Campaign Cartographer 3 (CC3) is a powerful program that makes really nice maps, but the learning curve is rather steep and I do not like how layers have been implemented. Also the dungeon designer module which is necessary to create dungeon maps, costs nearly as much as the main program.

Quote from: RPGPunditHexmapper you say? Jesus, that's perfect!

What do people here think of Campaign Cartographer? I know its not free, but it is one of the only map softwares I'd ever heard of by name before this thread, so I thought I'd ask.

RPGPundit

Quote from: VBWyrdeWell, mine is not free because it is not available to the general public, but since I have one I thought I'd pipe up about it and see if there's any response.  

Is that a grid of a Star Fleet Battles game? It looks like a fleet free-for-all.

Quote from: RPGPunditWhat do people here think of Campaign Cartographer? I know its not free, but it is one of the only map softwares I'd ever heard of by name before this thread, so I thought I'd ask.

I've played around with a friend's copy and thought it was crap. I want to make a map, and the learning curve on that thing made it feel like it was going to be a looong time before I knew how to produce something useful.

Re: Hex Mapper not working, did you also download the VB runtime files it needs to run? They're at the bottom of this page.

I was wondering about CC myself - not sure how much use I'd get from it, but then I think I could have plenty of fun just making maps up to be honest.

I don't care for any of the commercial mapping programs. At this stage, I do all my map drawing with Photoshop. Cheaper alternatives include Paintshop or the freeware GIMP.

If you look around the internet at sites like RPGMapshare and the Dundjinni forums, you can find lots of free artwork.

Using Photoshop/Gimp, you can sketch up your dungeon or tavern and then use the downloaded artwork to add furniture and stuff.

I haven't done much overland mapping, but the above combinations work great for dungeons, caverns, buildings and such. With a minimal amount of work you can even make dungeon tiles to print out and use at the table.

Quote from: James McMurrayIs that a grid of a Star Fleet Battles game? It looks like a fleet free-for-all.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words...



So no, it's not in this case a star fleet free for all, though it could easily be one.  It would work just as well for that as it does for Character Melee.   In the case of space war the GM would have to add elements to the system for Star Ships and space terrain, but it could be done.  I think the setup would take an hour or two.  If you then add planetary systems and other space elements to the map at Galactic Scale you could GM star fleets duking it out.  I've done a couple of things along those lines so far with it (Energy Ray Gun) and it's worked for me.

In this case, however, the Map is a local area showing six Adventure Groups in various positions around a ruined building.  The light gray hexes are 3 foot high walls, the darker hexes are walls still standing.   The lines with the little circles show the movement of each character that has moved (you can turn that view on and off).   While it isn't entirely "pretty" (yet) these maps are packing a lot of functionality in them.   The basic purpose of the system, btw, is to help the GM run their game.   Players probably don't often see the screen, which is one reason why it is not "beautified".   I don't want my players trying to crowd around my PC while I'm GMing so that they can see the cool graphics.   That's not the point of this application.  It is a GM's Toolbox, designed to be useful to me as GM.   Though, of course, I made the application so it can print the maps, even in combat so I can always print out the current state of things, gray out areas for "fog of war", and hand that to the players.   ... thoughts/opinions?

Quote from: RockViperCampaign Cartographer 3 (CC3) is a powerful program that makes really nice maps, but the learning curve is rather steep and I do not like how layers have been implemented. Also the dungeon designer module which is necessary to create dungeon maps, costs nearly as much as the main program.

Remember they have sheets now which work more like layers in Corel or photoshop than the CAD style layers they had in CC2. I.e. the first sheet is top most in drawing and the bottom sheet is the bottommost in drawing.

How come nobody is mentioning dundjinni?

http://www.dundjinni.com/

I know for me it is their stupid ass non-commerical license that turns me off but it produces really gorgeous maps.

Quote from: estarHow come nobody is mentioning dundjinni?

http://www.dundjinni.com/

I know for me it is their stupid ass non-commerical license that turns me off but it produces really gorgeous maps.

Well, that and the fact that it only runs on an outdated version of Java. It will not install and run on current versions.

Quote from: GoOrangeWell, that and the fact that it only runs on an outdated version of Java. It will not install and run on current versions.

I honestly did not know that.  Which shows how long it has been sitting unused on my computer.

I'm partial to Adobe Illustrator -- it's similar to PhotoShop, but lets you easily resize and edit the individual shapes in the picture, rather than just paint with pixels.  The Gnome (to the left) was done in Illustrator with the touch-pad on my laptop(!) but you can use a normal mouse or even a WACOM tablet for better results.

In the defense of CC3 This shows some of the capabilities of the software

http://sub.profantasy.com/2007/

But I admit is got one helluva of a learning curve.

I use Dundjinni pretty regularly now, as I stated above. I have had mixed, but over all good results. CC, AR all require too much CAD experience, aren't intuitive at all, and generally suck ball sack if you don't have a lot of time to devote to them. You may as well just get photo shop and learn to use it.

If you're going to pay for it Dundjinni gives a shit ton of free support, and has people who just sit around their forums making more stuff for you to use. I use it for my Star Wars game, my D&D game, and my Shadowrun game.

What exactly is the non-commercial license for dunjinni?

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPunditWhat exactly is the non-commercial license for dunjinni?

RPGPundit

Ok... But could someone clue me in please?  I would have thought at least a couple of ... "that looks interesting"s were in order at this point.   Thanks.

re: http://www.therpgsite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=135255&postcount=29