I recently bought Wonderdraft: a map creation mostly targeted at the Dungeons & Dragons crowd, but flexible and extensible enough to draw modern maps too. Thought folk here might be interested.
https://www.wonderdraft.net/
You can find a lot of examples on their reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/wonderdraft/
A particularly useful feature (especially for drawing inexperts, like myself) is the ability to import an image as an overlay, or guide; it's a bit like using tracing paper – do kids still do that? I've been using this feature in combination with images taken fromThe Writers' Map to train my map-making skills.
And, of course, it's a great displacement activity when you should be writing.
Wonderdraft: Fantasy map creation tool
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rdale
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Wow, that looks amazing. I tried randomly generating continents and islands using a photoshop technique, adapted to Pixelmator (which is a very nice tool, btw), but I ended up generating something that was just kind of "meh".
It looks pretty easy (relative to from-scratch PS/Pixelmator techniques). What do you think about it relative to more general-purpose drawing/touch-up tools?
It looks pretty easy (relative to from-scratch PS/Pixelmator techniques). What do you think about it relative to more general-purpose drawing/touch-up tools?
FKA: robertdguthrie
AKA: R Dale Guthrie, Robert, Mr. Obscure, and "Oh, it's you again".
AKA: R Dale Guthrie, Robert, Mr. Obscure, and "Oh, it's you again".
rdale wrote:It looks pretty easy (relative to from-scratch PS/Pixelmator techniques). What do you think about it relative to more general-purpose drawing/touch-up tools?
Given that my map-making and graphic tools kills are terrible, I'm probably not the best qualified to provide a useful answer. I did find I could make passable maps in a few hours, though – passable to me, that is
For the skills I don't have – mainly shading and creating appropriate colours – there are plenty of examples to learn from. That said, for publishing or as a writing guide, black and white should be sufficient, and there are themes and plenty of uncoloured (or colourable) assets to do that.For me, this has made map-making fun and, frankly, achievable. I don't have the skills, nor motivation, to make them the proper way.
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Silverdragon
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Um... The website says it needs an Nvidia GPU. If that's real, then l can't run it on my humble Macbook Air 11 
- Fiction-writer curled up on her TP hoard.
- Mac Scrivener 3.1.5, MacBook Air 11, MacOS 10.15.6 (Catalina)
- IOS Scrivener 1.2.1; iPhone 8+, iPad 6; i(Pad)OS 13.6
- Website: https://silverdrag0n.wordpress.com
Silverdragon wrote:Um... The website says it needs an Nvidia GPU. If that's real, then l can't run it on my humble Macbook Air 11
Lot's of PCs doing without Nvidia GPUs too! Does anyone know of an open source fantasy mapping tool?
Silverdragon wrote:Um... The website says it needs an Nvidia GPU. If that's real, then l can't run it on my humble Macbook Air 11
It runs okay on my newgen MBA, which it pretty low spec in the graphics department (integrated Intel UHD Graphics 617).
I would expect older hardware to struggle with it, though.
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rdale
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Well, it says it needs (bare minimum) an Intel HD Graphics 5000. The NVIDIA is recommended though.
But now that I look at my old MB Air (2013 model), I've got a IHD Graphics 4000, so it might not run on mine either.
I'm not in the market for a new computer (though I actually do want the latest model air). Without a trial version to test on my machine, I guess it'll have to wait a couple more years before I can buy with the confidence that it will run properly on whatever computer I end up with.
But now that I look at my old MB Air (2013 model), I've got a IHD Graphics 4000, so it might not run on mine either.
I'm not in the market for a new computer (though I actually do want the latest model air). Without a trial version to test on my machine, I guess it'll have to wait a couple more years before I can buy with the confidence that it will run properly on whatever computer I end up with.FKA: robertdguthrie
AKA: R Dale Guthrie, Robert, Mr. Obscure, and "Oh, it's you again".
AKA: R Dale Guthrie, Robert, Mr. Obscure, and "Oh, it's you again".
rdale wrote:though I actually do want the latest model air
I bought mine mostly for writing. I was considering an iPad+keyboard combo, but the MBA is perfect – just the 8/128 base model (which I got for 1,000 + change). I sync everything via iCloud (which iOS Scriv doesn't [yet] do) including Scriv's preferences. So, I move between macOS machines, and everything just works.
Go on! Treat yourself
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rdale
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auxbuss wrote:rdale wrote:though I actually do want the latest model air
I bought mine mostly for writing. I was considering an iPad+keyboard combo, but the MBA is perfect – just the 8/128 base model (which I got for 1,000 + change). I sync everything via iCloud (which iOS Scriv doesn't [yet] do) including Scriv's preferences. So, I move between macOS machines, and everything just works.
Go on! Treat yourself
You're not the boss of me!
* Visits https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/ *
You can't tempt me to break my budget.
* clicks shiny blue Buy button *
I'm going to remain strong, get my finances in order...
* selects options, clicks Add to Bag *
... save up, and only then am I going to upgrade.
* stares at total, ignores bank balance *
FKA: robertdguthrie
AKA: R Dale Guthrie, Robert, Mr. Obscure, and "Oh, it's you again".
AKA: R Dale Guthrie, Robert, Mr. Obscure, and "Oh, it's you again".
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