Greetings From America

New to the forums? Say hi! and tell others about you.

Moderator: Kanchou

User avatar
Grog
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed May 09, 2018 12:22 pm
Location: North Carolina

Greetings From America

Post by Grog » Sun May 13, 2018 8:58 am

Hello all,

I'd like to take a the time to thank you guys for making such an easy-to-use and user friendly program (minor exceptions barring). There's such easy customization and use that I was able to create part of my world map in about 9 hours! I probably would have been done sooner, but it was the very first map I went and made after fiddling with the different settings. I'm still learning more about the different features every time I use it.

I'm running a D&D campaign for 5e, and my players were super hyped when they saw it. I'm not nearly as good as the other people I've seen doing color maps, but that's because I actually haven't tried making a color map, yet.

This is the not-completed world map I made (everything was done in cartography, and I didn't know I could change the canvas color so easily, so I put my eyes through a bit of pain):
https://imgur.com/JbAJtfc

Here is basically a zoomed in continental view. It took me about 8 hours because I'm still familiarizing with the program, and I discovered a couple quirks with the software I'll mention below:

https://imgur.com/RgWy34h




This was me getting even further in-depth. I've begun working on the country maps for the entire continent. The program crashed on me about 3 hours in when I was nearly done, and, unfortunately, I forgot to save even once. I did encounter a couple more quirks as well:

https://imgur.com/pPF4i4X
EDIT: This is a country map after making several other maps.

So, the quirks I found are as follows:

1) When you try to copy/paste an object with Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V, the object pastes into the center of the map it seems. It makes it a bit tedious adding the extra couple clicks to paste it with the RMB.

2) When you paste an object off of a landmass, and then try to put it on the landmass to overlap/underlap other similar objects (such as mountains), the objects not initially placed on the landmass will always hold a higher layer priority, even if you "Send to Back".

3) I found that the roads and rivers, despite being originated in landmasses (so they'd "stick" to it) would not actually work as intended, so when I needed to move the rivers or roads along with the whole map, some would not transition.

4) I'm not sure if I wasn't doing something correctly, but I found that when Grouping objects of different types (Landmasses, cities, labels, rivers, roads, etc) you can't actually resize even with Proportions locked. I found I had to manually group the Landmasses, rivers, roads all together to stretch before I could select only the cities (and other graphical objects) and then finally labels. It was rather time consuming and inefficient.

5) There were no tropical tree types in the Vegetation or Expanded Vegetation categories, which bummed me a little because the party is in the country of Bulrog (which is basically the tropics).

All-in-all though, I love the program. The only real feature I found the need for is to resize everything when grouped together.
Last edited by Grog on Sun Dec 22, 2019 4:01 am, edited 3 times in total.

User avatar
Kanchou
Site Admin
Posts: 1021
Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 2:23 pm

Re: Greetings From America

Post by Kanchou » Wed May 16, 2018 12:41 pm

Hello,

Sorry for the late reply! And greetings from around the corner! :) We're in North Carolina.

Thank you for the kind words about OWM. The maps look really cool! If you post them to our FB page (and if you want) we can share them :)

On your feedback.
Grog wrote: 1) When you try to copy/paste an object with Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V, the object pastes into the center of the map it seems. It makes it a bit tedious adding the extra couple clicks to paste it with the RMB.
Yep. We're planning to change it so that shortcut paste pastes to the mouse location if inside the map. Thank you!
Grog wrote: 2) When you paste an object off of a landmass, and then try to put it on the landmass to overlap/underlap other similar objects (such as mountains), the objects not initially placed on the landmass will always hold a higher layer priority, even if you "Send to Back".
Yes, the idea is to allow object in the canvas to be above all so you have more flexibility. You'd have to paste it inside. We are, however, going to add the ability to transfer layers between landmasses in the future via the Layers window (i.e. drag a region from landmass 1 to landmass 2 in the layers window).
Grog wrote: 3) I found that the roads and rivers, despite being originated in landmasses (so they'd "stick" to it) would not actually work as intended, so when I needed to move the rivers or roads along with the whole map, some would not transition.
Not sure what you mean here. Can you expand on this?
Grog wrote: 4) I'm not sure if I wasn't doing something correctly, but I found that when Grouping objects of different types (Landmasses, cities, labels, rivers, roads, etc) you can't actually resize even with Proportions locked. I found I had to manually group the Landmasses, rivers, roads all together to stretch before I could select only the cities (and other graphical objects) and then finally labels. It was rather time consuming and inefficient.
The problem is when features are selected because they have limitations to scaling (i.e. you can't stretch them and they can only scale to a certain %). For the current release we simply disabled group scaling when a feature is part of the selection group, but we are planning to have the ability to do this once safeguards are included.
Grog wrote: 5) There were no tropical tree types in the Vegetation or Expanded Vegetation categories, which bummed me a little because the party is in the country of Bulrog (which is basically the tropics).
That's a good point. Would you be okay if it was a mini expansion (aka paid) to add jungle overland stuff? Or do you think it should be included with the base artwork?

Thank you again and thank you very much for the feedback!!

- Alejandro
Alejandro S. Canosa
Three Minds Software

User avatar
Grog
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed May 09, 2018 12:22 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Greetings From America

Post by Grog » Wed May 16, 2018 7:06 pm

Sorry for the late reply! And greetings from around the corner! :) We're in North Carolina.

Thank you for the kind words about OWM. The maps look really cool! If you post them to our FB page (and if you want) we can share them :)

On your feedback.
You're welcome. I am actually in North Carolina myself, haha. If you think the maps are good enough to share, I wouldn't be against having them shared. I do intend to try and make a series of maps (the world, then the continents, then kingdom maps for every kingdom (so at least 60 maps just in countries alone!)) and plan on adding them into a digital booklet to try and profit off. I'm not sure if that falls within the guidelines of use for the program, though. Everyone's told me I should sell them once I make it and add the corresponding "Country Handbook" with each country (and continental handbooks).

Also, no worries from the late reply, everyone's got their own busy life to attend to.
3) I found that the roads and rivers, despite being originated in landmasses (so they'd "stick" to it) would not actually work as intended, so when I needed to move the rivers or roads along with the whole map, some would not transition.


Not sure what you mean here. Can you expand on this?
Sure. It's easier to detail with images, but for the sake of brevity (since I'm at work and don't have access to the program at the moment) the issue is that certain rivers that I created within the landmass don't move with the rest of the landmass. I think the problem might be that when I originally created the river, it was placed under one of the mountains that I pasted outside the landmass originally, so I think the river placed itself in the base layer on it's own program. Thus when I try to move the continent or adjust it in any way, that river and any other objects created off the landmass and moved on do not move with it.
The problem is when features are selected because they have limitations to scaling (i.e. you can't stretch them and they can only scale to a certain %). For the current release we simply disabled group scaling when a feature is part of the selection group, but we are planning to have the ability to do this once safeguards are included.
I see... That's unfortunate for the time being. Though if proportions are locked, I think that the "size" of certain objects (non-graphic icons like towns, mountains etc) should stay relative to the size of the landmass, or at the least, should "stretch" with the overall landmass, but maintain original size but maintain its position within the landmass (part of the locked proportions) so that it's a simple matter for the map creator to just adjust the size of the objects without having to change their locations as well.
That's a good point. Would you be okay if it was a mini expansion (aka paid) to add jungle overland stuff? Or do you think it should be included with the base artwork?
I think some "basic" tropical trees and elements should be included with the base artwork, but if you add increasing detail and a lot of different tree types and groupings (similar to the Lush Forest expansion), then that should be placed as a mini-expansion similar to the Lush Forest one. (To recap, I think there should be 2, one is part of a "Tropic Vegetation" subcategory, and one is its own mini-expansion with more options and detail of trees/tropical landmarks).

Another couple ideas I also came up with is the ability when copying objects such as roads and rivers to only copy the sections within the box (to include the whole road connected if it goes beyond the box). The reasoning is that because all my roads (and most my rivers) are merged, when I copy a kingdom's borders and begin making the kingdom map, I have to manually go and delete each and every road and river segment that doesn't flow through the kingdom itself (which is it's own time consuming process).

The other idea I had is to add more option within cartography. For example, there are no "White Mesa" options within the Expanded Terrain, to include there is no cartography option for creating something like a volcano crater (I had to use a lake, then add "Basic Fantasy Items" and use the Smoke1 and Smoke2 options to make it "volcano-like".

You're welcome for the praise. I think it's well deserved because as I mentioned, this program is absolutely fantastic and I plan to make an exuberant amount of maps with it (soon I'll make a colorful one for the book I'm writing).

User avatar
Kanchou
Site Admin
Posts: 1021
Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 2:23 pm

Re: Greetings From America

Post by Kanchou » Tue May 29, 2018 9:10 pm

Grog wrote:You're welcome. I am actually in North Carolina myself, haha. If you think the maps are good enough to share, I wouldn't be against having them shared. I do intend to try and make a series of maps (the world, then the continents, then kingdom maps for every kingdom (so at least 60 maps just in countries alone!)) and plan on adding them into a digital booklet to try and profit off. I'm not sure if that falls within the guidelines of use for the program, though. Everyone's told me I should sell them once I make it and add the corresponding "Country Handbook" with each country (and continental handbooks).
It's definitely within the guidelines!! Royalty free even for commercial use :). We'll hold on sharing them on FB since you are planning to do something commercially, but when you have that up let us know and we'll be happy to share on our social media.
Grog wrote: Sure. It's easier to detail with images, but for the sake of brevity (since I'm at work and don't have access to the program at the moment) the issue is that certain rivers that I created within the landmass don't move with the rest of the landmass. I think the problem might be that when I originally created the river, it was placed under one of the mountains that I pasted outside the landmass originally, so I think the river placed itself in the base layer on it's own program. Thus when I try to move the continent or adjust it in any way, that river and any other objects created off the landmass and moved on do not move with it.
Got it. Yes, I think what happened there is the river/road was started outside the landmass, so it's a child of the canvas. You can cut/paste into the landmass (and we'll add more options to move objects between parents in the future).
Grog wrote: I see... That's unfortunate for the time being. Though if proportions are locked, I think that the "size" of certain objects (non-graphic icons like towns, mountains etc) should stay relative to the size of the landmass, or at the least, should "stretch" with the overall landmass, but maintain original size but maintain its position within the landmass (part of the locked proportions) so that it's a simple matter for the map creator to just adjust the size of the objects without having to change their locations as well.
We'll investigate this for our next release.
That's a good point. Would you be okay if it was a mini expansion (aka paid) to add jungle overland stuff? Or do you think it should be included with the base artwork?
Grog wrote: I think some "basic" tropical trees and elements should be included with the base artwork, but if you add increasing detail and a lot of different tree types and groupings (similar to the Lush Forest expansion), then that should be placed as a mini-expansion similar to the Lush Forest one. (To recap, I think there should be 2, one is part of a "Tropic Vegetation" subcategory, and one is its own mini-expansion with more options and detail of trees/tropical landmarks).
Thank you! I also just remembered there are a few icons (not many..) under the pirate expansion for tropical vegetation.
Grog wrote: Another couple ideas I also came up with is the ability when copying objects such as roads and rivers to only copy the sections within the box (to include the whole road connected if it goes beyond the box). The reasoning is that because all my roads (and most my rivers) are merged, when I copy a kingdom's borders and begin making the kingdom map, I have to manually go and delete each and every road and river segment that doesn't flow through the kingdom itself (which is it's own time consuming process).
That's a good idea (I think it's been suggested before). I added it to the wish list for our next batch of functionality updates :)
Grog wrote: The other idea I had is to add more option within cartography. For example, there are no "White Mesa" options within the Expanded Terrain, to include there is no cartography option for creating something like a volcano crater (I had to use a lake, then add "Basic Fantasy Items" and use the Smoke1 and Smoke2 options to make it "volcano-like".
Got point.. we have more art plan (both "free" and as add ons so we'll see what we can do there).
Grog wrote: You're welcome for the praise. I think it's well deserved because as I mentioned, this program is absolutely fantastic and I plan to make an exuberant amount of maps with it (soon I'll make a colorful one for the book I'm writing).
Looking forward to seeing it!!

- Alejandro
Alejandro S. Canosa
Three Minds Software

User avatar
Grog
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed May 09, 2018 12:22 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Greetings From America

Post by Grog » Sun Dec 22, 2019 3:56 am

I know I've necro'd a couple of threads, but this is my own thread, haha. I'm not sure what happened to the imgur images I had linked to the maps I made in the OP, but I've gone and made new ones and edited the post since this apparently has over 1,000 views over the year. :lol:
Grog wrote:
Another couple ideas I also came up with is the ability when copying objects such as roads and rivers to only copy the sections within the box (to include the whole road connected if it goes beyond the box). The reasoning is that because all my roads (and most my rivers) are merged, when I copy a kingdom's borders and begin making the kingdom map, I have to manually go and delete each and every road and river segment that doesn't flow through the kingdom itself (which is it's own time consuming process).


That's a good idea (I think it's been suggested before). I added it to the wish list for our next batch of functionality updates
Was this ever able to be added or not? I know I've put in a fair share of ideas and suggestions, so I was curious. I'm all for finding any way to improve the program :) .


I did have a question - Is it possible to add shadows for the clouds in the Clouds and Water features? I think the clouds are good, but they don't fit as well without shadows, and the only bypass is to place a 2nd identical cloud and change opacity and color. On large maps it adds an unnecessary extra step when there are already so many features on it.
Looking forward to seeing it!!
Here is the current revision of my book series' map (Currently on the 7th iteration, as it's still not finished)! https://imgur.com/XJcH7ng

I'm honestly really proud of the amount of work I put into that map. I hand-placed every single feature for the best aesthetic and there's over 1600 (There are exactly 400 of the pale green pine trees in the top portion of the map)! I also had to downscale the upload to 80% because the full map was 20MB at 100% resolution.

User avatar
Kanchou
Site Admin
Posts: 1021
Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 2:23 pm

Re: Greetings From America

Post by Kanchou » Mon Dec 30, 2019 6:02 pm

Grog wrote:I know I've necro'd a couple of threads, but this is my own thread, haha. I'm not sure what happened to the imgur images I had linked to the maps I made in the OP, but I've gone and made new ones and edited the post since this apparently has over 1,000 views over the year. :lol:
No problem! Glad to have the feedback, and sorry for the late reply.
Was this ever able to be added or not? I know I've put in a fair share of ideas and suggestions, so I was curious. I'm all for finding any way to improve the program :) .
It's on the to do list, but we haven't gotten to it yet. We've been prioritizing other areas, but hoping to get back to this in 2020.
I did have a question - Is it possible to add shadows for the clouds in the Clouds and Water features? I think the clouds are good, but they don't fit as well without shadows, and the only bypass is to place a 2nd identical cloud and change opacity and color. On large maps it adds an unnecessary extra step when there are already so many features on it.
Would you want this on the actual artwork (i.e. having a new version of them) or the ability to add shadows to features like you can do rooms? Currently working on the latter :)

Thank you!

- Alejandro
Alejandro S. Canosa
Three Minds Software

User avatar
Kanchou
Site Admin
Posts: 1021
Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 2:23 pm

Re: Greetings From America

Post by Kanchou » Mon Dec 30, 2019 6:04 pm

Grog wrote: Here is the current revision of my book series' map (Currently on the 7th iteration, as it's still not finished)! https://imgur.com/XJcH7ng

I'm honestly really proud of the amount of work I put into that map. I hand-placed every single feature for the best aesthetic and there's over 1600 (There are exactly 400 of the pale green pine trees in the top portion of the map)! I also had to downscale the upload to 80% because the full map was 20MB at 100% resolution.
The map looks awesome!!

If any point you feel like it could be shared, we would love to share via our social media pages :). We can link to a website/other if you want.

Would also love to have it as a "from our user" sample when we go to the next con. Let us know if that's ok.

- Alejandro
Alejandro S. Canosa
Three Minds Software

User avatar
Grog
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed May 09, 2018 12:22 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Greetings From America

Post by Grog » Sun Jan 05, 2020 6:11 pm

Kanchou wrote: No problem! Glad to have the feedback, and sorry for the late reply.
All is well, I figure it takes some time to get a reply. I check back every few days whenever I make a post to see.
Kanchou wrote: Would you want this on the actual artwork (i.e. having a new version of them) or the ability to add shadows to features like you can do rooms? Currently working on the latter :)

Thank you!

- Alejandro
I was thinking the latter, personally. If you're already working on something like that, then that's awesome!
Kanchou wrote:
Grog wrote: Here is the current revision of my book series' map (Currently on the 7th iteration, as it's still not finished)! https://imgur.com/XJcH7ng

I'm honestly really proud of the amount of work I put into that map. I hand-placed every single feature for the best aesthetic and there's over 1600 (There are exactly 400 of the pale green pine trees in the top portion of the map)! I also had to downscale the upload to 80% because the full map was 20MB at 100% resolution.
The map looks awesome!!

If any point you feel like it could be shared, we would love to share via our social media pages :). We can link to a website/other if you want.

Would also love to have it as a "from our user" sample when we go to the next con. Let us know if that's ok.

- Alejandro
Thank you!

For sharing it/showing it at a con, I'd have to add some stuff before I think it'd be completely presentable if that's fine. Would it be possible to link to the series its for when sharing it on social media at the least ;) ? I can probably have the rest of it done within a couple days (more geographical things, as I don't have all the locations named yet, and likely won't until they come up in the series).

User avatar
Kanchou
Site Admin
Posts: 1021
Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 2:23 pm

Re: Greetings From America

Post by Kanchou » Sun Jan 05, 2020 7:15 pm

Grog wrote: For sharing it/showing it at a con, I'd have to add some stuff before I think it'd be completely presentable if that's fine.
Definitely, that's why we ask for permission :). What we did last year was print them and have a sign saying "Maps from our users". Keep in mind our first con this year probably won't be until Congregate (here in NC) in July. Tried to get into some bigger cons but no luck :( .
Grog wrote: Would it be possible to link to the series its for when sharing it on social media at the least ;) ? I can probably have the rest of it done within a couple days (more geographical things, as I don't have all the locations named yet, and likely won't until they come up in the series).
Whenever you are ready, no rush. And definitely, if you have a website or social media where the map gets posted we can share that, or we can share the map and have social media or website links. We love showcasing what people can do with OWM and if we can drive some traffic in your direction even better :)

- Alejandro
Alejandro S. Canosa
Three Minds Software

User avatar
Grog
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed May 09, 2018 12:22 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Greetings From America

Post by Grog » Sun Jan 05, 2020 9:02 pm

Kanchou wrote: Definitely, that's why we ask for permission :). What we did last year was print them and have a sign saying "Maps from our users". Keep in mind our first con this year probably won't be until Congregate (here in NC) in July. Tried to get into some bigger cons but no luck :( .
That is unfortunate. I tried coming to both the cons you guys went to, but work prevented me from getting a chance. I was pretty disappointed I didn't get to go. But hey, if I can get one of my maps out there to help gain more traction for you guys, then it works out pretty well! I think the only issue for mine is that I started it on the default "custom" size and made it off that instead of something easily printable, like 8 1/2 x 11. It's pretty much impossible to fix it for any smaller or larger sizes to my knowledge without having to adjust everything in a painstaking manner.

Kanchou wrote: Whenever you are ready, no rush. And definitely, if you have a website or social media where the map gets posted we can share that, or we can share the map and have social media or website links. We love showcasing what people can do with OWM and if we can drive some traffic in your direction even better :)

- Alejandro
Is your OWM e-mail the proper place to send it when done? If not, where would you like it sent, and how small/big should the file be? 100% sits around 21MB, and 80% sits at 14MB (and 200% sits at 78.3MB, but damn is it crisp!).

Post Reply