# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > 3D modeling (map elements and height maps) >  Various 3d maps

## rusty1001

Hi everyone,

A few years ago I wandered into 3d mapping by accident. I looked around, and was inspired by nematode's city. So I decided to give it a go. 

I create simple navigation maps for the cities in the RPGs, which are enough to get players around the city.  These simple maps allow me to make atmospheric pictures as well, which convey a feel.  And in some cases I will also model scenes to get across the mood. 

So here is the lizardman city of Cllewellaff, a simple map:





And some atmosphere pics:







And then a set scene:





And from another scene:





All built in Sketchup, rendered in Vue, with figures from Daz.

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## rusty1001

Of course, all these maps only show city blocks and key features, in this case, the city of Iuz and it's mega-blocks. What they do convey is feel and terrain, which works well, I think with fantasy cities.

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## rusty1001

Of course, I have also fully built one of the towns, and I am working on some very detailed quarters for a game next year.  Some pics of Gryffin Peak the more detailed town.  If I get some responses I'll post some more and maybe some dungeon stuff:

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## BriniaSona

DAMNNNNN, wanna render some of my stuff in Vue for me. I can't afford almost 2k for that software.

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## rusty1001

BriniaSona, 

You dont' need the full schwack to do so.  The free version will allow you to render out smaller and marked images.  I've paid for a midway version and bought a few modules. The Cornacopia store also allows you to buy some nice skies and cheap terrains. Many of which are CPU light. I use ranchcomputing.com for reasonably priced renders.  I'm happy to bore you with details if you PM me.  Also, what are you modelling in? I can help if you want.

Also, as a teaser, please find below a link to one of the vids from my game. It has a wee bit of moire going on with a tree, but represents drone footage taken by the PCs of the enemy mansion. I'll try and post the animated Sketchup Spaceship, and the Rock of Bral too. The Rock, has a lot of flicker, and is a bit poor as it was my first animation. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4...zdqaVVoazdpcWs

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## rusty1001

In the meantime, I've posted some from a 'dungeon' which was an asylum on Bral. The 3d map was then rendered and animated in Vue to show the PCs as they went through room by room. Atmosphere was key as you can; hopefully see. 

First the 3d map.





Now the Vue rendered with Daz models.

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## rusty1001

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4...DdTU056SVdsVDg

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4...EFmZ1lrQmdPQ0E




Rock of Bral stills

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## darcycardinal

Some good work *rusty1001*, especially the renders and work in Sketchup. I like to see others work in 3D because I believe it can be a great way to create maps and bring them "to life". Thanks for sharing the render service, didn't know such a thing exists.

*-darcycardinal*

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## rusty1001

The Rock of Bral 3d map. This was taken from the original map, which -- because I am old -- I have the original bought as a teenager.



And my model (note the background is copyright psddreamsvault)

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## rusty1001

Darcy, 

I'll be honest your reply had me quite emotional. In a good way. This is the first time I've 'gone public' and, after lurking for a few years here, I decided to 'come out' on this forum.  Of course my players have know for years :-)

I'm living in the Gulf region and a cofounder of the Gulf Roleplaying Community. The massive mix of people introduced me to lots of new ideas. And so I started in Campaign Cartographer.  It is an awesome piece of software; however, counter-intuitive. About the same time, I began to dabble in 3d stuff as I needed a space ship for a game. 

The two merged, and now I do my maps in 3d too. Don't get me wrong, I am agog at what people achieve here. Cartography is a fully time, and worthy hobby in itself.  However, it is merely an adjunct to mine; namely, rpg.  I soon realised I'd never be good at maps, but ok at models, and ok at renders. And so, here we are. 

For me it's the joy of showing players the dungeon, and saying, 'Look. This is what it actually looks like.' After all the players should never see your beautifully made map!

I use either a projector on a screen, or, for 'real' work, I use a projector on a frame that shoots down onto a whiteboard also held in the frame.

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## rusty1001

Brinia,

I may have sent you multiple replies or none, by PM. Like a madman.  If so I apolgise. If you don't get them, if you PM me your email, I'll send it that way, with my email. I've written a one pager for you on Vue and Skup, I think it will 'only' cost you 239 USD to get started.  I am also happy to render one of your (simple) models if you want, so you can see what it looks like.

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## johnvanvliet

as for price 
Blender - GPL  - free $$$

Pixar's  renderman  - free for non commercial 
https://renderman.pixar.com/view/non...cial-renderman

the oldie but goodie and  classic  "Pov-Ray" - gpl - free - on Github 
http://www.povray.org/

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## rusty1001

John,

Thanks for that. I think, these are good posts; especially for Brinia. I may also have to bite the bullet and start learning Autodesk, so that I can do better animations.

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## tieuviem

Thanks for that. It helps me a lot

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