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Map Design Tips and vector art question

photojomeipphotojomei
edited June 2012 in Fractal Mapper General
I'm having trouble keeping things in scale when generating continent maps and global maps does anyone know of a tips page for creating such things, more map based creation then how to do it FM.

Also for those who follow a steampunk type RPG where you have a airship based maps, any tips for fudging Lat and Long lines (The real thing is based on math and a fixed point and for the sake of a social life, would love to flub it) and where to get some 18/19th century looking raster artwork to generate these navigation maps?

Last but not least is there any way to import raster art from Adobe Illustrator into FM, a plugin or program that can convert Illustrator based vector art to something FM can bring in?

Thanks,

Joe

Comments

  • Ed_NBOSEd_NBOS
    For the first question, you'd have to be more specific.

    For importing art - FM can use png image files for symbols, so if a graphics program can create them, they should work fine in FM. I think there's a section in the help file that shows you how to add the symbols to the symbol palette.

    For importing vector art - this is a little known feature of FM. FM can load most 'clipart style' .emf and .wmf files. By 'clipart style', I mean those without embedded images, gradients, and text. Just open them in FM using file-open, and save as a .fmp. (you can save them directly into the symbol dirs to use as vector symbols). Is this your art from illustrator, or for some other source? (we're always looking for artists)
  • photojomeipphotojomei
    It's more of a design question, tips for doing world maps, just sizing continents so you have room, then copying and scaling the land masses for larger views. Just general tips for making maps look balanced. Figuring out distances between cities, etc. More just creation tips and figure out distances.

    Thanks for the other info.

    Joe
  • MarkOlivaMarkOliva
    photojomei wrote:
    does anyone know of a tips page for creating such things, more map based creation then how to do it FM.

    Go to:

    http://www.cartographersguild.com

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