Fantastic Maps Blog

Fantastic Maps
I really like this guy's maps.  He also has some tutorials on how to make a wide variety of maps using computer software techniques.

Old School Dungeon Map

Another old school dungeon map based on Dyson's style of mapping.

To create this map I made some specialty graph paper where I loaded a grid pattern into Photoshop and then made in image where copied the grid and rotated it at several different angles.  I then printed out the new graph paper and drew the dungeon map on that graph.  This is the same room sequence as my previous 27 room 3D dungeon, the rooms are just in different positions.

Below is an example of a random starting grid for mapping.

Here is another sheet with all same size grids but different angles:

Dragon's Lair in Photoshop

This is an update to my Dragon's Lair I posted in one of my first posts.  This one is rendered in Photoshop.

Tiles

You can set these tiles to a fill pattern in photo shop and use them to fill areas of a pattern.

Completed 3D Maze

Following is the completed 3D maze:

And again without the numbers:

I ended up having to move the bottom set of stairs to get the passage along the bottom in the space I had.

3D Maze Level 2

Completed level two of the maze.  This is probably the most difficult level because you have to make sure the stairs line up and have enough room.  I put in all the stairs first just to make sure.  The layer order in Photo shop is as follows from the bottom up:

1. Tiles for Level 2
2. Stairs between levels 2 and 3 with drop shadow
3. Rooms for level 2 with drop shadow and bevel
4. Stairs between levels 1 and 2 with drop shadow (modified from level 1)
5. Doors for level 2 with drop shadow and bevel
6. Numbers for level 2 with drop shadow and bevel

The tiles are done as a single paint bucket fill.

The stairs are done with POV-Ray, duplicated, a rectangular marquee is applied and then a gradient fill is applied.  The gradient marquee is done twice lighter for the higher stairs and darker for the lower stairs.  There is also a landing for the top of the stairs and halfway down (and potentially at the bottom). 

The rooms level is done as a group of marquee selections on the tile layer which is then applied to a new layer, the inverse is taken and it is filled with solid stone or whatever the basic material of the layer should be.

The stairs between level 1 and 2 are in the same location as the previous map but needed to be trimmed slightly.

The doors are done with rectangular marquee and then filled with a wood pattern.  The 3D appearance is done with drop shadow and bevel.

The numbers are added one at a time and then make all the other layers invisible and merge all visible (numbers) into a single layer.  I was able to copy and paste the layer settings from the other numbers.

Another Attempt at the 3D Maze

Another take on the first layer for the 3D maze.  This time I added stairs and doors.  I think this will work so on to the next level.

A Few More Tile Sets

Dungeon Crawl Map

Another dungeon crawl map.

Step 1. On this one I first rendered the grid using POVRay.  Next I found a photo I had taken of some rocky mountains.  I applied high pass filter to the mountains and then pasted them as a layer on top of the grid.  I applied hard lighting with some transparency to get the desired effect.  I used edit define pattern to make this into a pattern.

Step 2.  I started a new blank image at 2000 x 1500 and filled the background with a 2x2 grid.  I used the rectangle selection tool and the polygon lasso tool to select the entire shape for all of the rooms.  I next inserted a new layer.  I then used the pattern created in step one to fill the entire layer with the grid.  I used Layer Style Settings to add Bevel (down) and Drop Shadow to the layer.  I adjusted the settings to get a nice image.

Step 3.  I put in another darker layer underneath the dungeon layer and applied hard light to the background grid to make it darker.  I then used flatten image before saving the image.

Below are some more tile sets that can be used as patterns.

3D Maze Layout

Next I used the tile set I created to create the rooms for my 3D maze.  This is the first level of the maze I described in a previous blog.  I created a large blank image in Photoshop (4000x3000) That gives me plenty of room to work so long as I don't run out of memory.  Next I used the rectangle and polygonal lasso selection tools too select room areas from the tile set and past them into the new area.  The other way to do this is to make a big selection area and use the tile set as a fill pattern to fill the area with the tile set.  After adding all the areas I made the background invisible and merged all visible into a single layer.  I then set the layer style to have drop shadow and outer bevel.  Finally turned on the background again, merged all layers, added some numbers with drop shadows and saved as a JPEG.