It was a means to an end, many people have maps they'll need to digitize so I don't, well, fully regret it! I wish I hadn't gone all out though. As I've said, I do hate myself! :)
@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub I recommend Photofiltre 6.5.3 (free software similar to but much better than MS Paint). There are free versions with and without layer options.
This is true, but I'm too familiar with the software to change. I use GIMP for almost everything now anyways, and my hardcore days of MS paint are behind me. Plus, it's a part of the A E S T E T I C but I do appreciate your input! :)
What an awesome approach to worldbuilding! I'm super into role playing games, and using GIS is such an interesting way to go about creating the world. Nice job!
I've been structuring a lot of the pacing in my fictional setting around how long it takes to get from point A to B. You can also map path lines and points in time, which has been extremely useful for planning. Glad it's been helpful!
so i have huge respect for you sir! its a great video! i did qgis in school for engineering purposes and now that i am making my-shelf my first one shot. so i found logical to use qgis to make the map. its a program i kind of know and like, so i started... and then got stuck for 3 days ( trying to use the stuff i knew and then problem solve, what i wanted to achieve ) .i decided to google if anyone had used it for dnd or other fictional maps and then i found your video ... and to my surprise you already did! .... i found it pretty informative. ( and so much more entertaining than the ones i saw for school) great video and very helpful! thank you :D
Well shux! 😊 thanks, I really appreciate you taking the time to comment! I took some Arcmap classes during school and when my student license expired I figured Q couldn't be too much different, I found no google results on a topic I was very passionate about and had rudimentary video editing knowledge. It's really been nice to spread this around, and comments like yours make the hours spent editing and creating worthwhile! Thanks for stopping by, happy maps!
Good video. Thanks for posting. There seems to be a sea-to-sea river in the Bosropa area (9:26). Is it some kind of magical stream? Two different rivers born in extremely close locations? A plain mistake? ...
I hear you. I fixed all that a while ago here: ruclips.net/video/lV8AlMbQnUA/видео.html I just needed to read up on rivers is all, at the time of making this I was more concerned with getting all the GIS to work.
Well that's neat. I currently use QGIS cloud, but I'll have to look into that because I've been wanting something different and more interactive. Thanks for the heads up!
Hey man, I hope you read this. I am looking for ages for a way to convert the landmasses I have drawn by hand to a projection that would not distort their size when I put them onto the globe in GPlates. I saw that yours fit perfectly onto the globe without any distortion. How did you achieve this? What do I need to do to put my drawn continents onto a globe without them being distorted in their shape?
It is worth noting that mine did not fit perfectly. I created a raster image where a pixel represented a mile, and scaled that to approximately half the size of earth. Turning a globe into a hemisphere is messy business. My scale suffered the brunt of that. I use an example in the video (timestamp: 4:05) of how a distance which was originally 1500 miles measured nearly 4000 after applying the image onto the GPlates globe. However, I believe the continental shapes remained the same because the scale I worked on (half the size of earth) allowed everything to be stretched uniformly in a rather even ratio. All of my maps were drawn using the same scale as raster images for separate areas of the spheroid, which means I also failed to account for how the Mercator projection would distort my continental shapes. It is not entirely obvious in the video, but if you pause and looked at my stitched together map in Gimp (timestamp 2:27) you can see most of continents are approximately the same size. When you return to GPlates globe and compare, you can see there is a fair bit of distortion. I had to rework the entire scaling of my world based on the revelations that came from this video. I don't mention its consequences explicitly, but I went from something medium to a very large (and more difficult to manage) area of land. The scale shrank somewhat when I exported the SHP files to QGIS, but I'm still around the 3000 mile mark for the aforementioned distance, which effectively doubled my scale. Don't be discouraged by distortion. If you want to maintain the shape of your continents, I would suggest drawing them all on the same scale (digitally, for better precision) and know how the scale you're drawing them on stacks-up relative to earth. This will help because it's what most 'real' map making software uses as a spatial reference, and that will make things easy. When you have a 'pixels of occupied map' to earth-distance ratio, toss it into GPlates and the shapes should shrink and/or grow a bit, but ultimately maintain their aesthetic value. I should inform you, I am by no means an expert on this and am referencing the singular instance in which I got it to work. I did not try other ratios, scales, or even extensive study of GIS. I have anecdotal knowledge from messing around, and I do really hope it helps. Thank you for taking the time to watch and ask questions. Stay well
No distortion, I just dragged the existing image files into Gimp (same color background on the MSPaint maps and 23000x10750 Gimp image) and did some minor rotations to arrange everything as I liked it. I wouldn't redraw all of that from scratch, just a stitch job! Glad you enjoyed, I'll hopefully be releasing a video on a similar topic later next week.
When you say "dumping my map straight into QGIS", what format is the map in? That's probably an issue, but I cannot help until you clarify. If you drag an image file into QGIS, you will have issues. I believe that's what you are referring to. I *think* You can make this work, but you'll need to answer my first question before I can continue.
@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub hi, thanks for responding. In a way, your follow-up questions helped me zero in on what I was actually trying to do, which was to georeference vector files so I could place them in QGIS. I discovered that this can be done by using the affine transformation tools inside QGIS proper. And the file type I used was DXF. So thanks for helping me clarify what I was trying to do.
I have a very quick question about GPlates: How do I show more meridians than just 0, 30, 60 etc? - I'd like to show the meridians in intervals of 10 if possible. Thanks
I'm not sure that you can display more than 0/30/60. GPlates is not a very flexible program. I flipped through the settings just a moment ago, and I do not see a way to do this automatically. However, if it is essential you have meridians every ten, I would recommend drawing them onto the image you wrap around the globe; Or use the polygon tool to draw the meridians on the globe yourself. I think the program lets you draw circles, and you can view the latitude and longitude in the bottom right-hand corner of the window when moving the mouse over the globe. that should help you approximate. Hope this was useful! Happy mapping!
@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub Thanks for the reply. I figured out that I can import the data from GPlates into QGIS and use gradicules from data packages to have meridian lines. Thanks for the tutorial!
@@PigglePigSwillbucket oh hell yeah! So you just make a .shp file with the same projection and desired meridians, then import it into Q? That's brilliant. I'm sore I didn't think of that but it makes perfect sense. I've been out of the GIS game for a while, so thank YOU for the tutorial as well lol, I'll pass your advice along if anyone asks the same question.
I imported the .shp files from gplates in but the shapes are a bit off. How do I import them in a way that the program can interpret them correctly? The shapes aren't that complicated I just want to change the projection so that I can focus on my main continents better.
Oh so you just used planet earth as spheroid. Clever! I am trying to map on a custom spheroid for years in qgis and still there are difficulties. I have one crs barely working now. If you know something about creating a custom datum for a custom spheroid and apply custom geographic and projected coordinate reference systems, please show us!
Oh wow. I didn't even know you could do that to be honest, very cool. You sound more qualified to make a video on that imo, I feel like creating a custom spheroid is wayyyy over my head. Currently I use WGS84. It works consistently within a usable scale at most levels of zoom, but when taken to extremes the shapes are no longer tied to the scale, and I get an error message. Not really sure what that means, but I take it there is something peculiar about how my coordinates are associated with the CRS. I couldn't really tell you much more than that, like I said, I'm not really qualified to get into the mineusha of GIS on that level. My scale was distorted when moving the .Shp files from Gplates into Q, so I assume there was a different spheroid used, and the errors in scaling are a result of not have a greater 'canvas' to reference when working with a scale the numbers can no longer account for? Like I said, I'm in over my head on this question but it's a real thinker. Let me know if this makes sense/tell my why it doesn't if you find the time.
@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub Well I was told it was possible to add a custom ellipsoid to the database but until now i did not find out, how it works. I would love to talk to you via discord, to exchange experiences, if you like!
Do you mean, how did I determine its shape and size? Or do you mean, literally how did I draw it? I have a tutorial I made on this. If you would like an explanation on how to get started, follow the link below! It should answer your question regardless. ruclips.net/video/drtE0MlbwE8/видео.html
Those were the early days, but yes, parts of it bug me as well. All I can really do is refer you to the link below, where I've since adjusted how biomes are placed in the world. Since using a climate-based approach instead of a world map for encounters, I've changed lot of things, but left others entirely the same. Hence, I am curious about what exactly 'bugs the hell' out of you. I don't say that to be persnickety; the standards of most folks have taught me a lot since this was posted, and I'm curious what specifically you'd have to say! Maybe you're an ecologist who could be a massive help to my process, who knows? Here are the videos where I improve upon the original map: ruclips.net/video/UJfHJyeMyMI/видео.html ruclips.net/video/lV8AlMbQnUA/видео.html
If I'd wanted to make my map using procedural generation, I would have. I've spent years creating the setting in a lot of different ways. I wouldn't have wanted Azgaar, or anything like it rob me of the details and culture I've created along the way. You do you, though! It definitely saves you time.
@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub Actually, Azgaar isn't just about procedural generation. You can edit a lot of thing in that (heightmap, biome, river, state, route, culture, etc.) So it can function as a map editor. Just FYI. Anyway, I really like this video. Thanks.
@@jaoeoek1980 Oh neat ! I didn't learn that in my google search. For regional maps I've been using a DEM that approximates my desired topography and features, but that's something to look into. Thanks!
Me: This map was made in MS Paint? But
Video: I also hate myself
Me: Ah, there it is
It was a means to an end, many people have maps they'll need to digitize so I don't, well, fully regret it! I wish I hadn't gone all out though. As I've said, I do hate myself! :)
@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub I recommend Photofiltre 6.5.3 (free software similar to but much better than MS Paint). There are free versions with and without layer options.
This is true, but I'm too familiar with the software to change. I use GIMP for almost everything now anyways, and my hardcore days of MS paint are behind me. Plus, it's a part of the A E S T E T I C but I do appreciate your input! :)
You are amazing
this is exactly what i was looking for for years instead of handrawing it for over 13 years
thank you
What an awesome approach to worldbuilding! I'm super into role playing games, and using GIS is such an interesting way to go about creating the world. Nice job!
This is awesome. I've been looking for this kind of a solution for a long time. Not just for gaming, but for fiction.
I've been structuring a lot of the pacing in my fictional setting around how long it takes to get from point A to B. You can also map path lines and points in time, which has been extremely useful for planning. Glad it's been helpful!
so i have huge respect for you sir! its a great video! i did qgis in school for engineering purposes and now that i am making my-shelf my first one shot. so i found logical to use qgis to make the map. its a program i kind of know and like, so i started... and then got stuck for 3 days ( trying to use the stuff i knew and then problem solve, what i wanted to achieve ) .i decided to google if anyone had used it for dnd or other fictional maps and then i found your video ... and to my surprise you already did! .... i found it pretty informative. ( and so much more entertaining than the ones i saw for school) great video and very helpful! thank you :D
Well shux! 😊 thanks, I really appreciate you taking the time to comment! I took some Arcmap classes during school and when my student license expired I figured Q couldn't be too much different, I found no google results on a topic I was very passionate about and had rudimentary video editing knowledge. It's really been nice to spread this around, and comments like yours make the hours spent editing and creating worthwhile! Thanks for stopping by, happy maps!
i'd love to see a live stream or a longer video of you guiding us through this while showing us the tipps and tricks that you know of.
I have plans for that, it may be a while but stay posted!
Good video. Thanks for posting.
There seems to be a sea-to-sea river in the Bosropa area (9:26). Is it some kind of magical stream? Two different rivers born in extremely close locations? A plain mistake? ...
I hear you. I fixed all that a while ago here:
ruclips.net/video/lV8AlMbQnUA/видео.html
I just needed to read up on rivers is all, at the time of making this I was more concerned with getting all the GIS to work.
You can actually export it with LeafletJS and publish it as an interactive map on a website.
Well that's neat. I currently use QGIS cloud, but I'll have to look into that because I've been wanting something different and more interactive. Thanks for the heads up!
Hey man, I hope you read this. I am looking for ages for a way to convert the landmasses I have drawn by hand to a projection that would not distort their size when I put them onto the globe in GPlates. I saw that yours fit perfectly onto the globe without any distortion. How did you achieve this? What do I need to do to put my drawn continents onto a globe without them being distorted in their shape?
It is worth noting that mine did not fit perfectly. I created a raster image where a pixel represented a mile, and scaled that to approximately half the size of earth. Turning a globe into a hemisphere is messy business. My scale suffered the brunt of that. I use an example in the video (timestamp: 4:05) of how a distance which was originally 1500 miles measured nearly 4000 after applying the image onto the GPlates globe. However, I believe the continental shapes remained the same because the scale I worked on (half the size of earth) allowed everything to be stretched uniformly in a rather even ratio.
All of my maps were drawn using the same scale as raster images for separate areas of the spheroid, which means I also failed to account for how the Mercator projection would distort my continental shapes. It is not entirely obvious in the video, but if you pause and looked at my stitched together map in Gimp (timestamp 2:27) you can see most of continents are approximately the same size. When you return to GPlates globe and compare, you can see there is a fair bit of distortion. I had to rework the entire scaling of my world based on the revelations that came from this video. I don't mention its consequences explicitly, but I went from something medium to a very large (and more difficult to manage) area of land. The scale shrank somewhat when I exported the SHP files to QGIS, but I'm still around the 3000 mile mark for the aforementioned distance, which effectively doubled my scale.
Don't be discouraged by distortion. If you want to maintain the shape of your continents, I would suggest drawing them all on the same scale (digitally, for better precision) and know how the scale you're drawing them on stacks-up relative to earth. This will help because it's what most 'real' map making software uses as a spatial reference, and that will make things easy. When you have a 'pixels of occupied map' to earth-distance ratio, toss it into GPlates and the shapes should shrink and/or grow a bit, but ultimately maintain their aesthetic value. I should inform you, I am by no means an expert on this and am referencing the singular instance in which I got it to work. I did not try other ratios, scales, or even extensive study of GIS. I have anecdotal knowledge from messing around, and I do really hope it helps. Thank you for taking the time to watch and ask questions.
Stay well
Impressive.Well done.
at about 2:20, did you distort and stitch together your existing images or redraw the large from scratch? Thanks, really enjoyed the video.
No distortion, I just dragged the existing image files into Gimp (same color background on the MSPaint maps and 23000x10750 Gimp image) and did some minor rotations to arrange everything as I liked it. I wouldn't redraw all of that from scratch, just a stitch job! Glad you enjoyed, I'll hopefully be releasing a video on a similar topic later next week.
So the reason I'm having such a hard time dumping my map straight into QGIS is because it doesn't have a coordinates connected to it?
When you say "dumping my map straight into QGIS", what format is the map in? That's probably an issue, but I cannot help until you clarify. If you drag an image file into QGIS, you will have issues. I believe that's what you are referring to. I *think* You can make this work, but you'll need to answer my first question before I can continue.
@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub hi, thanks for responding. In a way, your follow-up questions helped me zero in on what I was actually trying to do, which was to georeference vector files so I could place them in QGIS. I discovered that this can be done by using the affine transformation tools inside QGIS proper. And the file type I used was DXF. So thanks for helping me clarify what I was trying to do.
I have a very quick question about GPlates: How do I show more meridians than just 0, 30, 60 etc? - I'd like to show the meridians in intervals of 10 if possible. Thanks
I'm not sure that you can display more than 0/30/60. GPlates is not a very flexible program. I flipped through the settings just a moment ago, and I do not see a way to do this automatically. However, if it is essential you have meridians every ten, I would recommend drawing them onto the image you wrap around the globe; Or use the polygon tool to draw the meridians on the globe yourself. I think the program lets you draw circles, and you can view the latitude and longitude in the bottom right-hand corner of the window when moving the mouse over the globe. that should help you approximate. Hope this was useful! Happy mapping!
@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub Thanks for the reply. I figured out that I can import the data from GPlates into QGIS and use gradicules from data packages to have meridian lines. Thanks for the tutorial!
@@PigglePigSwillbucket oh hell yeah! So you just make a .shp file with the same projection and desired meridians, then import it into Q? That's brilliant. I'm sore I didn't think of that but it makes perfect sense. I've been out of the GIS game for a while, so thank YOU for the tutorial as well lol, I'll pass your advice along if anyone asks the same question.
@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub Yes! Thanks again!
I have been wanting to know how to do something like this for my DnD games. Thanks!
I imported the .shp files from gplates in but the shapes are a bit off. How do I import them in a way that the program can interpret them correctly? The shapes aren't that complicated I just want to change the projection so that I can focus on my main continents better.
Oh so you just used planet earth as spheroid. Clever! I am trying to map on a custom spheroid for years in qgis and still there are difficulties. I have one crs barely working now. If you know something about creating a custom datum for a custom spheroid and apply custom geographic and projected coordinate reference systems, please show us!
Oh wow. I didn't even know you could do that to be honest, very cool. You sound more qualified to make a video on that imo, I feel like creating a custom spheroid is wayyyy over my head. Currently I use WGS84. It works consistently within a usable scale at most levels of zoom, but when taken to extremes the shapes are no longer tied to the scale, and I get an error message. Not really sure what that means, but I take it there is something peculiar about how my coordinates are associated with the CRS. I couldn't really tell you much more than that, like I said, I'm not really qualified to get into the mineusha of GIS on that level. My scale was distorted when moving the .Shp files from Gplates into Q, so I assume there was a different spheroid used, and the errors in scaling are a result of not have a greater 'canvas' to reference when working with a scale the numbers can no longer account for?
Like I said, I'm in over my head on this question but it's a real thinker. Let me know if this makes sense/tell my why it doesn't if you find the time.
@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub Well I was told it was possible to add a custom ellipsoid to the database but until now i did not find out, how it works. I would love to talk to you via discord, to exchange experiences, if you like!
How do you get the rectangular ocean?
Do you mean, how did I determine its shape and size? Or do you mean, literally how did I draw it?
I have a tutorial I made on this. If you would like an explanation on how to get started, follow the link below! It should answer your question regardless.
ruclips.net/video/drtE0MlbwE8/видео.html
Is that the fuckin' theme from El Chavo del Ocho?
Maybe? Idk what that is. It's Beethoven's Turkish March and then Mozart's Turkish March, if your media used either of those, yes!
Gud shit
6:29 1v1 me in Edgeville noob
Lmao in a year and a half nobody ever bothered to comment on that. Give me your username and I'll friend you if I ever log back on haha
Trying to make subliminal messages?
Unfortunately that's too subliminal for me know what you mean lol
I love your world building, but some of your ecology bugs the hell out of me.
Those were the early days, but yes, parts of it bug me as well. All I can really do is refer you to the link below, where I've since adjusted how biomes are placed in the world. Since using a climate-based approach instead of a world map for encounters, I've changed lot of things, but left others entirely the same. Hence, I am curious about what exactly 'bugs the hell' out of you. I don't say that to be persnickety; the standards of most folks have taught me a lot since this was posted, and I'm curious what specifically you'd have to say! Maybe you're an ecologist who could be a massive help to my process, who knows?
Here are the videos where I improve upon the original map:
ruclips.net/video/UJfHJyeMyMI/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/lV8AlMbQnUA/видео.html
holy mother of ra just use azgaar
If I'd wanted to make my map using procedural generation, I would have. I've spent years creating the setting in a lot of different ways. I wouldn't have wanted Azgaar, or anything like it rob me of the details and culture I've created along the way. You do you, though! It definitely saves you time.
@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub Actually, Azgaar isn't just about procedural generation. You can edit a lot of thing in that (heightmap, biome, river, state, route, culture, etc.) So it can function as a map editor. Just FYI.
Anyway, I really like this video. Thanks.
@@jaoeoek1980 Oh neat ! I didn't learn that in my google search. For regional maps I've been using a DEM that approximates my desired topography and features, but that's something to look into. Thanks!