Hehehe - it depends on the print size. If you made them the same size as they appear on my monitor... Wow, pretty big. I don't think the floor would be big enough!

With the Gulf of Hule almost done, and Sind almost done too, that just leaves the Great Waste, and soon I will be able to make a series of connecting maps that run from the Western Isle of Dawn in the east to the Gulf of Hule in the west. That's going to be a pretty cool series of maps!

By the way, this is the 600th reply!

That's OK - could you give us an idea of what he's added? Is it 'just' accented characters?


You're on.

The trouble, I suppose, is that with 20ish people contributing we would then need a multi user licence. Which would bump the cose up.

I presumed that it was OK, or Patrick wouldnn't be able to sell his clone. It's possible I suppose that he's had permission from the original creators.



There is that as well.

And know I face the task of converting all my documents from Dalelands to Baldur.

Regards
Gary

For those that are interested in the Baldur font, the following is relevant.


Regards
Gary

URL?

Håvard

Myfonts

or

Mad Irishman's Baldur font, more specifically.

Just to be annoying, in the first post of the topic, the 18th Updated 8-miles is a dead link.

It is maps/orc's-head-peninsula-8.png in the link, it should be maps/orcs-head-peninsula-8.png ....

I have to do new thumbnails since you updated and posted new maps... And i'm soooo glad to do it

Fixed! It was just the one link, right? I changed the filename but forgot to change that link. Thanks for catching it!

Shughuy, I would really like to copy your HTML and stuff on my site this time. We should have done it last time. Check your PMs!

I just updated the first post in the thread again. Tonight's update included the rest of the Princess Ark maps, redone with the new palette and symbols, with corrections and accents in place.

Following will be the Red Steel-enhanced maps of the Central Savage Coast and Trident Bay areas. One is in progress, the other not yet started. Both will take a bit more time, though I might be able to post the former one later in the week.

I have some news: I am in the process of upgrading my web server, to give me more space and such. While this is happening, you may not be able to access some of my maps for a day or two.

After the new site is up and running, the conversion should be quite seamless, and in fact invisible to you. But the good part is that I will then be able to host more maps, and possibly other map-related stuff. Keep your fingers crossed.

Here it is: the one and only official 48 mile per hex map. It has some problems, but it will take me a while to get round to fixing it.

In fact, I may not bother at all...

Thorf these maps are awsome,its my dreams of 20 years ago come to life. But I was wondering if you would update a map of old averoigne from X2?

Your wish is my command!



It's a pretty simple map, so it didn't take long - only an hour or two. Most of that was spent on rotating the symbols, since this is the first map I have done where the symbols are orientated differently within each hex.

I'm considering revising the map to include some heavy forests, as well as of course converting it to the usual flat-topped hex orientation, as I did with the Shahjapur map. It would be relatively easy to change the scale to 8 miles per hex at the same time.

Your work remains awesome as always Thorf; these maps are very useful for me!

lol

hey wait, the UN already has enough map makers, once my job becomes permanent then we can see about getting some more

My new site is up and running!

Shughuy has been busy making a new interface for browsing my maps, and you can now find all the latest versions there.

Aside from the maps part, most of the links are still broken, but I'm going to be working on them as and when I find the time. Additionally, though I have fixed the index in the first page, the maps appearing on other pages in this thread will all be broken links until I can get round to updating the new URLs.

In the meantime, I have a little bonus test for those of you who are interested. I have uploaded the first five Gazetteer countries' maps in PDF format. These can be viewed in Acrobat Reader, and unlike the PNG files they will stay sharp however much you zoom in. Moreover, if you have Illustrator you can actually load them up and edit them there.

Please let me know what you think. If these are popular, I am considering uploading the whole series.

PDF Maps (Mar 2006)
Karameikos
Ylaruam
Glantri
Ierendi
Alfheim

Very nice Thorf, consider this one vote for uploading of the series. Would that just be the Gazeteer maps or all the maps you have done (eventuall)?

One minor problem is the WotC redirect page. It makes it a pain downloading the files to save. You can't just right-click and save link etc. And if you left click and load the map there is no save option under file. What I did was to copy the links to a 'dummy' post on the Enworld boards, previewed it, and then right-click and save target. There must be an easier way than that.


Thorf

You are aware that the Timeline, Projects & Articles, Characters, and Links links don't work yet? Or the Thorf & Kika and Links links on the main page.



Regards
Gary

Oh wow - now THIS is what I've been waiting for!

The files look absolutely great in pdf format, and as I have the full version of Acrobat I can zoom in and then save as a jpeg.

If only there was some way of getting Illustrator cheap so I could edit the files directly!

I might not end up posting all my maps, due to space issues, but we'll see. Unfortunately the new style as shown on my Alfheim and Darokin PNG maps is not an option for the PDFs, so I am considering other ideas again.

Eventually I hope I can at least have a set of my updated maps online as PDFs.


If you have the latest version of Adobe Reader, there should be a "Save as" button on the toolbar within your browser. I encountered the same problem for ages on other sites, until I finally noticed that button there.

Also, you will be able to download them directly from my site in the near future.


Yep. I did say there were broken links still. But thanks for noticing. I should really get round to doing them soon...

Don't Adobe do a trial version? You'll just have to do all your editing with 30 days. See here

Regards
Gary

Well that will teach me to skim through the post and just click on the links.

In regards to Acrobat Reader, I'm stuck with whatever the machine I'm working on at work has got. On the various machines in the various sites, its anything from version 4 upwards, although only one or two have version 7.

Regards
gary

I guess we who browse at work can't really complain to our bosses about out-of-date programs, can we?

I've just noticed that Illustrator's native AI files, the format I have my maps in on my own hard drive, are actually smaller than the PDF versions of the same files.

You can load AI files as PDFs, and in fact I believe that the files are basically interchangeable, but of course AI files probably won't load automatically in Acrobat Reader.

Perhaps I should experiment a bit with the options for saving PDFs. Otherwise, it may be better in the long run to save some space and upload the AI files.

I suppose not.
Its just a shame that its not a design company thats looking for nice font for a new client. "Here boss, take at look at this Feinen..."

Regards
Gary

Hey, you're making me feel guilty! (I actually did that very thing with my dad last week... "Hey look at this font, it would be great for the title of your next guide book!" "Yeah, it's nice indeed." "There's just one problem, Dad..." )

One last treat before I go off to bed. This file should give you an idea of the kind of slowdown you get from working with big maps.

PDF Map (Mar 2006)
Nithia

Also, the glaciers and sand dunes are not showing up properly - the lines on the glacier hexes should be very light, but the transparency effect is not showing up. And there should be dots on the sand dune hexes, the same as on the desert hexes. Naturally you can correct these slight problems by loading the PDF file in Illustrator.

Edit: I just uploaded an updated version, because I noticed that the palette wasn't completely up to date. Now I really am off to bed.

Well, you should be able to download pdf-files from Thorf site for now.
Hope you like the way they are presented.

Let me know if you'd like another presentation.

Thorf,

The only issue I see with a PDF like that is printing. Most printers, including mine, won't print on paper as big as that image, and Acrobat Reader doesn't have any option that I can find for splitting it across multiple printer pages.

Gordon

Regarding the pdf files, I can definitely see how they would be useful to those interested in customising teh originals or collaborating with you tomake new ones, but for me, they are basically useless. They essentially contain the same information as the png files. I don't need the extreme zoom-in ability, and others have noted printing issues.

For me at least, png only will do nicely.

I see what you mean, Gordon - I can't find a good way to print in Adobe Reader either. The only viable option is printing it on one sheet, which is not all that useful, especially for big maps.

It's a shame, because printing from PDF format should yield better results than printing from a PNG. One thing you could do is use the PDF to get a much higher resolution file, probably a BMP so there's no loss of detail, and use that to print. In that way, you will be able to get a much better copy than I could ever hope to be able to post online.

In the end, you really need to have Illustrator to get the most out of the PDFs. Illustrator has an extremely powerful print menu, which allows you to split images up onto multiple sheets, among many other options. And of course you can freely edit the map too...



Yeah, if you're not bothered about the quality, the PNGs are fine. They are done at a high enough resolution that on the screen they look great, and printing should be not bad. But if you want to print them, the PDF is definitely better - assuming you have the capability to print it.

Personally, I like to view the maps at 150% or 200% size - I suppose I have gotten used to it from all the editing. At that size, you can clearly make out the fine detail of all the symbols. (The PNGs are done at 125%, which is not quite enough to show certain symbols as they are designed to look.)

The other benefit of the PDFs is the layers. In both Acrobat Reader and Illustrator you can toggle the different layers in the PDF on and off. This could be extremely useful for DMs wishing to adjust the maps a little. For example, if you want to change the labels, just turn off that layer and put new labels on using Illustrator, or capture the map as an image and edit it in any paint program.

Just found a "real" copy of Adobe Creative Suite 2 on ebay for £35!
Thought it was suspicious at first, but it said "new", so in a couple of days I should be able to see for myself.

As a plus I'll be able to upgrade my Acrobat 6.0 standard to version 7 as well.

It helps when you're self employed and can put it under business expenses!

Edit: Nithia map, 200%, very little lag when scolling on my new laptop - stunning!

Hey, this looks nice!
Will the material from your old site be brought back there, you know the one from 5+ years ago?

Oh, and the pdf maps look neat. I'd like to see them all!

Håvard