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map making program like unity for board art?

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rstraker
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Joined: 12/26/2013
example

I'd like to make a birds eye view of a mountainous snowy kind of map, but am not a good drawer -- anyone considered using a program like unity or something for things like this? I've been trying it, but there are some difficulties.
(looking for something like the pic attached).

Jay103
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Joined: 01/23/2018
My map tiles are done in

My map tiles are done in Unity.. I don't know how to do it, but I'm pretty sure you can do it.

rstraker
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Joined: 12/26/2013
good to know

Jay103 wrote:
My map tiles are done in Unity.. I don't know how to do it, but I'm pretty sure you can do it.

Good to know that someone in the know does it, and i'm not out on a strange limb.
Might you share an image for an example?
Are you able to share with me who does do your tiles in unity? I might have a question or two for them.

Thanks.

Jay103
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Well, he's essentially

Well, he's essentially retired and no longer making stuff, unfortunately.

I have two different types of tiles, both of which you can see in the images on BGG

https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4111832/heroes-treasure

ruy343
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Joined: 07/03/2013
Blender

Have you looked into Blender? There's a pretty big community who make terrain/maps for the RTS game Zero-K there, along with tutorials. You could create the actual 3D terrain relatively easily, then take "photos" of it

larienna
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Have you though about digital

Have you though about digital painting. It's relatively easy to do. You block the base colors then you add details. The more you shrink your painting, the less we see the brush strokes.

Take a look at "8 minute empires", and "8 minute empires legends" for some examples.

You can use something like Art Rage (also available for cheap as an app), or another software of your choice. Art Rage will make it look like a real painting.

About Unity: that is a game engine, not a drawing software right? Unless there is something else called Unity.

rstraker
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Joined: 12/26/2013
digital painting

Ya,,, i'd love to learn that skill. I'll check out the 8 minute empires & art rage.

But as it stands, i'm leaning toward "world creator" -- where you just kinda raise and lower terrain and add textures and filters.

pelle
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Joined: 08/11/2008
Also try Krita for 2D

Also try Krita for 2D painting (it is free).

+1 Blender for 3D.

john smith
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Joined: 06/26/2017
Rastaer vs Vector...whats the

Rastaer vs Vector...whats the difference again?

larienna
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Joined: 07/28/2008
Quickly: Raster use pixels,

Quickly: Raster use pixels, vectors use lines/shapes.

Which mean when zooming, in raster you'll see the pixels, while in vectors if you zoom, the line will always be straight.

Vectors makes it easy to manipulate, but you need to store all lines and shapes currently in your picture which eventually can become pretty heavy to draw. While in raster, it hold in memory the color value of each pixel.

Converting from vector to raster is easy, you just set your resolution and it will print your shape in a image. Converting from raster to vector is pretty complex, it's called tracing and it consist in analyzing the image to make shapes out of it. The results are never perfect and it depends on the clarity of the image.

questccg
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Joined: 04/16/2011
Why make it so complicated?

Just find an artist that does "landscapes" and "scenery"... Here's an artist that contacted me looking to see if I might be interested in offering an opportunity for one of my games. His name is Travis Lacey:

https://ravenseye.artstation.com/projects/ekY8Z

Look at the images for the landscapes... They are 10x more complexe and difficult to draw. I'm sure he could EASILY draw up some 3D "looking" terrain...

Don't look to do it yourself. Hire a professional who can do it for you.

Contact Travis and send him the sample and discuss what you are looking for and I'm sure it would be something "right up his alley"! He does real neat scenery illustrations (as you can see from the sample). Asking for a isometric view of a terrain is something that I feel he will be able to do reasonably well...

Cheers!

Jay103
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He's quite good.

He's quite good.

heruca
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Joined: 05/15/2009
For top-down maps, MapForge

For top-down maps, MapForge is a good option. But although the selection of content available for it is pretty darn vast, there currently isn't anything specifically for snowy mountains. The closest thing is probably this.

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