Subcategories

  • 3
  • 4
  • 15
  • 8
  • 1
  • 1
  • 2
  • 15
  • 118
  • 51
  • 17
  • 21
  • 47
  • 1
  • 2
  • 4
  • 8
  • 4
  • 1
  • 4

Recent Posts

  • @black_elk They all looks really awesome.

    Here is the first relief. I didn't use any layer yet. But I am going to try it.

    https://i.ibb.co/jHSpwX7/22.png

    IMHO I tend to prefer smooth and less intense reliefs. For example, I liked Arabian relief the most. Maybe other players could prefer more busy reliefs. In the end, it is a matter of taste.

    read more
  • OK here's something to get you started.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/vps6mw75i3izyt6/fortress-world-pale-rail.xcf?dl=0

    When you open the .xcf file using gimp you'll have a few layers. Your baseline, a topo, and a roughly stitched together map with a rail/road pattern going on. Putting the topo and the rail image together we can make something that looks a bit more like this... (I don't have a paintmap other than the image you posted in your thread, so you'll see the units/decor also semi transparent here, since that's the pic I used.)

    44decf9f-b4d8-48f1-bcdd-147f21a3f7ce-image.png

    To create that we're basically combining a layer that looks like this...

    And another layer that looks like this...

    ca897efc-676e-40fe-a9e0-9bc9010337bc-image.png

    b85e6acf-3b18-48bd-b061-1a39e5a08d7f-image.png

    Reducing the opacity, or brightness/contrast of each layer separately, until you get something that you like.

    56314f94-b1af-419c-8492-d86f16baa416-image.png

    When you open the project in gimp, you'll see both layers are set to 25%, but you can increase to 100% to see what's there, which should look like the pair above when you do.

    If you add to the layers or make adjustments, do this at 100% opacity, then dial down the opacity after you've made the add/change to that layer.

    Using the eyeballs you can merge layers only by what's visible. So basically when you add a new layer/image you can merge this to the rest of rail layer by closing the eyeballs on the other stuff to make them invisible, then Layer tab > "merge visible layers." With the eyes only open on the stuff you want merged.

    You can see where I lazed out a bit there on adding the rail/roads in Canada and few other spots hehe, but you can finish up those tiles or switch stuff around to suit whatever look you're trying to achieve with the fuzzy select tool.

    Basically you bring up your baseline (click the eyeball to make it visible), and use it to make your selections. Click the white of a tile with the fuzzy select tool, hit the eyeball again to make the baseline layer invisible. Now when you switch to a different layer the selection marquee will still show the area you had fuzzy selected on the now invisible baseline layer. You can copy/paste stuff just into the spots you want to adjust that way, with the exact shape of the tile all ready to go.

    Paste in whatever and only copy the stuff into a single tile at a time like that, to keep it simple. Using the fuzzy select tool to add to or delete stuff from that layer, then merge visible to the layer you want to tweak. Adjust the levels on these layers to get different looks, depending on how much of the under image you want to show through.

    3ec179d8-33f4-4c82-a3cd-6940de2eb7ed-image.png

    88e48063-8aed-4f45-b001-ae4bf85a4b1b-image.png

    To preview what will happen in tripleA, you can use your painted baseline (just the basic national colors, without the units so they don't go ghost on ya like they did in the image I was using heheh). To see how the changes you're making to the other layers will interact with your hex colors, use that map as the bottom layer with the rest laid on top.

    To change the sea zone stuff, you can use the baseline to create a selection for an ocean mask, to select only the areas that have those blues.

    bf0f723d-71bb-413e-800a-d9557fc9e22e-image.png

    f458de39-da4a-4ff8-8a58-c9a52ccf4cdd-image.png

    I did a layer with a simple cloud effect combined with that image you posted above. Doing that you can adjust the color values or opacity/brightness of just those areas without the effect applying to the other layers, so you can change the hue or brightness till the ocean looks the way you want. You can add in decor, labels etc. by just adding more layers on top. Using the eyeballs on off, you can see each layer in isolation.

    Here's example of just adjusting along one dimension, the opacity of the layers. Showing how it looks when you go from 5% opacity on up in 3 screens. You can do a lot just with that to find the look you're after, like how pronounced you want the relief stuff to be.

    dc01ad96-2751-41d5-87c8-feb8ca0fe4d6-image.png

    a6685fef-cf50-4895-98d6-6de78dc738b5-image.png

    0d8282ba-4bbd-4003-aedf-1f43f6494244-image.png

    I'd start out by just playing around with the opacity and color levels of the layers till to you find a combo you're into, then use that as a jumping off point.

    Oh also, here's a zip with the images I used to created some of those tile pattern abstractions...

    You can open these in GIMP once you've got your project fired up and use them to fill out the rest of the rest of your board.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/f1d0o3u7kdeybep/roads and the like.7z?dl=0

    Basically I found a vaguely period looking roadmap for some of the main areas, and then used those or details from them to flesh it out with some flips. Tried to give you some variety there, but you can add to it with other abstract images, any image really.

    To add a new image to the mix use Image tab > Mode to grayscale/then back to RGB, to quickly desaturate what you copy over, to make it look like the other bw stuff. You can add a little gaussian blur to knock the detail back if you want to make it more subdued and impressionistic. Usually when the opacity is reduced and a little blur is added you can just add as you go tile by tile.

    To create the sense of a more general pattern, use the same image multiple times, or doing flips/rotations/scaling.

    When you're all done and have the opacity and such dialed the way you want last step is to put the baseline on top, to beef up your border lines, so they don't disappear when zoomed out. You can bring in just the blacks copied from your baseline and lay that on top as the final layer, adding blur if desired to smooth it, like in the post at the head of the thread.

    Hopefully that helps a bit. Best of luck dude! and have fun šŸ™‚

    read more
  • @black_elk

    It is the base image;
    https://i.ibb.co/Sw0H554/fortress-world-pale.png

    It is the base plus a sea motif which can be changed or untouched.
    https://i.ibb.co/wy17q0x/fortress-world-sea.png

    It is transparent version;
    https://i.ibb.co/FKX7qnz/fortress-world-relief.png

    read more
  • If you want to post your completed baseline, I can throw something together for you and save it out as a .xcf project file with the image still in layers, that way you can just load that into GIMP to see what I'm doing. It may be helpful just to see how it lays out that way. As you make more modifications across more layers the final filesize of the image can beef up pretty quickly, so I'd probably have to put in on dropbox. Most things we'd do in GIMP involve creating a selection from the baseline image, then creating or pasting-in/modifying stuff on a new layer. Reordering those layers, or adjusting the opacity of those layers, to create different visual effects for the relief. GIMP is pretty cool, but it can be a bit unwieldy if it's the first time learning how to do stuff like this or using a program like this. Usually for me if something goes awry with the relief, it's from having the wrong layer selected, or not having the right layer on top when I save it out to create the desired visual hehe. Still happens to me all the time even after going the process a bunch of times. Anyhow, if you got the base image I can show you how it looks before the layers get collapsed into a single image that way.

    read more