Worlds

Not sure if anyone wants worlds or not, but just in case. Some are from Fractal Terrains then exported to GIMP to map to a sphere, the gas giants are pure GIMP from a tutorial. Need to get back to the other fractal system I sometimes use.
I used to have a few ISS maps and things back on the old art forums. I can plop them back here if anyone want them. I just like making up worlds (then go way beyond the MOAR principle, but hey, we each get our fun where we can!)

 

[coliver988]

was working for an MTU world, messing with the hexes from T5

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

World making is fun stuff!

 

[coliver988]

World making is fun stuff!

It is - one of the best parts of Traveller is that there are built-in solo games and things to do. I sometimes also do system maps - play with a lot of formats.

 

[coliver988]

Trane (TravellerMap) is OTU and I did some write-ups for my game I was running a few years back. I tend to get carried away, and sadly the group barely stayed there. But it was fun making all this up and searching for interesting pictures.

The world-guide PDF was too large to attach, so here is a link to my OneDrive copy of it. Hopefully it works okay.

 

[whartung]

How are you creating these?

 

[coliver988]

I have a couple world generating programs, one console-based, the other GUI. Both produce interesting worlds. Then I use GIMP to map the flat world on to a sphere. The console-based program allows me to add grid lines and stuff if I want (as well as a lot of different projections; the GUI has a similar set of options). With GIMP, I can also add clouds via a plug-in, and when making the globes, rotate it and change the lighting (I really don't do much with that, though I will often make 6 versions of the globe, 4 at 90 degrees from each other, and then 1 for each of the poles).

The gas giants I found this tutorial on: https://celestia.space/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19707

The system maps are actually just done with Google drawing mostly: it is a pretty comprehensive drawing program and worth the cost I search for interesting backgrounds and plop my stuff on top.

PDFs depend on a number of things: I use Microsoft Publisher for the guide books (same software Freelance Journal uses - I've been using it for a long, long time and still just get by).

GIMP is free software and very powerful - I know enough to get what I want done but I am not great at it. I do a lot of web searches to find out how to do things.

Fractal Terrains is the GUI. and http://hjemmesider.diku.dk/~torbenm/Planet/ has the console-based (Windows) version. As mentioned in a poll - I do spend an inordinate amount of time playing with worlds.

edit: forgot I have a 3rd world program: planetgen. You can search for that.

 

[coliver988]

Olympia. Used the command tool, and this was the seed (the -pp says use the Peters projection. Once I find a map I like, I go through several projections using the same seed. w/h are width & height, i is for the sea level (sort of) and I can't recall the S. When I start on a world, all the data, maps, etc goes into a directory so it is all in 1 place)

planet -w 1600 -h 1200 -s .089910 -o planets/olympia/olympiaPeters.bmp -pp -i -.0565 -S

The ISS map is done by exporting in that projection (and now I can't recall), then in GIMP adding a layer on top that is the hex grid. The last few times I did this I tried to use the hex grid from T5 that matched the world size - this one is probably generic hex.

I created the hex grids from the T5 PDF by copying the image, then select the grid line color, and everything else becomes transparent. Once I have that library & can just drop them on top of my "scout" maps.

Most my maps are actually too large for COTI - I tend to make large images and then scale later to fit whatever.

edit: guess I could do a blog post with some instructions if there is any interest. Unlike Shawn, it will just be text & pictures as I am too lazy to edit a video capture.

 

[coliver988]

Cyan (TravellerMap link), Imperial system with a Scout Way Station

I stuck the way station in the planetoid belt. The players never noticed the naming convention for the way station's various sub-stations and processes. I was trying to make a map that looked like what you might see on the sensors.

 

[coliver988]

I did a tutorial on my blog for the command line tool I used. I should have used a smaller map size - the images are all too large for COTI. Blog in is my sig below. I'll probably do a few other short tutorials if there is any interest. Though screen shots work

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Neat.

 

[coliver988]

did a 2nd tutorial on how to take a 2D map to a sphere. Used GIMP, free software available on most platforms.

 

[whartung]

I grabbed the source of that planet generator, and ported in to Java.

I have it making simple movies.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Next trick ... linking it in to TravellerMap and Traveller Worlds to generate 3D globes from imported common format data sources to integrate with TravellerMap as an optional extra ...

 

[coliver988]

Next trick ... linking it in to TravellerMap and Traveller Worlds to generate 3D globes from imported common format data sources to integrate with TravellerMap as an optional extra ...

unless you save off the seed and a couple other options it would change each time. issue with the program is it is a fractal/procedural based world generator. But yes, it could be done as if you look at the link for the console version, it can be done on the web just fine.

but it could be an interesting option, yes.

 

[Grav_Moped]

I grabbed the source of that planet generator, and ported in to Java.

I have it making simple movies.

That is so 1950s SF looking -- in the best way. Back before we knew what the atmosphere looked like from space, because we hadn't been up there to look at it yet.

 

[kilemall]

That is so 1950s SF looking -- in the best way. Back before we knew what the atmosphere looked like from space, because we hadn't been up there to look at it yet.

Weather is a whole other thing to sim, with differing grav/atmo composition/hydro/stellar energy input due to star class and orbit/biologicals’ effects- whew.

 

[whartung]

Yea, my hope is to covert the planet in to an actual 3D model, and then put a "cloud bubble" of some kind on top of it.

Mind, I can't even spell 3D, so there's that little hurdle first. Then we can look at noise based cloud creation.

 

[coliver988]

I just fake it: use a cloud filter in GIMP before mapping to a sphere. Close enough for game purposes. I was poking through the various filters and there are some interesting ones you can run on images to make them look a lot different, from more cartoon-like to really odd-ball things.

attached are the original, then various filters. Some could be seen as various sensor images or that sort of thing.

 

[coliver988]

and these worlds are not really anything artistic per se by me: I just use existing tools (most free/open source, a few I've paid for). So kudos to the developers who created those tools. Now, me using the results and sticking into Traveller-like things, that is me at least. But building/copying on what others have done.

I've not really messed much with those filters, but now I see quite a number of possibilities (and not just for worlds: I can use old pictures from vacations and make scenes for games....

Cartoon version & original (from a park up in MD)