Next installment of symbols:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8vrvebuzhgtwrjn/GH%20Elven%20Symbols.zip?dl=0

Here are the Dwarven symbols:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kzs6mq6qscgb2wj/GH%20Dwarven%20Symbols.zip?dl=0

They are in SVG and PNG format.

Took a day off today to work on Greyhawk again, and on today's agenda: Water from the oceans to marshlands. More natural colors, better shore detail and clean up a lot of artifacts. 

Here is a screenshot with the water layers enabled. It is only partly done, but one of the goals is to make Muddich really muddy!

There are still several days of work to do on this map update but things are starting to fall in place, with a lot of of the ground (or in this case bottom) work done.  In order to make the oceans look less crazy blue and more like realistic water I created a simplified muddy bottom.  With some blending and masking it will be a huge improvement.

Overall colors and saturation will be adjusted as well, and various areas will get individual treatment to make them more natural. Here is an example with a bit of the Tilvanot Peninsula and the northern tip of Hepmonaland.  

So far its been mostly large area work, the fine details will come in the next step. When this is done later this summer I think it will be a decent face lift for a map that starting to look like something from old times.

I've also just got my new microphone so new videos will come soon.

Thank you all for supporting me in doing this all 94 of you!! 🙂

To have the symbols on my Flanaess as separate files so they can be easily used in various forms of software have been on my to-do list for a long time.  

Here is a zip with volume 1 of the symbols on my Flanaess map:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ceb4frnocrk1b5p/GREYHAWK%20Symbols%20vol1.zip?dl=0

Volume 1 contains all the base  symbols. What is missing are the variants for Dwarven, Elven etc. They will be part of the next volume. Vol1 contains 119 different symbols in PNG (with transparent background) format, and SVG vector format.

SVG is vector so it is scale independent and usable in any size. Several symbols had issues that couldn't bee seen unless you scaled them up. I have tried to fix all the issues I saw, but if you see any I missed please tell me so I can fix them before putting them on my website.

Just back home from PaizoCon 2018, and after a great weekend it is time to get back to work again!

First out is a revised list of the fonts I use on my Flanaess map. These fonts should still be available on font sites like http://www.fontpalace.com

Very useful to have if you want to make changes and want them to look the same as the labels already on the map.

Working on exporting all the symbols as PNG and SVG images.

I'm packing my suitcase for PaizoCon 2018, flying from San Diego tomorrow morning.

I will help out in the booth of Lonewolf Development during the convention, and try to socialize as much as possible with friends and colleagues, so if you're at the convention don't hesitate to try and find me!

I will have my laptop and try and do some mapping as well between shifts.

One of my goals is to post something useful at least once a week. First out is a piece of heraldry of my own design, but I'm grounding it in firm Greyhawk lore.

The shield of the Naelax Overkings of the old Great Kingdom. My design is based on the cover image of WGR7 Ivid the Undying. The module was never officially released, but became available later as a free download on the then young internet.

I have created it using Adobe Illustrator, and the image is available in three different formats:

JPG as seen above with drop shadow and text.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pz27hqewrpi1fx3/Ivid-01.jpg?dl=0

PNG shield only with no drop shadow, and transparent background
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ckogovldkp21n1/Ivid-02.png?dl=0

SVG vector format, but otherwise the same as the PNG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d20lbx7iroogv3w/Ivid-02.svg?dl=0

This is part of my effort to expand the heraldry for my Greyhawk campaign. Also a good way to improve my Illustrator skills, since heraldry can be quite intricate. But I try to keep the symbols simple so they can be used in my cartography and work well in different sizes, therefore I need to make them using vector graphics.

Here is the first part detailing how I work with World Machine. It gives and overview and goes further into Extents.

You can download the file I'm using here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/229ms7q5jav3j1k/2018_1-30m-3%20setup.tmd?dl=0

It is a corrected version of the previous file. I've removed some of the clutter, but kept all the vitals. This file only has elevation color and no textures. But all the terrain generating functions are there as well as Rivers and Lakes.

Part 2 will cover Base Terrains.

Twenty years ago I started mapping the World of Greyhawk for my own campaign, and then decided to share my work on the then emerging Internet. The rest is an history most of you who read this already know about so instead of looking backwards I'm going to try and look forward. I've decided to start all over again. Yes I mean starting all over again with mapping the Flanaess, and its surroundings. What on Oerth can make me come to this conclusion?

I want to do this again for three different reasons. The first one is that I know have the experience needed to do it properly. Second, technology is now beginning to be powerful enough to make it possible to do it right. Thirdly I'm so passionate about it that when I see a way to make a much better job I just have to do it!

It took me more than five years of full time work last time, and to remake it the way I want to is not going to  much easier. My estimate for this is for it to take around 5 years of work. How long that will actually take depends on how much time I can devote to it. If I do this as a hobby like last time it will be a decade or so. Thankfully there is a way for you to make it possible for me to devote more time to it, support my Patreon. With a little bit more support mapping the world of Greyhawk will be an ongoing project that I can treat as an commissioned project, with more support it can be my major project or maybe even a full time undertaking. We will see how that develop, it will be my hobby and passion anyway, and also be a big part of my research and development. so I will work on one way or the other.

So what are goals this time around?

Full elevation model with increased detail to 100/pixel. Enough to make it useful for outdoor adventures by visualizing what an area actually looks like. This can also serve as a solid base for city and encounter maps to be developed that will match the surrounding terrain.  Below is an example of the difference in resolution and a proper elevation model.

Global Precision, the Flanaess needs to be accurately placed this time to make it possible to expand the project to cover other parts of Oerth as well.

Meta data part of the project from the start. I want to make use of modern GIS (Geographical Information System) standards to make it possible to keep track of things and form a base for better forms of presentation and varied use.

Presentation and format needs to be a major focus for this project. The current map is only top down in two formats, JPG and PDF. Next time the data needs to be usable in many more ways. I envision things like game engines, GIS tools, RPG campaign tools like Realm Works, webb based maps and more.

To go along with the data should be a set of graphical symbols 2D and 3D, graphical elements fonts and more specially designed to present the World of Greyhawk at its finest.

All my Greyhawk content have been free to download and published under the Creative Commons -by -nc license. This going to be the case going forward as well. If Wizard of the Coast changing their stance of Greyhawk fan created content, I might have to look into what they offer, but that is only hypothetical and my guess is that it will remain so for the foreseeable future.  Creative Commons -by -nc, gives you the permission to use, alter and share the content for non commercial purposes as long as the source is indicated. 

The main goal with this is that whatever comes out of this should be used by Greyhawk fans and others as much as possible and serve as a platform for anyone who wants to run games set in Greyhawk. That means that it needs to be accessible, modifiable and sharable. 

How to try and tackle this huge undertaking?

I'm in the planning stage right now, and there are several bits and pieces that needs to fall in place before actual work can begin. This is what most of this year will be occupied with. 2018 revision of the existing map will be more thorough than previous years to make it more compatible with the future content. This is important since it will be years until all of it can be replaced with a new version, so the old have to live side by side with the new as good as possible. My existing map is also my main guide when mapping it again, and we want as good of a guide as possible.  

The Oerth Geo Referencing project is what I will call my effort to try and place the Flanaess properly on Oerth. I will try and use all the data from Greyhawk canon sources as well as some of the great pieces written on the topic and try and implement them using GIS tools. 

In order to set both standards and work-flow small test areas needs to be mapped. The first one out is the Lendore Isles. Islands are good pilot areas since they are separate from the mainland and can more easily be imported and merged with future content. 

These three parts will probably keep me busy this year, and if there are time over there are always interesting tidbits to dig into. things like city sketches, heraldry and touch up other old stuff hidden in various places...