Designing Fantasy City Maps - Designing Maps ~ Just News

For our purposes today, we are going to look at one tool in particular that can help you make a usable town map as quickly as possible: Medieval Fantasy City Generator by Watabou on itch.io. This map generator can build towns and cities of various sizes quickly and in your browser. At first glance, you might overlook this tool as being primitive.Avoid straight roads in fantasy town maps - they tend not to have heavy earth moving machinery so roads need to go around obstacles on the whole. It'll help sell the sense of a naturally evolving town. Once we've laid in the main thoroughfare, add main roads to the source of food and commerce - these will be the high traffic routes.The map alone may have a very simple name, but we have great plans for this town that we'll be fleshing out over the next month. I'm sure that Troy will do much better job naming it for its official adventure, haha. Our collaboration will involve three articles by Troy and a two-part cave map by myself.A game of ponies living in a city. Could not load the game, reload to continue.reload to continue.Medieval Fantasy City Generator by watabou This application generates a random medieval city layout of a requested size. The generation method is rather arbitrary, the goal is to produce a nice looking map, not an accurate model of a city. All the actions and options are accessible via the context menu.

How to Design a Town Map - Fantastic Maps

Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator. This map generator is one of my personal favorites. There are so many options that can be done with the latest version of this map generator. The generator is controlled by a toolbox can do many different things such as use texture, show the heights on the continents, show the biomes of each area of the world.Worldspinner makes it easy to create an entire fantasy world in just a few minutes. See every continent, island, sea, forest, desert, and nation. Thousands of cities and points of interest add depth to the world. You can explore them along with your players, or add or change any that you wish.Fantasy Town Fantasy City Map Fantasy World Map Fantasy Places Medieval Fantasy Fantasy Village Dungeons And Dragons Plan Ville Village Map New Map Pack - The Iconic Town - Fantastic Maps The town that started as a very rough sketch has now been turned into a full blown map pack, and is for sale on RPGNow and Paizo.a small project i worked on wit ha friend of mine View map now! The Minecraft Map, fantasy Town, was posted by PanCake99.

The Mining Town Map (16x22) by 2-Minute Tabletop

This map of the Land of Oz first appeared in Tik Tok of Oz, and was one of the first maps to be included with a fantasy novel.Note the directions east and west have been switched. Because — Oz!fantasy city map making, Fantasy City, fantasy map maps rpg harbor maker port town cold cities imaginary medieval towns places castle profantasy tile version cartography extra, rpg map maker fantasy maps guild town medieval dragons dungeons making community cartographersguild village cities ward project cartographer dungeon districts, lost maps souls map profantasy making worlds originallyThis PDF and digital maps package consists of ten A4-size print-and-play maps you can arrange any way you want, for any occasion the players enter a new town or village and you don't have one available. Use all ten maps in any number of combinations, or just a few of them, and voila!Update! This and many more tutorials on fantasy and D&D map making is availible also on my website, together with loads of free-to-download maps, check it out — click here! Villages and towns are important places in most fantasy roleplaying games.Here's a great little tool if you want an instant fantasy city map made for your RPG. The free website will let you create a small town, large town, small city or large city. Hovering over the map lets you see the name given to a particular quarter - like docks, or artisans, the temple district or even big gates.

Creating a believable city requires concept and making plans. Cities develop organically and that history must display in the map. Cities also require infrastructure: Where is the water supply? Where are the sewers? How is food got? What are the town's defenses? What kind of government runs the place?

These are elementary questions it is important to have spoke back.

City and town scale maps are created very in a similar way to different outside maps. Make sure you've learn Fantasy Map Design Basics and Designing Fantasy Outdoors Maps prior to diving in here as a result of, like my father, I don't like repeating myself.

Considerations

Scaling Grid

With maximum outside maps, you want to use hexagons for your Scaling Grid. This concept holds true when growing city-scale maps as neatly.

A Coordinate Grid

However, it's infrequently desirable to use a sq. scaling grid and do cross-section coordinates. Many atlases use this method. If you achieve this, along the top (or bottom, or each) you must label every column with a letter (A, B, C, and so forth.) and along the side (left or proper, or both) label each and every row with a host (1, 2, 3, and so on.). This will provide a coordinate gadget: any one square can also be recognized with its letter and quantity (e.g., square B4, or square C9).

Whatever you choose, you'll want to have a single grid level to be equal to about 1/10th of a mile. Any tighter than that and your map would possibly lose its price, or you'll find yourself creating a blueprint or a battlemap. I highly suggest the usage of a dual-grid technique (where you've a grid the place 1 hex equals 1 mile, and another the place 1 hex equals 1/10th of a mile).

Basic City Design

You want to know a lot about your city ahead of you'll start to lay pen to paper, I'm afraid. There are a handful of items you want to understand sooner than beginning, and I'm going to move over them now, after which tell you come with them in the map later.

What is the terrain like across the settlement? Does the settlement have walls? What are the main buildings within the settlement? Where does the settlement download fresh water? Where does the settlement download food and other assets? What are different industries that the settlement engages in? Does town have districts or wards What is the Terrain?

Most towns aren't built on flat, featureless land. Rome is famously constructed on "Seven Hills", as an example, and Florence's largest feature is the River Arno. You should have an concept – a minimum of a comic strip – of the highlands and lowlands as this defines the flavor of those parts of the city. Cities have rivers and streams and the figuring out where the highlands are will let you know the way the water flows.

The metropolis's terrain additionally is helping you recognize where town's districts and wards are going to be.

Highland areas are going to be extra residential in nature. The very best hills will probably be claimed via defensive buildings (watch towers and forts) or via the large wealthy (palaces and estates). Generally: the upper up you live, the richer you might be. Since it is tough to deliver heavy items up hill, they are going to rarely be places of commerce.

Lowland spaces are going to be working districts. Your bazaars will probably be in lowland areas, as will your docks and warehouses. Poor residential areas will located here as neatly.

If your city has a river, be aware of its flood aircraft, if it has one. Larger towns can have constructed up walls across the river to forestall flooding, however smaller ones will not have. People do not incessantly reside in flood planes and those that do are typically the poorest to be found. Knowing what your contemporary water assets are is super-important, length, as you are going to see below.

Do no longer make the mistake of assuming primitive engineering. Humans have known how one can move and keep an eye on rivers for an extended, long time. It's backbreaking work but it may be (and was once) finished – particularly if the government has a supply of slaves and peasants.

Are there Walls?

A not unusual question relating to cities is whether or not or no longer there are walls. Not all towns can have partitions and those who do are normally better and require defenses.

Walls are great defenses and are much desired however they're dear to build, maintain, and man. Walls will most effective exist with greater cities – those who have both the economic system to fortify them and the desire for the defensive capabilities they supply. An inexpensive inhabitants requirement is round 4,000 population sooner than the wall turns into economically viable.

Older cities could have a couple of sets of walls, radiating outwards, added as town grew organically. City partitions hardly if ever surrounded native farmland. The largest of towns could have entire wards and regions of growth outdoor of the walls, alongside the roads inward.

You would possibly wish to dangle off adding city walls till you've figured out where your important buildings are (see below), but you want to have them in position earlier than you start adding numerous structures.

What are the Important Buildings?

Before you lay down roads it's important to know the place the major buildings are. These locations (at the side of the terrain) will power how the roads are laid out. These constructions define the middle of a ward or region, and the most important ones could have larger roads to get entry to them.

Here's a non-exhaustive listing of principal construction varieties. Some of them (turbines, for instance) can be extra principal to call out in smaller villages, whilst others will simplest exist in a bigger city.

Palaces Forts, especially star-shaped Bastion Forts Major Temples Colleges Government Buildings Military Barracks Embassies Prisons Large Monuments Large Estates Banks Shopping and Trading Bazaars Town Halls or Town Squares (for small villages) Shrines (for small villages) Mills (for small villages)

If your metropolis's govt is democratic or republic, there will be a town corridor or a central authority capitol. Is the town run by way of a king or dictator? They'll have a palace or a gigantic mansion – and likely a large acreage of land related to it, filled with gardens, mazes, and even non-public searching forests.

All cities of dimension can have a police power. They wish to have a house – most certainly a number of. Does your world have hospitals? Are there more than one? Where are they? Is there a kindly wizard who protects where however is hermit-like? She's got to have a tower someplace.

Where's the Food?

People have to eat. Most of the food will come from within sight farms, however settlements of any measurement can have a greater variety of meals assets, including searching, fishing, buying and selling, elevating sheep and livestock, and so on.

Food manufacturing requires numerous real estate. Most of that real property is going to be situated outdoor of your city right kind, and whether or not you wish to have to include it for your map is up to you – however you must know where it comes from.

Where is the Water?

A agreement of any measurement calls for a dependable provide of unpolluted water – even (and particularly) if it lies on a coast. Sea water is toxic to people (and most definitely all different land-based creatures), so they need a plentiful supply of it.

Fresh water can come from a number of sources:

Ground-water wells Streams Freshwater lakes and ponds Natural springs Rivers

The better your agreement, the extra water it wishes, not just for the populace however for vegetation and other techniques (equivalent to generators). Tiny villages can in all probability get by means of with a single neatly but they'll likely need a couple of ponds or streams within reach. Large towns – the rest with a inhabitants more than 1,000 other people – will need a big lake or a river.

Once you realize the place the water comes from, it's a must to know how the electorate get it. Is the water mechanically moved around to parts of the city? If so, how is it moved? Canals? Aqueducts? Free streams? Pumps? Dams? Or do folks have to carry it in buckets from the smartly or a flow?

It's important to know now in the event you're going to have canals or aqueducts (or both) as this radically changes how your terrain and roads will likely be laid out.

Remember that water is driven via gravity and thus flows to the lowest puts, however aqueducts are pushed by money and thus flow into the richest parts of town.

Stinky Poo-poo

Does your city have sewers? It's excellent to grasp that now. You won't necessarily be drawing them to your map (or maybe you will make a sewer map later), however it's excellent to understand that such issues exist. Sewers will behave like aqueducts except in opposite: shit will go with the flow to the poorest parts of town.

Other Industry

Does your settlement engage in different primary industries beyond food manufacturing? Is this a logging town? Is there a quarry? Is there a port? Do main roads come through, that means trade wagons?

If there's a port, does it have a protecting sea wall? Is there going to be chain defense across it? How huge will it be?

It's conceivable that smaller settlements are devoted to a single industry (the silk dyers of Lorbanery within the Earthsea tales, as an example, or Deadwood in actual existence) and if that is so all different industries are set as much as make stronger that one.

Thinking About Wards

Larger towns (and even small ones that experience grown organically) will have wards or districts. These divisions may or will not be "professional" but they will be exist. Over time, "unofficial" wards will turn into "authentic" wards, even though in all probability with different names.

In my Terracopia atmosphere, the poorest electorate of Firenze officially live within the "North Ward", however they name it "Shit-town".

You don't have to know the place those puts are at this time. Their locations will arrive organically as you're employed. You'll discover that you've got an area with a whole lot of small dwellings, and understand that's the poorer a part of town, for instance.

It is common for towns to declare certain areas as being districted for sure activities and no others. A "Merchant District", for example, may not have any permanent flats, and the "Docks District" could also be closely guarded and feature limited access.

Learning and Stealing From Reality

An effective way to learn about the design of older towns is to review vintage maps of actual towns. When I got down to create the map of Firenze for my Terracopia Game Setting, I situated an actual map of Florence from the 1500s and traced primary portions of it for my fantasy model. The "actual" Florence isn't positioned at the sea, but I tailored.

An Antique Map of Florence/FirenzeThe Terracopian Version of FirenzeAntique Map of Naples

For this tutorial, I'm going to make the Terracopian model of Napoli, so I've downloaded an previous map of Naples from 1800. I'm going to size it to my canvas and thieve numerous its sea coast and structure – though I am for sure going to deviate from "reality".

Design Steps

Answer Your Questions Draw Terrain Draw Important Buildings Draw City Walls Draw Canals Draw Roads Draw Bridges Draw Buildings Draw Other Areas Draw Vegetation Draw Wards Add Labels Add Grid, Title, Legend, and Scale Finalize Answer Your Questions

Make sure you've responded the entire questions posed above underneath "Basic City Design". I can suppose that you've got.

Draw Terrain

You're going to attract your terrain in the course of the tactics described in Designing Fantasy Outdoors Maps. Make a "Water" layer and then upload your "Land" layer the use of whatever approach you in finding easiest.

Draw in (or a minimum of know) the prime lands and coffee lands.

Use the Eraser device to attract your rivers, lakes, and ponds as commonplace. If your city has canals, do not draw them but. That will happen later.

Many, many towns – especially port cities – have built-up shorelines or constructions that stretch out into the water. Know where the ones are however don't worry about being too actual. Later on, whilst you draw the docks or sea partitions (both as further terrain, roads, or city walls) you'll duplicate those layers and merge them into your landmass.

Step 1: Draw LandmassStep 2: Draw Elevations and Textures

In my example, I'm going to be working off an outdated map of Naples. I put the map into its own layer and resized it to fit (mostly). Since I'm anxious in regards to the beach at the moment, I'm going to delete the whole thing that isn't coastline and create a new "Land Mass" layer from that. I'm going so as to add a river, because it wishes one (I'm going to go ahead and "canal" the last a part of this river).

How to Create Landmass from an Another Map

Get a map of the area you need to use and load it into your report on its own layer named "Trace Map". Using the Transform software <command>t, re-scale and perhaps rotate the Trace Map contents in order that it suits the canvas. Duplicate Trace Map as "Working Map". Turn off the visibility of Trace Map; you'll use that later. Select the Working Map layer. Select the Magic Wand instrument and tap within the canvas the place the water is. Holding <shift> while doing so will choose a couple of areas. Hit the <delete> key to erase a whole lot of the stuff, providing you with a more in-depth thought of what the shoreline is going to seem like. Select the Eraser instrument. Starting with a large (100px+) laborious spherical brush at 100% opacity, and working downwards in size as you get nearer to the shore, erase the whole thing, getting as close to the shore as possible. Turn off visibility of Working Map Create a new layer beneath your two map layers called "Landmass". Set your paint colour to white (#ffffff) Select all of the pixels in Working Map by means of preserving the <command> key and clicking the preview icon. Switch to the Landmass layer. Using the Paint Bucket instrument, tap inside the chosen area of the canvas. You should see your landmass appear. Optionally, switch to the Brush software and clean up any weird bits that stick out. Sea Selected with Magic WandSelected Pixels DeletedLandmass Cut Down

Once you might have your landmass shape, cross ahead and upload some styles to your Water and Landmass layers. Draw on your elevations or no less than cartoon them in on a throwaway layer. Don't fear about getting them best or stunning at this level; you'll return and mess with them again later.

For my map of Napoli, I've drawn in some cliffs and highlands. I modified the river to go with the flow between two hills. I've also scootched the landmass down on the canvas in order that I've more space to paintings with (the map I traced had too much water). I've additionally made a caricature of where I need various wards and partitions to be (Napoli is the capital of an empire, so it's going to be defended).

Draw Important Buildings

Now you're going to place your predominant buildings. The better town, the extra important the construction should be so that you can draw it here. Important buildings are centers of process for the citizenry. Draw them in now in order that you know the way town has grown.

Note that now not all "fundamental structures" are in reality buildings. A bazaar, for example, can be a large, open floor.

Create a layer crew known as "Structures". Inside of the Structures group, create another crew known as "Important Structures". This is where you're going to retailer your foremost buildings.

If you're tracing from an current map, position the Trace Map or the Working Map on the best of the layer stack and provides them a lowish opacity (in an effort to see thru them. Work underneath what you're tracing.

How to Draw Important Buildings

For each most important building:

Create a brand new layer within Important Structures and identify it after the development you're growing. Set your ink colour to a light grey (#dddddd) (or every other color that contrasts along with your landmass). On the average x/y-axis, draw the building the use of probably the most quite a lot of Shape gear or the Pen instrument. Don't concern about its rotation yet; draw it immediately on (should you're tracing an current structure, go ahead and use the map's rotation). If you created a building the use of a couple of shapes, be sure you merge them and likewise "Merge Shape Components". Move and rotate the development into place (using <command>t). Step 3: CartoonStep 4: Important Buildings

In my version of Napoli, I'm going to create a bastion castle at the top of the central hill, the Imperial palace, a harbor castle, the Senate building, and a ziggurat temple.

I've already deviated from truth, so I'll have fix my sea coast in some puts (make a selection the shapes of the building layers and use the Paint Bucket software on the shapes throughout the Landmass layer).

Hint: To create a handy guide a rough bastion fortress shape, use the Polygon software, set the aspect rely to six or 8, and in the options menu check "megastar" and set the "Indent Sides By" value to between 10 and 15%.

Styling Buildings

When styling your structures, you'll want to observe any styles to the easiest mother or father layer team (on this case, Structures). I'm going to provide you with a warning now that you simply by no means need to taste individual buildings if you'll assist it.

The explanation why is that I'm going to turn you some tactics later about crunching those layers, and to take action neatly you'll want so to flip off and on kinds across all elements quickly.

Feel loose to add some kinds now so that your structures stand out. Don't cross crazy but.

Draw City Walls Step 5: Walls

When adding city partitions, the quickest method to take action is with the Line software, which can be discovered within the Shape tools menu. The Line tool allows you to set specific widths and will create a form layer for that. You can draw your walls with the Pen software but you'll likely get inconsistent widths. City partitions are hardly ever wider than 20 ft, so set your line width accordingly.

Lay out each and every wall segment and make sure the ends overlap. Don't fear an excessive amount of about sloppy anchor issues – we're going to hide them in a second. You'll uncover that the Line instrument needs to make new layers for every line. That's high-quality. It is helping you move them independently till you merge all of the shapes together.

Make certain to go away gaps the place the gates to the city will likely be. Walls will on occasion go out into waters, but no longer a ways except the land has been constructed up around it. Walls can pass thinner rivers, but will in most cases have large grates to allow the water to glide via unimpeded (in the event that they didn't, they might be dams).

When you have got the fundamental wall construction, it's time to hide up the ones unpleasant corners. We'll put towers there. Using the Ellipse device, add circle layers over most sensible the place the partitions attach and bend. You'll wish to use circles of the exact same dimension for every. These are guard towers (you'll, after all, just mess around with the points in order that they match up if you want corners without towers).

When you've done that, it's a must to upload gatehouses. Gate homes are most often weirdly formed as they're designed to have more than one doorways open and shut as a defensive measure. I like to recommend construction these as their own shapes (in the usual axis) and then rotating them into position.

When you're satisfied, merge all the shapes together right into a single layer referred to as "City Walls". Don't overlook to "Merge Shape Components". Give the City Walls shape a gloomy colour for now (say, #222222).

If you recognize what you're doing, you can draw your partitions with a broom and then convert the pixel layers right into a form layer (this system is defined underneath in How to Draw Roads) and goof around with the points. This is what I did.

My version of Napoli has grown over time so it has several sets of walls. Additionally, it's the Imperial capitol, so it has numerous defended roads and gatehouses. Wards and districts are heavily drawn and security between them might be tight. There are numerous gatehouses.

Draw Canals

At this level you'll need to draw your canals, in case you have any. There are two types of canals: free-form and directed. Directed canals will have immediately edges (assume Venice); free-form canals can twist and turn (they're extra like lazily directed streams). Directed canals will likely be bounded by way of brick or stone for their whole length; free-form canals can have such bounds when the herbal glide of the water calls for re-directing.

You "draw" canals with the Eraser device, simply as if you happen to had been including rivers to an outdoors map.

How to Draw Canals

Select your Land layer for modifying. Select the Eraser device. Set the comb to Hard Round, 100% opacity, and with a tight measurement that depends on your scale. If doubtful, check out one thing that will give you a canal around 40 toes throughout. For free-form canals, just draw the form of the canal with the eraser. When you reach some degree where the water will probably be directed, use the following two steps to create a directly line. For directed canals, click the beginning level of a canal section. Holding down the <shift> key, click the tip level of the canal section. A immediately line will have to have been erased.

You will draw over these with roads later to suggest the place you need to set bridges.

Draw Roads Step 6: Roads

When you've found out where your main spaces of traffic are (major buildings, wards, gatehouses, etc.) it's time to add roads. We start by way of drawing the main roads and then add in sub-roads and in the end we get to arterial paths. It's best to consider a "street" as a thing that is treated as such: it's cobblestoned or at least paved with gravel. We're no longer going to fret about strolling paths unless we've got a tight scale (village level).

We lay down roads with the Brush device.

I do know what you're pondering: "I will't most likely draw a immediately line to avoid wasting my life!" Don't concern. I've got you coated with the magic of the <shift> key.

Roads have 3 elementary widths. You'll have to pick the dimensions of your brush in keeping with how smartly it matches your map scale.

Major roads are between 50 and 100 toes across. These roads ceaselessly outline the bounds of city districts or wards. Normal or Secondary roads are between 20 and forty feet throughout. These roads supply connections between main roads and each other. Minor roads are 10 to 15 toes throughout. These roads are alleys and pathways, and delve between normal roads.

How to Draw Roads

Create a brand new layer above your Landmass layer called "Roads" and select it. Create a spread masks of your Landmass layer so that you don't draw outside of it by way of maintaining <command> and clicking on the preview icon for the Landmass layer. If you wish to have to draw over a river, simply deselect everything (<command>d) after which reselect this whilst you're carried out. Set your paint colour to one thing light. I in truth will use pure white (#ffffff). Select the Brush software. Hard Round, 100% opacity, and with a tight size that depends on your scale. You're making Major roads first, so pick out something respectable. On the Roads layer, click the start level of a avenue section. Holding down the <shift> key, click the end point of the street segment.

Voila! You now have a immediately line. Repeat the method, including to your main roads. Feel free to attract roads freehand if you'll be able to! Roads that come right into a city are rarely directly so stay that during mind.

When you've got your main roads laid down, lower your brush dimension by 25% and start including in secondary roads. These roads will branch from the main roads and regularly attach them. Normal roads frequently lay out in a grid trend.

Once you've got your secondary roads, lower your brush measurement again and upload in your entire minor roads. These ones will run between standard roads and regularly lead to dead-ends.

When laying down roads, keep in mind that one of the most oldest and most used roads almost certainly started life as hunting trails. Eventually those paths turned into formalized and paved with gravel and eventually cobblestones. This can make your roads seem like a rat's nest but that's okay. Consider the mess that's the metropolis of Boston.

If your metropolis has canals, know that roads incessantly run proper alongside them. Where there will likely be bridges that cross canals, streams, or rivers, draw the road over the water approach. You'll upload a bridge underneath it later.

If your city has walls, know that roads also frequently run along those as smartly. Feel free to draw into the spaces that the walls quilt; your worry is coverage and now not fidelity at the moment. You will download fidelity whilst you flip them right into a shape.

For my model of Napoli, I'm going to start with 15 pixel roads and paintings downwards. I intend for the harbor and wharf spaces to seem as "roads" however I'll merge that during when I get to drawing the harbor. For some places – the road up to the palace, for example – I created a form layer with the pen and then rasterized it and merged it in with the roads pixels.

Converting Brush Roads to Shape Roads

Okay! You've got your brushed-in roads. They're probably pixellated in place. You received't want to use them as they are; we want sharper edges on them. The sharpest edges come from form layers. You're going to transform your Roads layer to a form layer, do some fidgeting with it, after which use that going forward.

How to Convert a Roads Pixel Layer to a Shape Layer

Select your Roads layer within the Layers panel. Sharpen the edges by means of going Filter -> Sharpen -> Unsharp Mask, quantity 50, radius 2.0, threshold 1. This smooths edges up. Holding down the <command> key, click on on the preview icon for the Roads layer to create a selection of all pixels within the layer. Switch to the Paths panel (next to the Layers tab). Click the Make paintings trail from selection icon. Switch again to the Layers panel. Go Layer -> New Fill Layer -> Solid Color. Name the layer "Roads Shape" and set the color to the color of your roads (most certainly #ffffff). You now have a shaped layer of your roads. Shaped Roads Losing Fidelity

You'll notice that the transition to a shape form will have led to your roads to behave funky in some puts. Go over your roads the use of the various Anchor Point gear (particularly the Convert Anchor Point instrument) and the Direct Selection tool to scrub them up. This will most probably involve a lot of changing anchor issues. I like to recommend putting a 1 pixel stroke at the within the Roads Shape so you'll be able to see what you're doing.

This section is really tedious and comes with numerous eye-strain however finally you'll thank me for it. Once you've changed a unmarried point on your Roads Shape layer, you'll ruin your authentic Roads layer as it's no longer the Source of Truth for the city's roads.

Now you've were given a Roads Shape form layer. However, it's going to make your map a pain within the ass to paintings with because it's got a zillion new anchor points. Duplicate it as Roads Pixels, reproduction its layer taste, clear the layer taste, rasterize it, and re-apply the layer taste.

How to Rasterize your Roads Shape Layer

Duplicate the Roads Shape layer as "Roads Pixels". Turn off visibility of Roads Shape and store it in a backup folder. Select Roads Pixels in the Layers panel. Right click on on the Roads Pixels layer in the Layers panel and choose Copy Layer Style. Right click on the Roads Pixels layer within the Layers panel and make a choice Clear Layer Style. The types will have to disappear. Right click on on the Roads Pixels layer in the Layers panel and make a selection Rasterize Layer. The layer is now reworked to pixels. Right click on on the Roads Pixels layer within the Layers panel and make a selection Paste Layer Style. The kinds will have to re-appear.

You will to find that you need to come back in your roads form fairly frequently and fix minor errors as you cross about portray for your structures. Simply trash your Roads Pixels layer, fix the Roads Shape layer, after which re-rasterize a copy of Roads Shape in to a new Roads Pixels.

But I Really Want Trails!

Alright, you're working with a smaller-scale map and you need to include looking trails and the like. You don't need to elevate those paths into roads, so you want to display them different. For this, we use the Pen software or the Freeform Pen software. However, we're not going to be developing cast shapes with it.

How to Draw Trails

For every trail you propose to draw:

Create a new layer (call it by way of the trail's identify) and make a choice it. Don't use your Roads layer; it won't work. Select the Freeform Pen software. Draw your path on the map. You'll see trail marks and anchor points appear. Do NOT shut the form (unless you need a closed path). In the options bar (at the best of the Photoshop window), click on "Fill" and make a selection the white field with the crimson line. This will stop it from drawing any "fill". In the choices bar, click on "Stroke" and make a choice the black box with the pink line. This will draw a stroke. You can set the colour of the stroke right here as smartly. Select the correct width for the stroke (3 pixels is excellent) Select a dashed stroke taste from the pull down. Style the layer with layer effects and mix modes as you spot have compatibility.

You'll most probably need to draw more than one trails in multiple layers. Merging them could have… unintended penalties.

Special: Aqueducts

Aqueducts generally tend to apply roads however are raised top above them. They are tough to represent because they may be able to obscure your avenue. The trick here is to attract them with different opacity values and strokes kinds in order that they are visual however now not overpowering. Depending to your visible taste, you might end up with multi-stroked canal-like aqueducts or simple shapes.

I like to recommend laying out your aqueducts as shapes, in a fashion similar to that of ways you create metropolis walls (described above). This means that you can stay highest nook fidelity, which you're going to discover is a problem with brush-drawn roads.

Draw Bridges

Draw bridges as if they had been most important structures. Do them as shapes, drawing them at the 0,Zero axis and then rotating them into place. Do one layer for every bridge, and store them in a folder known as "Bridges", set underneath the Roads layer within the layer stack (you wish to have the road to pass the bridge).

Draw Buildings

There are several tactics you'll be able to use to draw buildings and whichever one you select will depend on your map's style and the period of time you've to be had. Drawing buildings may also be brutally time-consuming or it may be slightly painless.

If you need to draw detailed constructions, replete with hatched roofs and the like, feel free to drag out your pen tablet and go to town. If you're the sort that may or will do that, there's nothing I will be able to teach you right here – via con dios – regardless that I like to recommend the usage of Overlay for the mix modes.

Painted Buildings

I'm going to show you a method for portray constructions with a brush. This method is very similar to the sparse forests technique in that you're going to maintain brush form dynamics, however that's concerning the extent of it. I at the start discovered this system from Fantastic Maps, which is a web site you will have to absolutely read duvet to cover. My means is somewhat different, despite the fact that.

First, you wish to have to create a "Buildings" brush form. Don't fear! Creating a broom is in fact very easy. Any complexity comes with taking part in round together with your brush dynamics, but – and I swear to no matter deity you hold expensive that that is true – the toughest part is saving it.

How to Create and Set Up a Buildings Brush

Do this in a brand new record just for funsies.

Create a brand new report, 100×A hundred pixels, with a background colour of white (#ffffff) Set your paint colour to black (#000000) Create a brand new layer referred to as "Brush Shape". In the Brush Shape layer, the use of the Rectangle tool, draw a 30 pixel sq. (hold <shift> while dragging the Rectangle software to stay easiest proportions). Select all the pixels in Brush Shape through preserving <shift> and clicking on the preview icon for it in the Layers panel. Go Edit -> Define Brush Preset and provides it a name, "Buildings Basic". Photoshop will robotically transfer to the Brush instrument with the shape of your square. The brush isn't saved but. Open the Brush Settings window with F5 or Window -> Brush Settings or simply click it open since you docked it to the aspect like I told you to do about seven articles back. Click on Brush Tip Shape and set it up like so: Set Size to twenty pixels. Set Angle to 90 degrees. Set Roundness to 90%. Set Spacing to 50%. Adjust this upper or decrease for more or less dense buildings. Click Shape Dynamics and set it up like so: Set Size Jitter to ten%. This controls how huge the structures can also be on the subject of one some other. If you need to use a pen tablet, this is the place you'd set regulate to pressure. Set Minimum Diameter to 70%. Set Angle Jitter to 0% Set Angle Jitter Control to Direction or Initial Direction (I prefer preliminary route because I'm simplest ever drawing instantly traces; in case you're going to twist them, use direction). Set Roundness Jitter to 100% Set Minimum Roundness to twenty-five%. Click Scattering and set it up like so: Set Scatter to somewhere between 20 and 100%. Increasing this will likely purpose your buildings to be further away from the baseline. A low quantity (20-25%) helps to keep them mostly inline. Set Count to one. Set Count Jitter to 100%. Click the teeny-tiny "Create New Brush" icon within the bottom of the Brush Settings panel. Name your bush "Buildings Dynamic". Ensure to click "Capture Brush Size in Preset" and "Include Tool Settings". Optionally, you can delete the Buildings Basic brush. Brush Tip Shape SettingsBrush Shape Dynamics SettingsBrush Scattering Settings

Now you could have a brush that may paint constructions. Goof with the comb settings every time you want variations in dimension, scattering, density, and so on. Maybe even save those changes as presets as neatly.

Paint some structures. You need to do this in a layer above Walls and Roads, however you don't wish to draw over the roads or in the course of the walls. Don't worry when you do – you'll all the time delete the shapes of the roads or walls from the structures – but it's highest to set considered one of them (the Roads) as a cage.

You draw buildings during the magic of the <shift> key.

How to Paint Buildings Using a Brush

Create a brand new layer inside of the Structures layer staff (above your Roads and Walls layers) referred to as "Buildings". Set your paint colour to no matter you prefer (I exploit #dddddd). Select the entire pixels to your Roads shape through keeping down the <shift> key and clicking at the preview icon for the Roads layer within the Layers panel. Go Select -> Inverse to opposite the choice, in an effort to simplest draw within the "blocks". Change to the Brush instrument and choose your shiny new Buildings Dynamic brush. Working within the Roads layer, pick an fringe of a block. Click the canvas inside the street to the outdoor, and inside the edge. Holding the <shift> key, click at the different facet of the block, in the road again. BAM. Buildings seem. Work your means around the block, clicking in opposite facets, always sticking throughout the road and ending inside it (or inside of of different constructions). You can do lengthy blocks this fashion that move multiple streets; you don't have to stay inside one block. You can return over the same traces more than one times. This will thicken the realm and create more jitter. Clean it up with smaller, onerous round brushes and the Eraser device.

You cannot create such gorgeous chaos through hand. I to find the randomness produced by means of this to be superb, particularly for old-world towns and spaces where structures had been erected temporarily and haphazardly.

Step 7: Buildings

You will most certainly need to undergo and spot-fix a whole lot of places with smaller, round brushes and the Eraser software. Fill in spaces with denser buildings. If your district has better constructions (say a dock warehouse area) simply build up the comb size. If you're operating in slums, make it smaller and reduce the spacing.

For my model of Napoli, I made up our minds that it was thick with constructions and that persons are residing in areas that extend a long way past the bounds of the map. I was originally making plans to position farms there however I realized that they'd be a lot additional out than the walls of the city correct, so I built it out that means.

Optional: Crunching Buildings into Shapes

This is an optional step that you actually will have to most effective cross into if you happen to're preparing this map for newsletter or were given a fee. It's very tedious and reeks of masochism. I can provide you with a warning: Once you get started down this darkish trail, eternally will it dominate your future.

If you've got your structures most commonly laid out, you may find that they finally end up being just a little goofy across the edges in some puts. Cleaning up those areas with a broom, pencil, or eraser can create ugly halos and opacity issues.

As with roads, you can to convert your buildings into shapes after which mess around with them.

How to Convert a Buildings Pixel Layer to a Shape Layer

Select your Buildings layer within the Layers panel. Holding down the <command> key, click at the preview icon for the Buildings layer to create a number of all pixels in the layer. Switch to the Paths panel (subsequent to the Layers tab). Click the Make paintings trail from variety icon. Switch again to the Layers panel. Go Layer -> New Fill Layer -> Solid Color. Name the layer "Buildings Shape" and set the colour to the colour of your constructions (most definitely #dddddd). You now have a fashioned layer of your buildings.

Your laptop is now groaning on account of the sheer selection of anchor points you may have.

Anchor Point Strategies

When you change your pixel structures into shapes, you're going to find yourself with a couple thousand new anchor issues. This goes to be problematic as you work as a result of your device is going to slow down one thing critical.

I like to recommend splitting your construction shape layer into a number of layers, each and every one representing a single ward. Duplicate the principle building shape layer as many times as needed and then delete all of the structures from the ward's layer that do not belong within the ward. Then you'll move about manipulating the shapes of the buildings there more simply in the event you flip off visibility of all other wards.

Fiddling with Building Shapes

Now that you simply've got your structures laid out as shapes, you'll want to mess around with them in the similar manner that you labored in your Roads Shape layer, above. This will be even more eye-burning and frustrating than the roads, I'm afraid.

I like to recommend striking a 1 pixel stroke on the inside of the buildings so you can see what you're doing. You may also need to quickly move the buildings up within the layer stack so you can see them over the roads while doing so.

When you resize and reshape your constructions, feel free to pull anchor points into the realm occupied via the roads. This will look in point of fact funky as you pass, but don't fear: you're going to rasterize and clip them later.

Rasterizing and Styling Buildings

When you've were given your constructions set out the way in which you wish to have them to be, you will want to rasterize, clip, and magnificence them, especially should you've manipulated your structures in order that a few of them have edges that cross-road limitations.

You flip off all kinds on the formed structures, rasterize them to pixels, minimize out the form of the Roads and Walls layers, after which re-apply your style.

How to Rasterize and Clip Buildings

For each layer of formed buildings, referred to as "Buildings Shape"

Duplicate the Buildings layer as "Buildings Pixels". Turn off visibility of Buildings Shape and retailer it in a backup folder. Select Buildings Pixels in the Layers panel. Right click at the Buildings Pixels layer in the Layers panel and select Clear Layer Style. The styles must disappear. Right click at the Buildings Pixels layer within the Layers panel and choose Rasterize Layer. The layer is now remodeled to pixels. With the Buildings Pixels layer still decided on, dangle down the <command> key and click on on the preview icon for your Roads layer (use whichever layer is going to be visual). The form of the Roads layer can be decided on and you'll see the marching ants. Hit the <delete> key. The constructions are now clipped to the form of the roads. Repeat the previous two steps with the Walls layer.

You may be asking of yourself, "Self, why do I want to clip my structures if the Roads layer is above them, and already clipping them?" That's a excellent query, and the solution is styling. If you observe a stroke to the development layer, the stroke will continue under the roads, and you'll get a peculiar development impact. Clip the structures, and your stroke will seem uniform. This simplest works for inside of strokes, alternatively; out of doors strokes might be hidden.

If you don't want your buildings to go proper up to the threshold of the roads, you can building up the realm the roads shape will clip by means of going Select -> Modify -> Expand and environment the worth to about 2 to Four pixels. This will build up the clip dimension of the roads layer, however be warned: you're going to most likely finally end up with some rounded corners.

There also are tactics to do that the use of layer masks, however this is outdoor of the scope of this educational.

Draw Other Areas Step 8: Add Other Areas

In addition to structures, roads, canals, and bridges, cities have other options as neatly that you will need to block out and draw. The design and drawing way for every of these can also be other but normally you will need a shape that you'll then practice kinds or patterns to.

A non-exhaustive listing of other areas can include:

Bazaars – vast, open places that are paved with stone and have small kiosks. Corrals – open places surrounded by means of fences used for containing livestock. Docks– vast, open puts which might be paved with stone. Docks can be drawn as wooden shapes or be made from stone. Gardens – smaller spaces with heavy verdancy and bushes. Graveyards – open areas with verdancy and tree clumps, or maybe simply uncooked earth. Parks – large, open areas with heavy verdancy and clumps of timber. These may also have small plazas as smartly. Plazas– wide, open puts which can be paved with stone and should not have kiosks. These areas often have large statues or shrines in them. Quarries – sunken, blocky fashioned areas that you're going to flesh out the usage of techniques described in the drawing mountains educational.

Create those layers above your Roads layer since they'll overlap. I like to stay all my space types in their very own layer team. You might find that you wish to have to merge the shapes of your new spaces in with the Landmass layer; the easiest way is to choose their pixels and paint within the Landmass layer.

For my model of Napoli, I've blocked out docks which can be constructed from stone. I have merged those shapes into the Roads layer in order that they are seamless. I've additionally added a few plaza spaces and marked out the palace grounds (a layer with a stroke however 0% fill opacity). The central anchorages are closely monitored, so I've additionally added a number of smaller docks, both for private use (to the west) or for poorer fisherfolk and smugglers (to the east).

Draw Vegetation

Cities are stuffed with vegetation although we don't ceaselessly think of them that means (just look at any city from the air; they seem like gridded forests). Trees and verdant areas are all over the place. Of course, in case your city is situated in an arid region, there won't be a lot of verdancy or massive clumps of timber; there'll, then again, be numerous scrubby vegetation and bushes which might be tricky to kill.

Lay out your verdant areas earlier than you upload your bushes so that you have an concept of where vegetation desires to grow. When laying out a verdancy layer, use the method described in the outdoors map tutorial except lay it in about two times as heavy. As same old, you will end up clipping your verdant areas (Buildings, Walls, Roads, and ultimately Trees). Set your Verdancy layer without delay above your Landmass and Elevations layers (those the place you drew cliffs or mountains, if any).

You be mindful how to draw forests, don't you? You're going to try this now. You are most probably running at a scale where particular person bushes could also be seen, so you wish to have to make use of the sparse forests method. Your Trees layer goes above Verdancy and under all structures and constructions.

Paint bushes the place bushes develop! They grow between constructions – the block interiors – but sparsely. They will grow thicker alongside city partitions that don't have abutting roads and in spaces where there's no construction (cliff edges and steep inclines). Know where the bushes will probably be reduce as smartly. Secure spaces will not have timber. These are the insides of castle walls, fortifications, or military parade grounds, or on the subject of walls that can lay up in opposition to protected areas. Dock wards and districts are unlikely to have bushes, nor will spaces of natural commerce. Trees grow thickest in lands owned by means of the rich and thinnest (and sickly) within the slums.

Lay them in flippantly inside of blocks and then whilst you're finished, set the scattering and spacing on your brush to beautiful prime values and then just run around the map dotting in spaces. Once you're done with that, clip the Trees layer: remove Roads, Walls, and Buildings. And then clip your Trees from your Verdancy.

Step 9: Add VerdancyStep 10: Add Trees Draw Wards Step 11: Draw Wards

If you wish to have to mark your city's wards or districts, now's the time to do so. City wards are just about at all times bounded via partitions or flowing water of a few sort. Areas outside of a city's partitions are incessantly named or regarded as "wards" however are hardly thought to be to be so "officially" so that you don't need to mark them.

Create a new layer group above the whole thing and call it Ward Bounds. You'll define each and every ward form within right here. This is a multi-step process that comes to growing the ward shapes and then deleting segments from those shapes so that you are left with partial paths. You're going to use the Pen instrument and a few shape options to mark them.

How to Draw Wards

For each and every ward within the metropolis:

Create a brand new layer within Ward Bounds and identify it the name of the ward (I'll use "Docks" for this example) and choose it. Switch to the Pen software. In the form options bar on the best: Set the Fill to transparent. Set the Stroke color to no matter you like (I'm the use of #910000) Set the Stroke Weight to 3 pixels or so. Set the Stroke Type to a dashed line. Draw around the ward's obstacles with the Pen tool. It's okay not to be precise; ward definitions hardly ever are. Don't pass proper up towards partitions or roads; you want to be able to see this. Add Labels Labeling Wards

Wards and districts are a created phenomenon. Pick your font accordingly (see Natural vs. Created Elements). Use a pleasing, easy font that can be readable at low opacity and big size. You need to lower the opacity of those labels and lead them to large. You don't want them to be overpowering, but you wish to have them to be helpful.

Ward names have a tendency to be very generic and steadily have ancient context. Wards are regularly named for geographical options ("River Ward"), position ("South Ward"), or serve as ("Merchant's Ward" or "Docks Ward"). Further, as the city grows, the identify of the ward would possibly lose its unique that means. The "North Ward" may end up being surrounded by means of further wards to the north, but it's name received't alternate.

For my Napoli map, I'm the use of a 16pt Crimson Bold Italic font with the colour set to #910000 – the similar colour I'm the usage of for the ward limitations. On the layer group that incorporates the layers, I'm setting that to a Multiply mix mode with a 50% fill opacity and applying a three pixel out of doors stroke of #eadcbc in Normal mode. That way, the stroke color is solid and strong but the textual content itself multiplies into the map.

Labeling Roads

Label roads exactly the same as you may do with any open air map, as described the outside map tutorial.

I don't generally tend to label roads inside of city maps as a result of I to find that they upload an excessive amount of litter. You do you, although.

Labeling Buildings

Don't. Unless your map is of a definite scale, construction labels gets lost. Instead of labeling primary buildings, use a legend and numbers.

Labeling Water

Label water precisely the similar as you possibly can do with any outside map, as described the outdoor map tutorial..

Add Grid, Title, Legend, and Scale Finished Map

Add your grid, title, and scale marker. If you're using a coordinate grid device, remember the fact that you'll drag the grid pattern location round from within the Pattern Overlay effect conversation. This is useful to set your 0,Zero level to somewhere deeper in the map.

It is every so often tough to place titles, legends, and compasses in some way that doesn't obscure portions of the map's drawing. You can check out resizing those parts if you like, however don't cause them to too small: they still have to seem strong and visible. If you can't avoid overlapping parts to your map, don't concern: it's an issue all cartographers have had. Just do your absolute best; I'm certain it is going to end up taking a look nice.

Finalize

You've drawn all your drawings and also you've set your grid and legend up! You're completed! As with other sorts of outdoors maps, there isn't numerous finalization to be completed except you're the usage of a lot of glows and need to re-rasterize them. Make sure your layers are stacked correctly.

When you're carried out, you're directly to Printing Maps.