blackphoenix
Mongoose
I've been busily making deck plans on graph paper, but surely there must be something better that everyone else is using. Suggestions?
Making deck plans?
- Thread starter blackphoenix
- Start date
RandyT0001
Mongoose
There is:
Adobe Illustrator
Photoshop Elements
Paint Shop Pro 7
AutoREALM
CorelDraw
Canvas
MS Paint
Campaign Cartographer
GIMP
NBOS' Fractal Mapper
Some are free like AutoRealm and Gimp
Some are commercial produced products for the game industry like NBOS and Campaign Cartographer
Some are professional software packages costing hundreds of dollars that some architects use in their profession like Canvas and CorelDraw
I use Campaign Cartographer2 Pro and have written a essay on how to use it to draw deckplans.
Try out some of the free stuff first and see if it works for you. If you need a bit of help try the yahoo group. We're mostly friendly.
Adobe Illustrator
Photoshop Elements
Paint Shop Pro 7
AutoREALM
CorelDraw
Canvas
MS Paint
Campaign Cartographer
GIMP
NBOS' Fractal Mapper
Some are free like AutoRealm and Gimp
Some are commercial produced products for the game industry like NBOS and Campaign Cartographer
Some are professional software packages costing hundreds of dollars that some architects use in their profession like Canvas and CorelDraw
I use Campaign Cartographer2 Pro and have written a essay on how to use it to draw deckplans.
Try out some of the free stuff first and see if it works for you. If you need a bit of help try the yahoo group. We're mostly friendly.
Hi,
I use a combination of an AutoCAD clone called IntelliCAd/AcceliCAD and Paint Shop Pro, though sometimes I start be making the hullform up in another program (such as Hexagon 2.2). Anyway, here is an example of the kind of stuff I've come up with.
http://members.cox.net/psjn/M100/Pocket Trader.pdf
Regards
PF
I use a combination of an AutoCAD clone called IntelliCAd/AcceliCAD and Paint Shop Pro, though sometimes I start be making the hullform up in another program (such as Hexagon 2.2). Anyway, here is an example of the kind of stuff I've come up with.
http://members.cox.net/psjn/M100/Pocket Trader.pdf
Regards
PF
GypsyComet
Emperor Mongoose
I (as a Mac user) use AppleWorks for the most part, as the "more professional" drafting tools largely fail to keep up with my train of thought during design work.
Klaus Kipling
Mongoose
I do everything in Flash nowadays. The drawing tools are excellent.
I swear by AutoRealm. Easier to learn then Campaign Cartographer (which I also have used), but still has everything you need for Traveller deckplans. It is a CAD program. It thus can create classic Traveller deckplans with much more detail. But if you want a "painting" program, this is not it.
Example of what I have done as an amuteur with AutoRealm is here.
I have a tutorial for AutoRealm someplace, not quite complete. Looks like I screwed up my url's last time I uploaded. If interested I will have to fix it next upload.
[EDIT] AutoRealm is a "vector" drawer as explained below.
Example of what I have done as an amuteur with AutoRealm is here.
I have a tutorial for AutoRealm someplace, not quite complete. Looks like I screwed up my url's last time I uploaded. If interested I will have to fix it next upload.
[EDIT] AutoRealm is a "vector" drawer as explained below.
A vector package is the easiest to use. Serif do a decent one, Draw Plus, that is a lot cheaper than the big ones like Corel Draw and older versions are cheaper again, cropping up on magazine cover discs or there is Xara. There are probably some free ones as well. I have been using vector packages for not far off twenty years and I find them all fairly similar to use, all but one, I find Adobe Illustrator incomprehensible but then I am no fan of Photoshop either, yes it does almost anything but the learning curve is steep.
Why vector?
You are working with lines and shapes rather than just pixels so it is infinitely scalable.
You can use a grid which makes life so much easier.
It is easy to layer elements - such as interior compartments over a coloured hull outline.
It is very easy to cut and paste common pieces - and you can often save ones you use a lot to a library.
Basically I am used to vector. Fans of bitmaps will not agree of course but whatever works for you...
Why vector?
You are working with lines and shapes rather than just pixels so it is infinitely scalable.
You can use a grid which makes life so much easier.
It is easy to layer elements - such as interior compartments over a coloured hull outline.
It is very easy to cut and paste common pieces - and you can often save ones you use a lot to a library.
Basically I am used to vector. Fans of bitmaps will not agree of course but whatever works for you...
GypsyComet
Emperor Mongoose
To partially translate klingsor's use of the term "vector package", you want to look for, as a general rule, "drawing" or "drafting" software instead of "painting" software. These types of graphics software deal with objects instead of pixels, so a line is defined as a line, not as a collection of dots.
CAD (Computer Aided Design) programs are "drafting" software. Many of them can do deckplans, but not all of them are optimised to be good at it for a casual user (and frankly gamers are the very definition of "casual users").
The software than can think the same way but has a high level of user "friendly" interface on top tend to be termed "drawing" software. COREL Draw, Adobe Illustrator, SketchUp, and a number of others fall into this category, and this is where most of the best tools for deckplans are to be found.
"Paint" programs (including MS Paint, early Photoshop, Painter, and many others) are the pixel based packages, and tend to be a bit tough to use for good deckplan work due to the nature of editing.
The package I use (AppleWorks) is one of the oddities in that it is a general productivity package with both "paint" and "draw" tools. While hardly a top of the line package, it has most of the tools a deckplanner needs, and is easy to use.
The bottom line is to find the tool that suits you. As long as your chosen software can save your work in a form you can readily share with others, go with what works for you.
CAD (Computer Aided Design) programs are "drafting" software. Many of them can do deckplans, but not all of them are optimised to be good at it for a casual user (and frankly gamers are the very definition of "casual users").
The software than can think the same way but has a high level of user "friendly" interface on top tend to be termed "drawing" software. COREL Draw, Adobe Illustrator, SketchUp, and a number of others fall into this category, and this is where most of the best tools for deckplans are to be found.
"Paint" programs (including MS Paint, early Photoshop, Painter, and many others) are the pixel based packages, and tend to be a bit tough to use for good deckplan work due to the nature of editing.
The package I use (AppleWorks) is one of the oddities in that it is a general productivity package with both "paint" and "draw" tools. While hardly a top of the line package, it has most of the tools a deckplanner needs, and is easy to use.
The bottom line is to find the tool that suits you. As long as your chosen software can save your work in a form you can readily share with others, go with what works for you.
EDG said:All that said, the advantage of graph paper is that it's practically free, doesn't have a massive learning curve, and you're not stuck if a symbol isn't available.
It's also harder to rescale, and uses a much slower rescaling calculator, and requires a file format conversion involving extra hardware to share on the net.
far-trader
Mongoose
EDG said:All that said, the advantage of graph paper is that it's practically free, doesn't have a massive learning curve, and you're not stuck if a symbol isn't available
:lol:
I find the software is in serious need of an update. It has become very slow and crashes far too regularly. It used to be quite quick and could run for hours but that was years ago.
And the hardware is prone to losing resolution with multiple undoes and redoes while the tool box never seems to be where I left it.
I do like the fact that it has not yet been a victim of a power spike or brownout and the continuous save is great. Though the cataloging system needs some improvement, archives can be hard to find quickly.
Again on the plus side, the cordless tablet format and intuitive draw tools are great and it does boot up almost instantly, when I can find the tablet.
Overall it's probably the one I use the most. Followed by AppleWorks/ClarisWorks/AppleWorks though lately I've been playing with SketchUp and Paint (because the Mac is offline). I've dabbled in others but always seemed to come back to AW/CW/AW though SketchUp may win me over.
ninthcouncil
Mongoose
klingsor said:
For many years I've been using Serif Draw Plus and have found it more than adequate. An old but serviceable version of it is available as a free download from http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/, though I've had trouble getting it to work on a Vista machine in the last couple of days.
Don't forget Campaign Cartographer. They have a Cosmographer add-on specifically for science fiction roleplaying games. It has symbol sets and templates for Traveller style star maps and world maps as well as deck plans.
Simon Hibbs
Simon Hibbs
Thanks for the clarification.
Serif are quite good about updates, once you buy a programme you get the upgrades for a good price.
I have Campaign Cartographer as well but have never really made a serious attempt to use it - which is all rather embarrassing. Hopefully getting back into Traveller will provide the necessary focus.
Serif are quite good about updates, once you buy a programme you get the upgrades for a good price.
I have Campaign Cartographer as well but have never really made a serious attempt to use it - which is all rather embarrassing. Hopefully getting back into Traveller will provide the necessary focus.
