# Mapping Resources > Mapping Elements >  [Brushes & Other Tools] Schwarzkreuz Map-Elements Collection

## Schwarzkreuz

Hi,

I have decided to only run one thread here in the Mapping Elements Area and collect all my material for a more easier collecting and distributing.
With the time I want to put some new brushes and other Materials usefull for mapping in this, and open it for discussion.

For the Beginning, I want to post my grids, which I use to design new map-elements like Mountains. To use a grid is an easy way for me to have an overview and controll about the sizes usable for a map. The Grids are on an 300DPI roughly A4 Sheet, the base box size is 5mm x 5mm and increased always by one another dimension of 5 mm. Its helping me a lot to have mountains for each set in a decent number, if I stick to the amount on the sheet.


*UPDATE 01: Edited Brushsets*


All my Brush-Sets can be used in private and noncomercial projects. Any comercial use is only allowed with my explicit permission. These Sets have been constructed within many hours of work, so please respect my usage Rules. Copyright by Josephe T. Vandel aka Schwarzkreuz. If maps will be created from this, dont forget to put a Link in this thread so we can share it. Dont share or distribute them without former permission on other Websites or sell them. Please provide a Link back to this thread if used.

Here is the First run of Arden Map Brushes, its about half the Brushes used for my Arden Map.

Attachment 44808
Attachment 44809
Attachment 44810

Venice Classic Brushset

Aldebaran Set (_Complete series of over 500 Brushes_) 42MB!


*UPDATE 02: Unedited Brushsets*

Unedited Brushes 01


*UPDATE 03: Tools and Grids*

*Brushsetdesign-Sheets* (first Post atachment)



*UPDATE 04: Textures*

Comming soon


*UPDATE 05: Photoshop-Actions*

Comming soon


*UPDATE 06: Tutorials*

Easy Forest Tutorial
Easy Coastline Tutorial

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## Schwarzkreuz

Ok here is an example of what I archieved with the Grid as tool.

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## vorropohaiah

thats a great idea having the grid to use as a guide. i find when i make my brushes without the help of a grid they tend to end up strange sizes and especially with slightly off-orientations so i have to manually rotate them once theyre done. very handy tool

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## Schwarzkreuz

Here are several Hundreads of free Mountains from my past projects. You can use them for free personal Usage, but please contact me before using them for comercial uses.

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## Schwarzkreuz

Ok I decided to clean up my collection a bit. Hopefully this will see some order soon.

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## Schwarzkreuz

Here is my Venice Brush set, themed after some old Venice maps. Have Fun with it.

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## Schwarzkreuz

Over 500 free Brushes launched. Feel free to use them.

Aldebaran Set (_Complete series of over 500 Brushes_) 42MB!

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## ruff

Going to give them a run and see..  :Smile:  I appreciate all the hard work..

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## arsheesh

It's very generous of you to give away so much of your work Schwarzkreuz.  These are really top notch as well.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

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## Schwarzkreuz

Oh well, Arsheesh, I am already finished another Brushset with about 500 Elements called Ras Algethi. But am nearly about to skip it. The newest Set called Carcosa have already 450 Brushes with about ~300 to be added, drawn with the excellent Nanotechnology Pens of the Pilot-G series. Also i need to finish my Altostratus Color Map set, another one adapting Torstans Mountains and at last another set adapting DJ's Pit of War style. About 50 A4 Textures have to be prepared and than also uploaded. I am only sharing the Sets, that I will no longer use. They got replaced by more advance Brushes.

EDIT:

Some Work in Progress Images

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## Seraphine_Harmonium

Wow!  You really do give out tons of great brushes!  I repped you too recently for it to let me rep you again, but you deserve it!

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## Schwarzkreuz

Thank you! Do you have any surgestions what kind of elements shall be needed?
I am planning on doing more flora brushes, with different Kind of forests next.

And I did learn to do proper ZIP files now  :Very Happy:

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## Seraphine_Harmonium

Ok, flora is good.  

Actually, I really love the buildings in the Aldebaran brush set, but most of them seem to be churches of some kind.  Now, it would be pretty easy to just go and erase the crosses to increase versatility, but I would like to see more buildings done in that style, but a broader variety of _types_ of buildings, from modest houses (or clumps of houses) to a castle, maybe a windmill, things like that.  

You give so generously, it seems wrong to ask for more.  But it's so good, I am always glad to see more.

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## Schwarzkreuz

Ok i started to draw buildings now

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## ruff

> Ok i started to draw buildings now


Buildings would be AWESOME.. Here in a few days I will be uploading the brushes I made to give back some..  :Smile:

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## Schwarzkreuz

Fortress & City icons and also Flora Pack done. I will proceed with adjustments this night and than Upload them.

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## Seraphine_Harmonium

Sounds awesome!  I look forward to seeing them.

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## Schwarzkreuz

Hi Seraphine,

Here are the Previews, the Brushes comes in later, I have been very busy recently and havent much time to draw much.
Its a compilation with a lot of new material. What I want to hightlight is my first try to create a flexible cliff-brush-set.

The atachment is the full resolution file, for those who dont want to wait till i do teh brush set can generate it them selfs from teh file. 
Have fun.

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## Seraphine_Harmonium

AWESOME!  The factory-type brushes-to-be are fantastic.  Great job!

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## ravells

Brilliant, thanks Schwarz!

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## Yusaku Asano

Your work is really excellent! 
When you have time it would be great to give us some village-town brushes too! (dark age- viking - medieval staff)

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## Galendae

Holy Crap!  I knew you were a serious talent when I first saw your work here, now you are also a serious asset and contributor to this site!  Thanks!

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## Schwarzkreuz

Thank you all. I try to improve myself on the process. And repeating over and over again has the effect to getting better. If I compare my first maps to those I create now, its a huge gap. But that was walked in slowmotion. I am not sure if or if not I agree in that 10.000h Expert theory or not, but you get better in everything spending enough time and motivation in a skill. I am still a mediocre drawer in many things. Mapping helps me to find motivation to improve also in other fields.

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## Schwarzkreuz

Ok here is also the cleanedup Mounain Reference Sheet I did before, included in here.

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## Schwarzkreuz

And here comes the Giveaway of the Week.

My complete Set of handdrawn dots and Icons for maps and my render-references Drawings also usable as textures for mapping. Well here is the raw file, have fun using it!

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## Schwarzkreuz

Here is a Compass Rose Grid in a PNG file to be applied on maps, Have fun with it.

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## Schwarzkreuz

Here is a full circle of 32 lined Compass lines in perfect arrangement for map use. Also again in a PNG

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## jtougas

Wow.. This is all just awesome. Thank you so much for all your work and for sharing all these incredible elements with us  :Smile:

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## Schwarzkreuz

I growed with this community, and so I give back what I learned. Its cool if I can be of any help here.

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## Schwarzkreuz

Here is the Ragged Line Pattern for Old printed maps.
Have fun withit

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## Lyandra

It is wonderful what you are doing here Schwarzkreuz, giving back to the community. It is so nice of you to share all this stuff you put in so much time and effort to create. Your brushes are simply beautiful, other resources you have shared are very useful as well. Thanks!  :Smile:  The tips on working with brushes in PS were especially useful to me.  :Wink:

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## Schwarzkreuz

Anything more you wish to get ?

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## Seraphine_Harmonium

How much work is it for you to get some of these that you have made turned into brushes?  I can make it work without that if it's hard.

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## Schwarzkreuz

I dont have time to digitilized it all, I draw way too much mountains. and stuff. I digitilize them when I need them. So well, Its not looking like I will have time to make brushes from them so fast, so if you want to do so feel free to do it and post them here.

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## Lyandra

> Anything more you wish to get ?


Just keep up the amazing work you are already doing!  :Wink:  Though I must say that an in depth tutorial about your workflow in PS would be welcome.^^

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## Schwarzkreuz

Just Skype me, i like to talk while mapping, and I still have a lot of maps to Be finished. I am Happ to answer your questions.

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## Lyandra

Thanks. I will keep that in mind.  :Smile:

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## Ornir

> Anything more you wish to get ?


Thank you so very much for the inspiration, brushes and other elements.  

It appears that the file Aldebaran_Grand_Set.zip is no longer available and your link is dead.  I would love to get a copy of these brushes if they are still available somewhere else.

Thanks!

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## KarbinCry

> Here is a full circle of 32 lined Compass lines in perfect arrangement for map use. Also again in a PNG


Do you have a .svg version? It would help me a lot.
Also, I would like to thank you for all the wonderful brushes!  :Smile:

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## Hai-Etlik

> Do you have a .svg version? It would help me a lot.
> Also, I would like to thank you for all the wonderful brushes!


If not, I have an SVG here: Portolan Chart Lines by *Hai-Etlik on deviantART

Or you could try my generator program (which requires Ruby). http://www.cartographersguild.com/au...generator.html

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## Schwarzkreuz

> Thank you so very much for the inspiration, brushes and other elements.  
> 
> It appears that the file Aldebaran_Grand_Set.zip is no longer available and your link is dead.  I would love to get a copy of these brushes if they are still available somewhere else.
> 
> Thanks!


Broken Link restored, thanks for telling me.

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## Vellum

Hey Schwarzkreuz  I'm still getting broken links  :Frown: , mind double checkin their ok on your end, thanks V

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## Nocturniquet

You have given me so much information and resources.

One thing I haven't seen though is your process for making parchment/paper as your map background. Do you just use a very large parchment image or do you make the parchment for each particular map you do?

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## Schwarzkreuz

I use a Library and a Scanner  :Wink:

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## Pandemonium

Hi there Schwarzkreuz! I thought I'd drop a quick note to say that I think these brushes are incredible! They look utterly fantastic!

I was wondering if I would be able to use them in a game I am working on at the moment? I ask because I have a world map that your icons would finish off beautifully, and I would love to use them if possible!

If not, I completely understand, but I would love to show some of your work off in my project!

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## Valkiery

thanks for the great brushes!

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## Schwarzkreuz

Enjoy them.

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## anomander

> Enjoy them.


Dear Sir,
I created an account just to say WOW! You are an amazing inspiration for a newcomer! And THANK YOU VERY MUCH for all your contributions!

 :Smile:  :Smile:  :Smile:  :Smile:

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## nzlemming

I got a 404 when I left clicked on the link, but I got the file when I right-clicked and used "Save as"

Schwarzkreuz, you do good work, and I thank you for it.

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## KuristZero

Hi Schwarzkreuz!

I've been trying to track down these brushes since my hard drive failed and I believe they may be from your "Carcosa" set you mentioned on page 2.



I believe you had them in the following image:



Does that look right? Do you still have a file for these I could perhaps grab off you so i can continue the map i was working on? 
The largest set you had listed in your links at the top is currently broken, so apologies if I'm looking for the wrong link!

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## Chiko

Hey, Schwarzkreuz. Firstly, your brushes are amazing. Secondly, you are amazing.

Anyways, could I use your brushes for a variety of purposes? I want to use them in the non-commercial game I'm making with friends. I, of course, will leave you credits in either the credits of the game or the maps themselves (though I believe that they'd be quite the eyesore after a while).

Another thing, I want to improve my map-making skills, and I want to help other people. So, I was thinking, could I use your brushes to make maps for people over here? I'd have them credit you and me, of course.

If you don't want to let me, I understand. I'll try to make my own (even though I can barely draw a stickman lol) to make my maps.

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## len424

Hi! Fitstly, thank you for your great work!

but, It appears that the file Aldebaran_Grand_Set.zip is no longer available. maybe link is dead. Where can i get that copy of these brushes set?

thanks!

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## Englishman

Same here, seconding len, the Aldebaran set appears to be offline. I don't want to revive any non-used topics, just trying to track that set down because holy **** your work is amazing, and it's so very, very wonderful to see you give to the community so often and with such heart. Poeple like you keep the world going 'round, mate.

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## johnvanvliet

you are aware that this is a thread from 2012 
and that the error reported in 2014 was not fixed 

that website is no longer there

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## Englishman

I am, which is why I explicitly stated that I wasn't looking to revive old topics, but if someone in the Guild that actually has that .zip could re-upload it, that would be blissful.

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## ChickPea

The Guild won't allow attachments of that size unfortunately. Not sure if Schwarzkreuz has a DeviantArt page, or some other site where he might have uploaded the brushes? You could perhaps do a search for the file name and see if anything turns up? Either that or PM him and ask if he is willing to share them again. It's possible they're no longer freely available and we'd have to respect the artist's wishes in this.

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## Schwarzkreuz

Oh Gosh thats ancient history. I have a look ok? Hope I find them.

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## KuristZero

Yeah, sorry for reviving the topic so far after the last message, I forgot to check how long the gap had been :-/
I've not been able to find anything close to these brushes online anywhere, so thought I'd check before I tried to create something similar myself!
Thanks for having a look Schwarzkreuz. Your work is very impressive!

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## Xuixien

> Here are several Hundreads of free Mountains from my past projects. You can use them for free personal Usage, but please contact me before using them for comercial uses.


Where can I download the ABR file for this?

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## Xuixien

Well if there's no ABR file, can someone explain how to make one from the image provided?  :Very Happy:

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## johnvanvliet

in the first post THESE ARE PHOTOSHOP "abr" brush format 

Attachment 44808
Attachment 44809
Attachment 44810

Venice Classic Brushset


you do know you can MAKE THEM , right 

You can convert really any image into a brush

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## Xuixien

> in the first post THESE ARE PHOTOSHOP "abr" brush format 
> 
> Attachment 44808
> Attachment 44809
> Attachment 44810
> 
> Venice Classic Brushset
> 
> 
> ...


1. The brushes I'm lookign for don't appear in those sets so
2. I'm asking how to make images into brushes.

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## Azélor

You need to select the object 
Go the menu : edition/edit
select : define brush preset

You can use transparency but you can't use different colours.

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## Cassio

Any hope of someone finding the file?

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## Norsegard

I still have the File. If Schwarzkreuz agrees, I can host it on google drive.

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## Technocolor

Using the wayback machine I was able to retrieve it
https://web.archive.org/web/*/http:/..._Grand_Set.abr

has anyone heard from schwarzkreuz recently?

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## Yiğit Kahraman

> Using the wayback machine I was able to retrieve it
> https://web.archive.org/web/*/http:/..._Grand_Set.abr
> 
> has anyone heard from schwarzkreuz recently?


Thank you for heads up. I'm downloading with it now.

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## Altaan

> Using the wayback machine I was able to retrieve it
> https://web.archive.org/web/*/http:/..._Grand_Set.abr
> 
> has anyone heard from schwarzkreuz recently?


You're my hero.

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