   Also, check out the mountain video tutorial by RobA when you get some time.  I have taken that as base and played with it a bit to come up with my own version which I think makes some excellent mountains.   Search for the "Playing with" threads(titles start with that) to see some exampls by me and a few other people who started with this tutorial and made a few changes to come up with their own style.

----------


## Steel General

Not only techniques usable in GIMP, but a lot of them are easily 'ported' over to Photoshop as well if you're willing to spend a little time on it.  :Smile:

----------


## jfrazierjr

> Not only techniques usable in GIMP, but a lot of them are easily 'ported' over to Photoshop as well if you're willing to spend a little time on it.



Heh... so SG, have you mastered using layer masks yet using Del and my tutorials?  :Razz:    You know I am going to keep pushing you and Ascension until you are converted right?  Of course, not that it will make your wonderful maps better, it will just allow you to create and change them faster....  FYI, I just got OpenOffice, so I hope to get some of this stuff PDF'ed up and posted in addition to the video parts of the tutorial.

----------


## RobA

> Take a screenshot that shows your image and your layers dialog window and post up here.  In case you don't know how:
> 
> Make sure it's all visible on the screen and then press the Print Screen button on your keyboard (it will look like nothing happened).On your image go to Edit->Paste As->New Image


Even simpler... In Gimp 2.6, use File->Create->Screenshot, then choose either whole screen or a specific window.  Then save as suggested  :Razz: 

In 2.4, I think it was File->Acquire->Screenshot.

-Rob A>

----------


## Steel General

> Heh... so SG, have you mastered using layer masks yet using Del and my tutorials?    You know I am going to keep pushing you and Ascension until you are converted right?  Of course, not that it will make your wonderful maps better, it will just allow you to create and change them faster....  FYI, I just got OpenOffice, so I hope to get some of this stuff PDF'ed up and posted in addition to the video parts of the tutorial.


No not yet, and yes I expect you to keep "pestering" me until I come over to the 'Legion of the Masked'. I'll get there eventually.  :Very Happy:

----------


## JrFan88

> Even simpler... In Gimp 2.6, use File->Create->Screenshot, then choose either whole screen or a specific window.  Then save as suggested 
> 
> In 2.4, I think it was File->Acquire->Screenshot.
> 
> -Rob A>


Yer right 'bout that.  *AND* I figgered it out all by myself....whooda thunk?   :Laughing:

----------


## jfrazierjr

> Even simpler... In Gimp 2.6, use File->Create->Screenshot, then choose either whole screen or a specific window.  Then save as suggested 
> 
> In 2.4, I think it was File->Acquire->Screenshot.
> 
> -Rob A>


Thanks.  Yet another reason to love the free, open source software project that is GIMP.     All hail YodA (aka -RobA>): GIMP Master.  I would call you Darth GIMP, but someone on here already has that nick. :Wink:

----------


## jfrazierjr

> No not yet, and yes I expect you to keep "pestering" me until I come over to the 'Legion of the Masked'. I'll get there eventually.


Join the greyscale side... it's about half light and half dark for 50% opacity.... :Wink:

----------


## jfrazierjr

> Yer right 'bout that.  *AND* I figgered it out all by myself....whooda thunk?



Did you migrate to CA from the SouthEast?  Your typing has an accent that seems peculiarly Southern(not that there is anything wrong with it since I am from a podunk NC town myself.)

----------


## JrFan88

> Did you migrate to CA from the SouthEast?  Your typing has an accent that seems peculiarly Southern(not that there is anything wrong with it since I am from a podunk NC town myself.)


Nope.  California born and raised, lived here most of my life.  Did spend a year or so stationed in Charleston whilst in the USN, but I attribute my typing accent to my near-fanatic devotion to NASCAR (re: my avatar) and my avocation of writing commentary on the sport for Inside Racing News.  See, if'n y'all listen to ol' DW (Darrell Waltrip) often enuff, it sorta rubs off on you. :Laughing:  :Laughing:  :Laughing: 

*Boogity, boogity, boogity!  Let's go racin' boys!*

----------


## Ascension

Boogity, boogity, boogity.  Let's go racin boys!  I type the same way since I always play my fighter-types with that country drawl.  In-game, I'm barely decipherable, I try to clean it up when not in-game but I backslide quite a bit.  C'mon Carl!

----------


## JrFan88

Greets;

OK, I'm at another dead-end.  According to the tutorial, one should be able to draw lakes, rivers, etc. on the layer mask for the "grass" layer with a black brush/pencil.  The examples are as shown.  My question: must you create a new layer based on the mask to do this properly?  It doesn't say yes, but it doesn't say no, either.  I suppose I'm looking for some detailed tutoring for this part of the procedure.  Any takers?

Also, in regards to RobA's script for tapered rivers for GIMP, can they be copied/exported as a new layer and dropped into an exsisting map?  I'm working on a project using this tutorial, and if I can use the script for adding rivers, things could be much easier.

THANX!!!

----------


## jfrazierjr

> Greets;
> 
> OK, I'm at another dead-end.  According to the tutorial, one should be able to draw lakes, rivers, etc. on the layer mask for the "grass" layer with a black brush/pencil.  The examples are as shown.  My question: must you create a new layer based on the mask to do this properly?  It doesn't say yes, but it doesn't say no, either.  I suppose I'm looking for some detailed tutoring for this part of the procedure.  Any takers?


Now might be a good time to go read up on my layer mask tutorial.   In a nutshell, a layer mask is a greyscale "pseudo layer" that sits on top of a particular layer. What ever is black on the layer mask does not allow that layer to show through, and whatever is white does, with shades of grey in between the two extremes allowing various levels of opacity.  Your first picture is the actual layer mask itself if I recall.  If you wish to get directly to the layermask for fine editing, right click on the layer mask in the Layers Dialog and click Show Layer Mask.   You can then directly edit the greyscale layer mask with black/white as needed (actually, you don't have the show it to do this, but sometimes it's easier).

Does this help or am I totally flaking on your question(which could be the case!)






> Also, in regards to RobA's script for tapered rivers for GIMP, can they be copied/exported as a new layer and dropped into an exsisting map?  I'm working on a project using this tutorial, and if I can use the script for adding rivers, things could be much easier.
> 
> THANX!!!


Yes, but never haven done it, I could tell you the method and don't have the time to go try to figure out where you are at the moment.

----------


## RobA

> Now might be a good time to go read up on my layer mask tutorial.   In a nutshell, a layer mask is a greyscale "pseudo layer" that sits on top of a particular layer. What ever is black on the layer mask does not allow that layer to show through, and whatever is white does, with shades of grey in between the two extremes allowing various levels of opacity.  Your first picture is the actual layer mask itself if I recall.  If you wish to get directly to the layermask for fine editing, right click on the layer mask in the Layers Dialog and click Show Layer Mask.   You can then directly edit the greyscale layer mask with black/white as needed (actually, you don't have the show it to do this, but sometimes it's easier).
> 
> Does this help or am I totally flaking on your question(which could be the case!)


I think that answered it well.  When the tut says "draw lakes, rivers, etc. on the layer mask" I meant it literally... take the paintbrush tool, set it to black, and paint the rivers on the mask (like jfrazierjr explains, all the more eloquently!).

And yes, the tapered brush script (or the new gimp brush dynamics on a path) could be used rather than free-handing with the paintbrush tool.

Just remember... black on a layer mask is transparent, white is opaque and grey is everything else in between :Smile: 

-Rob A>

----------


## JrFan88

Man, I *LOVE* this forum!  Fast answers, precise information, no rambling geek speak; just straightforward information!  Many thanx to you both for being so readily available and incredibly helpful.  Points all around!

----------


## Hoel

Very nice tut. Made me register just to see the pics.
I tried it in Photoshop and this is the result


As you can see I didn't follow it all the way. I didn't mask the mountans and forests by the TLS method but drew them by hand and I used som layer effects and other stuff on the land.

----------


## torstan

Very pretty Hoel. Good work.

It looks like the mountains on the coast have darker shadows than the mountains in the NW. This looks a little off as the mountains to the NW look likt they should be taller.

Otherwise, a beautiful map. Repped!

----------


## Steel General

Very nice! 

Be sure to drop an entry in the Members Introduction forum.

----------


## Korash

:Frown: 

for reasons that I cannot, for the life of me, figure out, I can't get to select the Gaussian Blur in Filters. It just stays grey. 

If I need to select the landmass before = Did that. no joy
without selecting landmass = Same as above

So I am stuck at Post 3 after Color>invert after about 2 hours of fiddling with all things that I can think of.

Using gimp 2.6.3.

:EDIT: do like what I have read on the tut, just wish I can get to APPLY it.

HEEEEELP!!!!!!!

----------


## bryguy

huh, i didnt know that 2.6.3 had come out.



If so, then its new, and probably a glitch that you cant use gaussian blur.

----------


## torstan

Nope, I have 2.6.3 and it certainly has Gaussian blur.

Korash, open up a new document in Gimp with all the defaults, draw a line and then  go to filters->blur->Gaussian blur. That should tell us whether it is a general problem with Gimp, or just a specific problem with your settings on your map image.

----------


## Korash

Thanks Torstan, I did that and I discovered that GIMP does not like .tif files (which sucks `cause that is what the big scanner at works saves as, besides pdf and cals files). I tryed a few other types of files (jpgs mostly) that I will be using as "bases" to making maps using the methods outlined above, and the only ones that didn't have the blurs available were the .tif files.

Maybe I should convert them to jpeg  :Neutral:  and will try that tonight

----------


## torstan

Hmmm, that's strange. I can create a .tif file and then when I open it in Gimp it still has gaussian blur enabled. However if you can get it to work by converting I'd suggest trying converting it (you can do this by resaving the image using gimp). Jpegs are lossy and you'll lose information when you save them. Try saving it as a .xcf - Gimp's native file format - and then try the Gaussian blur.

----------


## RobA

If the tif files are 1 bit (i.e. B&W)... then you can't blur them.

After loading them up change the image mode to greyscale (Image->Mode->Grayscale) then you should be able to use blur.

-Rob A.

----------


## Korash

Thanks Guys  :Smile: 

will try both later tonight.

RobA - yup the tifs are b/w

BTW - anyone know what a cals file is used for?

[Edit] just so I understand, when you blur you are also blurring the image on the layers  below, or the items on the current layer? if the current layer only, what difference should the type of file on the lower layers make? Just Curious.

----------


## jfrazierjr

> [Edit] just so I understand, when you blur you are also blurring the image on the layers  below, or the items on the current layer? if the current layer only, what difference should the type of file on the lower layers make? Just Curious.


No, just the current layer.  You can't blur a strict black and white image since it is either black or white.   There is no where to put the various shades of grey it would need to complete the blur.  Thats why it needs to be converted to greyscale as Rob said.

----------


## Korash

> No, just the current layer.  You can't blur a strict black and white image since it is either black or white.   There is no where to put the various shades of grey it would need to complete the blur.  Thats why it needs to be converted to greyscale as Rob said.


But then if I have created the layer "Land" as described in the tut, and then did my trace in black on that layer, filled the trace, and then inverted the colors, as well as ensured the Land layer is current, I should be able to get the blurs?

'cause that didn't work  :Confused: 

[Edit] OK guys I figured it out = the first time I attempted the tut the top said RGB and then I inserted the tif, which was "indexed" and not "blurable" Once I made the BG RGB as RobA described it all came up roses. Sorta speak  :Smile: 

Thanks for the help guys

----------


## RobA

Glad you figured it out, Korash!

-Rob A>

----------


## Roger Calver

Excellent tutorial, you know your a newbie to this stuff when it takes you 15 minutes to find the overlay option in the layers control  :Smile: 

Oh well everyone has to start somewhere.

Rog.

----------


## Korash

:Laughing: 

With 17 years of army life behind me, and many of those teaching courses from Basic to officers, I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing that is truly idiot proof. Just when you think things could not get any simpler, along comes a bigger idiot.

To wit:

After finding out what my problem was with the blur thing, I find myself stuck on the very next step. I think that I did the noise and clip layers properly, but all I get when I slide the output level down is a darker gray layer and the land doesn't show at all. I have tried adjusting the opacity of both of these layers but that didn't turn out too well when it came time to use the wand.

signed
Bigger Idjut

Back to tinkering with it to see if I can figure it out

:Edit:
Please note that when using a layer to affect stuff below, that layer should be TRANSPARENT  :Laughing:

----------


## ravells

I find a more complicated way to do something simple all the time....or I give up and find there was a simple way to do it all along.

I'd be a liability in the army  :Smile:

----------


## Night Breeze

sooo cool tutorial!! really awesome!! this is my first time using GIMP (and any layer-drawing program), and this tutorial made my map look so beautiful for me  :Smile:  thanks a lot!!!

check out my map>>  :Very Happy:

----------


## jfrazierjr

> sooo cool tutorial!! really awesome!! this is my first time using GIMP (and any layer-drawing program), and this tutorial made my map look so beautiful for me  thanks a lot!!!
> 
> check out my map>>


I really like the color variation in your forests.... they seem to really come to life like few others using this tutorial.   Did you do something different? Your mountains could do with a bit more bumpiness though.

----------


## Ghostman

That's an excellent map for a first try with a raster drawing program! Says much good about the tutorial  :Smile:

----------


## Night Breeze

> I really like the color variation in your forests.... they seem to really come to life like few others using this tutorial.   Did you do something different? Your mountains could do with a bit more bumpiness though.


I really just did what I understood I had to do XD
maybe I didn't understand it well....  :Razz:  but I also like the way the forest look like that  :Smile:

----------


## mooremi1

Wow, thanks a lot RobA this tutorial is fantastic. I was afraid to go near GIMP before reading through this and now I'm getting into it. Here's my first attempt, I struggled with the mountains for a long time then got beaten down by the forest. There was almost no way I was getting that forest right and I'm not sure what went wrong. As you can see I tried some techniques a little further down the line as well (didn't get them exactly right either).

----------


## Full_Moon_Draw

Hi RobA

Having a moment off from writeing a newsletter & thought I'd go through the tutorial - finding it very useful - but early days for me!

I'm stuck at Post 6 - here's the problem:

<You Wrote> <SNIP>_Duplicate this layer and rename it "Sea". Add a layer mask by right clicking on the "Sea" layer, and selecting "Add Layer Mask", When the dialog opens, select "Channel" (By default it should have the "Land Mask" channel shown and check "Invert"._ Click Add.</SNIP>

All very clear & know what you're getting add - however I cannot get GIMP to shown any channels let alone the right one!  Does anyone know what's going on here & how I can get the "Land Mask" channel selected?

Any help/guidance much appreciated!

Cheers - FMD

----------


## Korash

I think the answer is ...

select the layer "Sea"

right click and halfway down the menu you will find "add layer Mask"

in this window you should be able to select "channel" and then use the drop menu to select the mask you want


At least I think that this is what you want to do  :Smile: 

/me is new to this too

----------


## Full_Moon_Draw

Hi Korash,

Thanks for that -  but I get that far & the drop down box is for some strange reason empty, which (being new to GIMP) is rather confusing to me!

Anyone got anymore clues for me?

Many Thanks in hope.

Cheers - FMD

----------


## RobA

@FMD-

Can you post up a zip of the xcf file (or pm a location I could check it out)?

-Rob A>

----------


## Full_Moon_Draw

Hi RobA,

Thanks for offering to have a look!

Here's the file in question - zipped it up in stage_1.zip

Cheers - FMD

----------


## RobA

OK-

Looks like you need to back up to post 4:



> Now using the Magic Wand Tool, (making sure Sample Merged is Checked and the Threshold is 0) click anywhere in the dark area. This will define your coast. If you want to adjust it, just undo the selection (ctrl-Z) and change the levels of the “Land Clip” layer. I wand back and tightened the coast a bit.
> Click image for larger version Name: Post4-2.png Views: 209 Size: 329.4 KB ID: 1430
> 
> Now Invert the selection (Select->Invert), create a new black layer called “Land Mask” and fill the selection with white. Now save the selection to a Channel (Select->Save to Channel) and rename the channel to “Land Mask”. This will be used a bit later.
> Click image for larger version Name: Post4-3.png Views: 174 Size: 246.8 KB ID: 1431
> 
> Now clear the selection (Select->None).
> 
> That technique (the Three-Layer-Sandwich of noise, shape and threshold clip layer, or TLS for short ) will be a basic technique that will be used over and over again, using different blending modes between the noise layer (to give some variegation to the surface) and the shape definition layer. It will be used to define forests and mountains, even clouds in the sky.


-Rob A>

----------


## Caelan

Well this is my map of Shaulkar (Kingdom in a world I am working on) and I have gotten up to the mountain section. for some reason I am lost when I get to...


"Now the noise layer (I used detail 8 and size of  :Cool:  and set the blend mode to multiply.
Then add a third layer (remember the TLS) as a clipping layer, and use the levels dialog
to bring it down to show the mountains you want Here is the screen showing the three
layers:"

I don't know why I don't understand I do tend to have brains at times but for some reason my brain is not wrapping around this.  Anyway here is a ss of my map in progress (want to play with colors more since around the coast it is to white and I want it more green)

http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z...nt=diffmap.gif

----------


## Full_Moon_Draw

RobA,

Many thanks mate! I'm suffering from the perils of a badly printed PDF file - I'd assembled the pages incorrectly and managed to miss out all but the initial instructions of Stage 4!  Do I feel dumb or what?  Thanks for taking the time to point me at the problem!

Cheers - FMD

----------


## kenbanistu

I am itching to try this tut out. I've downloaded the pdf's and am ready to go. The only problem I may have is that I will be using Gimp 2.2.  This old win98 'puter of mine won't run the newer versions. We'll see how it goes. I dl'ed the part 1 pdf earlier in the day and have gone through it with only a couple of small problems that I solved easily enough. And so it's on to part 2.

----------


## Korash

> Well this is my map of Shaulkar (Kingdom in a world I am working on) and I have gotten up to the mountain section. for some reason I am lost when I get to...
> 
> 
> "Now the noise layer (I used detail 8 and size of  and set the blend mode to multiply.
> Then add a third layer (remember the TLS) as a clipping layer, and use the levels dialog
> to bring it down to show the mountains you want Here is the screen showing the three
> layers:"
> 
> I don't know why I don't understand I do tend to have brains at times but for some reason my brain is not wrapping around this.  Anyway here is a ss of my map in progress (want to play with colors more since around the coast it is to white and I want it more green)
> ...


I am not too sure but I think I had a similar problem at that point too. Try turning off the other layers so that you see only the Mountain, Mountain Noise and Mountain clip layers. You should then be looking at something similar to what RobA shows on page 11 in the tut. I did make a black background layer at the bottom of the stack to see the "sandwich layers" better though.

Not sure that this will help but......

----------


## Nomadic

> Use the magic wand again to select the non-mountain area (like with the land) and create
> a new layer called “Mountains Mask” with a white on black. (Also the white colour
> selection as a new selection mask using Select->Save to Channel).


What does that mean? I searched around and found jfrazierjr's post but I couldn't understand what they were saying.

----------


## jfrazierjr

> What does that mean? I searched around and found jfrazierjr's post but I couldn't understand what they were saying.



Use the magic wand tool, which should be the 4th tool on the top row, with Circle, Square, and polygon selection tools in "front" of it left to right.   

Since you already have your mountain rough shapes down in a previous layer, when you select outside those mountain shapes, everything else will be selected EXCEPT for those mountain shapes.   

New Layer.  Fill the inside with white and the outside (CNTL-I to Invert the selection) with black.  

While you have the selection (remember to invert back!!) on the Select menu, there is a menu item called Save to Channel.  When you do this, it should create a new channel on the Channels tab (switch to it to make sure!)   When the the majority of the channel should be black and the stuff in side the selections should be white.   

Note, I have no idea where you are at this point, but I am picking up from where you quoted, so this may be a bit off of the original directions, but should get you going.

----------


## Nomadic

> Use the magic wand tool, which should be the 4th tool on the top row, with Circle, Square, and polygon selection tools in "front" of it left to right.   
> 
> Since you already have your mountain rough shapes down in a previous layer, when you select outside those mountain shapes, everything else will be selected EXCEPT for those mountain shapes.   
> 
> New Layer.  Fill the inside with white and the outside (CNTL-I to Invert the selection) with black.  
> 
> While you have the selection (remember to invert back!!) on the Select menu, there is a menu item called Save to Channel.  When you do this, it should create a new channel on the Channels tab (switch to it to make sure!)   When the the majority of the channel should be black and the stuff in side the selections should be white.   
> 
> Note, I have no idea where you are at this point, but I am picking up from where you quoted, so this may be a bit off of the original directions, but should get you going.


Thank you. I am  (as you might have noticed) a GIMP noob. This is my first time using a photomanipulation software outside photoshop.

----------


## eoinmorgan

Quick Question:

I have vista, and there is no c:\documents and setting folder.

I have:

acer
Elements
Nexon
Perflogs
Sierra
Users
Windows

How do i install the color pallete?

Thanks

----------


## jfrazierjr

> Quick Question:
> 
> I have vista, and there is no c:\documents and setting folder.
> 
> I have:
> 
> acer
> Elements
> Nexon
> ...


Under Vista, MS moved that to Users\loginname\

----------


## etriahn

But another voice in a unanimous chorus, I nonetheless have to say that this tutorial has been a fantastic tool. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and gained a crazy amount of knowledge about GIMP, which I had never used before.

It was also a ton of fun.

Here's the result of a total newbie spending just a couple hours fiddling about**:


Thanks for sharing your expertise.

----------


## RobA

Looks good etriahn!

And might I congratulate you on getting the mountains to look good!  That seems to be most people's stumbling block, but you nailed it!

-Rob A>

----------


## Black Tower of Time

Yes He done an incredible useful tutorial.

Also I need to say that you got really very good results for your mountains. I didn't checked all of that tutorial yet, so I don't know how easy it will get for me come up with similar mountains. 
I also hope we will get or I discover this great tutorial here in the future made as a PDF file or a video...  :Surprised:

----------


## Absinth

Hey, I'm experiencing a strange problem when it comes to creating the first bump map. I'm creating the Grass Bumps layer and filling it with 50% grey and than I'm trying to create the bump map, but nothing happens. Whatever I'm doing and whatever parameters I'm changing, nothing happens! There's only grey in the preview windows and it stays flat... That's very, very strange and I can't figure out, what I did wrong. I tried doing a bump map on a plain red square in a new file, but without any results too! Is there something wrong with my version of GIMP then (2.6.3)?

----------


## etriahn

In the Bump Map dialog box, the first control  is the Bump Map drop-down list. You have to choose an option in the list that has some noise as the second layer--IIRC the default applies the layer to itself, which generates no texture.

I may be a bit off, but I believe that drop-down holds the answer you're looking for.

----------


## Absinth

> I may be a bit off, but I believe that drop-down holds the answer you're looking for.


And you were right, good sir! Thank you for the help! Afterwards it seems clear, that the Grass layer is the key to create the bump map. It doesn't have any other function. Well, I guess I was blind but it's really good to know this great community that makes the blind see again! Thanks, Etriahn!

----------


## Absinth

> *Post 11:Let There be Mountains*
> Now the noise layer (I used detail 8 and size of  and set the blend mode to multiply.  Then add a third layer (remember the TLS) as a clipping layer, and use the levels dialog to bring it down to show the mountains you want  Here is the screen showing the three layers
> Attachment 1486


Okay, it's working up to this point, but then I'm experiencing problems.




> Use the magic wand again to select the  non-mountain area (like with the land) and create a new layer called Mountains Mask with a white on black.  (Also the white colour selection as a new selection mask using *Select->Save to Channel*).


 Does something happen to the three Mountain layers inbetween, that you didn't mention because it was explained in a previous step?




> Now we want to create a heightfield from this.  The easiest way I have found to do this is to copy the current visible image (*Edit->Copy Visible)* then paste it (CTRL-V) to a floating selection.  Click the New Layer button to get it on its own layer rather than a floating layer.  Now stretch the colour range out (*Color->Auto->Normalize*):
> Attachment 1487 
> 
> Rename this layer to mountain colour.  Make a duplicate and call it mountain bump map.  Now set the foreground colour to lowest dirt and the background colour to highest dirt, and on the mountain colour layer, do a *Color->Map->Gradient Map.*
> Attachment 1488


Is it correct, that we, by now, have 6 mountain layers (from top: Mountain Bump Map, Mountain Colour, Mountain Mask, Mountain Clip, Mountain Noise and Mountain)? And is it right, that we Gradient Map the Mountain Colour layer?




> Normalize the colours (*Colors->Auto->Normalize)* and add a layer mask, using the mountain mask channel. (Note, the Dirt layer was turned of in this image by accident).
> Attachment 1489


 Again, on which layer? When I have all my layers visible, the top layer is Mountain Bump Map and the current image is identical to Mountain Mask. What am I doing wrong here?

----------


## Absinth

Allright, I repeated the steps mentioned in my post above and now got to the point where I have to add the mountain mask. I only add it and don't apply it, right? Both methods don't result in an image as seen on Attachment 1489.
 If someone could give an advice, that would be nice. I still think that there are too many mountain maps. Don't the TLS layers need merging, or something?

----------


## etriahn

The way I look at it is:
Does it look like you want it to? Did you learn how to make something like it again?

Because that's your point, right? The general techniques in this tutorial are awesome, but learning about how to apply them in different contexts is really the gem.

You're mountains look pretty solid to me, maybe add a bit of a spread and blur to the mask layer to blend them in, add a bump mask or two, and you're golden.

(Yes, by the way, there are an awful lot of mountain layers.)

----------


## Absinth

Sorry, I think my post was somewhat misunderstanding. The pic above is from RobA's tutorial. That's how it's supposed to look after following the instructions that I quoted above.
My problem is, that I added the mountain mask to the mountain colour layer, but the other layers (like the grass, dirt, sea and so on) don't show up! It still looks like in Attachement 1488!  :Frown: 
Do I have to rearrange the layers in some way?

Edit:
Now I'm starting to blieve that it might have something to do with this section:



> Now we want to create a heightfield from this. The easiest way I have found to do this is to copy the current visible image (Edit->Copy Visible) then paste it (CTRL-V) to a floating selection. Click the New Layer button to get it on its own layer rather than a floating layer.


In the PDF, Rob wrote, that you should not just add a new layer, but a new image, as I understood it. The screenshot indicates this, as  the file is labeled "1 layer" (and not 19 or something, like in the other).
He then further instructs to "just drop it onto the real map file and it will shop up a new layer". What is this "real map file"? Is it the one that can be found in the journal?! And why did he mention this in the PDF and not in his original post? This indicates that you just add it as a new layer to all the others. 
As you can see, I'm starting to get confused...  :Smile:

----------


## Absinth

Well, when I'm hiding the Mountains, Mountain Noise and Mountain Clip, I'm getting a result like in the image above! Is it supposed to work like that?

----------


## RobA

> Sorry, I think my post was somewhat misunderstanding. The pic above is from RobA's tutorial. That's how it's supposed to look after following the instructions that I quoted above.
> My problem is, that I added the mountain mask to the mountain colour layer, but the other layers (like the grass, dirt, sea and so on) don't show up! It still looks like in Attachement 1488! 
> Do I have to rearrange the layers in some way?
> 
> Edit:
> Now I'm starting to blieve that it might have something to do with this section:
> 
> 
> In the PDF, Rob wrote, that you should not just add a new layer, but a new image, as I understood it. The screenshot indicates this, as  the file is labeled "1 layer" (and not 19 or something, like in the other).
> ...


I went and tried to clarify a few confusing things in the pdf.  The other problem was that features in gimp keep changing.  In 2.6.3 I have noticed a funny behaviour in the way layer masks interact.  

Can yup upload a zip of your xcf file?

-Rob A>

----------


## rjorge

What an amazing tutorial! I don't done it until the end but for what I already done, it's 100% functional! I think I can think in do my own personal campaign setting... thanks to you I can do my maps  :Smile:   Great job!

----------


## etriahn

Sorry, Absinth--I was in a hurry this morning and didn't read very carefully. Have you worked out how to make your mountains yet?

----------


## methixsks

Figure i'd take a page from everyone else and post my result. This is after about 6 hours of work. No labels yet, but I'll add them in time. Still fleshing out the game world as the campaign progresses. Still need to do rivers, too. Tried to go for an overall more subdued color scheme, and I like it. I Actually tripled up on the mountain bump map, and then even went over parts of one with a 70% opaque black fuzzy brush to get some higher mountainy bits. Just gotta go remove the wispy bits from the lake there, and I think that'll be golden as well. Thanks for the fantastic tutorial. It really gave me the nudge I needed to try drawing my own maps.

----------


## strebalicious

So this is my first try at this stuff.  The DM said he wanted to play so I started tossing ideas around for a game.  I may have been too ambitious in the size to start with.  Too cheap to try CC3, so I decided to go for this method instead.  I must say, this is a pretty damn fine tutorial.  As others have, I too went from not knowing what GIMP stood for to being able to create something like the above in mere hours.  Hats off to you, good sir.

*Deleted some maps stuff*

----------


## Redrobes

Hey thats not too bad. I think the noise is quite fine for the map but thats not a prob. Whack some big noise in there and multiply it in to get some big mountains going. Id have to read that tut a bit more to see what steps need doing. I am not a Gimp man myself tho.

Just realized that theres three 1st time posters here almost in a row. So a) well done you guys for having a go and b) wheres the CL's and the Gimp squad to give a hand to help out with these tut results. This thread has so many posts that its one that we might pass by.

Poke poke...

----------


## Karro

Yeah, in general I think these first map posts get more replies when they're posted in the relevant map forum.

Strebalicious: your base map looks pretty good, but the forests and mountains do need a bit of work.  Post this up in the Regional Maps forum, and you'll probably get more specific critiques and thoughts that can help you improve them.

----------


## strebalicious

> Yeah, in general I think these first map posts get more replies when they're posted in the relevant map forum.
> 
> Strebalicious: your base map looks pretty good, but the forests and mountains do need a bit of work.  Post this up in the Regional Maps forum, and you'll probably get more specific critiques and thoughts that can help you improve them.


Took your advice.  I must say, I expected this process to be more of a hassle, but I find myself preferring to make a map instead of playing Warhammer Online.  I don't think I've touched the game in the past couple of days of doing this.

----------


## RobA

> Took your advice.  I must say, I expected this process to be more of a hassle, but I find myself preferring to make a map instead of playing Warhammer Online.  I don't think I've touched the game in the past couple of days of doing this.


Welcome to the addictive practice of drawing maps  :Wink: 

-Rob A>

----------


## Ascension

Count me in as another...I hardly ever play my old fav games anymore...they seem to have lost their appeal.  In fact I deleted all but two of them to make more room on my hard drive for my maps  :Smile:

----------


## Lute

I would first like to thank RobA for writing this tutorial.

It looks like a lot of time and effort was put forth here and I want to make sure they know I really appreciate it.

Quick critique.  For the total new Gimp user (like me) every time you put "add a new layer" please put  "add a forground/background/white/transparent" (pick one) instead.  I know you put in there "unless otherwise specified you should use a transparent layer", but...  When you are as new to this as I am, one needs explicit instructions on evey step.



I have a few questions about steps in the tutorial.

My first question starts on Page one at the bottom; "Post 8:Let there be Land."  I have a few questions about this post.  (I had a ton of questions in post 1-7 but through trial/error and a lot of googling I muddled my way through after only 10-15 hours and 4-6 attempts)

You said "Looking better, but it could use some texture.
Create a new layer called “Grass Bump Map”. Fill it with rendered cloud noise again, this time setting the size and detail to the max, and selecting Turbulent."

(what type of layer.  fore/back/white/trans) 


Then you go on and say; "Hide this new layer (by clicking off the eye icon). Create a new layer called “Grass Bumps” and fill it with 50% grey. Set its layer mode to overlay. It will appear to be gone now. That is how overlay works. 50% grey doesn’t change the underlying image, while darker shades darken the image and lighter shades lighten the image.
Now apply a bump map to this “Grass Bumps” layer using Filters->Map->Bump Map."

Ok...

So you had me create the layer "Grass Bump Map" and then I hide it and never do anything with it  (why did I make the layer in the 1st place?)  Is it supposed to be "Normal" or "Overlay" or what?  (granted, it's hidden and I can't see it and you never say what we are supposed to do with it)


I THEN create a new layer called "Grass Bumps" and fill it with 50% grey.

That can mean two things.  (probably more, but i'm none too bright)  Are you saying I need to create a new transparent layer and with the fill bucket I need to fill the layer with 50% grey?

OR are you saying that I need to create a new layer and set it's FILL to BACKGROUND or FORGROUND and have THAT (4 or back) color set to 50% grey.

(which i'm not even 100% how one figures out when the grey is 50%.  I 'guessed' and went in and changed the VALUE of a grey  to 50 in the FOREGROUND/BACKGROUND colors.  But that was just a guess)

The whole "fill" LAYER (fore/back) vs. "fill" bucket can be confusing.  I don't understand if I am supposed to create a layer that is FILLED with a FORGROUND/BACKGROUND color that I have to pre-change in gimp at the fore/back color selection thingy (color pallette?  the place where you can tweak the colors) OR do I create a transparent layer and then use the BUCKET FILL to change the layers color to say, 50% grey.  (or white, or black.  that came up earlier in the tutorial.)

You then add "Lastly, apply the “Land Mask” channel as a layer mask like before."

What before?  Do you mean "Now Invert the selection (Select->Invert), create a new black layer called “Land Mask” and fill the selection with white." as you had us do in at the end of 'Post 4: I have an idea – part 2' ?????  Do you mean "Again, add a layer mask using the “Land Mask” channel, and set the blend mode of the layer to overlay."?? 

Total confusion here on my part.  Before throws me.  I wish the ending was explained in a bit more detail.


So I create a “Grass Bump Map” layer, then hide it and do nothing with it, and it apparently serves no purpose as that layer is never refrenced to again.

I then create a layer and fill it with grey somehow.  I don't add any noise to this layer, and I am supposed to "bump map" it and create texture.  How do I bump map texture on a layer that is 50% grey that is overlaid with no texture?  "Grass Bump Map" has the texture, but we unchecked the EYE and can't see it.  The layer we are adding the Bump Map to (Grass Bump) is 50% grey and has no texture.

Huh?  Please enlighten me on just how one does that.

I then do something "like before".  (which before?)

When I do the Bump Map, what should the Bump Map setting be?  How do those settings affect the image?  Should I use Linear?  I saw later in the thread someone mention you used Spherical (or Sinusoidal) in the Mountain steps.  How should I have the Bump Map setup for this step?




My suggestion (humble one I might add) would be to maybe take the time to dumb it down more than you allready have.  

Pretend the reader is borderline mentally challenged and they need explicit step by step instructions.  (like for example... me!)

When I start a new layer, tell me what type of layer each time.

Possibly repeat the TLS each time it comes up as opposed to assuming I know what I am doing.

Write the extra sentence or two explaining things instead of glossing over it because it was dealt with earlier on in the tutorial.  For some (like me) "earlier on" was a 1-2 days and 10 hours of "do overs" ago.

I fullly understand that would require you to type some, and spend even more time editing the posts to clear things up, but for someone like me who has never used GIMP before it would be those little touches that mean the difference between "getting it" and "brain aneurysm"


I am dreading the Mountains steps (which is the whole reason I am doing the tutorial.  I like the photo realistic looking mountains that it creates)  I tried to skip ahead but one can't do that w/ this tutorial (not when you have been using gimp for a couple days and have little to no other image editing experience save MS PAINT you can't)


If only I knew a GIMP master in real life who I could just call on the phone and have this stuff explained to me.  I tried that with someone that is supposed to be "good" with Photoshop and they ended up frustrated as well.


(edit: am I supposed to be merging layers at some point?   How many layers am I supposed to have at the end of Post 8:Let there be Land.????)

(edit: edit:  ok...  so I create a layer, transparent is fine, and fill it with 50% grey (think I am doing that right).  I then fill it with the noise, and then bump map it.  THEN I add the layer mask and overlay it.  I THINK that is the right order and how it is supposed to be done.  I skipped the "create a layer of noise then uncheck it" part.  Geez this is frustrating)




(on a sidenote, how do I stay logged into this forum for longer stretches?  I have to log back all the time)

----------


## jfrazierjr

> You said "Looking better, but it could use some texture.
> Create a new layer called Grass Bump Map. Fill it with rendered cloud noise again, this time setting the size and detail to the max, and selecting Turbulent."
> 
> (what type of layer.  fore/back/white/trans)


It does not matter.  The solid noise filter modifies the entire layer (or what is selected if you a selection) and fills with some shade of black or white randomly. If you used the same solid noise settings and tried it with new each of the above as your new layer, it would end up exactly the same (again, assuming the exact same settings in the solid noise filter).    To sort of answer your question, I always start with new layers being transparent unless I know ahead of time that I want it filled with a specific color.  Most of the time, I am going to either paint or use a selection to fill a part with something, so for me, transparent is always the best choice.





> Then you go on and say; "Hide this new layer (by clicking off the eye icon). Create a new layer called Grass Bumps and fill it with 50% grey. Set its layer mode to overlay. It will appear to be gone now. That is how overlay works. 50% grey doesnt change the underlying image, while darker shades darken the image and lighter shades lighten the image.
> Now apply a bump map to this Grass Bumps layer using Filters->Map->Bump Map."
> 
> Ok...
> 
> So you had me create the layer "Grass Bump Map" and then I hide it and never do anything with it (why did I make the layer in the 1st place?) Is it supposed to be "Normal" or "Overlay" or what? (granted, it's hidden and I can't see it and you never say what we are supposed to do with it)


Your going to use it.  You apply the 50% grey layer with the Bump map filter shortly and point it to the noise layer as the source of the bumpiness.    You just want to get it out of your way for now so you can see what your doing in the mean time.

----------


## Lute

> It does not matter.  The solid noise filter modifies the entire layer (or what is selected if you a selection) and fills with some shade of black or white randomly. If you used the same solid noise settings and tried it with new each of the above as your new layer, it would end up exactly the same (again, assuming the exact same settings in the solid noise filter).    To sort of answer your question, I always start with new layers being transparent unless I know ahead of time that I want it filled with a specific color.  Most of the time, I am going to either paint or use a selection to fill a part with something, so for me, transparent is always the best choice.


Good to know.  I'm not 100% on it all, but I would like to know WHEN you would use a solid Filll when you create a layer.  (i.e. white or forground color set to a certain color)

When would one use that over transparent?  Bear in mind I am talking just map making "stuff".  I ran accross something in the tutorial where I would do the step w/ a transparent layer and it didn't work.  I went back and made sure the layer was FILLED with FOREGROUND color (black, and I guess I could have just done a transparent and BUCKET FILLED it black) and it worked.

Post 6: Create the sea. (in the beginning...) IIRC.





> Your going to use it.  You apply the 50% grey layer with the Bump map filter shortly and point it to the noise layer as the source of the bumpiness.    You just want to get it out of your way for now so you can see what your doing in the mean time.


Now there is some interesting info not clearly explained in the tutorial.

So the layer I created but unclicked the eye on I will point the Bump Map filter to it.

I now see in the image it does have the Bump Map filter pointed to the Grass Bump Map.  Why isn't that written down anywhere?

It's the little things like that where someone who has used GIMP for some time would probably catch, wheras some total noob such as myself would not even know to look for.

Maybe add "Make sure the Bump Map Filter is pointed to the Grass Bump Map" to the tutorial.  It would help some poor tortured soul down the road.

----------


## jfrazierjr

> Good to know.  I'm not 100% on it all, but I would like to know WHEN you would use a solid Filll when you create a layer.  (i.e. white or forground color set to a certain color)
> 
> When would one use that over transparent?  Bear in mind I am talking just map making "stuff".  I ran accross something in the tutorial where I would do the step w/ a transparent layer and it didn't work.  I went back and made sure the layer was FILLED with FOREGROUND color (black, and I guess I could have just done a transparent and BUCKET FILLED it black) and it worked.
> 
> Post 6: Create the sea. (in the beginning...) IIRC.



Well... for me, the only time I would create a new layer specifically with a solid color fill is if I was making something that would be in the background of the entire image (with other stuff on higher layers (transparent with parts colored in in some way) covering the parts they should).  An ocean or parchment texture are two prefect examples of this.    

However, to be fair and honest, you have to make sure the color you want is either fore/background before you start the new layer, and I always forget, hence why I just almost always use transparent.   If I need a layer that is transparent with a solid fill, it is as simple as getting the right color and drag n drop into the image window (make sure your on the correct layer in the layers menu!!!!!!)


BTW, in a simular vein to the three layer sandwich mentioned by RobA, the 50% grey set to Overlay is a often used technique.  As a matter of a fact, I tend to use at least one possibly more of them on pretty much every map I use.  In a nutshell, 50% grey in overlay mode make the grey totally disapear.  Then, any lightneing or darkening done on this layer shows up.  Since the bump map creates a series of dark/light in tones of white/black, this is a very useful technique for bump mapping as it is NON DESTRUCTIVE to the original layer.   For example, let say instead of doing a bump map on the 50% grey layer you did it on a green layer instead.  Where the dark bits were in layer you applied the bump map from, the green would darken and likewise where the lighter parts were, the green would lighten.    The problem with directly bumpmapping the layer with the green on it is that if you want to change the color to a different shade of green, you would have to run the bump map again.   In contrast, if you did the bump map on the 50% grey layer, then you could change the green to a different color or apply any differnt effects and the bumpmapped 50% grey layer would be totally intact.  ie, non destructive techniques.

----------


## RobA

> I would first like to thank RobA for writing this tutorial.
> 
> It looks like a lot of time and effort was put forth here and I want to make sure they know I really appreciate it.


No problem.  I went through a few iterations clarifying based on user comments.  Too bad you weren't around to five some feedback much earlier  :Razz: 

I guess the only reall comment is that this wasn't meant to be "an intro to GIMP" though I have ben told it is pretty good in that aspect.  There are many of those types of tutorials on the interweb, just google for "gimp tutorial basic"...




> Quick critique. For the total new Gimp user (like me) every time you put "add a new layer" please put "add a forground/background/white/transparent" (pick one) instead. I know you put in there "unless otherwise specified you should use a transparent layer", but... When you are as new to this as I am, one needs explicit instructions on evey step.


I think Joe answered this one quite well (Thanks!)  If it didn't matter, I didn't say.  I thought that was pretty clear.  make it white, black, transparent or paisley.  The next steps will destroy whatever was on the layer anyway.  I just wanted to save some typing after the first dozen pages...  IN the same light as that, I only explain details ONCE, then refer back if the same steps are followed later.




> I have a few questions about steps in the tutorial.
> 
> My first question starts on Page one at the bottom; "Post 8:Let there be Land." I have a few questions about this post. (I had a ton of questions in post 1-7 but through trial/error and a lot of googling I muddled my way through after only 10-15 hours and 4-6 attempts)
> 
> You said "Looking better, but it could use some texture.
> Create a new layer called Grass Bump Map. Fill it with rendered cloud noise again, this time setting the size and detail to the max, and selecting Turbulent."
> 
> (what type of layer. fore/back/white/trans)


Doesn't matter.  See above  :Wink:  Use whatever happens to be selected in the new layer dialog box.






> Then you go on and say; "Hide this new layer (by clicking off the eye icon). Create a new layer called Grass Bumps and fill it with 50% grey. Set its layer mode to overlay. It will appear to be gone now. That is how overlay works. 50% grey doesnt change the underlying image, while darker shades darken the image and lighter shades lighten the image.
> Now apply a bump map to this Grass Bumps layer using Filters->Map->Bump Map."
> 
> Ok...
> 
> So you had me create the layer "Grass Bump Map" and then I hide it and never do anything with it (why did I make the layer in the 1st place?) Is it supposed to be "Normal" or "Overlay" or what? (granted, it's hidden and I can't see it and you never say what we are supposed to do with it)


You will be using it in the next step.... just not directly in the image...





> I THEN create a new layer called "Grass Bumps" and fill it with 50% grey.
> 
> That can mean two things. (probably more, but i'm none too bright) Are you saying I need to create a new transparent layer and with the fill bucket I need to fill the layer with 50% grey?
> 
> OR are you saying that I need to create a new layer and set it's FILL to BACKGROUND or FORGROUND and have THAT (4 or back) color set to 50% grey.


Yes.  Either.  Take your pick.  I'm not trying to dictate workflow.  If you want to know, I create all layers transparent (like jrfrasierjr) and fill them with the colour I want later.  I always have a 50% grey in my palette (that is 50% on the sliders).  Since there are about 30 different ways to make a 50% grey filled layer, I left that up to the reader to choose.



> (which i'm not even 100% how one figures out when the grey is 50%. I 'guessed' and went in and changed the VALUE of a grey to 50 in the FOREGROUND/BACKGROUND colors. But that was just a guess)


oops. answered above.



> The whole "fill" LAYER (fore/back) vs. "fill" bucket can be confusing. I don't understand if I am supposed to create a layer that is FILLED with a FORGROUND/BACKGROUND color that I have to pre-change in gimp at the fore/back color selection thingy (color pallette? the place where you can tweak the colors) OR do I create a transparent layer and then use the BUCKET FILL to change the layers color to say, 50% grey. (or white, or black. that came up earlier in the tutorial.)


Again, personal workflow.  I almost NEVER use the fill bucket tool (unless I need to modify the blending mode) .  I just usually drag a colour from the palette to the layer.




> You then add "Lastly, apply the Land Mask channel as a layer mask like before."
> 
> What before? Do you mean "Now Invert the selection (Select->Invert), create a new black layer called Land Mask and fill the selection with white." as you had us do in at the end of 'Post 4: I have an idea  part 2' ????? Do you mean "Again, add a layer mask using the Land Mask channel, and set the blend mode of the layer to overlay."??
> 
> Total confusion here on my part. Before throws me. I wish the ending was explained in a bit more detail.


"The last time you created a layer mask from a channel"




> So I create a Grass Bump Map layer, then hide it and do nothing with it, and it apparently serves no purpose as that layer is never refrenced to again.


patience grasshopper...you will...




> I then create a layer and fill it with grey somehow. I don't add any noise to this layer, and I am supposed to "bump map" it and create texture. How do I bump map texture on a layer that is 50% grey that is overlaid with no texture? "Grass Bump Map" has the texture, but we unchecked the EYE and can't see it. The layer we are adding the Bump Map to (Grass Bump) is 50% grey and has no texture.
> 
> Huh? Please enlighten me on just how one does that.
> 
> I then do something "like before". (which before?)
> 
> When I do the Bump Map, what should the Bump Map setting be? How do those settings affect the image? Should I use Linear? I saw later in the thread someone mention you used Spherical (or Sinusoidal) in the Mountain steps. How should I have the Bump Map setup for this step?


I think Joe dealt with this one too.




> My suggestion (humble one I might add) would be to maybe take the time to dumb it down more than you allready have.
> 
> Pretend the reader is borderline mentally challenged and they need explicit step by step instructions. (like for example... me!)


I honestly had.  twice.  I redid this tutorial and wrote down the steps three times, then repeated it following them.  Twice.




> When I start a new layer, tell me what type of layer each time.


Sorry, no.  Because if doesn't matter, IT DOESN'T MATTER!  Said that at the start.  Believe it!  I'm not trying to trick or deceive  :Razz: 




> Possibly repeat the TLS each time it comes up as opposed to assuming I know what I am doing.
> 
> Write the extra sentence or two explaining things instead of glossing over it because it was dealt with earlier on in the tutorial. For some (like me) "earlier on" was a 1-2 days and 10 hours of "do overs" ago.
> 
> I fullly understand that would require you to type some, and spend even more time editing the posts to clear things up, but for someone like me who has never used GIMP before it would be those little touches that mean the difference between "getting it" and "brain aneurysm"


I wrote this two years ago.  I'd do it completely differently today.  I'm not going to invest another couple weeks of my life in changing it now, sorry  :Frown: 




> I am dreading the Mountains steps (which is the whole reason I am doing the tutorial. I like the photo realistic looking mountains that it creates) I tried to skip ahead but one can't do that w/ this tutorial (not when you have been using gimp for a couple days and have little to no other image editing experience save MS PAINT you can't)


Don't use these mountain steps as they really seem to confuse people.  Use the more recent one I posted in the tutorial forum... it is a lot simpler...




> If only I knew a GIMP master in real life who I could just call on the phone and have this stuff explained to me. I tried that with someone that is supposed to be "good" with Photoshop and they ended up frustrated as well.


Yeah - I wish I knew one too.....

-Rob A>

----------


## RobA

> (edit: am I supposed to be merging layers at some point?   How many layers am I supposed to have at the end of Post 8:Let there be Land.????)


I like to keep things as layers until I'm sure I don't need to go back and change masks, etc. again.  It is much easier to keep layers and adjust things rather than working from a flattened image.

If the software starts getting too slow, I will:

- Save a copy with a different name.
- Flatten the image (or merge layers I feel safe to merge)
- Keep working.

If there is a change that has to be made later, I can always go back to the copy saved with a different name, modify it the, do a copy visible and paste it into my new working image....

An example of that is labeling.  I usually flatten (a copy of) the image before I start labeling... but sometimes you have to go and move a land feature because of a label....

BTW - The finished tutorial file has 60 layers.

-Rob A>

----------


## arjent

I put my first attempt at the tutorial up on my intro post:
http://www.cartographersguild.com//a...3&d=1235591649

It's a big tutorial and I haven't finished yet, obviously. Also, I used the Inkscape river tutorial for the rivers, so this is my "RobA tutorial tribute map".  

I'd love some feedback to help me keep going and give me some refinements for what I have so far.
Thanks in advance

----------


## Greason Wolfe

Blah!  I keep trying to save the pdf versions of this tutorial and they keep timing out before they finish downloading.  Any chance they could be hosted somewhere else that might not time out?  Or, perhaps, served up in a zip format for smaller file sizes?

GW

----------


## RobA

> Blah!  I keep trying to save the pdf versions of this tutorial and they keep timing out before they finish downloading.  Any chance they could be hosted somewhere else that might not time out?  Or, perhaps, served up in a zip format for smaller file sizes?
> 
> GW


Funny - I just tried without problem (though I'm on HS cable and it only took 7 seconds to download.

Are you on dial-up?

-Rob A>

----------


## Greason Wolfe

Sadly, yes, I am still on dial-up.  DSL is supposed to be available soon, but they haven't finished installing everything yet.  Supposedly another month and they should have things ready to go.  It could just have been my connection as well.  Gonna try grabbing them again here in a few minutes and see what happens.

GW

P.S. I managed to snag them, just had to fool my system into thinking that I got disconnected so that the downloads would "resume."  Took a few tries, but I think I got all four parts now.

----------


## RobA

If you had problems I can temporarily host them up on a ftp site supporting resumes.

-Rob A>

----------


## Malygon

Hello.

I really thank you for this tutorial it has helped me really to understand the basics of GIMP. To be accurate I never used GIMP before I've seen this tutorial.

I already did a Test map using the different techniques in this tutorial until the point where you make the forests.



Like I said it's only a testmap so don't mind things like the forest going into the water.
The problem's are:
1. I don't really like the look of my forests they don't really blend in colorwise with the surrounding land.
2. The texture of the forests strikes me still as being a little odd.
Can you give me some tips on what to do to make them look better?

My actual Map is not going to be a Island but a crater with steep mountains on the edge with one or more paths leading out. The problem is while I think the mountains in your tutorial look quite good I don't think they are suited for this kind of map dominated by mountains. Can you tell me a way to create these mountains? And how can I give the whole map a hint of descending terrain?

The Area behind the mountains has not been exlored yet.

Thanks
Maly

----------


## Greason Wolfe

> If you had problems I can temporarily host them up on a ftp site supporting resumes.
> 
> -Rob A>


Thanks for the offer, Rob, but it looks like I'm all good now.  It was a pain in the hindquarters, but I managed to snag them.  I'll be so happy when they finally finish installing the DSL in my area.

GW

----------


## emw

Hey all! Another GIMP noob who never used anything fancier than Paint here. Thanks a ton to RobA and the rest of the community for making this work. I've spent the last few days playing with GIMP, and now I have a map I'm pretty happy with. I've also felt good about playing around with GIMP and experimenting in a few ways: moving layers around, deleting layers and redoing them, and using tools that were (gasp!) not in the tutorial. Thanks!

PS: Any tips on improving my water would be appreciated. I missed something, but I don't know what yet...

----------


## Malygon

How about adding a Shorline? It's in this tutorial and I think it lets the water blend in a bit more with the land.

----------


## Mychael

Hello, everyone!  I've been lurking here for about a month or so and finally finished my first map using this tutorial as a guide.  I'd say I'm a novice GIMP user but can follow instructions (fairly) well.  This took about 6 hours I'd guess, much of which was trying to figure out what the heck I was doing.  I've already thought of some things that would make this better (mostly in my variations on the instructions) but thoughts, suggestions, rude remarks all welcome!

PS - Thanks RobA! This tutorial has been awesome!

----------


## cancerlad

Love this tutorial.  I started working on it a few days ago, but have been preöccupied with my own projects.  Can't wait to finish it though!

----------


## cancerlad

> Hello, everyone!  I've been lurking here for about a month or so and finally finished my first map using this tutorial as a guide.


Very nice!  Better than anything I've done so far!

----------


## Mychael

> Very nice!  Better than anything I've done so far!


Thanks!  :Very Happy:

----------


## RagetoEmpire

My grass bumps isnt bumping! And how do i fill grey at 50%?

----------


## jfrazierjr

> My grass bumps isnt bumping!


Need more info.




> And how do i fill grey at 50%?


50% grey is nothing more than exactly half white half black.  There should be one in the Color Pallete RobA provided.   If not, you can edit the foreground color and in the "HTML Notation" field, enter 808080 and click ok.  The color result is 50% grey.   Then, you can either a) drag and drop the foreground color to the approriate layer in the image window or b) use the bucket fill tool

----------


## Twitch

I've been lurking for a while, and have been using this Tutorial since yesterday and found it extremely useful. However, I'm having problems with the mountains - RobA's mountains were extremely well blended and the outline of the mountains were "noisy" and "fuzzy" as compared to mine. Does anyone have a solution? I was thinking it had something to do with when I inverted the selection in the TLS technique. -shrugs-


Thanks for any help in advance! ^^

----------


## Mychael

After you applied the Layer mask and before you applied the Bump Map did you apply the Blur and noise?

The mountains and trees were definitely the hardest part of the whole thing IMHO.

----------


## Morkhdull

Thank's for all your wise advises.

Would like to give you rep  :Smile:

----------


## lemonsprig

Hi All,

firstly let me say this site is awesome and thanks Rob for this great tutorial. It is so detailed the end product looks stunning.. now if only i can get there.

I have been following the tutorial for most of last night and today but am still struggling namely with the mountains. In comparing Rob's example to my own attempt Rob's mountains seem to have the clouds pattern on them where mine are solid. I am sure this is the problem, but just cannot work out where I am going wrong, even after several coplete re-starts I end up with the same thing.

I have posted my gimp file hoping someone will be able to provide me with a breakdown on how to do this... I just think i need simpleton instructions.

Thanks in advance

Ian

----------


## poilbrun

Thank you very much for this great tutorial!

You can find my current efforts so far in attachment.

I am having trouble with the rivers. I don't really get how I should create the bevel. I downloaded the tutorial.xcf posted in this thread and when I look at the "river shore bevel" layer, it looks like black or grey lines on a transparent background. I followed the link to another thread showing how to do the rivers, but I don't end up with that at all (just with a bump map applied to the grass layer, which does not have the same effect).

Can anyone point to me what I'm doing wrong?

----------


## RobA

> Thank you very much for this great tutorial!
> 
> You can find my current efforts so far in attachment.
> 
> I am having trouble with the rivers. I don't really get how I should create the bevel. I downloaded the tutorial.xcf posted in this thread and when I look at the "river shore bevel" layer, it looks like black or grey lines on a transparent background. I followed the link to another thread showing how to do the rivers, but I don't end up with that at all (just with a bump map applied to the grass layer, which does not have the same effect).
> 
> Can anyone point to me what I'm doing wrong?


Not sure.  Could you zip your XCF file and post it here?

-Rob A>

----------


## astralplaydoh

GREAT Tutorial!  Thank you so very much for making this.  With about um, 8 hours worth of work, heh, I made this map.

I think I got lazy during the title part.  My title looks a little wonky.  But other than that, I'm very happy with everything.

----------


## RobA

astralplaydoh - You're welcome!  

And I must say, those are some of the nicest mountains I have seen achieved!

-Rob A>

----------


## Steel General

> And I must say, those are some of the nicest mountains I have seen achieved!


I agree, those look quite nice.

----------


## astralplaydoh

Thanks.  I couldn't tell you what I did different.  I think the mountains took me forever.  I ended up playing around a lot with blurs and pixel spreads.  I doubt I could replicate it.  Heh.

----------


## davosaur

This post brought me to the guild. I was looking for a few tips and tricks, but what I found was so comprehensive- thanks! I've also had a chance to view some of the other tutorials here. I can't wait to work my way through it all, learning as I go, since this is my first foray into the world of Gimp.

I have a few things I wanted to add to the post in addition to my praise; a request, a question, and a complaint.

First, the request: I've noticed in many of the screenshots, some very awesome patterns. I really appreciate RobA's color palette, but can anyone direct me to their favorite repositories of patterns that work well with mapping? I'd like to build up my Gimp library.

Second, the question: I am having a little trouble with the last step of the first part of the tutorial, creating the sea. I know I should post a screenshot, but it is irrelevant now because I played around with the file to the extent that it doesn't really reflect what my problem was, so I'll describe it. I got to the last part of the tutorial, doing the offset to create the nearshore water turbulence. The result looks very similar to RobA's picture, it has the same light blue cast to it. The subsequent screenshot, the one where RobA says, "This screen grab is after the first one," shows the land white- no more blue cast. Just applying the offset step did not cause that to happen for me. Not sure what I missed.

Third, the complaint: sarcasm/ as I said before, I originally came here for a few tips and tricks, but after seeing the incredible maps that are capable, I'm now turning into a cartography junky. Thanks a lot for setting such a high standard to shoot for; free time (what there is of it) now has a new outlet.

Oh, there is one more thing. Perhaps someone has already noted this somewhere, but I discovered a few things messing about with Gimp. In the current version, there is an option under "select" to distort the selection. It seems to produce a similar effect to the "Three Layer Sandwich" technique described in the tutorial here. It might turn out to be a timesaver. I also had luck using "Filter-->Map-->Fractal Trace" on the basic coastline to chew it up into more detail. The smudge tool was also useful in these early steps in pusing the shoreline around. 

Hopefully someone will find my meager input to the discussion to be of use. Thanks again and cheers!

----------


## RobA

> First, the request: I've noticed in many of the screenshots, some very awesome patterns. I really appreciate RobA's color palette, but can anyone direct me to their favorite repositories of patterns that work well with mapping? I'd like to build up my Gimp library.


Hi - first off, welcome, and second, glad you found something of value.

That specifically do you mean by patterns?  Seamless textures?  There are a fair number floating around, and a number of pointers to other texture sites.




> Second, the question: I am having a little trouble with the last step of the first part of the tutorial, creating the sea. I know I should post a screenshot, but it is irrelevant now because I played around with the file to the extent that it doesn't really reflect what my problem was, so I'll describe it. I got to the last part of the tutorial, doing the offset to create the nearshore water turbulence. The result looks very similar to RobA's picture, it has the same light blue cast to it. The subsequent screenshot, the one where RobA says, "This screen grab is after the first one," shows the land white- no more blue cast. Just applying the offset step did not cause that to happen for me. Not sure what I missed.


Really hard to say without a copy of the file, sorry  :Frown: 




> Third, the complaint: sarcasm/ as I said before, I originally came here for a few tips and tricks, but after seeing the incredible maps that are capable, I'm now turning into a cartography junky. Thanks a lot for setting such a high standard to shoot for; free time (what there is of it) now has a new outlet.


Sorry you have been bit by the bug....  :Wink: 




> Oh, there is one more thing. Perhaps someone has already noted this somewhere, but I discovered a few things messing about with Gimp. In the current version, there is an option under "select" to distort the selection. It seems to produce a similar effect to the "Three Layer Sandwich" technique described in the tutorial here. It might turn out to be a timesaver. I also had luck using "Filter-->Map-->Fractal Trace" on the basic coastline to chew it up into more detail. The smudge tool was also useful in these early steps in pusing the shoreline around. 
> 
> Hopefully someone will find my meager input to the discussion to be of use. Thanks again and cheers!


Thanks for the alternatives.  The real value of the TLS is that it provides interactive control over the results.  Distort selections is also useful... I know a lot of tuts for parchment use it.

I have never had success with fractal trace to get anything of value.  Care to share what you did?  (Honestly, it the sharing of tips, knowledge, and inspiration that make this site such a nice place...)

-Rob A>

----------


## davosaur

For the fractal trace, I started with a rough outline for the landmass. Then I applied the trace. The control sliders are pretty touchy- mess with them more than a little and the result is not even close to the outline you started with. As it is, the trace does distort quite a bit. The main value I see is if you're creating a semi-random landmass. By that, I mean that you are starting with a rough idea of what you'd like in the way of shape of the main landmass, presence of islands, etc. The main effect it had was to rough up and add interest to the edges of the land.

As for the seamless textures, I'm looking for ones that are well-suited for fantasy maps, indoor and out. I have Dundjinni, and what I'm thinking of are textures similar to what exists in that program. Those patterns are a proprietary format (as far as I can tell). I've had good luck with Dundjinni for indoor stuff, but for larger outdoor, overland-style maps, it locks up on me quite regularly. Besides, the maps I'm seeing here, done with Gimp, are much nicer looking anyway. I've grabbed a few textures here and there, but I'm wondering if someone has built a zip file of useful textures for this endeavor. Sort of a one-stop shopping thing. So I'm lazy  :Wink: 

The problem I was having with a step in the tutorial just popped up again when I was clipping the mountains. I have a feeling that I'm doing something wrong in the clipping stage. I will experiment some more and post my file if I get really stuck. I find it helpful to start over altogether with a new file to cement the previous steps. I'm starting to grok some of what is going on in all those steps in terms of what is being masked, how the noise is producing texture, etc. I'd like to get to a point where I'm not: A, following a recipe; and B, not just clicking randomly until I get the desired effect. In essence, I'm trying to understand in an intuitive way, what is going to happen before I do it. If that makes any sense.

Thanks again for the help.

----------


## Karro

> I'd like to get to a point where I'm not: A, following a recipe; and B, not just clicking randomly until I get the desired effect. In essence, I'm trying to understand in an intuitive way, what is going to happen before I do it. If that makes any sense.


I think that's exactly the result you'll get from repeated practice with RobA's tutorial.  Once you're beyond the formulaic approach to make that style of map, with repeated attempts, you start to pick up just what's going on, and how to get the effect you need.

Of course, if you happen to _like_ the general style that RobA's tut produces, and what to hew to that as closely as possible, there's nothing wrong with that (... I mostly do, for sure)

----------


## Faelpen

Here is my attempt to follow this tutorial. I would like to thank RobA for writing this tutorial, it has been very helpful.

I had some trouble getting the mountains to look right, but they look okay. The names came from a random generator so, if you like any of them, you can use them.

The compass rose I did in a rush, so it looks kind of cheap.

Any advice would be great, thanks.

----------


## Ascension

Looks good to me.  I especially like how you're trying to learn something new with the wooden cartouche.  Keep up the good work.

----------


## 4gent Or4nge

First off, thanks to RobA for the great tutorial!

This is my second map I tried after -sort of- getting the hang of it.

I've learned more about GIMP in the last 2 days than I have in the last year.

----------


## Absinth

Nice map, 4gent Or4nge! You should devote a thread to it in the Finished Maps section of the board.

----------


## Steel General

That is really nice representation of RobA's tutorial...nice job!

----------


## Ascension

I'll throw in as another impressed onlooker.  I like the color changes, very subtle and easy on the eyes and the fonts look good too.

----------


## 4gent Or4nge

Hi, thanks for the feedback.  :Smile: 

Anyone have any advise on doing the bedevil effects on the rivers?

----------


## Raz

I stumbled across this while looking for some means of making a map for my minis, and I have to say that it is a great tutorial.

This was my nearly finished crack at it.  I don't really like how the mountains turned out, nor do I really like the font (but I rushed that at the end).

----------


## Ascension

I think your mtns looks pretty good, I've seen a lot of fails with this style but yours look pretty dern cool.

----------


## Aidan

I got the Gimp a few days ago and have been trying to use it to create a map for a campaign I'm working on, and this tutorial is exactly why I came to the Cartographer's Guild.  The results I've seen are amazing.

I have run into a problem near the very beginning though.  I get as far as creating the land noise layer using the filters->render->clouds->solid noise.
I then set the mode of that layer to overlay...and nothing happens.  It doesn't seem to do anything at all to the image.  Am I missing a step here?

PS: I'm using Gimp 2.6.6 on Windows XP.

----------


## Karro

What layers do you have under the cloudy overlay layer?  Are they all visible?

Basically, the Overlay feature just lays your layer on top of the layers below it, so that where your overlay layer is dark, it darkens the layer below, and where it is light, it lightens the layer below.

----------


## Aidan

Okay, I got past that problem.  I was using a lower blur on my landmasses, because I had a fairly detailed coastline.  The noise layer was just having a very small effect.  I'm probably using this technique on a scale it's not meant for.

I'm pretty pleased with the results so far, but have bogged down at the rivers stage now.  When I draw lines in black on the grass mask, it makes the rivers almost white, the lightest water color, which is the color from the layer that I used for the shorelines.

I'd attach my xcf file, but even zipped it's over 7 meg.  Here's a jpg of the results though.

----------


## Karro

> Okay, I got past that problem.  I was using a lower blur on my landmasses, because I had a fairly detailed coastline.  The noise layer was just having a very small effect.  I'm probably using this technique on a scale it's not meant for.
> 
> I'm pretty pleased with the results so far, but have bogged down at the rivers stage now.  When I draw lines in black on the grass mask, it makes the rivers almost white, the lightest water color, which is the color from the layer that I used for the shorelines.
> 
> I'd attach my xcf file, but even zipped it's over 7 meg.  Here's a jpg of the results though.


I had the same problem (with regards to the continent outline).  There's a certain level of detail for which this technique will not produce satisfactoricaly fractalized-looking coasts.  You have to be willing to sacrifice  a lot to the blur to make it work.

With regards to the river, if I recall the way the tut works, you're basically masking out part of the land to expose the underlying water color,  But since the color that lies directly below the continents is the almost-white shoreline color, your rivers will look almsot-white, too.

If I'm recalling correctly then here's one potential solution: with your land showing, and your rivers already masked out, add a new layer between your lowest land and your topmost ocean layer.  On this new layer (call it river color, or something) with a thin soft brush set on an intermediate blue value paint along the lines of the rivers.  Play with different brushes and different layer settings to get the blend with the shoreline blue-white layer looking right.  (I suggest leaving both your land layers and ocean layers showing so you can see the effect of the work as you paint.)

----------


## Aidan

> I had the same problem (with regards to the continent outline).  There's a certain level of detail for which this technique will not produce satisfactoricaly fractalized-looking coasts.  You have to be willing to sacrifice  a lot to the blur to make it work.
> 
> With regards to the river, if I recall the way the tut works, you're basically masking out part of the land to expose the underlying water color,  But since the color that lies directly below the continents is the almost-white shoreline color, your rivers will look almsot-white, too.
> 
> If I'm recalling correctly then here's one potential solution: with your land showing, and your rivers already masked out, add a new layer between your lowest land and your topmost ocean layer.  On this new layer (call it river color, or something) with a thin soft brush set on an intermediate blue value paint along the lines of the rivers.  Play with different brushes and different layer settings to get the blend with the shoreline blue-white layer looking right.  (I suggest leaving both your land layers and ocean layers showing so you can see the effect of the work as you paint.)



Yeah, I think I did something similar to what you're suggesting.  I simply made another layer between the shoreline and the grass layer and used some cloudy noise and a color gradient with a couple medium blue colors then masked it with the land mask, and voila, there's blue beneath it. 

I used RobA's tapered path stroking script and got a nice river, now I'm trying to figure out how to use a bump map to make it look even better.

----------


## Karro

> Yeah, I think I did something similar to what you're suggesting.  I simply made another layer between the shoreline and the grass layer and used some cloudy noise and a color gradient with a couple medium blue colors then masked it with the land mask, and voila, there's blue beneath it. 
> 
> I used RobA's tapered path stroking script and got a nice river, now I'm trying to figure out how to use a bump map to make it look even better.


To do this, what I've done is this (and YMMV):

I included my rivers on my land mask, so that the land mask shows both the outline of the land as well as the rivers.  I took this and made a new layer out of it - that is I created a layer where everything that is water (including rivers and lakes) is black and everything that is land is white.  I blurred this slightly (how much will depend on the size of your map) but between 2 and 10 pixels ought to be enough.  Then, I created a new layer filled with 50% gray.  On this layer, I rendered a bump-map with my black-and-white land/water layer as the source.  I don't remember the exact settings, but fiddle with them until you get something decent in preview: it'll look like the rivers and the coast slope gradually into the water.  Once you do that, set the gray bumpmap layer to Overlay, and voila!

----------


## BlackMojo

Hey Everybody,
I have a bit of a problem. After I use the magic wand to select the land in the beginning, and i put the "Land Mask" Layer on top of it, It is just white with the selection markers showing up through it. There is no black for the ocean. Its kind of hard to explain, so here's a screenie. Any help would be great!

ty, Blackmojo

----------


## RobA

@Karro - bingo! that is how to do it easiest!

@BlackMojo - the land mask isn't a layer, it is a layer with a mask (right click on the new layer and add a layer mask using the current selection option)... but not sure of the exact step...?

-Rob A>

----------


## BlackMojo

So let me get this straight... I invert the selection so that I have the white land selected in the "Land Clip" layer, then I press the New Layer button (and name that layer "Land Mask"), Fill the new layer with white, and then right click the layer icon to add a mask? What kind of mask should i do? there is a list when i right click.

----------


## Aidan

@ Blackmojo: You want to use the magic wand to select all the non-white parts, then you invert the selection then you save the selection to a channel.  This will be your land mask.


@ karro: I guess I knew how to do it, it's just that layer masks are giving me a headache.

The only thing you can apply to a layer mask is a channel, and you can't really convert a layer into a channel, you can only convert a selection into a channel.  And you can't copy a layer mask from one layer to another, so if I end up editing a layer mask and I have several layers that use that mask, I can't copy it to the other layers.  It appears when you duplicate a layer, the layer mask is copied along with it, but that's the only way I know of to copy a layer mask.

What I ended up doing for the water is copy-pasting my grass layer mask (which is where my rivers and lake is), bluring it and using that as a bump map to apply to a 50% gray layer.

So here's a copy of my map as it is now.



I'm not real happy with the border...I'll have to fiddle with it some more.

----------


## Steel General

Looking pretty good...

though I think your mountains need a bit of gaussian blur or something to help them blend with the other terrain.

----------


## Karro

> @ Blackmojo: You want to use the magic wand to select all the non-white parts, then you invert the selection then you save the selection to a channel.  This will be your land mask.
> 
> 
> @ karro: I guess I knew how to do it, it's just that layer masks are giving me a headache.
> 
> The only thing you can apply to a layer mask is a channel, and you can't really convert a layer into a channel, you can only convert a selection into a channel.  And you can't copy a layer mask from one layer to another, so if I end up editing a layer mask and I have several layers that use that mask, I can't copy it to the other layers.  It appears when you duplicate a layer, the layer mask is copied along with it, but that's the only way I know of to copy a layer mask.
> 
> What I ended up doing for the water is copy-pasting my grass layer mask (which is where my rivers and lake is), bluring it and using that as a bump map to apply to a 50% gray layer.
> 
> ...


No, you can't copy a layer mask directly, but there is another method of transfering the mask.  On a layer that has a mask, click on the mask (the image to the right of the image representing the layer on the layer stack) to make it the active layer (alternately, rightclick the layer in question and select edit layer mask).  With that selected, right click the mask, and click (if I recall correctly, I don't have GIMP open in front of me at the moment, since I'm at work) "Alpha to selection".  If I recalled the right "to selection" option what you should see is a selection outlining your mask.

Next, go to the layer you want to transfer the layer mask to, right click on that layer in the layer stack, select "Add a Layer Mask" and in the dialog that opens, click the radial for "Selection" as the source of the mask.  Click okay, and the new mask should be the same as the mask on the previous layer.

----------


## Alfar

Er... just right click the layer with the mask, pick Mask to Selection, then right click the layer that needs to be masked, Add layer mask, Selection as source, Ok.

----------


## Karro

> Looking pretty good...
> 
> though I think your mountains need a bit of gaussian blur or something to help them blend with the other terrain.


Yeah, I think Steel is right on, here, too.  Otherwise, looking good.




> Er... just right click the layer with the mask, pick Mask to Selection, then right click the layer that needs to be masked, Add layer mask, Selection as source, Ok.


MM, yeah, "Mask to selection" might've been what I was trying to remember, rather than "Alpha to Selection".  Since I don't have GIMP in front of me, couldn't remember the precise option.

----------


## Alfar

Ah, ok. Pretty close, just leave out the "make sure the mask is the active layer" part. No need to Edit layer mask or such, just right click the layer. A layer only has one mask, so Mask to Selection is unambiguous, and right clicking the layer selects it.

----------


## Aidan

Ah, yes that's exactly what I was looking for.  Once you do mask to selection, you can also save it to a channel and all the effects remain.

----------


## Jagash

I loved this tutorial, it was both effective at teaching how to make artistic maps as well as providing a host of different techniques which are applicable in other settings.  I hadn't used masks terribly much in my art previously, but you have helped me overcome this aversion.  

The only things which I had great difficulty with were the text along paths, as it is relatively poorly implemented imo in the GIMP, and the displacement map for the banner.  For some reason, the displacement map wouldn't give me the option to displace by that disposable multiple-gradient layer while I had selected the title banner layer.  

Either way, here is my meager homage to your astounding tutorial.  Thank you again.

----------


## Ascension

Those are some very nice color choices.  Good stuff.

----------


## Blamenck

I had found this tutorial a few days ago, only a couple after I joined the site. I was looking for tutorials on how to make maps using GIMP and this seemed to be the perfect option.

I first attempted a map on GIMP, without guidence, and it went terribly wrong. I then took another attempt using this tutorial and got much greater effects, but I still hit the wall at certain parts. So, I tried again and went through the *whole* tutorial and created a finished result.

I have added an attachment, so could some of the pros please let me know what you think  :Wink: 

I used GIMP before, mainly for either drawing my own artistic renders (following tutorials of course) or editing stocks to give images some nice visuals. The problem was however, whenever I was using these other guides, I never really understood much about GIMP or what I was actually doing. From following this though, I can now claim to have extensive knowledge of the programme and it's capabilities.

GIMP certainly has it's advantages and disadvantages, but overall I *will* be using it for future cartography and hope to improve and hone in on my skills  :Very Happy: 

Great tutorial RobA!

(P.S. - to introduce myself {which I havn't done on the site yet} my name is Danny  :Smile: )

----------


## Ascension

Looks like you have done a fine job.  :Smile:   Now comes the hard part...adapting and changing things to create your own style  :Wink:

----------


## Blamenck

> Looks like you have done a fine job.   Now comes the hard part...adapting and changing things to create your own style


Yeah; I noticed that the style was exactly the same but some of the techniques are so good! 50% grey overlay layer, TLS, etc. I think I just need to practise more :/

XD

----------


## BlackMojo

Hey RobA,
Just got windows 7, so I had to restart the tutorial. Quick Question: how do i fill a layer 50% grey? Thanks

BMojo

Edit: NVM my noobishness got slapped in the face when i saw the thread search button! i gots it now...

----------


## Blamenck

> Hey RobA,
> Just got windows 7, so I had to restart the tutorial. Quick Question: how do i fill a layer 50% grey? Thanks
> 
> BMojo
> 
> Edit: NVM my noobishness got slapped in the face when i saw the thread search button! i gots it now...


50% Grey is one of the colours in the pallette that RobA tells you to download
at the start of the tutorial. You can view all of the colours in the pallette editor dialogue for the selected pallette. For convience add this menu as a tab so that you can view all of the colous of the selected pallette quickly. 

Hope that helps  :Wink:  (sorry if I din't wait for RobA to answer; I just looked at this tutorial so much I know it inside out  :Rolling Eyes: )

XD

Edit: NVM, I read that you put NVM =D.

----------


## BlackMojo

Sigh... I seem to be having so many problems with gimp...

My latest dilemma is that after i fill the "Grass Bumps" layer 50% grey, I cant apply a bump map. When I try to do it, the preview box is grey, and nothing happens after I hit ok (there isnt even the icon to the right of the layer thumbnail).

Many thanks for putting up with my antics!

----------


## Aidan

> Sigh... I seem to be having so many problems with gimp...
> 
> My latest dilemma is that after i fill the "Grass Bumps" layer 50% grey, I cant apply a bump map. When I try to do it, the preview box is grey, and nothing happens after I hit ok (there isnt even the icon to the right of the layer thumbnail).
> 
> Many thanks for putting up with my antics!


First off, you have to select the right layer to apply as a bump map in the drop down list at the right side of that box.  Secondly, applying the bump map isn't the same as applying a layer mask, which is what appears to the right of the layer thumbnail.

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## Karro

That's right.  For this bumpmap to work, you have to select from the drop-down a layer that has a black-and-white image that represents a sort of "height-field-map" for the bumpmap filter.  In this case, it looks like you need to select the layer you have named "Grass Bump Map" which is located right below the all-gray "Grass Bumps" layer on the layer stack, according to the attached image.

Good luck.

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## BlackMojo

So, I should apply the bump mask to the hidden "grass bump map" layer? then it looks horrible once I unhide the layer. This is the best I could get with a layer mask and reducing opacity.

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## Karro

Keep the grass bump map layer hidden.

What you want to do is, when creating a bump map on the 50% gray layer ("Grass Bumps") you'll run the render bumpmap filter, and the bumpmap dialog will pop up (as you screencapped earlier).  Then, from the first drop down at the top of the dialog ("Bump Map"), select the name of the layer that has the black/white/gray heighfield you want to turn into a bump map.  In your case, I'm guessing it's the layer named "Grass Bump Map" which looks like a turbulent cloudy layer (just the right kind of cloudiness, I think, for this).  Play with the elevationd and depth settings to your liking, then hit OK.

Your gray layer should now look all bumpmappy.  Set it to overlay to make the map look all bumpmappy.  Apply a mask to limit it to the land.  Leave the cloudy "Grass Bump Map" layer hidden - it's only purpose was to provide the gray "Grass Bumps" layer something to key off of to make the bump map.

Hope that helps!

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## BlackMojo

Yes i got it now. Once you understand it the process seems so ridiculously simple...

thanks anyway!

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## Karro

> Yes i got it now. Once you understand it the process seems so ridiculously simple...
> 
> thanks anyway!



Great, glad I could be of help!

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## BlackMojo

Problem number bajillion and 1... After i save the mountains to a channel, I delete (?) the pure black and white layer (the new layer that i saved the channel from). Where do I put the normalized layer? I have no idea what the "real map file" is.

This is the problem with trying to learn new software...

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## Karro

Not sure I understand the question.  Can you tell which step you're on?

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## BlackMojo

Im near the end of step 11, when you are using TLS to create the mountains.

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## Karro

Hmm, okay, let me see if I follow it right:

(I) You've used the TLS to create to create what, at this point, looks like a mostly black area with a small white-and-gray cloudy section that represents where the mountains will go, right?

(II) Then, you used the wand to select the black region, and have saved this to a channel.  This is the channel you'll use later to create the mountain mask.

(III) You then copied the visible image, correct, and pasted that as a new layer into your working file?  You use the normalize function on this layer.  This layer basically is the merged version of the TLS.  

(IV)You'll then duplicate the normalized layer (so you'll have 2 that look the same).  One will be your black-and-white heightfield.  The other you're going to use as the base color for your mountains.  The one you name "Mountain Color" you'll use the gradient map to color (then normalize the colors on that).  

So, at that point, you apply a layer mask using the Channel  you saved earlier in this step (part II of my post).

Am I getting to the crux of your problem?  

So, from what I can see, there was never a need to delete a black-and-white layer.  As for normalized layers, you've got the normalized black-and-white layer (from III) and your normalized color layer (from IV).  The normalized black-and-white layer it doesn't matter where you put it.  It's going to be a heightfield for the bumpmap you're about to do for the mountains.  You'll leave it invisible.  As for the normalized Mountain Color layer, you'll want it above your regular ground color layers, and possibly above the ground bump map (that's not really that important, as that bumpmap has comparatively little affect on the overall appearance of the mountains).  Of course, once colored and masked, you'll want your mountain color layer visible.

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## BlackMojo

I understand this, except for the part about the "working file". I have no idea what that is. Should i have two files of the map?

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## Karro

No, you should only have one file, IIRC.

So any copying of layers, etc. should be pasted back into the original file.

(Although, depending on your system, you could find that file gets really massive and slows your system, at least I know it does on mine, to the point where I have started breaking up tasks into multiple files, but that's a story for another day.)

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## BlackMojo

Oh, so RobA is suggesting that I do the TLS in another document, and then bring the finished layer back to my main file to avoid slowing down my system?

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## Karro

> Oh, so RobA is suggesting that I do the TLS in another document, and then bring the finished layer back to my main file to avoid slowing down my system?


No, that's just something I do.

So, once you've copied the visible from the TLS, paste it into your file (I believe it also gives you the option to paste as a new file, so that might be where the confusion is), and normalize it.

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## BlackMojo

I got it!!! Thanks a bunch... the terminology in the tutorial confused me. Have copious amounts of rep.

Btw, is there a way to get Snow on the tops of the mountains? I was thinking of making a layer mask on a copy of the mountain bump map with a white gradient.

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## RobA

The easiest way to get snow is to just add a transparent layer set to screen mode, and paint with a white soft brush at partial opacity.

Alternately, create a gradient with white at the end instead of the FG-BG gradient suggested in the tutorial.

-Rob A>

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## BlackMojo

Which colors should i use for the forests? thanks.

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## Karro

> I got it!!! Thanks a bunch... the terminology in the tutorial confused me. Have copious amounts of rep.
> 
> Btw, is there a way to get Snow on the tops of the mountains? I was thinking of making a layer mask on a copy of the mountain bump map with a white gradient.





> The easiest way to get snow is to just add a transparent layer set to screen mode, and paint with a white soft brush at partial opacity.
> 
> Alternately, create a gradient with white at the end instead of the FG-BG gradient suggested in the tutorial.
> 
> -Rob A>



I basically do what Rob A just suggested - add a transparent layer above the color, below the bumpmap and I just paint with a soft white brush along the ridges and peaks where I want snow to go.

As for forests - I believe the color palette linked at the beginning of the tutorial have a couple colors for forests (or maybe just one?  I can't recall).  Use any of those, to start.  You can experiment with your own greens later.

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## BlackMojo

I ditched the snow idea. My mountains have a nice golden-brown color that didnt go with the snow.

As for the forests, all that there is is a green called shoreline (???) so i guess i could use that. Can you do it without normalizing? I get this pukish green when i normalize...

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## Karro

> I ditched the snow idea. My mountains have a nice golden-brown color that didnt go with the snow.
> 
> As for the forests, all that there is is a green called shoreline (???) so i guess i could use that. Can you do it without normalizing? I get this pukish green when i normalize...


There should be several greens, IIRC.  If not, maybe pick your own (something nice and earthy looking is where you'll want to go... so if your green is too bright, basically, just increase the balance of red in it a little).

I'd avoid normalizing the green for the forests, as I think you're right, it gets kind of not-great looking when you do.

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## Aidan

> I ditched the snow idea. My mountains have a nice golden-brown color that didnt go with the snow.
> 
> As for the forests, all that there is is a green called shoreline (???) so i guess i could use that. Can you do it without normalizing? I get this pukish green when i normalize...


There are four other greens called ditch, low ground, medium ground and high ground if you're using the palette that RobA included.  I think I used a gradient between ditch and medium ground.  And yes, don't normalize.  What I did do was follow the suggestion to duplicate the forest color layer and set it's blend mode to grain merge.

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## Highlieche

Hello RobA. I have a question. How do i get your color palate to open up? When i try to unzip the folder it doesnt let me open the gpl file.

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## RobA

All you should have to do is unzip the gpl into your palettes directory.  Alternately, just use the png and the eye-dropper tool to pick the colours as you need them (which is what I do more commonly, rather than building custom palettes).

-Rob A>

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## Highlieche

sweet thanks. however, upon further readings of this tutorial i realized its inadequate for my purposes. You said yourself that your Gimp tuts dont work for making whole continents. could you be kind enough to point me to a Gimp tut that can show me how to make a geographical/political continent plz?

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## Karro

> sweet thanks. however, upon further readings of this tutorial i realized its inadequate for my purposes. You said yourself that your Gimp tuts dont work for making whole continents. could you be kind enough to point me to a Gimp tut that can show me how to make a geographical/political continent plz?


I don't know that there's a full-on, GIMP Continent tutorial currently posted here.  However, my advice would be: run through RobA's regional map tutorial once on a practice map, and you should learn enough about how GIMP works that you can adapt the skills developed to creating a continent map yourself.  That's actually what I did... so that my still-under-construction world map is about 80% RobA GIMP tutorial and 20% original tinkering to get the effects I want.

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## RobA

Karro hit the nail on the head.  My intent was to really introduce many of the Gimp basics along with making a map, so if you are a newbie to Gimp, following the tutorial is a good way to learn many of the features that would be useful for any style of mapping!

-Rob A>

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## Isadore

Hello, Im following the "Using GIMP to create an artistic regional RPG map" tutorial and am finding it exciting. However, Im stuck on post 6. It states "copy" the land mask layer and Im not sure exactly what is meant by that. If its not creating a new layer or duplication of a layer, how am I to copy it? Im not clear on how to proceed correctly, so if someone familiar with that tutorial or GIMP in general could help me out, Id sure appreciate it. Im using GIMP 2.6, if that makes any difference. Thanks.

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## scscofield

The land mask layer you created in the prior step is what he is refering to.   You make a duplicate of it then alter it the way he suggests.

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## Isadore

Yes, I think I discovered where I went wrong, thanks! I am still having an issue with getting the color pallette downloaded. Where in gimp am I supposed to extract it to? theres no palettes folder?

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## Steel General

IIRC you can make your own and load the palette from there, but I haven't used GIMP in a long time.

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## Korash

I am not sure what version of Gimp you are using (mine is 2.6) but this is where my palettes are : C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\palettes

Hope it helps

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## Isadore

Thanks alot! That worked without a hitch! Now I can get back to work!  :Smile:

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## Isadore

Hello again! I am wondering if someone could clarify a few issues I seem to be having with this tutorial. It appears a lot of people have had the same problem, Im stuck getting past the mountains stage. I get the TLS all set, but when I get to the mask layer Im confused. The channel, which am I working from? It says something about white to a layer mask..AAAAAARGH! Its been my stopping point after following the tutorial this far about 5 times now.  Is there anyone who might have had some problems with this stage that has gotten past it that could break it down in a clearer manner? Id sure appreciate it, thanks.

"Use the magic wand again to select the non-mountain area (like with the land) and create
a new layer called “Mountains Mask” with a white on black. (Also the white colour
selection as a new selection mask using Select->Save to Channel)."

 This is where the confusion begins, to be exact.

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## RobA

Going from memory here...




> Use the magic wand again to select the non-mountain area (like with the land)


OK to here?




> and create a new layer called Mountains Mask with a white on black.


So, create a new white layer, and fill the current selection with black.




> (Also the white colour
> selection as a new selection mask using Select->Save to Channel).


Select->Save to Channel and change the name of the new channel to Mountain Mask.

HTH-

-Rob A>

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## Isadore

Thanks, Ive gotten the problem sorted out. I was wondering if there is any other techniques you use for blending the mountain edges in. I reduce the opacity and do the blur with just a bit of pixel spread, and they look OK but there is still a distinct brown ring around the base of the mountain range. I was also wondering if anyone here has seen or could point me in the direction of any tutorials or techniques used in making swampy areas. Ive been fiddling around with some blurring and smudging as far as that goes and if I get anything to look decent, Ill try posting it. Thanks!

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## RobA

I've had luck with running a Filter->Noise->Spread after blurring to allow the edge to fade with less of a halo look.  Alternately try the disolve blend mode (which is a bir harsher).

-Rob A>

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## Isadore

I want to thank RobA for the tutorial, it has been a big help learning Gimp and the process of utilizing layers and masks and i look forward to learning even more. Here is a map I made using what I have learned so far.

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## ravells

Hey that's looking pretty good! The mountains are a bit 'soft' though. I think RobA added to his tutorial to make the mountains more pleasing...worth checking out. Or check out the link in my sig on dealing with 'blobby' mountains. Cheers

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## Isadore

Thank you. Yes, Im not totally satisfied with the mountains or a few other aspects of this version of the map, but, even though it was a test of my patience, I learned a heck of alot and - in the end - its rewarding and fun!
 I deleted a few of the mountain bumpmap copies, they looked sharper before but the shadows were far too steep looking, so it at least looks better than it did. same thing with the forests, their outline was far too crisp and didnt blend well until I went back and removed a bumpmap or two. Ill keep posting any skill progression I make and hopefully I will someday soon be able to help newcomers around this fantastic site!

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## Notsonoble

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=4335 this is RobA's mountain tutorial, it really improves the mountains quite a bit... give it a shot...

@RobA do you have the ability to edit posts as old as the first posts in this tut? If so it might be worth adding a link to your mountain tut to that section of this one... It's really good, goes well with the rest of it... and unlike this one, seems to get lost in the sea of posts sometimes...

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## RobA

> http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=4335 this is RobA's mountain tutorial, it really improves the mountains quite a bit... give it a shot...
> 
> @RobA do you have the ability to edit posts as old as the first posts in this tut? If so it might be worth adding a link to your mountain tut to that section of this one... It's really good, goes well with the rest of it... and unlike this one, seems to get lost in the sea of posts sometimes...


 THanks for the suggestion.  I went back and added that link to *Post 11: Let there be Mountains!*

-Rob A>

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## Highlieche

Hi RobA, another question.
On a map im currently working on, im attempting to make a huge crater for a pit of evil/death/darkness. How do i make carters in GIMP? Or is this too advanced for my noob mind??  :Smile:

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## RobA

The key to representing anything on this type of map is in getting a good height field. I'd suggest a gradient with a profile like:



```
  _
 / \      _
    \___/
```

And create a radial gradient with it  use a layer of noise as a displacement map source and displace using the radial option. Then add a bit 'o noise on top.

Bump map that and colour it in. Not near a computer so I can't whip up a sample. May be someone can based on my sketchy instructions.

-Rob A>

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## Korash

> The key to representing anything on this type of map is in getting a good height field. I'd suggest .......stuff WAYYYY over my head.
> 
> -Rob A>


Huh?  :Question:  I think I need to see a visual to understand the application of that morphed hex type thingy.

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## RobA

OK, I put my bad ascii art into a code block so it would not be messed up  :Wink: 

-Rob A>

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## Karro

Basically... what I think he's demonstrating is that if you're going to create a bumpmap from a grayscale heightmap to represent a crater, with 50% gray representing ground level, black representing the lowest point and white representing the highest point, you'd basically take a radial gradient... starting from about gray in the middle point, radiate outward slowly to black then ramp back up to white, then ramp back down to gray.

Then he's suggesting throwing some noise into that to break it up a little and make it look natural.*

Finally... bumpmap that using the same mechanism that he uses for mountains, etc. in this tutorial.

*Note: using the displace feature to map the noise to the radial gradient is a little more sophisticated than "throwing some noise on it", and will probably produce better results, but not near GIMP at the moment to experiment with it...

----------


## RobA

Yeah-

What Karro said  :Wink: 

Re: the noise, if you create a nice square layer exactly centered on the basic heightfield, fill it with tileable noise (maybe turbulent), then convert it using the rectangular to polar filter, it can be used as a nice radial displacement map.  It will probably also require a bit of 50% grey in the center to hide the pinching.  

Attached is a sample overlay, along with a zip of the gradient I used initially.

-Rob A>

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## Lewas5372

I have been working on this for about 12 hours and its my first time with Gimp (Downloaded it for this tutorial).  Now its time for bed but I just wanted to show everyone where I'm at.  I'm not too happy with the forest but I'm pretty sure I can do better my next go around.  I did have to make some adjustments because my mountain was blocking the sun.  I think I did a pretty good job making the shadow.  Anyway, I hope to work on it more tomorrow.  So once again, RobA thank you so much for this wonderful Tutorial.

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## Ascension

Looks good, oh and we all struggle with forests  :Smile:

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## Steel General

> Looks good, oh and we all struggle with forests


Amen to that!  :Smile:

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## acosinus

Hi all. I've just registered, and I want to say a big, BIG thanks to RobA for making this great tutorial! This is just what I needed - I'm a Linux user, and the stuff I've found for this purpose was either commercial software (which mostly required WINE to run), or obsolete and abandoned projects which didn't even remotely do what you can do with this tutorial.

So, once again, thank you very, very much! I'll start working on something serious as soon as time allows, and if you people like, I can post my accomplishments here.

BTW, I may have a solution for the dreaded forests - however I'll have to test them myself first, but I'll try to stay in touch and give back to the community as much as I can (not that it'll be much - you guys are a league way beyond mine here, at least for now).

Cheers!  :Smile:

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## Highlieche

RobA;

Once again i come to you for help. When i try to get the mountain layers onto my map it blocks out the actual map. But from your photos in the tut, it isnt supposed to do that. Help plz?

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## RobA

@Highlieche-

Can you post a sample?

-Rob A>

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## Jallorn

I'm stuck trying to make my forests.  


> Use the magic wand again to select the non-mountain area (like with the land) and create a new layer called “Mountains Mask” with a white on black. (Also the white colour selection as a new selection mask using Select->Save to Channel).


What does that mean?  Particularly the part about "a white on black".  The weird thing is I had forests yesterday before my program froze and I lost the work, and now I can't get them any more.  Prompt help would be appreciated.

What I see it as now is to make the forest parts white and the non-forest parts black, but then normalizing the color doesn't do anything.  I tried skipping that step but that didn't work either.

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## Gidde

Thanks for posting that crater, Rob, that will come in handy on my map for LadyTear  :Smile: 

Jallorn, it looks like you're missing a step. A lot of the steps in this tut follow this pattern: make a new layer (all black), put a filled outline on it (in white), blur, noise, normalize, do something. Sounds like you skipped the blur & noise steps somewhere.

----------


## Jallorn

> *Post 11:Let There be Mountains*
> *
> Before you continue, there is a better way I found to make mountains located over here.  It works well with the rest of this tutorial, and seems much easier and predictable than what follows here...*
> 
> 
>   The technique for making the mountains is very similar to that of making the land. Because we have an idea for a map, we will start in this case by sketching a blurred representation of where they should be.  Otherwise, just use one of the random techniques:
> 
>   Create a new layer Mountains.  Fill in white for the general areas of the mountain ranges, and apply a 50 px (or so) Gaussian blur.  It is helpful to keep the original sketch on top with reduced opacity to act as a guide.  Dont worry about going in to the sea, because we can we can erase those areas later:
> Attachment 1485 
> ...


I dunno, I'm pretty sure I've gotten everything before that step.  I mostly just don't understand what to do there.

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## Jallorn

Ok, what the heck?  I posted, and It's not showing up... Anyway, no, I'm not missing anything, I reread the post about four or five times, redoing my process a couple of those times, before posting.  I think it's something I'm not understanding.  So if you can take a look at this: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...8&postcount=13 and tell me what I'm not getting from that snippet, I'd be very grateful.

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## Jeff_Wilson63

> The _City-Map-Colors.gpl_ file should go into _C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\palette\_ and GIMP will see it the next time it is run.


Correction.  The directory should be:
_C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\.gimp-<version>\palette\_

----------


## RobA

> Correction.  The directory should be:
> _C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\.gimp-<version>\palette\_


Thanks!  Fixed in that post.

-Rob A>

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## Jallorn

So not gonna help me here?

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## Gandwarf

> Ok, what the heck?  I posted, and It's not showing up...


Is it showing now?

----------


## Jallorn

Yeah it is.  Only now I've got a double post.

----------


## Gidde

Ok, it still looks to me like you're skipping steps. Let's try to get to the bottom of it by listing all the steps up to where you are in a bit less space:

1: White forest fill on black outline
2: Gaussian blur 50px
3: Add noise layer
3a: Select and save to channel
4: New layer from Visible
5: Normalize

The only thing I can think of is that you're missing the blur/noise steps, or you're trying to normalize your new channel instead of the new from visible layer (it automatically switches focus to the channel when you save a selection to a channel).

----------


## Jallorn

Must've been that I tried to normalize the layer.  Thanks.

----------


## Lwaxana

I wish I could use this tutorial, unfortunately, the German names for stuff are often so different it makes it impossible for me to find them. I might eventually figure it out though.

----------


## Aylorian

I learned so much from doing this tutorial, messing up stages, trying again, experimenting. I installed Gimp just a week ago now and feel like I'm well on my way to being a more "advanced" user. Thanks so much to RobA for providing this tutorial and for all the helpful comments and advice in the 40 (so far) pages of posts that followed.

The situation with my map was somewhat unique as I had to map it perfectly to scale with an existing game. It also means that I had to map what-is rather than what should be, so please excuse the straight roads and the geographically impossible rivers. If I start re-arranging the main continent now it is going to ruin "speedwalks" and settings for thousands of users.

The image is ok, but what really shows the power of this map is the video at:

www.aardwolf.com/temp/mesolar-bigmap.avi

If you follow along with the small (ascii) map at the bottom, you will see that the icons on the map, the roads, the mountains, etc line up with the ascii version which is why it all had to be to scale. Once I do the other continents, this map will replace the ASCII version:

http://www.aardwolf.com/temp/mesolar-realmap.jpg

So, this is quite a huge leap forward for us and is the first step in making the entire game content graphical. The "area" maps will be more traditional dungeon type maps - there are 5 continents in total with the areas linked from them.

It's far from perfect and I'm sure in a year's time I'll look at this map and cringe, but quite pleased with the results so far.

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## Highlieche

Hello again RobA,

Sorry to keep buggin u but i think im just stupid. I found this tut over a MONTH ago and i still havent been able to complete a satisfying looking, to my eyes at least, map. As for my recent problem with the layer positioning, i found that i just didnt turn off the layers like you did in the tut so its my bad. Now im trying to, yet AGAIN, make a decent looking, map. So im just gonna list what im trying to put into the map that continues to elude me and maybe u can give a total noob some advice/tips?

1. A single main continent that the map focuses on, surrounded by either, a bunch of small island chains, another piece of a secondary continent that is visible in the corner or a combination of the two.
2. A DEEP forest for elves/ elven type beings somewhere on the main continent.
3. At least two major mountain chains on the main continent, and if i use a piece of a secondary one a coastal mountain range on it as well.
4. A vast steppe with a river, that has a rather large inland island in it, cutting through it, on the main continent for my main humanity region. 
5. The crater i asked for earlier as my main TEH ZOMBIE/EV0L!!!!!!! region. Naturally i would enjoy having this area gray to represent lifelessness but if the proves impossible then ill go with dirt brown.
6. OPTIONAL: A volcanic region either within a mountain range or around the TEH EV0L!!!!! crater. But i dont think that is gonna be possible at the current rate of my development. 

This map is simply a personal project, its not for any game. I just wanna be able to say i can do a better map than a fill-bucket and post type.

Also, @ Aylorian, nice game design dude. Wish i could play but i never found a D&D type crowd to hang with.  :Frown:

----------


## Aylorian

> Also, @ Aylorian, nice game design dude. Wish i could play but i never found a D&D type crowd to hang with.


Thanks, it's actually a MUD (multi-user dungeon) rather than a turn-based RPG and is all real time. 

Think of it as more of a text based World of Warcraft or Everquest 2. It's no coincidence that the makers of those games originally got their starts on MUDs. Runescape was originally a MUD that was converted to graphics. If you take away the graphics, MUDs tend to have more depth and a tighter community because they're smaller.

Anyway, you don't have to find anyone to play with, just login and there's usually anything from 250-400 people online at a time. Client address is www.aardwolf.com if you want to check it out.

----------


## crowfather

Thx Rob so much for the tutorial I am not scurd of mappin anymore. This is my WIP after dinking around for a week scrappin my first map. I am pretty proud of the layout so far I have allot left to do but its all down hill TLC  :Wink: 
I will use your river tutorial when I get to that point. Anyways I wanted to rep you so I hope clikin the praise button does it. PS if anyone has cool downloads for city's and town shoot me a msg plz thanks.

----------


## Ascension

Do you see the names on the left side of the post?  Do you see the little set of weighing scales under the names?  Click that and a pop-up window appears so then type in your comments and click the button for "I approve".  Although, the Praise button is certainly a neat idea it does not give reputation.

----------


## Draszmar

Hello,

I'be been lurking here for a long time now and as a long-time CC user I found a lot of inspiration in this forum.
But what I found also were these great "realistic" looking maps done in Photoshop or GIMP. These can't be done in CC even with the great new features in CC3, so I was a bit envious.

Then came this angel from heaven calles RobA  :Wink:  and gave us mere mortals this awesome tutorial.
I downloaded and installed GIMP and didn't have a clue what to do. So I tampered with the tutorial for weeks but I always got stuck at the mountains.
And what did that celestial being RobA do? He posted an additional tutorial for great looking mountains which can be easily integrated in the original tutorial.
So I tampered again, modified a few things to my liking and finally today I finished my first map in GIMP and I'm really happy with it:

----------


## ISGC

first post, quick and easy question, how do I set the blend mode

----------


## crackersncheese

Firstly, great tutorial! I feel like I'm starting to see how mapmaking will work out. I have hit a snag, however:



> Now apply a bump map to this Grass Bumps layer using *Filters->Map->Bump Map*.
> Attachment 1460


Your instructions say "Grass Bumps" but the picture shows you applying the bump map to the "Grass Bump Map" layer, which has all the turbulence in it. No matter which one I apply it to, I don't get the same effect you get. It still looks like turbulence to me! Help would be appreciated.

----------


## matrixm

> Create a new layer called “Dirt” and fill it with the “med dirt” colour. Add some noise (Filters->Noise->HSV Noise):
> 
> [image snip]
> 
> Now bump map this layer on itself to five a bit of lighting texture:


Been following the tutorial, and on Post 9 (really post 11; not sure of step number at this point), it has the above instructions. Does the bump map layer on itself to five mean to apply the bump map effect to the layer 5 times (I think it does, but that gives me something that's much darker than seen in some of the land regions later on in the tutorial).

Edit: Ok, it looks like the five might be a typo, and meant give instead. I only applied the bump once, and it turned out nice so far. I'll post current status in the WIP forum (just before the mountains stuff).

----------


## Kerghan

Hi Dear Cartographers !

I'm a new member of the Guild and i want to say "Bravo" To all of you, really nice school. 

(thanks for tutorial, i need to work more, but my first map wasn't so bad. Do you know what kind of palette i should use to draw an icy map?)

----------


## Ascension

Whites, grays, blacks, browns, blues, and purples...maybe some washed-out greens.  Basically cool colors and not warm colors.

----------


## RobA

> Edit: Ok, it looks like the five might be a typo, and meant give instead. I only applied the bump once, and it turned out nice so far. I'll post current status in the WIP forum (just before the mountains stuff).


Thanks matrixm!  Fixed the typo!

rep for your help  :Wink: 

-Rob A>

----------


## Kerghan

Hi Dear Cartographers, 

I have got a problem for the Cities.

I create my city layer, i create all the symbols, i merge all the text layers in to the city layer, i create the city outline, i use the "alpha to selection" option, i enlarge the selection, i turn on the "lock alpha channel". but now i want to change the color in the city outline (by dragging another color). Problem ... nothing happened...  The color does not fill the selection. What's wrong?

(sorry, i'm a foreigner, it's hard to talk in your strange language)


Edit : I have solve my problem. The Lock Alpha Channel was checked on the City outline layer ...  :Very Happy:

----------


## modernhamlet

Hi, I'm working on learning some basic techniques and am running into trouble early on in this tutorial, specifically getting my TLS to look like the example given. 

I'm attaching 3 images (if I can): before, gauss, and after.

The 1st image is what my land drawing looks like in GIMP before doing anything to it.

The 2nd is after a 50px gaussian blur.

The 3rd is after completing the Land Noise and Land Clip parts.

So... why is my land turning out so lame? It has LESS going on than the original. I've redone it at least a half dozen times, so I hope I'm not missing something obvious.

Thanks in advance for the help...

----------


## Notsonoble

The Clip is designed for really really smooth land areas... where there's hardly any detail at all... if you've already got well defined (which I'd call your base) coastlines... it's an unneeded step.

It's not so much doing something wrong as the problem I had with my first attempt to use this tut... My coastline was already fairly well defined, and the TLS part just seemed to smooth it out. Later when I had a really basic coastline on a larger map... the TLS steps brought me to something very similar to your base image.

I'd say in your case simply skip the first steps...

----------


## RobA

> The Clip is designed for really really smooth land areas... where there's hardly any detail at all... if you've already got well defined (which I'd call your base) coastlines... it's an unneeded step.



Bingo, Notsonoble!  the coast is nice and detailed already, no need for a roughening step.

-Rob A>

----------


## ISGC

please help, how do I set the blend mode when creating a layer?
I can tell it's something obvious that I'm missing, but I can't seem to find it.

----------


## RobA

After you create the menu, the layer blend mode it set by the mode dropdown on the layer dialog:


-Rob A>

----------


## modernhamlet

Thanks! That makes me feel much less incompetent. =)

I'm certainly not happy with the level of detail of just my rough sketch though.

And I do want to work with that technique in the future.

So I think I'll come up with a less detailed starting point and see if I can make it work.

Updates to follow...

----------


## ISGC

> After you create the menu, the layer blend mode it set by the mode dropdown on the layer dialog:
> 
> 
> -Rob A>


thanks I knew it was simple!

ok I'm on coloring the water now, what do you mean by "foreground" and "background" and how do I color them :/
also vista put the colors in a different place, do they need to be moved or am I just not seeing the palette?

----------


## crackersncheese

Could you please help me? I don't want to be a pain, but I was mapping so well until I hit this step. It seems like such a cool technique yet it won't work.



> Firstly, great tutorial! I feel like I'm starting to see how mapmaking will work out. I have hit a snag, however:
> 
> 
> Your instructions say "Grass Bumps" but the picture shows you applying the bump map to the "Grass Bump Map" layer, which has all the turbulence in it. No matter which one I apply it to, I don't get the same effect you get. It still looks like turbulence to me! Help would be appreciated.

----------


## RobA

@ISGC - Sorry I don't know where a palette file needs to go in Vista.  Check your gimp preferences (file locations) and it should tell you where the palette file needs to go.

Foreground and Background (FG and BG) refer to the two colours (by default black and white) that either painting will use or erasing (when no alpha) will use.

@crackersncheese - 



> Hide this new layer (by clicking off the eye icon). Create a new layer called “Grass Bumps” and fill it with 50% grey. Set its layer mode to overlay. It will appear to be gone now. That is how overlay works. 50% grey doesn’t change the underlying image, while darker shades darken the image and lighter shades lighten the image.
> Now apply a bump map to this “Grass Bumps” layer using Filters->Map->Bump Map.


So create a new layer.  Call it "Grass Bumps".  Fill it with 50% grey.  Set its layer blend mode to "Overlay".
With that layer ("Grass Bumps") active, fo a Filters->Map->Bump Map, and in the first drop down box make sure it reads "Grass Bump Map".

This filter applies a bump map to the _current active layer_, using the layer selected in the first parameter of the dialog box as the source of the bumps.

-Rob A>

----------


## crackersncheese

> @crackersncheese - 
> 
> 
> So create a new layer.  Call it "Grass Bumps".  Fill it with 50% grey.  Set its layer blend mode to "Overlay".
> With that layer ("Grass Bumps") active, fo a Filters->Map->Bump Map, and in the first drop down box make sure it reads "Grass Bump Map".
> 
> This filter applies a bump map to the _current active layer_, using the layer selected in the first parameter of the dialog box as the source of the bumps.
> 
> -Rob A>


Thank you so much, I feel like I'm moving forwards again.

+Repped.

----------


## ISGC

> @ISGC - Sorry I don't know where a palette file needs to go in Vista.  Check your gimp preferences (file locations) and it should tell you where the palette file needs to go.
> 
> Foreground and Background (FG and BG) refer to the two colours (by default black and white) that either painting will use or erasing (when no alpha) will use.


Alright thank you.

----------


## Tatutoy

hello. Well, thank you for the PM. So, what i should do to turn the maps layers into one? I have to put overlay in all the layers?

----------


## Noon

Hello,

I took the time to run this excellent tutorial, and this is the result.
It was the first time I used layers, filters, selection, masks, etc ... 
GIMP is very complex, everything is long to do, but finally, the map is pretty.

Thank you very much.

----------


## RobA

Nice job, Noon.  You even managed to get the rivers embossed!  You also seem to have a good eye for the blending layers, which seems the hardest part of the whole thing.

-Rob A>

----------


## Noon

> Nice job, Noon.  You even managed to get the rivers embossed!  You also seem to have a good eye for the blending layers, which seems the hardest part of the whole thing.
> 
> -Rob A>


Thank you RobA.
Indeed, I'm very very happy about the rivers. When I discovered all those beautiful maps here, I asked me : "how are they doing to have so lovely rivers ?"
And now, I know it :-D

----------


## ChocoKinesis

So this is most likely my first post in this forum, so hi! I have to say, this tutorial is really awesome. I ended up using it to make a map of a somewhat large landmass, bigger than the tutorial is purposed for, but I think it served pretty well. I haven't fleshed it out yet with any kind of roads or cities, or any sign of civilization, really. For geographical features, though, I think I'm more or less done. Any comments or suggestions?

----------


## rdanhenry

ChocoKinesis, you need to go here: http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3822

Since I don't have a River Police badge, I'm just going to say "Water doesn't _do_ that."

Mountains, ocean, forests look good. You could use some hills, though. It seems a little extreme with the mountain ranges shooting up out of a lot of flat. A fine first effort, though, except for the rivers, which seem to be a problem for a lot of people.

----------


## ChocoKinesis

Thanks! I was mostly messing around with the rivers, though I do like where the lakes are. I'll just move them around if I need to since I drew them on a separate layer apart from everything else. Is the color suitable, though?

Any pointers for creating the hills, or would greater depth while bump-mapping the grass be sufficient? I have a vague idea of how I might like to arrange highlands and lowlands, but no real clue on how to implement it.

----------


## kjdavies

> Any pointers for creating the hills, or would greater depth while bump-mapping the grass be sufficient? I have a vague idea of how I might like to arrange highlands and lowlands, but no real clue on how to implement it.


Greater depth while bump mapping the grass could provide you with something hillish.  You might want to do this only in certain regions (use TLS to make a mask, make a bumpmapped layer with the hills, then mix together to get 'hilly regions').

You could also do hills as high-resolution, low-amplitude mountains.  You'll probably want more, smaller peaks than you had with the mountains (you might want to explore turbulent noise and multiply layer mode).  It's unfortunate that the turbulence functions like horizontal and vertical lines so much, though.

----------


## Karro

Yeah, I think the mountains are pretty solid, Choco, and you already know about the issue with the rivers.  A quick summary, if  you haven't perused the provided linke:  tributaries (small rivers) flow _together_ going downstream and join into larger rivers heading to the sea, and very rarely split, going downstream, except in a few specific rare cases, most notably and most common of which is the river delta, which are rather smallish, usually, compared to the river as a whole.  So many rivers flow down from mountains and join together to form fewer rivers that actually reach the sea.

As for colors: those are fine.  Muted and understated, matches the palet fairly well (though, I'd then advise muting out the blue of the ocean to get that less bright looking as well), and is fairly clear on what the color represents.

----------


## Ecrocken

Another thing I recall about rivers/streams is the further downstream that two rivers meet, the angle they meet at gets closer to 90 degree's.  Hence, the further UPstream, the smaller the angle.

~EC

----------


## RobA

> Another thing I recall about rivers/streams is the further downstream that two rivers meet, the angle they meet at gets closer to 90 degree's.  Hence, the further UPstream, the smaller the angle.
> 
> ~EC



Close, but it is not specifically tied to upstream/downstream, it is related to the slope of the terrain.  The steeper the slope, the more likely they will be traveling in the same direction, therefore meeting at small angle.  Then the terrain is very flat, the angle can be larger.

In general, much terrain is steeper "upstream" and more level "downstream".

-Rob A>

----------


## Ecrocken

Thanks for clearing that up.  I knew it was one... or the other.  :Razz: 

~EC

----------


## Elothan

[img=http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/5135/msseglett2fjell.th.jpg]

This is my first result with gimp, after reading your TUT.. I never knew I could actually make somehing decent :p Lot of work left, but hoping to get a hang of it..

----------


## a2area

this sounds obvious but rivers tend to run kind of like a tree grows.. but the other way..

----------


## Carlo

I need help... I don't know use GIMP, and i have a question:

In a part of the tutorial he said : "create a new black layer called land mask", but i don't know how to create a new black layer, can someone help me?

----------


## jfrazierjr

> I need help... I don't know use GIMP, and i have a question:
> 
> In a part of the tutorial he said : "create a new black layer called land mask", but i don't know how to create a new black layer, can someone help me?


Create a new Layer.  There are multiple ways to do this, so take your pick:
Control+Shift+NMenu Item : Layer->New Layer...On the layers Window, right click and select New Layer...Fill with black, there are multiple was to do this as well: 
Drag the color black from your foreground or background color picker on the toolbox windowUse the bucket fill tool( if you do this, be carefull to make sure the opacity slider is turned all the way to 100%!!!!) using either the foreground color or the background color.
In the previous new layer window, you can select to use FG color, BG color, White, or Transparency.

----------


## Carlo

Oh thanks, now i can continue creating the map  :Very Happy:

----------


## Carlo

Humm... :Question: 

I have other question. I don't know how to do this: "Create a new layer called Grass Bumps and *fill it with 50% grey*, how can i fill it with 50% grey? i don't understan...D=


Thanks, and sorry if u can't understand my english....

----------


## jfrazierjr

> Humm...
> 
> I have other question. I don't know how to do this: "Create a new layer called Grass Bumps and *fill it with 50% grey*, how can i fill it with 50% grey? i don't understan...D=
> 
> 
> Thanks, and sorry if u can't understand my english....


50% grey = *exactly* half way between pure white and pure black.  The color code for this is 808080

----------


## Carlo

> 50% grey = *exactly* half way between pure white and pure black.  The color code for this is 808080


Thanks man....

Sorry bother again but i have other question...

In other part of the guide he said: Create a new layer on top of the blurry one
and fill it with rendered clouds....Then set its layer mode to difference.

I did this, but the color's of my layer are different of his layer:
my layer:
[IMG][/IMG]
his layer:
[IMG][/IMG]

The problem is that when i go to the next part where i have to "adjust it to be a wider of white on black" the different colors dont let me do this... :Frown:

----------


## RobA

The layer underneath does not appear to be pure B&W, which is why you are seeing colour in the difference mode.  Try desaturating it.

-Rob A>

----------


## Morrinn

So, this is my first post here, and the first thing I'd like to say is, thanks so much Rob for this awesome tutorial. It's pretty magical to see an ugly sketch I made really come to life.

I made this map, using this awesome tutorial for a campaign me and a mate are working on. I got a little grief for the geographical irregularities when it came to the position of the mountains in relation to the shoreline (He's a geek), but I'm pretty happy with it.

The forests didn't turn out awesome either, but I'm still content, considering I had expected to fail miserably in following the easy steps.

Isla Cativa:

----------


## Solm

Ok, this is my first time ever using GIMP, I used it before just for random doodles, but never like this. I have Mac OS X, and, this may sound very stupid, but could someone explain how to get the color palette into the correct folder.

Thanks!

----------


## Korash

You could try putting here : C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\palettes

If you go up one folder, you will find all the folders that gimp uses to hold the various elements that you can add to. I am sure there are other places to put stuff, but to the best of *MY* knowledge this is where things go.

not too sure if the path is the same with Mac OS though

----------


## thehillcrusher

Just like to thank Rob for his tutorial. I found this forum by accident while looking for map resources. Attached is my first attempt after a few hours of playing around. Sorry if I stole the compass from your tutorial but I wound up using the map in a game. If nothing else your ideas have converted me to GIMP from my old copy of Paintshop Pro. Thanks again.

----------


## JimmyDeemo

I have a quick question about adding the adding in Rivers section. It says you can add in the rivers by drawing them in black with a fuzzy paint brush on the 'Grass' layers mask. It appears to work but all i see is the white colour of the  Seashore layer underneath. Have a missed a step somewhere? Help much appreciated.

EDIT: Ignor the above! I forgot to colour the seashore layer blue.

----------


## arsheesh

Just wanted to add my voice to the din of applause for your tutorial Rob.  Like many of the people who have responded, I knew nothing about GIMP or cartography before finding this site and your tutorial really helped walk me through the process of making a map in GIMP.  In addition, I have found your GIMP scripts and plug-ins to be tremendously helpful as well.  Unfortunately I found your "fractalize path" script after I had already done the rivers, but the "smooth path" script saved me a good bit of time on my roads.  You have done much to make cartography and GIMP accessible to the rest of us.  So here's to you Rob A the "Gimp-pimper"!  Rep well deserved.

Cheers,

-Arsheesh.

(Oh wait a minute, I guess I've already repped you recently.  Gotta recognize a few other people before I can rep you again, but don't worry, I'll be back!).

----------


## Sharpe

:Frown: 

I got to part 7 where this wonderful guide said, "Now we will turn the B/W into colour, by clicking Color->Map->Gradient Map, and the water is almost (for now)." When I did this, my image turned all flat blue, nothing like the screen capture. Does anyone know where I went wrong?  GIMP 2.6 wishing it was 2.4... 

Thanks.

----------


## RobA

> I got to part 7 where this wonderful guide said, "Now we will turn the B/W into colour, by clicking Color->Map->Gradient Map, and the water is almost (for now)." When I did this, my image turned all flat blue, nothing like the screen capture. Does anyone know where I went wrong?  GIMP 2.6 wishing it was 2.4... 
> 
> Thanks.


You probably had your foreground and background colours both blue (so the gradient was blue-blue).

-Rob A>

----------


## Cthugha

Just (sort of) finished this, it really was a cracking tutorial.

I used your "Simple Mountains in GIMP" tutorial for the mountains, didn't quite get the hang of the snow caps and my forests need work, but i'm reasonably pleased with the results, if I had thought more at the time I would have used softer colours on the labels. but it's a start.

----------


## RobA

> Just (sort of) finished this, it really was a cracking tutorial.
> 
> I used your "Simple Mountains in GIMP" tutorial for the mountains, didn't quite get the hang of the snow caps and my forests need work, but i'm reasonably pleased with the results, if I had thought more at the time I would have used softer colours on the labels. but it's a start.


Thanks, and nicely done!

Now, get to work on a larger map!  :Wink: 

-Rob A>

----------


## Carlo

Well, i'm back =\

Now i have some problem with the GIMP, i don't know if i can ask here but here we go:
When i try to put any kind of text in my map the program stop working and a error window is showed. Someone knows what is it?

[IMG][/IMG]

----------


## jfrazierjr

You would need to send this to the GIMP forums.   I would HIGHLY expect that the issue is around your internationalization based on the screenshot you provide.  If you have any way to change your OS's language to English, just try a quick test to verify.   Out of curiosity, what language is that?

----------


## Carlo

> You would need to send this to the GIMP forums.   I would HIGHLY expect that the issue is around your internationalization based on the screenshot you provide.  If you have any way to change your OS's language to English, just try a quick test to verify.   Out of curiosity, what language is that?


Ok, i'll send to the GIMP forums. The language is Portuguese, actualy the program it's half portuguese language half english, i don't know why that '-'

----------


## Aenigma

I'm sooo gonna put one of my maps I made in paint through this tutorial xD It looks promising.
(plus the fact that this is page 46 kinda shows how good this tutorial must be  :Razz: .... unless every page is filled with complaints... erm)

This'll be fun.

----------


## RobA

> (plus the fact that this is page 46 kinda shows how good this tutorial must be .... unless every page is filled with complaints... erm)


and 80,749 page views  :Wink:   it is a granddaddy of tutorials here, and, unfortunately, like all granddaddies is getting a bit long in the tooth.  When gimp 2.8 comes out I think it will be due for a refresh... Maybe a video series...

-Rob A>

----------


## nolgroth

I'll be watching for that. This is a great tutorial, though I have never actually made it through the whole thing.

----------


## Comrade

Hello. During the portion of the tutorial when you color the sea wen I do it the landmasses turn bright yellow and the water turns just one shade of blue. I follow the tutorial exactly so I am not sure why this is happening. I even tried it multiple times with the same result. The file I use for my map is something I made in Inkscape and is a .png, I just used it to sketch the outlines of my landmasses. Anyone else get this problem?


Decided to add the exact file I am using for clarification.

----------


## jfrazierjr

Mostly likely, you had the wrong layer selected when you changed the blending mode.   Double check the blending mode for all your layers to make sure they are as expected.  It's been a while since I did this tut, but I don't think there should be any blending modes used other than Overlay(but I could be wrong!!!)

----------


## Comrade

Thank you. I will go over this a fourth time and if I still encounter this problem I will post a screenshot.

----------


## Comrade

Encountered the Yellow Land problem on my latest run through 



Looking at it again, it seriously looks like a thermal image. As cool as that is it is unfortunately not what I wanted. I am using the latest version of GIMP if that matters.
After messing around with it for a bit I discovered that no matter the pallet colors the result is always the same. Am I miss-reading something?

----------


## jfrazierjr

Start turning off layers one at a time from the top down until it gets a bit more normal looking.  If that does not help. you would have to let us see your xcf file.  You can zip it up and attach(perhaps start a new Work in Progress thread would be best!) as long as the total zip file size is less than around 4.5 MB(I think thats the number).

----------


## Comrade

The problem seems to have fixed itself. After getting some rest and loading the same file back up and doing the same exact thing "choosing the two blue colors and making the gradient map" it came out exactly as it should have.I honestly do not know why this has happened but ill take what I can get. Thank you for the help anyways.

----------


## Larthis

Just like many members before me, I have to say that I just found this guild and this tutorial while I was looking for some guidance to make maps.

I'm really glad that I found a tutorial for the exact program I use (GIMP) and I will begin working on some ideas as soon as possible.

Thank you for providing such a wonderful help for begginers like me.

----------


## funnymouth

this tutorial is so great i had to give it a shot: the Izul atoll.
 i figured id pub it now, and modify it with roads symbols whenever i need them. i did a few things differently but i really appreciate that you got me started with the basic techniques. the map could still use a lot of work, but im happy with it as my first attempt. its really great to see a concept i first drew out 6 years ago in a totally new way. ive been inspired by my success to try and develop a few of my other locales using these same techniques. 
thanks again!

----------


## RobA

Glad you found it useful!  Nice job with the underwater terrain.

-Rob A>

----------


## Zavael

thanks for the tut, it is really awesome

----------


## Gothmog

So this is an awesome guide! Ive been working with gimp now with some success but now im wondering what program(s) would be used to make a map of this quality....

http://bfme2.heavengames.com/albums/...ivingMap_1.jpg

and how difficult one would think it would be. Does anyone have any idea? Thanks.

----------


## Ascension

I'm getting a "Forbidden" message when I click on that link so I can't see it.

----------


## RobA

> So this is an awesome guide! Ive been working with gimp now with some success but now im wondering what program(s) would be used to make a map of this quality....
> 
> http://bfme2.heavengames.com/albums/...ivingMap_1.jpg
> 
> and how difficult one would think it would be. Does anyone have any idea? Thanks.


Link gives me a "forbidden"

-Rob A>

----------


## Gothmog

http://images.google.com/images?rlz=...N&hl=en&tab=wi

thats my google search, i googles Ea living map and went to images, it should be the first image but if its not its the rendered map of middle earth, 1598  1278 from bfme2.heavengames.com

For what ever reason i cant upload it from the site or after saving it to my comp....

----------


## Ascension

Oh yeah, I had pondered trying to do that but forgot.  You could use Gimp for that...you just need to be patient and practice a lot and experiment a lot until you get the techniques and style down pat.

----------


## rdanhenry

That map is wrong, by the way. It shows Nurn, the breadbasket of Mordor, as being a burnt wasteland like Gorgoroth. It wasn't as fertile as the better places in Middle-Earth, but it fed armies, so it would be greenish. Or maybe golden if they were growing wheat.

----------


## Ayeohx

I'm following the tutorial closely and I'm just not getting the desired effects.
I'm stuck at the beginning of the "Let there be land section".  The grass isn't showing through.

I know something's going wrong at "Post 4 - I have an idea Part 2".  When creating the Land Mask I'm told to:
"Now Invert the selection (Select->Invert), create a new black layer called “Land Mask” and fill the selection with white. "
This doesn't make much sense to me (probably because I don't know what I'm doing).  When I invert and fill with black the wrong portion gets filled so I just ignore the invert part.  Looks like the picture so I moved on.

The next issue occurs at making the Seashore layer.  I add the blur & the displacements to the seashore mask but it looks nothing like the picture in post 7-5.  In fact, I don't think it really changed at all.

I've restarted 3 times now, and before I break something, I'm going to take a few minutes off.
Are there any updates to this guide?  Errata, maybe?

----------


## RobA

Post up a sample of where you are here or in a new WIP thread.

The could be a few issues.  Some of the effects are map size dependent and don't work will if your map is big (like 3000x3000).

-Rob A>

----------


## Rhotherian

I just subscribed to this. Looks like I just found the FOURTH tutorial on this site to use in my latest map! ^^

----------


## Rhotherian

> Now using the Magic Wand Tool, (making sure Sample Merged is Checked and the Threshold is 0) click anywhere in the dark area.  This will define your coast. (!!!) If you want to adjust it, just undo the selection (*ctrl-Z*) and change the levels of the “Land Clip” layer.  I wand back and tightened the coast a bit.


 I'm stuck here (I got it up untill the "(!!!)"). 

My coast doesn't become "defined". It just stays blurry. Sample merge was checked and the threshold was zero, yet nothing happened when I clicked. =/

Infact, when I followed the steps after that when my coastline was suposed to be more varied than before, it actually ended up being _less_ varied - smooth, actually! I even lost half my islands.

I continued anyway, but when I came to the sea part the layer-mask-thing didn't work. Nothing became transparrent.

To make things worse, I just realised that my "brushed, gradients, etc." widdow doesn't display pallets. I also couldn't fins any options to display them. -_-


I followed the instructions _exactly_ as intructed, but I gave up at the sea part as nothing seamed to work... =(


Please help.



Edit: Nevermind, I found the "pallets" tab, so that problem's sorted.

I think I found the probelm. I think it may just be a case of misunderstanding. You see, my GIMP (2.6.7) doesn't have a "lighten" blend option for layers. The only options remotely simmilar are "hard light", "soft light" and "lighten only". The hard and soft light options gave an effect simmilar to what I wanted, but _too_ random, having created or removed land regardless of the blur (I got islands and seas in the middle of nowhere, nowhere near the blured areas). The remaining option, "lighten only", had no effect whatsoever, shining through directly onto the origional map, blurs still showing.

This may be because of the blend mode applied to the "land noise" layer. You see, "overlay" made it invisible. Only when I changed the blend option to everything from "grain extract" to "multiply" did I get results simmilar to the ones above.

So, the main problem boils down to the layer blend options... =(

----------


## wisemoon

> I'm stuck here (I got it up untill the "(!!!)"). 
> 
> My coast doesn't become "defined". It just stays blurry. Sample merge was checked and the threshold was zero, yet nothing happened when I clicked. =/
> 
> <snip>
> This may be because of the blend mode applied to the "land noise" layer. You see, "overlay" made it invisible. Only when I changed the blend option to everything from "grain extract" to "multiply" did I get results simmilar to the ones above.
> 
> So, the main problem boils down to the layer blend options... =(


I had the same problems Rotherian did. When I tried to use the "Magic Wand" tool (which in 2.6.8, the version I have, is just the Fuzzy Select tool), it did not do what it apparently used to do in 2.4--either that, or I messed up some earlier step. I could not get it to select an edge close to the blurry randomized part--it just did a smooth outline at the outer edge of the blur. I'm not sure what I did the first time to get it to look right, I played around with a few different settings so I can't recall the exact thing that worked. Thus, when you repeated the technique later in the tutorial, I had no way to make it work (should have written down what I did!).

I think I got a reasonable result by changing the blend mode to "Divide" instead of what you called for int he tutorial; that seemed to make a rougher edge, and I *think* the fuzzy select tool worked with that. but I can't remember for sure. But when I got to the Mountains section, I couldn't find a work-around. Mostly because I have several separate areas of mountains, and I couldn't figure out how to get them all selected at once.
Here's a JPG of my image up to the step where you paint in the mountains in white and do the Gaussian Blur on them:


RobA, if you have updated your Gimp version, can you tell us how to do the steps in your tutorial that have to do with the TLC technique (particularly the Magic Wand steps)? I really like this style and would like to finish learning it, but I'm getting really frustrated. Thanks in advance.

----------


## Gidde

I'm not RobA, but he's my hero and I use his techniques a ton. This problem could be because the bigger your map gets (i.e. much over 2000x2000), gimp's native clouds aren't detailed enough to give a good coastline (or other random effect). Try downloading and playing around with Felimage Noise (for coasts I usually use a 10-15 size, and turn the lacunarity up and the Hurst exponent down).  It's also pretty important to make sure your fuzzy select tool is set to "Select Merged" and a 0 threshold.

----------


## Scotia

Here's a quick shot of what your wand options should look like:





-----


And I'd like to add my thanks/kudos to RobA for a great tutorial. I learned a few things about GIMP that I didn't know before.

----------


## wisemoon

> I'm not RobA, but he's my hero and I use his techniques a ton. This problem could be because the bigger your map gets (i.e. much over 2000x2000), gimp's native clouds aren't detailed enough to give a good coastline (or other random effect). Try downloading and playing around with Felimage Noise (for coasts I usually use a 10-15 size, and turn the lacunarity up and the Hurst exponent down).  It's also pretty important to make sure your fuzzy select tool is set to "Select Merged" and a 0 threshold.


My picture is only about 800x1200, so I don't think size is the problem. And I had the "Select Merged" setting and 0 Threshold set, just like it said in the tutorial. My settings weren't the problem. Perhaps Rhotheria is right and it's a blending mode issue? Since changing the mode to Divide instead of Overlay seemed to change the outcome of the Fuzzy Select tool step, I think he may be on to something.

If I can recreate what I did for the first instance of the technique (creating the land, I think) perhaps I can use it for the rest. I'll try to write it down this time, so I can post it for the edification of others.  :Smile:

----------


## Gidde

Weird. I use that technique with Overlay all the time, with no issues. Maybe Rob can pinpoint where the problem is.

----------


## wisemoon

Well I don't know why it wasn't working before, but I deleted my previous layers and tried again, and this time I got it to work fairly well. Here's a sample of my mountain test:


So I guess I figured it out. I don't know what went wrong last time...maybe it was just far too late at night.  :Very Happy:

----------


## wisemoon

UPDATE: I found a more recent tutorial by RobA, a different method for making mountains. I liked the look of those mountains better, so I tried it out. Unfortunately, I think I did one or more of the steps wrong, since I'm getting a wierd inverted ridge around the mountains. Other than that, I think the mountains turned out well. But when I went back and tried to redo the forest layers after changing the mountains, something went wrong. I don't like the way they turned out.

So, closer, but still working on it:

----------


## Rhotherian

> My picture is only about 800x1200, so I don't think size is the problem. And I had the "Select Merged" setting and 0 Threshold set, just like it said in the tutorial. My settings weren't the problem. Perhaps Rhotheria is right and it's a blending mode issue? Since changing the mode to Divide instead of Overlay seemed to change the outcome of the Fuzzy Select tool step, I think he may be on to something.
> 
> If I can recreate what I did for the first instance of the technique (creating the land, I think) perhaps I can use it for the rest. I'll try to write it down this time, so I can post it for the edification of others.


 Yeah. I wonder if this overlay-mode thing has to do with the different versions of GIMP. Probably, as my situation was basically summed up by wisemoon.

I'll try devide and see if I get any different results.

----------


## Gidde

Could be, I suppose. I'm using 2.6.8 if that sheds any light.

----------


## wisemoon

So, I tried again with the alternate mountains technique. I posted it over in the Regional Map discussion forum, but thought I would also post it here in case anyone's been interested in seeing where I'm going with it.

I fixed the mountains (got rid of the inverted ridge), also sharpened them this time (no flat tops), and also fixed the forest. I put in three color layers for the forest (first one Normal mode, second one Grain Merge Mode, third Overlay--slightly different color definition in each layer), did one bumpmap for overall texture, and another bumpmap to bevel the forest (make it pop out more) around the mountains.

Here's the result, and it's what I'll be going forward with as I finish the tutorial:

----------


## Rhotherian

Perhaps I shoudl try that too. Not too fond of the coastlines, though...

----------


## Proud2baNerd

I downloaded and unzipped the file. When I tried to to install the color palette but I couldn't find the folder.  :Question:  I am using a Mac so maybe there is a different way to install it? So far I have opened the contents of GIMP's application folder then looked through it and searched the whole computer using Finder.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

----------


## jfrazierjr

> I downloaded and unzipped the file. When I tried to to install the color palette but I couldn't find the folder.  I am using a Mac so maybe there is a different way to install it? So far I have opened the contents of GIMP's application folder then looked through it and searched the whole computer using Finder.
> 
> Any help would be appreciated, thanks!


Go to the Edit Menu and select Preferences.  Scroll down to the Folders and expand that.  You should see Palates as an option and when you click on that, it should show the application path for your OS of where to place the files... Also note that you can add additional path locations so you can store them in multiple locations.

----------


## Proud2baNerd

> Go to the Edit Menu and select Preferences.  Scroll down to the Folders and expand that.  You should see Palates as an option and when you click on that, it should show the application path for your OS of where to place the files... Also note that you can add additional path locations so you can store them in multiple locations.


Thanks, I  tried that and it worked! I will now see if I can do the rest . . .

----------


## Gofarman

Ok, so I have been having a plethora of problems with this tut, I see its value and really want to be able to do this but every step I run into a road block.  I have repeated the first parts several times and as I notice one mistake I made another pokes up. This is my latest and likely most basic mistake I am creating the "sea shape" layer and using the Guassian Blur effect when I get a very strange outcome.

Before:


After: 


I can't get the Guassian Blur to work now (even after a Gimp restart) and am slowly coming to the conclusion that the learning curve it too steep to troubleshoot everything alone.

...Help me cartography people your my only hope.

----------


## jfrazierjr

ok.. thats not right.  In your first image, the Sea Shape layer should be EXACTLY like the Land Mask layer before you do anything to it.  Then, make sure you have nothing selected (since that selection limits what the filter works on) by doing Select->None.  Then run the Guassian Blur filter and this layer should now look like a big blob kind of the shape of your original Land Mask layer.  

If you'll notice you first picture has a black to transparent gradient from the upper left to the lower right and thats why it's not coming out correctly....

----------


## jfrazierjr

ok.. thats not right.  In your first image, the Sea Shape layer should be EXACTLY like the Land Mask layer before you do anything to it.  Then, make sure you have nothing selected (since that selection limits what the filter works on) by doing Select->None.  Then run the Guassian Blur filter and this layer should now look like a big blob kind of the shape of your original Land Mask layer.  

If you'll notice you first picture has a black to transparent gradient from the upper left to the lower right and thats why it's not coming out correctly....

----------


## Gofarman

mmm, not so.

Even after I delete the Sea Shape layer (with the funny gradient) and duplicate Land Mask I get the same outcome (which it(it being the Sea Shape layer) then looks like the gradient in the above pictures)

----------


## Gofarman

I'm going to start from scratch again, hopefully I don't make the mistake again.

----------


## Yellow Eagle

[QUOTE=RobA;9404]*Post 3:  Then Let's Begin (if I have an idea)*

  Create new layer called Land Noise and fill it with clouds (*Filter->Render->Clouds->Solid Noise*)  Set the detail to the maximum (15) and the X and Y size to the max (16.0).  The larger the size, the more randomness your final coast will have.  Give it a new random seed and jot down the number (I put it in the layer name afterwards as a reminder). And change the blend mode to Overlay.

Hello there.. I seem to have trouble getting this to work right: I'm using GIMP 2.6.6 and attempting to follow everything to the letter. When you refer to "blend mode to Overlay", do you mean the "Blend Tool" on the left side toolbox, or the "Layers Mode on the right toolbox. I tried both ways, and nothing seemed to work right, and I cannot get the cloud layer displayed over the land areas as displayed on the next screenshot. It just shows up as gray sea (colour level adjusted to 71 on white land. I've been going back and forth over this for a while. Please help!

----------


## Seretur

Layer Mode.  That confused me at first as well, as it's not labeled Blend Mode in recent Gimps.

What are you doing adjusting color level at this step?  I thought the first time you do that is with the Land Clip layer, which comes after this step.

----------


## Yellow Eagle

Sorry.. I wasn't clear.. I continued onto the "Land Clip" step to get the colour levels, but didn't get the effect I wanted, so I kept moving back and forth between the two steps to see where I went wrong. I managed to get the Land Noise (Filter/Render/Clouds/Solid Noise) done right, with "Layers:Overlay" from the Layers Dock, and then created a New Layer (Land Clip), fill type:White; Lighten Only. Then I adjusted the Colour Levels to Output(71) (as in tutorial.. I know the actual number can be different). What I get is white "land" and gray "sea", with no cloud-like "landmass".

here is what I've been able to do so far:

----------


## Seretur

So you get land and sea?  Do you have a screenshot of what it looks like?

----------


## Seretur

Ah, that could do it.  You skipped a step:



> Now invert the layer (Color->Invert) and blur the image (Filters->Bur->Gaussian Blur) The amount of blur will determine how random the final coast will be. The larger the blur, the more random the coastline will be (in the blurry area). If you have a well defined coast already (like here) use a smaller blur (50px). If you have a poorly defined coast (as is the case when using a random coast technique) make it a large blur.


If you want to preserve the mini-inlet northeast of the big bay thing ( I'm incredibly geographically literate, aren't I?  :Wink: ), but randomize the rest a bit, try a 50px overall blur, select the inlet area with the lasso, and Select->Invert.  Blur _that_ (50-100px) and the inlet should be preserved, while the rest of the coast is a little more random.

If you think your coast is just fine exactly how it is, you don't need to worry about this at all.  This step is just to randomize the coast.  If your coast is well-defined, and you like it, feel free to skip the Land Noise and the Land Clip, and go straight to the Land Mask.

(( In the future, adding a new post with the attachment would be most convenient for everyone.  Now it looks like I'm double posting  :Wink:  ))

EDIT: While I was typing, I was looking at your outline JPG.  A lot of the definition got lost when you traced it, and I wouldn't recommend leaving your land layer how it is unblurred.  If you want it to look closer to what you originally drew, try this:

Click on your Background layer, hide everything else.
Using the magic wand tool, select the sea.
In your Land layer (or a new one if you don't want to destroy what you've got), fill the selection with black.
Invert the selection (Select->Invert), and fill the new selection with white.

This way, it will keep your original coastline exactly (or almost).  Then you can leave it unblurred, if you like.  :Smile:

----------


## Yellow Eagle

I originally just duplicated the background layer to make a second outline, then filled in the land w/ black and sea w/ white. This latest "tracing" was an attempt to simplify the procedure  :Frown: . In the end, I'm going to use your suggestions, and basically skip the first segment and go straight to the "Land Mask" step after defining the land/sea.
Thank You for the advice.. BTW, I edited my post before I realized you (Seretur) already responded  :Smile:

----------


## Jacqui

I've rendered my difference clouds and marged it with the blurred mand mask layer above the dirt - you've then said that in the layers dialog, you have to have a wider band of white than black.
I have a  "Layers, Channels, Paths, Palettes, etc." box but where is the dialog?

----------


## Alcairdazar

RobA, could you please tell me what font you use in your map?

----------


## RobA

> RobA, could you please tell me what font you use in your map?


Chaucer Ultra-Light

-Rob A>

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## Alcairdazar

Cheers.

By the way, very nice tutorial. It was very easy and effective and I did it without complication. Also this tutorial introduced me to the world of digital cartography, so thank you very much.

----------


## Notsonoble

So I'm bored at work... I have Kubuntu 10.04 running in VBox on my workstation, and I've installed Gimp 2.7.1. I'm currently playing with adjusting this tut to make a swampy battlemap...

It's going sorta okay, I imagine I'll probably throw up the results and let people shred it... then take a stab at it again.

As for 2.7.1, so far so good. Single window mode is really nice on a single monitor box, I took a break to post this because Gimp lost access to the Gradient Map script -__-. Other than that an hour and a half of serious work without crashing. Layer Groups is handy... but I noticed if you want to use a layer for bumpmaping or displacing, it needs to be in the layer group your using or not in a group at all.

----------


## Sheelon666

First time running through this tutorial and I'm having a problem in the early stages, at the Land Clip part.  I've followed the tutorial to this point but when I try to drag the slider to the left, my map basically remains white no-matter what the setting.  Help!

----------


## RobA

Sheelon666-

From the screengrab I see a couple issue.  Your Land layer is white on transparent.  It should be white on black.  When adjusting the Levels, you need to have the Land Clip layer active (by clicking on it in the layer window), not the Land layer.

-Rob A>

----------


## Sheelon666

Sorry, I dont wish to be led through the tutorial step by step, but that's what I ended up with by following it along step by step.  Perhaps its my inexperience working with Gimp but I dont even see where to make it white on black - I selected Transparent layer as instructed.

Edit: going to have another pop from fresh map
Edit 2: also, I think I had the Land Clip layer selected properly, it's just that in this screen grab there's been a bit more manipulation to try and get it working.

----------


## Sheelon666

OK I restarted and instead of making Land Transparent, made it White instead, and that seems to have worked for next few steps.  More tomorrow!

----------


## chuza

I am working my way through the tutorial, which is marvelous, and this is my first time using Gimp,   but I am running into an issue with the step to color the sea.  When I hit *Color->Map->Gradient Map* the land turns blue and the sea stays shades of gray.

Thanks for the tutorial and the help.

----------


## Dndungeoneer

I'm having trouble with getting the Map Bump to work.  I've done it all EXACTLY like the tutorial says but still no texture shows up for the land.

----------


## Dndungeoneer

I've now gotten to the mountains section.  I tried using the "easier mountains" link, but it confused me.  I decided to try the one posted in this tutorial, but I can only get up to the noise layer.  The instructions for the mask and everything after that is pretty unclear.  I could use some help/clarification as I'd really love to finish this map!

----------


## RobA

> I've now gotten to the mountains section.  I tried using the "easier mountains" link, but it confused me.  I decided to try the one posted in this tutorial, but I can only get up to the noise layer.  The instructions for the mask and everything after that is pretty unclear.  I could use some help/clarification as I'd really love to finish this map!


I'd suggest you start a wip thread and post in there asking for help.  Add a few images to show where you are and what the problem is.

-Rob A>

----------


## Kikouk

I am trying to apply this tuto, and I meet some problems too. My dust is awful and I just can't do the mountains (the tuto begins to be less precize on each step, and I am lost in the too evasive directives)

Is there a tuto which is as precize as the beggining of this one, but for mountains?

And a question: I don't understand why there is a third layer on the three layer method (or whatever is name)... It doesn't change anything on my map...

----------


## petermac

This'll seem a stupid question (I'm at the "Grass Bumps" part): how do I fill the layer with 50% grey?

----------


## Kikouk

Is there any tuto like this one (creating a map step by step from the very beginning to a well looked regional RPG map) for PS? 
Because I just found that I have this software on my computer, and it seems quite easier than Gimp (thus I have gimp in French, and the translation is difficult)

----------


## Steel General

Look in the tutorial section for Ascensions Tutorials (there are several - and all quite good)

----------


## crackerjake

Alright, I can follow the tutorial well enough up until the last part on Post 4. It says to invert the selection and then '...create a new black layer...' I'm not sure what is meant by a black layer. Am I supposed to bucket fill the whole thing with black? I'm a bit confused on this, am I lost in translation? All the experience I have with photo-editing programs has been purely with GIMP, and even then, it's very little. I'm using the latest version of GIMP, if that helps.

----------


## geamon

When you create a new layer by right clicking in the layer window it gives you some options on what kind of layer you want filled (For example white, transparent, etc etc ). Be mindful though that when you delete anything on a black layer the selection you've deleted will be automatically filled with black.

----------


## crackerjake

I'm not seeing any 'black' options, is there something I'm missing?

----------


## geamon

Foreground color.

By default the foreground color is black and the background color is white.

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## crackerjake

Oooh, okay, I see, thanks!  :Very Happy:

----------


## crackerjake

Okay, I've run into another problem.  It says on Post 8 step 5 to fill the layer with 50% grey.  I have no idea what 50% grey is  :Neutral:

----------


## Midgardsormr

I'm not sure how Gimp's color chooser operates, but that means a color that is 50% value and 0% saturation. Or in typical RGB colors: 128,128,128. 

Any time all three numbers in RGB are the same, the resulting color will be some level of grey, black (0,0,0) or white (255,255,255).  128 is half of 255, so that's 50% value.

----------


## crackerjake

I'm not finding a simple RGB scale, they're three other slides that change value when I put the RGB at 128, denying me a grey.  I hate having to ask how to do something so simple, but could someone walk me through this?

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## geamon

Midgardsormr is right. Just click once on the Foreground color and set your values like the image bellow and you will have "50% grey". You can again make the layer using the foreground color that you know have set or use the fill tool.



Also for the most part most questions you are asking are general software use related issues. We are more then happy to help and answer the questions. But I like someone who tries and teach themselves as well. Here is GIMP's tutorials on the use of the software may wanna refer to it to learn the software as your trying out mapping. I personal referred to it when I wasn't sure on the use of one of the software's tools and more often then not it answered my questions.

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## crackerjake

I didn't even know those existed, I'll give them a read through, thanks, you've been very helpful.

----------


## petermac

Hi, having 2 areas of difficulty with my rivers which I hope someone can help me. When I draw my rivers from the mountains  they vanish when they reach the dirt area at the coast. Also I need idiot-level guidance re: how to bevel them.

----------


## Viper

RobA,

While I have you...perhaps you can help with another question.  I have been following along with your 4-part tutorial on land making and I am stuck on a section in part 2; the Mountains area...as follows:



> _Now we want to create a heightfield from this.  The easiest way I have found to do this is to copy the current visible image (B|Edit->Copy Visible)/B then paste it (CTRL-V) to 
> a floating selection.  Click the New Layer button to get it on its own layer rather than a 
> floating layer.  Now stretch the colour range out (B|Color->Auto->Normalize)/B:_


My question:  Are you saying to copy the image to a new file and then pasting from the new file back into the original one?

Thanks!

Viper

----------


## RobA

> RobA,
> 
> While I have you...perhaps you can help with another question.  I have been following along with your 4-part tutorial on land making and I am stuck on a section in part 2; the Mountains area...as follows:
> My question:  Are you saying to copy the image to a new file and then pasting from the new file back into the original one?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Viper


 Viper-

(Moved the question)

Nope -  Copy Visible will flatten all the layers into a copy buffer.  Just paste this (edit->paste) to get a new floating selection and anchor it to make it a "real" layer.

No new image.

-Rob A>

----------


## Viper

RobA,

That's what I thought you meant, but the extra letters confused me at first.  I am assuming it must have been html code that was in part of the tutorial.

Thanks

Viper

----------


## Rubicon

Hello, 

My first post here. I know it has been said many times in the thread, but this is a really excellent tutorial. 
This was my first attempt at using GIMP and I am happy with the result.

The mountains are a bit off, and I did some hand painting for a swamp because I could not get the textured layers approach of the forests and mountains to look 'swampish' enough.  

Still, thanks for the excellent introduction to the software, and mapping.

----------


## jtougas

Very Nice !! if your looking for a bit of feedback the tops of your mountains are pretty sharp. But all in all a excellent job  :Smile:

----------


## ImaTarget

Hello,

I just went through this tutorial the second time and did the linked to mountain and tree tuts as well as the incscape river one and this is the first map ever I am almost happy with. It is still only a training piece so I did not bother putting names on it. Only thing that really buggers me are the mountains, for some reason I am unable to get that roughed up look going. But Practice will make perfect. A big thank you to all the authors of these tutorials, I would have never believed I could make maps with such details. You are all amazing!

----------


## Stormhawk

I am pretty new to gimp so bare with me here. I was able to do all the steps easily until I came to the part about blending. I first did an overlay blend with the rest default values just straight down and I did the same thing with the over but with overlay. However, when I change the colour level all I get is a gray  colour no land is shown.


Edited

Nevermind I figured it out when you said blend mode you actually meant layer mode  :Wink:  Now its working

----------


## zehcoutinho

Hi, I'm doing the tutorial but I'm stuck. I have finished the ocean part, and it looked about right. But when I did the Seashore Layer, my landmass continued light blue, instead of white like in the tutorial pictures. I took a screenshot. I also did the land part up to the Colors->Map->Gradient Map part, after selecting the fore and background colors as the greens, but the landmass continued light blue, and not green like in the tutorial pictures. If you notice in the screenshot, the layer thumbnail is already green. Anyone has any idea what I might have done wrong? Thank you.

----------


## zehcoutinho

I'm really really sorry for the double post, but I have gone back and done things again many times and I just can't get it right. Maybe RobA can help me. After I first made everything bluish (with the Colors->Map->Gradient Map command), when I do the Seashore Layer my landmass continues bluish and not white like in the tutorial pictures. I admit I don't know if this has been asked before or not, but this is a thread with 50+ pages, so I simply don't think it is practical for me to have to read all of it (if this is the forum rules I will, but under protest). Please help me!!!

Edit: One more thing, whenever the tutorial asks us to create a new layer, is it a transparency layer?

----------


## Alak

Hi! i'm a macuser so i have a problem: i don't know where i must put the palette at the first step of the tuto! do someone know where i must put it?

Thanks

----------


## jfrazierjr

Alak, in the Gimp preferences, there is a "folders" section near the bottom(I THINK that's it.. going off of memory)   Find the one named palettes, click on it and it will show you the location on your hard drive...

----------


## Alak

Thanks I found it!

----------


## wisemoon

Looking back through this thread, I realized I never posted my latest version of the regional map I did using RobA's tutorial. I didn't get all the way to the end, but close--I just have to put in the labels, compass rose, etc. But I have the roads and city/fortress icons on this one.

I can't seem to get the file itself to upload, so I am pasting a link to my personal blog, where I posted it last year.

http://www.cartographersguild.com/en...roads-finished

----------


## barbierossa

Hi, I'm Barbierossa (known as Tom). I'm fairly new to The Gimp and have been following this tutorial with great interest, in the hope that I can produce something that even scratches the brilliance of RobA's map.

As I said, i'm following the map tutorial, but every time I try to create the mountains, they look like areas of zits sitting on the land layer. I'll post a Jpeg here to illustrate:



I just cannot seem to get the fantastic ridged look that RobA achievs in his tutorial (I'm using the "Simple Mountains" variant located here. 

If anyone can point me in the right direction from the Jpeg as to what I may be doing wrong, I'd appreciate it. If not, I can try to upload the gimp native file so it can be dissected...

I'm working on the project to produce a regional map for my friend's game world (a clockpunk renaissance-alike setting) and it's holding my progress up.

Thanks in advance,

Tom

----------


## McBawbagg

Hi guys I only just discovered this site unfortunately and I would like to follow this tutorial to make my campaign maps. I installed GIMP 2.6(.11 I think) on a brand new windows 7 PC. But I cant seem to get the colour pallette in robs 2nd post installed. I have no idea why it wont work. I dropped it into the right place but my PC leaves the icon blank so I dont think it recognises the file type. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

And to the OP (and the rest of the community) thanx for this guide. For many years I have been doing hand drawn maps wishing there was some way to do them on the PC and get them online but I dont know anything about this kind of software. A friend recently advised gimp and searching some tutorials I found this wonderfull site. Hopefully I can get my maps done now and get my whole world online to make things much easier for my players.

Cheers

McB

----------


## DuskGideon

This was great!  It's helped me a lot so far!

----------


## Khiron

I'm so happy right now I could cry. But I won't 'cause the people in my office will think I'm a freak but I digress. Thanks a lot, man! I've been trying to create maps for a story I'm trying to write for ages but they've never worked out. Now, I think this should make my life a lot easier and give me a sound background as to where I need my characters to go. There'll definitely be an entry in the dedication to you for this awesome tut!

----------


## vincent052994

I'd rather rate it 10 out of 5 due to an exaggeration of your great tutorial! It really helps me a lot especially to beginners like me! :-D

----------


## m8adam

Hey RobA,

This is a great tutorial and I love how my map is turning out. I had a question about the "sea shore" layer though. By using the displacement map, then inverting the signs on the displacement and repeating, don't you just move the "sea shore" out from under your land layer and then back underneath it? I can't quite figure this out, because it's not making any noticeable difference on my image.

Thanks,
Adam

----------


## Arkaalis

This is a great tutorial. I will name my children after it.

----------


## Squiggoth

This is an awesome tutorial. There is one problem I have sort of early on -- which is my "Land Mask" is waaaay too blobby and unrefines, so my further sea shapes and coastline shapes are blobby and unrealistic. How can I do the Wand tool in your steps to make a more accurate selection? The steps before have me blur so i'm not even sure thats possible! HALP!

----------


## RobA

> Hey RobA,
> 
> This is a great tutorial and I love how my map is turning out. I had a question about the "sea shore" layer though. By using the displacement map, then inverting the signs on the displacement and repeating, don't you just move the "sea shore" out from under your land layer and then back underneath it? I can't quite figure this out, because it's not making any noticeable difference on my image.
> 
> Thanks,
> Adam


The displacement uses the values "under" the pixel to calculate the displacement.  it would only have no effect if your displacement map was all one colour or had value changes less than the displacement amount.  You may need mor variation in your displacement map, or a larger displacement.

-Rob A>

----------


## RobA

> This is an awesome tutorial. There is one problem I have sort of early on -- which is my "Land Mask" is waaaay too blobby and unrefines, so my further sea shapes and coastline shapes are blobby and unrealistic. How can I do the Wand tool in your steps to make a more accurate selection? The steps before have me blur so i'm not even sure thats possible! HALP!


It is hard to say without seeing your image.  The typical issue is that you already had detail, and by blurring it out you've lost it.  The second is that the blur isn't large enough for the Three-Layer-Sandwich technique to work - it only "creates" detail in the transition area, so if your blur is too small there is no area to work in.... There are a couple alternative techniques posted in the tutorial forums, OldGuy's works particularly well... http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?9056

-Rob A>

----------


## Michael J. Parry

Hi I get to this point and all I see is the mountians.. I am not sure why I can't see the rest of the map.

I don't suppose you would know what I am missing?

----------


## callebe.gomes

This is an awesome tutorial.

Following this tutorial, and others to make montains and trees, i got this map.


What is the bets image format to save the map? PNG, JPG or other?

----------


## Korash

I believe that .png is the best format for uploading images on this site. I might be wrong and am expecting a CL or Admin to smack me upside the head by way of correcting me. I think the PNG files are easily recognizable by most viewing progs, and editors.

callebe.gomes, I gave you some rep for putting a map in your first post.  :Smile: 

Welcome to the Guild, the Mappiest Place on the Web.  :Very Happy:

----------


## Niall Mackay

First: Thanks a lot for the tutorial, RobA. It was some work, those forests made me mad... they just didn't want do get a nice colour. It always turned out way too green, but i think i got that now. But i should have used another texture also. And i'm not yet satisfied with the way my swampland turned out. The "rivers" in it are too visible. 
Maybe i'll try and rework it somewhen...

----------


## venport

I'm just getting started, and I'm having issues. 

I've gotten to the part where I should reduce the white in my "Land Clip" layer, however when do i see no detail from the Land Noise layer. land Noise is set to overlay and the clip is set to lighten only.

Any ideas where I've gone wrong?

----------


## Jaxilon

It seems to me that overlay on black and white isn't going to show up. If you set it to multiply you would see the impact however I'm not as familiar with the tutorial so I'm not sure if you are actually supposed to see it at this step or if it pops out a step or two later.

----------


## venport

Ok after playing around with this tut I figured it out (kinda) I just needed to keep going and the detail I was seeing in the tut and not in my image was due to blur effects.

However I still don't think I understand what they noise clouds do when all we do is hide them, what does this add to the image?

----------


## RobA

Go back and re-read the TLS (three-layer-sandwich) steps.  This is just a way to add constrained detail to the coastline.

There are other ways to do this... search the forums for a variety of methods if you don;t like the TLS method.

-Rob A>

----------


## avalier

RobA, this is a fantastic tutorial. I have been using it to map out my game world map. As many times as I have gone through it though I seem to always hit a snag when I get to the mountains. Here is a screenshot of what I have at this point. Hopefully someone will see what noob mistake I am making so I can complete this map. Thanks everyone for your assistance.

----------


## RobA

> RobA, this is a fantastic tutorial. I have been using it to map out my game world map. As many times as I have gone through it though I seem to always hit a snag when I get to the mountains. Here is a screenshot of what I have at this point. Hopefully someone will see what noob mistake I am making so I can complete this map. Thanks everyone for your assistance.


Sorry - there are just too many layers to "debug" via a screen shot.  I'd suggest creating a thread in the help forum and upload a zip of the xcf file (if possible)..

-Rob A>

----------


## avalier

Thanks RobA. I did as suggested, just gonna sit back and play the waiting game now I guess. =)

----------


## apothecaryrose

My first post and my first attempt using this tutorial, the mountain that was suggested and the tree one that was suggested. I used the map that was used in this tutorial and didn't name any of the places yet.

Thank you, RobA, for putting together such an awesome tutorial!

----------


## arsheesh

Hey there Apothecaryrose.  Looks pretty good.  About the forests, the edges look a bit beveled.  This was a fault with the initial Photo-Realistic Trees tutorial I wrote.  However I've made some revisions to it, and if you read a bit further in the thread where I posted that tutorial I discuss some ways for blending the forests into the surrounding terrain.  

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

----------


## apothecaryrose

Thanks! I will go check out your blending tips. That was one of the things that I wanted to fiddle but hadn't figured out a way yet to get it to blend better. I loved you tutorial as well. It was very easy to follow for some one new to gimp!

----------


## dlaporte7271

Using the tutorial and making good progress up until the 'bump map'  The instructions are to fill the layer with 50% gray...but I don't know what that refers to.  Help please?  :Smile: 

dlaporte

----------


## arsheesh

Hey Dlaporte, in your toolbox, if you double click on either of the colors in the "Foreground/Background" icon, a window will appear called "Change Foreground/Background Color".  In this window on the right side you will see 6 color spectrums.  The third down (from the top) has a "V" (Value) in front of it, and ranges from black to white.  To the right of this is a field for changing the value.  Change the value to 50, and then apply that to your layer.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

----------


## Eliazar

Hey! I'm new here (and mainly because of this tutorial), and it's really a lot of fun and well written. However, I do have one thing that's not working out well (might have been addressed already somewhere in the depths of this thread, but I though I might ask before I read through the 50 pages): the rivers. On what layer am I supposed to draw them? It says the grass layer, but then the screen shot looks like the land layer. When I draw on grass, it doesn't go through the dirt, and also makes brown stains on the sea, but drawing on the land layer (or a duplicated land layer) doesn't seem to have any effect. Anybody knows what I am talking about and knows the solution?

----------


## Gidde

Best way to do it is actually make a new layer for rivers, on top of the others.

----------


## wisemoon

Hello everyone,

I have really found RobA's tutorial to be useful. However, as a technical writer I also noticed a lot of ways it could be improved. When I first started using the tutorial a couple of years ago, I actually asked RobA about whether he would be updating/revising it and he said no, it took too much time to create in the first place.  :Smile:  So, I decided to take it upon myself to update and revise the tutorial. I am updating it for version 2.6 of GIMP, putting the steps into a clearer numbered format, and generally rewriting things just a bit to make the steps clearer and more understandable. I am also breaking the PDF up into smaller pieces, and hopefully the breaks will be in logical places in the process.

I'm posting the first part here, more to come as I work through it.

EDIT: Inserted finished example map, corrected some errors/omissions in PDF.

----------


## Seraphine_Harmonium

> Hey! I'm new here (and mainly because of this tutorial), and it's really a lot of fun and well written. However, I do have one thing that's not working out well (might have been addressed already somewhere in the depths of this thread, but I though I might ask before I read through the 50 pages): the rivers. On what layer am I supposed to draw them? It says the grass layer, but then the screen shot looks like the land layer. When I draw on grass, it doesn't go through the dirt, and also makes brown stains on the sea, but drawing on the land layer (or a duplicated land layer) doesn't seem to have any effect. Anybody knows what I am talking about and knows the solution?


I put my rivers in the land layer, and try to do this before I make the Land Mask.  Then when you are making the grass and various other things, your rivers show through right away.  And I keep the land mask layer around, so that I can handily also use it as a bump mask, giving the rivers a beveled edge and making the land rise out of the water a bit.

----------


## wisemoon

Okay, so I am working on revising this tutorial, as I posted earlier. Unfortunately, I have run into a bug/problem at the "create ocean" section of the tutorial! I can't seem to get the gradient map to work right. Instead of filling the layer with a gradient from light blue to dark blue (I have the foreground and background colors set to the correct colors), it uses a black-and-white gradient instead! I have fiddled with a dozen or more settings and cannot for the life of me figure out why it is not working. I have used this before and it worked fine, but that was long enough ago that I have no idea what is going wrong or what I did differently in the past.

Anyone else run into this problem? I would really appreciate it if you could help me out, since I can't even finish this revision project until I can get the gradient map to work right.

Thanks,

wisemoon

----------


## Seraphine_Harmonium

> Unfortunately, I have run into a bug/problem at the "create ocean" section of the tutorial! I can't seem to get the gradient map to work right. Instead of filling the layer with a gradient from light blue to dark blue (I have the foreground and background colors set to the correct colors), it uses a black-and-white gradient instead! I have fiddled with a dozen or more settings and cannot for the life of me figure out why it is not working.


Check that your foreground and background are the right colors, and that your try messing with your gradient tool.  Maybe check your Gradient tool that it is on a linear, foreground-background gradient fill.  Because I think that changing the gradient tool settings will change what the gradient map will do.

----------


## wisemoon

Hi! Thanks for your tip. Actually, the things you mentioned were all correctly set, but I tried using the Gradient Tool instead of the Gradient Map, just to see if it would work, and it did a grayscale too. So then I checked the color mode (Image>Mode) and for some reason the layer or image was set to Grayscale! So I reset it to RGB and it worked fine.

wisemoon

----------


## Seraphine_Harmonium

Glad to hear you figured it out.  That's actually happened to me too, now that you mention it.  Took me forever to work out what was wrong.

----------


## wisemoon

Hello again,

I have finished Part 2 of the revision of RobA's tutorial. Part 2 covers coloring in the landmass to create grass and dirt.

Please let me know if this revision is clearer and easier to understand. 
EDIT: Corrected some errors in the PDF.





wisemoon

----------


## pogre

I found it helpful. Thank you.

----------


## glowe

Thanks!!!!

----------


## wisemoon

I have finished Part 3 of the revision. This part deals with creating mountains and forests. I have replaced the original instructions for mountains with RobA's "Simple Mountains in Gimp" tutorial, integrating it into the flow of instructions. I have replaced RobA's original forest instructions with Arsheesh's tutorial "Photorealistic Trees in Gimp", integrating it into the flow of instructions.

In both cases, I have given credit for the new included material, and have revised and rewritten the instructions to improve clarity and flow.

I hope this revision will be helpful for other members. Thanks!

EDIT: Corrected some errors in the PDF.

----------


## wisemoon

I have finished Part 4 of the revision. This part details how to create rivers, how to put in towns and cities, and how to draw roads.

I am taking a break from this project over the coming weekend, but will do my best to have the final part posted on Monday.



Thanks!

wisemoon

----------


## wisemoon

I have finished the final part of the revision-Part 5. This part of the tutorial shows you how to put the labels on stuff, how to create a title banner, a legend banner, a compass rose, and a border.

I hope you all find this revision helpful. Please show appreciation to RobA, and also to Arsheesh, some of whose tutorial contributions were also included in this update/revision.



wisemoon

----------


## Holdenburg

Wisemoon your tutorial is fantastic! I was struggling my way through until I came across your updated version. Thanks for all the hard time and effort you have put in and it has made a complete doughnut like me able to produce half decent maps!

----------


## Patti

This is pretty cool  :Smile:

----------


## Warder

> *Post 11:Let There be Mountains*
> *
> Before you continue, there is a better way I found to make mountains located over here.  It works well with the rest of this tutorial, and seems much easier and predictable than what follows here...*



I love the look of this tutorial and I plan on starting it here in a few minutes, but I've got one problem. I see there are two posts that you have linked to other peoples tutorials on how to do mountains, and forests, and the links do not work. Do we know how long it's going to be before the forum is fixed? Or another suggestion on how I can find those particular posts, so I can use those methods over the ones you suggested?
Thanks
Mars

----------


## RedDynamic

Wismoon, in your tutorial Pt 1 on number 21 you say "use the bucket tool to fill the selection with white" can you clarify if it's the land or the water your filling white? I am ending up with a white screen after this step so I think I must have done something wrong. Thanks for your help.

----------


## Ryuk003

Hey Rob!
I have been working through your tutorial in GIMP, and have a question. When I get to Bump mapping the grass, using the Bump Map filter on the 50% grey does nothing, no matter how I tweak the settings. How can I get it to work? Thanks in advance!

----------


## Delvestius

I'm currently stuck on the beginning of the fourth post... I have four layers (Image, Land, Noise, and White). Noise is set to Overlay and White is set to Lighten Only. However, when I decrease the output in levels when the White layer is selected, nothing happens. Anyone have an idea as to what could be wrong?

----------


## mthomas768

> I'm currently stuck on the beginning of the fourth post... I have four layers (Image, Land, Noise, and White). Noise is set to Overlay and White is set to Lighten Only. However, when I decrease the output in levels when the White layer is selected, nothing happens. Anyone have an idea as to what could be wrong?


Are your lower layers set to be visible (eye icon in layer tool). If you toggle off the visibility of the white layer you should see something.

----------


## Soloeus

I can't read 60 pages... I am sorry if it has already been asked.

I have a world map with 2 main continents I am working on. I intend them to be different colors! The main continent is green/brown, while the secondary one is pink.  Is there an easier way to do the second continent than selecting it to it's own layer and handling it separately?

----------


## mssandhu

> *Post 3:  Then Let's Begin (if I have an idea)*
> 
>   Now that the environment is set up, it is time to begin.  At this point you may have a rough sketch of a map, either drawn on paper or on the computer.  Here is the rough sketch I will work with for this tutorial:
> Attachment 1424
> 
>   I was doodling a coast-line with a crater like shape, and decided to put places around it line the numbers of a clock.  This will be my starting point for *The Region of Closh*
> 
>   Load this image into GIMP, and scale it to the page size you want.  Ill keep this one smaller (500x500) to make the tutorial more manageable, but it can be as large as you want.  Ensure that the image is RGB, and the size you want.  You may have to adjust some of the techniques (scaling, bump mapping amounts, etc) depending on the size and scale of your map.
> 
> ...


I realise this an 'old' tutorial and the world has moved on to GIMP 2.8 - but to a newbie 'old' is 'new'. Very good and simple tutorial on how to create a "realistic" coastline! Thanks

----------


## Revuscuan

Are there differences between the new GIMP 2.8 version and the older version used in the tutorial? And can I change the language settings of GIMP? I downloaded GIMP in Dutch, but as this is an English tutorial, that might be a little problem.

By the way, splendid tutorial. I am going to try it after my examinations.

----------


## Jekanl

I can't get past the Invert.
It's a transparent layer, so if I mark out my land in black, then inverting just turns the entire thing white.

----------


## Freodin

When I have this problem, I simply add another layer below the one I want to invert, in the opposite colour, and merge them down. Then I can invert and do a colour to alpha to make it transparent again.

Not the most efficient way, but at least one that works.

----------


## Jekanl

Thanks.  :Smile:

----------


## Jaqen Hagar

> *Post 3:  Then Let's Begin (if I have an idea)*
> 
>   Create new layer called Land Noise and fill it with clouds (*Filter->Render->Clouds->Solid Noise*)  Set the detail to the maximum (15) and the X and Y size to the max (16.0).  The larger the size, the more randomness your final coast will have.  Give it a new random seed and jot down the number (I put it in the layer name afterwards as a reminder). And change the blend mode to Overlay.
> Attachment 1428


I have followed your tutorial, step by step but I fail to make the same thing like you describe.

The new layer "land noise" covering everything on the map, and the map disappear.

Help me to understand. It is maybe the cause of the age of this tutorial, or gimp has changed since 2007 ?

----------


## Korash

Did you put the layer mode to "Overlay" instead of "Normal"?

----------


## Jaqen Hagar

I have seareched, and I don't have find how to make this. Please explain me how to proceed.

----------


## NitzanLeo

Hi, guys, I'm very new to GIMP, this is literally the first thing I'm trying, and I'm having quite a bit of trouble in some of the earlier steps of this tutorial, and I'd be very happy if someone could lend me a hand with this.

In the step of adding the layer called 'land mask', with the inverting of the selection, I've had two problems. First, I just couldn't for some reason fill the selection of the land with white. I kept dragging the colour into the selection or trying to use the bucket fill tool to do so, but it didn't do a thing. Second, I didn't particularly understand what it meant to make a black layer. Just making a new layer and filling it with black?

----------


## mankring

hi everybody! Amazing tutorial thanks! Btw, i can only DL 2 pdf: the one starting at PART3 and the other starting at PART4. Is the pdf containing PART1 and 2 available? bye and ty for your help.

----------


## JefBT

This is a great tutorial, and I'm trying to follow it. I'm posting my first try, without labels yet.
I followed the mountains and forests "linked" tutorials. Also awesome.



Again, thank you for this tutorial.

----------


## JefBT

And I did another map, using this (and some other) tutorial.

I like the results.

Thi maps will be the starting region of my next RPG. These are the middle-east lands of the Cobalt Valley.

And one more time: thank you for this amazing tutorial!

Here is the finished version:



And here I simply put a paper texture above the map, and set the blend mode to divide. I got a nice winter map.

----------


## Ray

> This is a great tutorial, and I'm trying to follow it. I'm posting my first try, without labels yet.
> I followed the mountains and forests "linked" tutorials. Also awesome.
> 
> 
> 
> Again, thank you for this tutorial.


Very nice for 1st try. How much time did it take?

----------


## ttrush

I can not get the transparent selected to fill with white! Is there something I'm missing?

----------


## RPMiller

Select the other objects then invert the selection to select the transparent.

----------


## ttrush

Still not working :/ Also when I normalize the image, a hue of green is present. I cannot figure it out. I use bucket fill in the selected transparent area to make it white but it stays transparent.

----------


## ttrush

> *Post 7:  Create the sea, continued.*
> 
>   Now we want to stretch out the colours in the Sea layer across the entire black to white range. With the sea layer selected, auto normalize the image (*Colors->Auto->Normalize).*  The histogram will now have little gaps in it. As the greys have all been spread out.  To fix this, select the non-transparent area (by clicking on the Sea layer and selecting Alpha to Selection.   Invert the selection (*Select->Invert)* and fill the area with white.  Remove the selection (*Select->None)* and apply a 20px Gaussian blur.


During this part of the process, I cannot fill the transparent area with white. I will attach a photo of my map. I would attach a gimp file if I knew how to haha.

----------


## RPMiller

I see the problem. Don't "select" anything. Just make sure that the sea layer is the current layer. Then continue with the steps starting at "...auto normalize..." The rest should be straight forward I believe.

----------


## Chin Swift

EDIT: I solved the problem. I had to set the new layer to transparent when creating it before adding the noise. I'm thinking it had something to do with a solid fill on a new layer doesn't create an alpha channel causing the overlay blend mode to not funnctionn properly? I don't know though...

sorry for necroing the thread!





> Create new layer called “Land Noise” and fill it with clouds (Filter->Render->Clouds->Solid Noise) Set the detail to the maximum (15) and the X and Y size to the max (16.0). The larger the size, the more randomness your final coast will have. Give it a new random seed and jot down the number (I put it in the layer name afterwards as a reminder). And change the blend mode to Overlay.


At this point when I set the layer to overlay nothing changes. I see no effect of the cloud layer at all.






> Create a new layer called “Land Clip”, filled with white above that, and set its blend mode to Lighten. You will have a white image. Now, with this layer selected, Open the levels dialog (Colors->Levels) and grab the white output slider, and drag it down. As this happens, the land will be revealed. Stop at a place you like, and click OK.


I then add the white layer and set it to lighten. Drag down the slider and it just returns the original coast without any noise distortion.



I can't for the life of me figure out why this isn't working. I'm following the tutorial by the letter and have gone over this part about 6 times now. It's becoming quite annoying. Could someone explain to me why this isn't working as intended?

The image is 4096 * 4096. It's the only deviation from the tutorial but I can't see how that would effect this process.

HALP!  :Frown:

----------


## Starving

> Thanks!  I'm glad someone is reading this thread  
> 
> As no one has been posting with comments are questions I was worried this exercise was for naught.  Now is the time - any question?  Post them here!  I wil be adding any clarification that people ask for in an edited version that at some point will be set up as a single file PDF for download.
> 
> -Rob A>


Rob,

Just so you know your tutorial is still being used today.  I'm an old pencil, and paper mapper.  Now I got to learn this new fangled computer mapping.  Imagine my joy at finding such a clear and useful tutorial.

Thank you very much,
Starving

----------


## RobA

Nice to hear!

-Rob A>

----------


## Dissent

CURSES!  I thought my experience with gimp could get me through this tutorial but apparently I overestimated myself.  :/   I've worked on my map for a couple days now but I ran into a problem adding the rivers after having done the deserts and forests.  I ended up with dirt sections floating over the river and so on and the more I try to fix it the more i screw up.  Back to the drawing board... no pressure... party is ready to game this Saturday *sweat sweat sweat*

----------


## Ursus_minor

After years of using HoMM3 map editor for my rpg purposes I've finally decided to up my game. This tutorial incredible but I've encounter a problem - I've tried repeating every step by instructions and with some adjustments, but result is similar. It comes down to creating sea. After using Gradient Map I've always got something like this:


I don't know why does land on Sea layer become transparent (it was filled with white before) and why there are red gradient by it. I've nothing selected. The map is large (6000x6000), but I've adjusted blur accordingly and effects (including histogram) where proper up to this point. I will try to solve it myself, but maybe some of you knows the possible answer. 

Anyway, thanks for this tutorial once more. 8 years later it is the best thing I've found on the Internet in 2015.

EDIT: Nevermind - I've solved it.

----------


## 3E208

Nice!!The tutorial is so useful! :Very Happy:

----------


## cbridges392012

Thank you for creating this tutorial, it's exactly what I was looking for as a new dm needing a map for my players, and a perfectionist who wants the tools to world build the right way

----------


## triarius

I've gone through the tutorial, as well as the revised version by wisemoon, and when I get to the sea creation portion, I'm running into trouble. This is the result I', getting:


My land is blue, the sea darker near shore than in the deeps, and when I try to add land colors, they blend with the blue. I can't figure out what I'm missing.

One thing I have noticed about both versions of the tutorial: the type of fill for a new layer is often not mentioned. Noobs (like me!) need to know.

Please help!

----------


## Ned_Landers

Thanks for the tutorial RobA!

----------


## PsiKoTiK

Loved this tutorial, however, I am having no luck trying to add rivers. I have tried turning off everything but the Grass Layer Mask and drawing them there, but they look like crap.

----------


## LeoFromBR

Nice tutorial!

----------


## atmycrossroads

Hi guys,

New(ish) member here. Quick question...what are the usual size and dimensions you guys work with for maps?

----------


## Game Master Toolbox

I can't seem to get the those bumps.

----------


## Game Master Toolbox

> Hello again,
> 
> I have finished Part 2 of the revision of RobA's tutorial. Part 2 covers coloring in the landmass to create grass and dirt.
> 
> Please let me know if this revision is clearer and easier to understand. 
> EDIT: Corrected some errors in the PDF.
> 
> Attachment 45526
> 
> ...


And I found the answer after I post. Thank you wisemoon.

----------


## yyhung

Thanks RobA for this tutorial.
Recently I am considering to begin with GIMP, since it's free and so many people recommend it.

----------


## ZevesdroX

Hi, complete newbie here with both mapmaking and Gimp. First off, awesome tutorial but I can't get the mountains to work. I have the TLS ready but can't make the mask and the colour layer to work. Any ideas? 

Thank you!

----------


## mixerbach

Hey RobA!  I just wanted to drop quick comment to thank you for this fantastic tutorial.  

To be honest, I've probably run through the first half of this tutorial at least six times now.  I wanted to not only duplicate what you were walking us through creating, but also understand a bit of the "why" in the various steps.  Your tutorial does an excellent job of giving me, the noob, those "why" statements.  

On my most recent run through the tutorial, I'm finally starting to feel a comfort level with GIMP.  Thank you for helping me get there!  

This is what I have so far.  I'm just about to start on the "Labels" and "Title" sections.  Constructive criticism is appreciated to anyone who happens by this post. 


Edited to add a more complete screen shot of the map.

----------


## Critagon

Hey Rob, thanks for the tutorial! Great work!

----------


## whitemiasma

Huge kudos to Rob for this tutorial! I am having an issue on Post 3/4 that I haven't found elsewhere in this thread. When I create the clouds layer and set it to overlay mode, it doesn't affect my image at all, even though it is placed above my base outline layer. Does anyone know why this might be? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

----------


## whitemiasma

Please ignore, I figured it out. The prevalence of the clouds depends on the amount you blur your base layer by (I have a huge image).

----------


## TB94

I am up to the sea shape part and when i blur it the image goes red and blue. 
I have no idea what im doing wrong. 
Please help im also using the latest version of gimp, might be why idk.

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## SerKharl

I'm having trouble working this tutorial. Every time I start over, it all ends up a grey smudge before I reach post 6. literally no idea what I'm doing wrong :/

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## johnvanvliet

Hi SerKharl did you notice the date on the first post ?
2007 
this is for a 9 year old version of "the Gimp" 
it is almost 2 generations  of software out of date 

and was for Gimp 2.4 
in 2.6 a FULL rewrite was started 
and mostly complete in the current Gimp 2.8.18 

settings WILL be different
and some tools are IN DIFFERENT places or have been removed or changed 

one of THE BIG , VERY BIG changes in is saving images 
if you click "save" it auto saves as a xcf format
you need to EXPORT the image to save in other formats 

other changes are in the menu 
the menu for 2.8 is NOT the same as it was in 2.4

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## SerKharl

Oh yes, I noticed that there were different versions, believe me. I did manage to track down all the tools mentioned, but the results didn't match, which I assume isn't very surprising considering your words.

Oh well, if nothing else, I've just found another way not to do something, just gotta keep banging my head into the program until I can force it to submit.

Cheers!

PS: I didn't really get anything to try to save, but no matter. I'll keep trying until I can make something that doesn't turn into a smudge

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## Ju5t1n88

> Hi SerKharl did you notice the date on the first post ?
> 2007 
> this is for a 9 year old version of "the Gimp" 
> it is almost 2 generations  of software out of date 
> 
> and was for Gimp 2.4 
> in 2.6 a FULL rewrite was started 
> and mostly complete in the current Gimp 2.8.18


In regards to the age of this original post i'm happy to say that i still found it to be a very useful tutorial even if it wasn't the map style i was looking for. 

thank you RobA for the inspiration and information.

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## Ayradel

Thank you for making this tutorial, I've been following along with it and am already loving the results.

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## Lamar

I love this tutorial. I was so excited by what I saw, I only saved page 1 (oops!) Now I have the whole tutorial and can hardly wait to start practicing it. Thanks to Rob A for figuring this out and sharing it w/ the rest of us.


> The promised pdfs.  I had to break it into parts 3 and 4 because of the size limitation...
> 
> Also attached is a zip of the final xcf file (it just fits under the limit) in case anyone wants to dissect this thing to get a better understanding on any of the steps or layers.
> 
> And now that this is over, I can get back to some other things on the back burner  
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> -Rob A>

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## dreadno

Thank you so much for this tut. It has helped me get started on working on my first map. Here's hoping I read well enough.

Cheers

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## Nick Luigii Hill

Now using the Magic Wand Tool, (making sure Sample Merged is Checked and the Threshold is 0) click anywhere in the dark area. This will define your coast. If you want to adjust it, just undo the selection (ctrl-Z) and change the levels of the Land Clip layer. I wand back and tightened the coast a bit.


Now Invert the selection (Select->Invert), create a new black layer called Land Mask and fill the selection with white. Now save the selection to a Channel (Select->Save to Channel) and rename the channel to Land Mask. This will be used a fit bit later. 

Now clear the selection (Select->None).

That technique (the Three-Layer-Sandwich of noise, shape and threshold clip layer, or TLS for short ) will be a basic technique that will be used over and over again, using different blending modes between the noise layer (to give some variegation to the surface) and the shape definition layer. It will be used to define forests and mountains, even clouds in the sky.

This is a fantastic guide! I've gotten further on here than I ever have in map making. However, I'm stuck on post 4 (I appreciate this isn't exactly far in the process). I select, invert and save my channel calling it Land Mask. However, after that, I'm left with the pure white Land Mask and not my full screen like you do. I've followed what you've said to a tee many times and don't get where I'm going wrong. I'm obviously missing something somewhere!

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## Talonkaine

> Create a new layer called Land Clip, filled with white above that, and set its blend mode to Lighten.  You will have a white image.  Now, with this layer selected, Open the levels dialog (*Colors->Levels)* and grab the white output slider, and drag it down.  As this happens, the land will be revealed.  Stop at a place you like, and click OK.


Hello everyone, I need some HELP. So I've been following the guide so far up to this point no problem, however I've hit a roadblock. I created the new layer called Land Clip... but what does he mean by "filled with white above that"... Does he mean to use the bucket fill with white color and make the whole image on the Land Clip white? I've tried this but when I get to the output slider part my image does not change, it just stays solid white. 

Any help would be appreciated.

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## trandoductin

This post is great.
I used the tutorial steps to write my script in GIMP to generate maps from black and white drawn layers to speed up the process.
Hopefully help future Indie Game development.
You can find my scripts on this thread: https://www.gimplearn.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=772

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## RaNaketh

Hey Talonkaine,

If I recall correctly, Rob's tutorial is getting you to create a new Layer, fill it (or create it) with complete base white. When you're adjusting this layer as he mentioned, because it sits 'above' your other layer when you adjust the slider you should start to see the lower layers appear on screen.

I think I have a complete Tutorial GIMP file where I went through this process when I was learning too and can share it if you still need help and want to see all the layers separately defined?

Let me know.
Ra.

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## thebeard88

> *Post 1:Introduction*
> 
>   First off, let me say that it was Pyrandons city map tutorial that inspired me to write up this one, so I will steal his format .  I have been working on a variety of techniques to make (what I consider to be) nice looking maps using GIMP, and felt they are polished enough now so that anyone can follow along and do the same.
> 
>   I intend to publish this tutorial serially, in the How-To forum at the Cartographers Guild web site, and hope to coalesce it into a single pdf for download when complete.
> 
> *Why GIMP?*
>   In case you are not aware, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a raster graphic editor.  It is free software available under the _GNU General Public License_ and can be downloaded from www.gimp.org for a number of computer systems, including Windows and Linux.
> 
> ...


I looked at GIMP years ago and was overwhelmed with the learning curve. I will now try it again using this tutorial, thanks

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## Non Nomen

Hello everyone, and sorry if I'm being a bother dragging up a really old thread like this, but I'm new to both CG and using GIMP to make maps, and I'm trying to use this walkthrough here to try to help me make a world-map for a game I was gonna run for friends.  Anyways my issue here is, I don't quite understand how Rob got all this bump-mapping stuff to work, part of the problem is that the GIMP program I use keeps crashing when I try to apply the stuff he's doing here.  I'm not sure if you guys can help me with that, although I'm wondering if it might have anything to do with all the beveling effects I've been adding to mountains, which seems to have given me about 50 different layers of previous bump maps and I'm just adding too many features.  Aside from that I've been finding it kind of hard to find & use the tools Rob has described here & in other steps because I think they moved where they were at and I'm also wondering if that's causing problems here.

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## Azélor

> Hello everyone, and sorry if I'm being a bother dragging up a really old thread like this, but I'm new to both CG and using GIMP to make maps, and I'm trying to use this walkthrough here to try to help me make a world-map for a game I was gonna run for friends.  Anyways my issue here is, I don't quite understand how Rob got all this bump-mapping stuff to work, part of the problem is that the GIMP program I use keeps crashing when I try to apply the stuff he's doing here.  I'm not sure if you guys can help me with that, although I'm wondering if it might have anything to do with all the beveling effects I've been adding to mountains, which seems to have given me about 50 different layers of previous bump maps and I'm just adding too many features.  Aside from that I've been finding it kind of hard to find & use the tools Rob has described here & in other steps because I think they moved where they were at and I'm also wondering if that's causing problems here.


Is your computer old? It looks like you're trying to do too many things at the same time.

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## Non Nomen

> Is your computer old? It looks like you're trying to do too many things at the same time.


No, not particularly, although I have been meaning to get more RAM for a while now.  That said I did also come to the conclusion that I probably got ahead of myself trying to do mountains the way I was because what Rob ended up instructing I should do is a lot easier than continually layering bevel effects, and is probably easier on GIMP as well.  So I've started my project over from the beginning to fix it.  :Neutral:

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## Silbrulf

I got as far as the seashore step, and then hit a roadblock... I don't have "edge behavior" options. It's not a vital step, map for my personal game of DnD, but i dont really want to have to go back and rebuild all the following layers once I figure this out (I'm a perfectionist and if there is even one thing that feels "off" I'm going to go nuts trying to fix it...). So, my question is, how would I do this in gimp 2.10.6? If there's anyone who knows. (Figured it out: there IS no edge behavior in that dialogue for 2.10.6... it seems to be automatic.)

Edit: Went ahead and pushed on... 3 questions.
1) Found a way to maneuver around this, but not ideal; I can't get the mountains "high" enough. Some of my "impassable" ranges are a bit shallow. (Fixed to my satisfaction: used bump map instead of bevel. left me with a "glow" that took some work to fix, but finally got it)
2) I'm absolutely lost when trying to get anything at the beginning of post 13 done. Backtracking to the sea layers and doing the underwater terrain especially was a nearly catastrophic failure (Fixed: One of the layers was somehow broken, completely redoing select layers fixed it.)
3) Starting on rivers now (going to use the other forest tute for now), but when I draw the white lines on the grass mask, the white of the "shoreline mask" blocks the blue water... (Fixed: somehow, when I redid the layers, the rivers turned pale blue... *shrugs*)

Well. Feel a little less stupid, and when I get it finished I'll attach a pic so others can see that even a noob can accomplish a good map with this one. LoL

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## Thorijel

I'm following this tutorial, very helpful and efficient.

But how can I add snows, not to the whole map, but just some parts of it?

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## koschei

This is a great guide, but I'm having a little bit of trouble with it. Can someone help with the mountain part of the tutorial? I'm stuck on the "mountain mask" step. 

Specifically this part:




> [B]
>   Use the magic wand again to select the  non-mountain area (like with the land) and create a new layer called Mountains Mask *with a white on black.*  (Also the white colour selection as a new selection mask using *Select->Save to Channel*).
> 
>   Now we want to create a heightfield from this.  The easiest way I have found to do this is to copy the current visible image (*Edit->Copy Visible)* then paste it (CTRL-V) to a floating selection.  Click the New Layer button to get it on its own layer rather than a floating layer.  Now stretch the colour range out (*Color->Auto->Normalize*):
> Attachment 1487


Does it mean to create a black background and fill the selection with white, then create a channel with only the white part selected? Also, what is the "current visible image" that I need to select, is it the black/white mask layer or the detailed clip layer?

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## xiaosan

I use  XP-Pen Star 06 wireless painting tablet from 2017 or so at work. Both work nicely with GIMP on both Linux and Windows.  Gimp is free and I don't need anything better.

GIMP is customizable; recently I have been re-mapping shortcut keys to fit my work flow with animations. I use the L key to turn layers on or off, K to go up one layer and select it, and J to go down one layer and select it. In this way my right hand is free on the tablet to draw or stamp pictoral elements on selected layers, and I avoid "onion skinning".

I am going to re-map all shortcuts, but the important ones are set like layer and brush opacity, merge down, stroke selection etc.

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## blackguard

I know this is a perhaps just a little late, but that's a testament to the quality of this tutorial. One question: At step 8, when I make the bump map on the 50% grey layer, I use all the same settings as in the screen grabs but I don't seem to get any change whatsoever. Am I supposed to add the bump map to a different layer or is there something else I'm doing wrong?
Sorry if someone already asked this, I haven't read through all the replies to check.

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## blackguard

Actually scratch that, just realised that threads are searchable.
Props to great tutorial.

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## eepjr24

I am going through this right now in the latest version of GIMP (2.10.22) and finding a lot of changes have happened inside the tool and the menus. After I am done with the map I am on I am going to try to go through and document all of them and post them. If Rob would like to comment on them (or even wants to take a look at them before hand) that would be lovely, as I am fairly green and making the best guesses I can on some of these things based on what I can find on the web. Some of them don't come out exactly the way his pictures look, but I am hoping they are close enough to get the job done.

 - E

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## N0tDeadYet

Incredible documentation, just hoping that someone is still aorund that could help out in updating the documentation?

I'm new to GIMP and can use any help offered!

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## N0tDeadYet

> I am going through this right now in the latest version of GIMP (2.10.22) and finding a lot of changes have happened inside the tool and the menus. After I am done with the map I am on I am going to try to go through and document all of them and post them. If Rob would like to comment on them (or even wants to take a look at them before hand) that would be lovely, as I am fairly green and making the best guesses I can on some of these things based on what I can find on the web. Some of them don't come out exactly the way his pictures look, but I am hoping they are close enough to get the job done.
> 
>  - E


Hoping that you are able to do this!  I'm trying my best to figure things out with GIMP 2.10.32

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## lisze

Thank you so much for this fantastic tutorial! Thanks to you, I was able to create the attached for my NaNoWriMo this year. While some menu items did change, your descriptions of what was supposed to happen at each point and the pictures made it easy to figure everything out.

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