Campaign cartographer 3

[abomination]

I'm thinking in investing in CC3. Mostly for deck plans (which I've never bothered doing before) and for the occaisional starport etc as well.

Is this the best software for this? What extras are worth investing in?

 

[aramis]

It is quite workable for doing deckplans; I've got it and have used it for such. Steep learning curve unless you have cad experience.

A lot of people seem to use Visio.

 

[coliver988]

Visio for starship deckplans

If you end up using Visio, this site has pre-made Traveller stencils: http://www.discoverthat.co.uk/floorplans/sci-fi/index.htm

I've done a couple w/2003 - look in the file library in the starships. It is fairly easy to make relatively plain but functional plans. I got lucky and got a free copy of Visio, so no up front costs other than time learning to use it, and it was not much time to do that.

 

[Commander Truestar]

If you end up using Visio, this site has pre-made Traveller stencils: http://www.discoverthat.co.uk/floorplans/sci-fi/index.htm

I've done a couple w/2003 - look in the file library in the starships. It is fairly easy to make relatively plain but functional plans. I got lucky and got a free copy of Visio, so no up front costs other than time learning to use it, and it was not much time to do that.

Neat!

I have Visio and had not seen those before...

Pardon me while I say...YOINK!!!

Marc

 

[Commander Truestar]

I'm thinking in investing in CC3. Mostly for deck plans (which I've never bothered doing before) and for the occaisional starport etc as well.

Is this the best software for this? What extras are worth investing in?

To be honest, I got Visio free from the company I worked for at the time and it still serves me well. I added to that a few years back when I took classes in Illustrator and Photoshop and a bunch of Adobe s/w and got that the Creative Suite at a student price.

As a result, I have been able to do what I want without CC's very annoying proprietary formatting. I can do what ever I want nd bounce it to almost any format to hand ot, trade off or give away. This makes being a game master very easy for me as I can design ships on the fly and shoot copies of the work to all my friends.

Now what I need is to get serious about lightwave and go 3D >

Marc

 

[Sturn]

AutoRealm is a completely free CC3 that doesn't have the steap learning curve and still has everything you need to do deckplans. I have purchased and used CC through the years, I'm now all about AutoRealm for deckplans.

There are examples and an unfinished tutorial of AutoRealm deckplans here. I have a set of Traveller library items for AutoRealm also that is available in the tutorial.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Campaign Cartographer is a very sweet program that can also output vector files to AutoCAD and Adobe Illustrator. I'm buying it when I can get some money up after the new year.

Don't forget you can get Cosmographer as an add-on program that does Subsector maps, starship layouts, etc...

 

[Sturn]

Campaign Cartographer is a very sweet program that can also......

I'm not bad-mouthing CC, I have the base CC, City Designer, and Fantasy Overland, in addition to about every old version. But, for someone just wanting to do some deckplans, CC has more then is needed, is hard to learn, and costs money. AutoRealm is free and easy.

I don't have CC3, I have used CC1, CC2, and CC2 Pro. Please tell me if CC3 is somehow much more intuitive and easy to use. Not much difference in ease of use between all of the previous editions.

That being said, I don't have the Cosmographer addition. Anyone know if it has some automated functions, or is just essentially a library pack like other expansions? As in can you just open up a sector map and drag and drop planets on to it easily, or do you only get a sector template with library icons of planets? That is something I can do on my own (creating the template and icons) without forking out $40 for another expansion that is just templates and extra icons. If it has some extra code in it to make things easier, then I would be willing to grab the Cosmographer.

 

[aramis]

CC3 interface is slightly improved over CC2Pro, but is still CAD-oriented. It has a lot more texture support, including raster images, and integrates a lot of the add-on features in the core. It's also marginally faster.

 

[IronCzar]

I have CC2 and Campaign Cosmographer. Unless I'm mistaken, Cosmographer is officially for CC2 and not CC3. However, it is indeed another pack of add-ons and templates, which you could probably port into CC3 with some trouble. There are some space map related functions, which wouldn't work in CC3, I presume.

Cosmographer, by the way, is more or less tailored with Traveller specifically in mind. Many of the templates are actual Traveller sector maps, subsector maps and so on, and the iconography for representing systems on the maps is right out of Traveller.

I've looked at AutoRealm - it's pretty basic, and appears at a glance to be much less powerful than CC. CC does have a substantial learning curve, however. I have the benefit of some years of experience, so I'm comfortable with it.

 

[Sturn]

There are some space map related functions, which wouldn't work in CC3, I presume.

I have CC2 (not CC3). It looks like they are working on upgrading Cosmographer to CC3, but haven't yet.

What are the space related functions?

I've been slowly making a sector map in AutoRealm and making icons so in the end I can just open a template and drag and drop planets and symbols upon it.

Any code that helps with sector/subsector mapping or ship mapping? I have templates and icons already in AutoRealm.

 

[RandyT0001]

When I bought CC2Pro a few years back after registering the software with ProFantasy I was able to download the manual. The CC2Pro software comes with a quick start guide to follow available to use before registering. Also various users had tutorials posted on their websites linked trough Profantasy's website for certain techniques they had developed for CC2. Since I don't have CC3 I can't be positive that there is a yahoo group devoted to CC3 (there is/was a yahoo group for CC2). http://cartographersguild.com/ by our own TravellerRPG member Ravells is a helpful forum/website for all sorts of drawing programs including CC3 (and IIRC CC2). If you download the Campaign Cartographer Manual (for whatever edition of CC you have) and take a couple weeks to follow through the manual that steep learning curve gets a whole lot flatter quick and you learn how to create good attractive maps. Visiting the forums/websites (including http://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/shipyard/cc2deckplans.html to see a tutorial I wrote on how to quickly set up CC2 for Traveller deckplans) and you soon learn other tricks to improve your skill. At that point you'll find out that you have developed your own style of mapmaking along the way.

Try the free ones where there is less official software support (due to version obsolescence hence it's downgrade to freeware) and you have to find other users that have symbols already made or have completed tutorials to help which presents it's own obstacles to quickly creating maps and deckplans. The learning curve for CC2/3 is not as hard as some say if you follow the manual for a week or two first.

YMMV

 

[aramis]

sec2cc is pretty much a major useful bit of code for CC2+Cosmo. Makes a .sec file into a CC2+Cosmo Sector Map.

The space mapping features of Cosmographer are excellent but clearly Traveller driven.

Much of Cosmographer is the pile of symbols for doing ship's deckplans. Unfortunately, most of them are for GURPS... measured in feet, not meters. 10', rather than 3m, which scales wrong. I use the beds and tables, and consoles. Not any of the prefab rooms.

FYI, My uploaded plans were done in CC2, not using the cosmo add-ins.

 

[IronCzar]

I have CC2 (not CC3). It looks like they are working on upgrading Cosmographer to CC3, but haven't yet.

What are the space related functions?

One-click buttons to add things like x-boat routes, interstellar borders and the like.

I've been slowly making a sector map in AutoRealm and making icons so in the end I can just open a template and drag and drop planets and symbols upon it.

Any code that helps with sector/subsector mapping or ship mapping? I have templates and icons already in AutoRealm.

To be honest, I have not much dabbled with deckplans, or indeed with any kind of interior plans at all in CC. However, while I am admittedly already comfortable with CC, I think that sector/subsector mapping is a snap; you pick the appropriate template, click one button up top to do space maps, and you have the whole gamut of Traveller map icons right there to place as you please. Buy default the grid snap is set up to oput them in exactly the right spot - planets in the center of the hex, gas giants a little above and to the right, and so on.

 

[Sturn]

Ok so you guys convinced me to purchase Cosmographer for my CC2 collection for making sector/subsector/world maps for Traveller.

It took me a bit to get used to the controls again. I think the primary issue with me is it is more intuitive to click an object, THEN choose what I want to do with it. That is what AutoRealm and most programs by default seem to do. CC is the opposite. Find an edit button from a long, long list then pick your object.

The Traveller mapping functions in Cosmographer make it easy to make maps. I think I could do the same with AutoRealm after making templates and icons, but it would be a lot of work on my part to get set up. Everything already in place with Cosmographer.

I haven't tried Cosmographer for deckplans. But I will probaby still use AutoRealm for vehicles and starcraft plans and graphics since it still seems much more simpler and I have already done the work to create templates and icons. And it's free, so why not try it and see if you like it, if not get Cosmographer.

For the original poster, for deckplans I would still say try out AutoRealm first using my tutorial and icons so there is not as much prep work. If you don't like it, then try with CC, but make sure to get Cosmographer.

I won't upgrade to CC3 myself until Cosmographer is upgraded to version 3 to work better with it.

 

[spinwardpirate]

I got CC3 and DD for my birthday last month. I'm a professional cartographer with over a decade of CAD experience, and... well... I haven't quite gotten a handle on it yet. That's mostly because I just haven't had the time to sit down and read and fiddle with it. What I have seen, I really like. In fact, our organization has spent millions and millions of dollars on developing a new COTS system for doing our charts, and I was joking around with the deputy director of the hydro surveys division (a fellow gamer) saying we could use CC3 for our next system when this new one fails. So yeah, even for an experienced cartographer there's a learning curve, but... I can't wait for Cosmographer to come out for CC3!

 

[PVernon]

Cosmographer 3 demo

http://simonjrogers.livejournal.com/89254.html

 

[Sturn]

http://simonjrogers.livejournal.com/89254.html

Yes I found that also. Looks nice. Not something I would use for classic Traveller starmaps, but if I ever played 2300 AD again, it would be great.

 

[Tysis]

There is a cosmographer update for CC3. You can download it for free if you have registered your copy for CC2.

Also, the Annual (Volume I) has some templates and such for deck plans. They are a bit basic but would do.

 

[Redcap]

Hmm... I popped over to the Cartographers Guild site today, first time in a long time (close to a year, actually). Dunno what the hell they've done to it, but it scrolls really badly, hurts the eyes to try and read it, so I won't be using that site for a while. Hell of a shame.

The reason I visited there?

I wanted to find a tutorial on how the hell I can import a bmp file into CC2 - every time I try, I get a "bitmap is too large to embed in drawing" error, for pities sake

So, here's the thing: I'm trying to import an isocahedral export from Fractal Terrains Pro in bmp format into CC2 (using the planetary hexmap template in cc2, "World Template (Hex) FCT") that I can then save as an FCW and reopen in CC3.

This is a gif of the image, for example purposes.

This is a link to the 600 px wide bmp,
http://www.practicalairsoft.co.uk/hnaar/images/hnaar-600pix-wide.bmp
And this is a link t the 2048px wide bmp.
http://www.practicalairsoft.co.uk/hnaar/images/hnaar-2048pix-wide.bmp

I'd appreciate any and all advice - or even pointers to tutorials, cause I'm sure I've missed something simple here
Thanks in advance