#Mapublisher graticule add n series

The geographical isolation that it needed. It's a complete rethink of the map, giving the Great Caldera This is the fourth draft of Calidar, designed by Bruce Heard. Vector formats include SVG, DXG, AI, and many others. Illustrator works primarily with vector graphics. Fonts are probably the most common vector graphics encountered in daily life. Because they are defined using lines and points, it's possible to resize them freely without losing sharpness. They don't use pixels at all, although they can be rasterised – i.e. Vector graphics, in contrast, are made up of mathematical descriptions of lines and points. At this stage, Bruce realised that theĭesign had wandered away from the central concept of the Great Calderaīeing a safe haven, isolated from the Dread Lands around about, and we Note how we worked in a range of colour schemes Īt this stage in the design, working with whatever's easiest for you is fine.Īlthough these drafts were all ultimately rejected, you can see elements This means that you need to consider what resolution to work in from the start, because you won't be able to increase it later on. Raster images can often be shrunk down without incurring great problems, but enlarging them causes them to become blocky and/or blurry, and is best avoided. Photoshop and most other paint programs mostly work with raster images. Most people are familiar with these images from photographs, paint programs, and indeed the Internet. Raster graphics, also known as bitmaps, are comprised of arrays of tiny dots known as pixels. It's worth noting here briefly the differences between raster and vector art. I went back to the first draft and tried to split things up to I took a stab at the third draft, tracing Bruce's outlines to Illustrator

The reason for this is that at this stage, only the general shapes are important small details on the coasts can be added later, so there's no need to worry about things looking too regular. I hope that the “making of” parts will be of interest to Calidar fans in general, while the tutorial parts should be of use to my fellow fantasy cartographers, from whom I have learned a great deal during my work on this project.

#Mapublisher graticule add n series

I will be documenting all of these techniques in this series of “ making of” tutorial articles. I’m most well-known for my hex maps, and while Calidar will of course have its own hex maps, these will be just one of a number of mapping styles – I have been expanding my cartographer’s toolkit greatly for this project. Starting with the world map, then zooming in on one major continent, and finally zooming in one step further to deal with individual countries in that region, this project demands a number of different styles at various scales. Mapping out the new World of Calidar has meant building a fantasy world from the ground up – or perhaps rather from space down. Since then, I have been working on all aspects of Calidar’s geography, in close collaboration with Bruce.Ĭalidar World Map, Equirectangular Projection Then in July, he tasked me with making maps of Calidar. So, getting back to the topic at hand, Bruce started sharing drafts of Calidar’s world map with me back in May. I think it’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Calidar already. For a Mystara fan, Bruce’s announcement was a bittersweet moment, but since then there has been no looking back. However, in its place, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the World of Calidar project was born. However, the current rights-holders turned down Bruce’s licensing proposals, and the possibility faded. With Bruce’s return to the industry last year, for a while it seemed like this may indeed come to pass, as he produced new articles and maps detailing Mystara’s continent of Alphatia. For years, I have longed to work on a living and breathing setting. The Mystara community is friendly, civil, and just generally pretty wonderful, but the setting has been out of print for almost twenty years now. It’s through my Mystara Atlas project that I learned most of my cartographic skills and knowledge. Inspired by Mystara’s maps, I went on to create my own system for hex mapping, using Adobe Illustrator, and I have since recreated and updated almost all of Mystara’s published maps. You see, I grew up on the Known World and Mystara, and I was an avid reader of Bruce’s Voyages of the Princess Ark articles in Dragon magazine – not just the stories, but the specific combination of fiction with gazetteer info, and the all-important hex map that accompanied it. Working with Bruce is tremendous fun – in fact it’s nothing less than a dream come true, really. Bruce brought me on board early on, first in an advisory role, then as Calidar’s official cartographer. For the past six months or so, I have been working on +Bruce Heard ’s new project, the +World of Calidar.