Map Making Software - summary

[Zacchaeus]

That's interesting, I wasn't aware these were out of date. That's cool if there's new stuff being done. What's done automatically now?

Hugely out of date. I spoke to the chap at the ProFantasy booth at GenCon and told him to extract the digit and get better tutorials out. He agreed but whether we ever see them or not is a different story.

I can't remember all of the stuff but they have added a lot of tools (especially in CC3+) that does things in a more streamlined way.

[kalnaren]

and just in case anyone is on the fence about Campaign Cartographer 3+ (I was for a long time), I watched all of the videos, read the manual, and churned this out in a few mins (nothing spectacular I know, but just to give you an idea of how it looks).

Agreed, I love CC3 now that I'm actually learning to use it well. I can knock out a decent map in a few hours.

All the maps I've done in this thread were done in CC3.

Only gripe I have with CC3+ right now is it doesn't support the Cartographer's Annuals, which sucks since my favorite mapping style is Jon Robert's one (and it's free at that!) from CA54. So for now I'm still working in CC3.

Two quick suggestions if I might :P

Put the lava pool and the loot piles on the "SYMBOLS FLAT" sheet to get rid of the drop shadow (or, if you still want a slight shadow, I think Mike Schley's style has a "SYMBOLS LOW" sheet as well). Second, try not to start and stop walls on corners. You get that strange chunk where they meet on the corner, especially after turning on sheet effects. I still forget this one and kick myself when I draw a complex "single" wall :/.

[dudeslife]

Agreed, I love CC3 now that I'm actually learning to use it well. I can knock out a decent map in a few hours.

All the maps I've done in this thread were done in CC3.

Only gripe I have with CC3+ right now is it doesn't support the Cartographer's Annuals, which sucks since my favorite mapping style is Jon Robert's one (and it's free at that!) from CA54. So for now I'm still working in CC3.

Two quick suggestions if I might :P

Put the lava pool and the loot piles on the "SYMBOLS FLAT" sheet to get rid of the drop shadow (or, if you still want a slight shadow, I think Mike Schley's style has a "SYMBOLS LOW" sheet as well). Second, try not to start and stop walls on corners. You get that strange chunk where they meet on the corner, especially after turning on sheet effects. I still forget this one and kick myself when I draw a complex "single" wall :/.

yeah, that was drawn the day I got the program so I haven't even begun to learn the finer points yet.

[kalnaren]

yeah, that was drawn the day I got the program so I haven't even begun to learn the finer points yet.

That's awesome. It took me nearly a year of owning the software and tinkering with it before it finally "clicked" with me.

[dudeslife]

That's awesome. It took me nearly a year of owning the software and tinkering with it before it finally "clicked" with me.

yeah I don't get stressed with the sheets if I forget. I just go back and edit the properties of the object and put it on the correct sheet. I just can't believe there aren't more current videos. I guess the people who mastered it are too busy making maps to share the info in video tutorials. I pledge to make videos when I master it if someone doesn't beat me too it.

[rob2e]

yeah I don't get stressed with the sheets if I forget. I just go back and edit the properties of the object and put it on the correct sheet. I just can't believe there aren't more current videos. I guess the people who mastered it are too busy making maps to share the info in video tutorials. I pledge to make videos when I master it if someone doesn't beat me too it.

I pledge to WATCH said tutorials immediately. I find CC3+ a bit frustrating, and the tutorials done by the CC3 people aren't the greatest.

[dberkompas]

How about each one of us find one part we're each very good at, and make a video of just that part.

I'll make a video of watching other people's videos, as I've become adept at that aspect of map-making.


Dave

[Trenloe]

...and the tutorials done by the CC3 people aren't the greatest.

I find Joe Sweeney's tutorials incredibly useful and I wouldn't be doing much in CC3 without having spent time going through them: https://www.youtube.com/user/joesweeney88

[rob2e]

Sweeny's are ok, but I need more (perspective).

[Trenloe]

Sweeny's are ok, but I need more (perspective).

The videos will give you most of the ground work and some of the advanced options. All other functionality can be got from the user guides that come with the relevant product/add-on and from guidelines in the Profantasy forums. Yeah, it would be great if there were 1000 videos out there showing you how to do every little thing, but there aren't and there won't be - Profantasy or the community won't make videos for every single thing. Don't let the fact that there isn't a video showing you everything stop you from using (and learning) the product.

Follow the videos - don't just watch them, follow along in CC3, pausing as you go and try the processes. If you don't want to specifically produce the map that they're doing in the tutorial, do it anyway - you'll learn the processes and more besides. Just watching the video doesn't do this anywhere near that degree.

Then do the same with the user guides - they are designed to take you step-by-step through the functionality while actually drawing a map.

It's a complex beast CC3, no doubt. You have to spend the time to get to know it. I find the videos were excellent for me and gave me all of the base knowledge and some advanced that allowed me to fly through the user guides. Of course, we all learn differently, but I'd recommend revisiting the videos - with time set aside to go through them properly. If you're expecting to fly through videos and be drawing a fantastic map in 15 minutes then CC3 isn't for you.