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Other World mapper vs wonderdraft

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 6:36 am
by chongjasmine
Which should I purchase and why?

Re: Other World mapper vs wonderdraft

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 11:55 am
by Kanchou
chongjasmine wrote:
Thu Jul 09, 2020 6:36 am
Which should I purchase and why?
Thank you for the question!

It's hard to answer without context, but my suggestion is that you try Other World Mapper's free demo and see if it works well for you :)

- Alejandro

Re: Other World mapper vs wonderdraft

Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 11:39 am
by SilverSurfer1221
I own both Other World Mapper and Wonderdraft. For a time, I was quite enamored with Wonderdraft, mainly because it was so easy to use ... at least initially. But I found the program to be lacking as you dig deeper into it. Other World Mapper ... I found it to be a lot more powerful and still pretty simple to use. Of course, I work on a computer all day long creating 2D and 3D graphics for clients, so that could account for some of the ease-of-use. But I certainly found Other World Mapper to be a lot simpler to use than, say, Campaign Cartographer.

I like Wonderdraft, but I really, really like Other World Mapper. I've created maps in both and I always find myself defaulting to Other World Mapper ... every single time. I'm glad to have Wonderdraft and interested to see if the creator takes it further, but for me, it's Other World Mapper.

BTW - Getting in and controlling custom assets (i.e. how you get them in and placing them in folders, etc.) is a lot simpler in Other World Mapper than in Woderdraft.

But as has been said, try out the demo, go through a few tutorials, and see if you like Other World Mapper. I don't recall if Wonderdraft offers a demo or not.

Re: Other World mapper vs wonderdraft

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 7:59 am
by Balmung
chongjasmine wrote:
Thu Jul 09, 2020 6:36 am
Which should I purchase and why?
Maybe this helps you: https://otherworldmapper.com/forum/view ... t=10#p2490

Re: Other World mapper vs wonderdraft

Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 4:39 pm
by evildmguy
I have been pondering this question for a while. I also own both and Dungeondraft. (And CC3+ which are my primary mapping tools at the moment.)

On the one hand, WD is easy to use. It comes with the concept of "layers" in terms of terrain painting, objects, and water. It also has paths and regions, which are used to mark political or some regions. If I only need a crude map of an area, I can put something together in fifteen minutes. Probably take an hour, for me, to clean it up and add more details to it. With how you paint terrains, the only thing you need to do, or can do, is vary how thick the paint you are using goes down and how fast. A few strokes gets the broad perspective, some edging gets transition zones, and then objects on top of those areas.

The same type of map in OWM will probably take me at least a half hour to get the basics but again an hour for that extra detail. That's because OWM has some extra things to learn, in terms of its layers. I can and have messed about for a long time to get a region or zone properly placed and with the right texture. Further, it's very different how you approach a map in OWM. I have to layer regions or zones on top of each other and then I might have to play around with the blurring effects, outline, and other things. Objects then go down fast.

This is for something fast.

However, in most other respects, maybe all, OWM wins.

First, I have not had OWM crash on me. WD has crashed on me. (So has DD.) Further, WD has a known bug that objects used will sometimes not reload on the map. This includes their own asset packs. I have been doing big city maps and have lost hours of work when the objects don't reload.

Second, let's say editing is working in WD, I find it much easier to edit in OWM then WD. In WD, since I have painted onto a layer, if I want to change something, I usually end up having to redo a lot. It ends up taking a long time to realign the edges, repaint things, and if I deleted too much or went over into a new area, to get it where I want it. Since OWM does things in different layers and different objects, it's much easier to come back and edit or tweak things. They are all laid out in layers. (I don't name each thing although some recent art I got might start me doing that at a Feature level.)

Third, OWM gives more control over exports. WD just does an export to a pic type. You do get more control over OWM, which has really helped me as I use d20Pro, and knowing the pixels per inch helps on the import into that.

Fourth, getting assets into OWM is ***EASY*** compared to WD. The Art Manager does it all and allows you to sort Features into Set and Category very easily. (Textures are also easy but only by set.) Searching is done by file name. As most of the assets I have seen have named their files well, this works well. WD requires a specific file format and directory structure that has to be followed. Then, if you want things tagged, you have to do extra work to tag them in json and put that file in a specific spot. It's possible to do and I'm not saying it's tough to do but I'm saying that OWM is so easy compared to having to do any of that extra work.

I'm sure I could go into more details and I'm fine doing that if anyone has questions. The more I have played with both, the more control I appreciate of OWM. If I want something fast, I might still use WD but if I have the time, I like OWM better.

The tougher comparison is OWM v DungeonDraft.

edg

Re: Other World mapper vs wonderdraft

Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 11:35 pm
by ORtrail
For me, it was being able to download the demo version; I then knew it worked on my older PC tower and I had a chance to get hands on with it. I figured whichever mapping software I bought was going to require a learning curve, but OWM had fewer question marks after using the demo.

Re: Other World mapper vs wonderdraft

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 5:05 pm
by Sturn
SilverSurfer1221 wrote:
Fri Jul 10, 2020 11:39 am
I own both Other World Mapper and Wonderdraft. For a time, I was quite enamored with Wonderdraft, mainly because it was so easy to use ... at least initially. But I found the program to be lacking as you dig deeper into it. Other World Mapper ... I found it to be a lot more powerful and still pretty simple to use........ But I certainly found Other World Mapper to be a lot simpler to use than, say, Campaign Cartographer.
I know this is a very old post, but this described my experience exactly. I jumped to Wonderdraft for a time and loved it at first. But, I later found myself having to go back to Other World Mapper for things I couldn't do in Wonderdraft. I even started to make assets in Wonderdraft to import to Wonderdraft, when I realized I just need to go back to the more powerful program. And, I've preached before OWM is much, much more intuitive then CC. In the past when I stopped using CC for a while, it seemed I had to dedicate a day or two to relearning it before I could get going again. Not so with OWM.

Re: Other World mapper vs wonderdraft

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:47 pm
by ORtrail
evildmguy wrote:
Sun May 16, 2021 4:39 pm
First, I have not had OWM crash on me. WD has crashed on me. (So has DD.) Further, WD has a known bug that objects used will sometimes not reload on the map. This includes their own asset packs. I have been doing big city maps and have lost hours of work when the objects don't reload.
I've seen this when using Dungeondraft. You have to select from the Asset list and need the same combination of assets to recreate your map. I'd just check everything but that seems to slow it way down and the extra asset list I have is pretty long now.

I'm careful to get a capture of the map before closing it, so I have at least that to work with, but it sucks when I want to add more to a map and need to start again from a couple steps back.

Still, DD is easy to work with and great for the closeup maps I need at times.