Quad Cities Map [Quenched]

[natty dread]

Ah. But you have the territories as a separate layer? I mean the coloured part of the territories, not the territory borders?

[ironsij0287]

Ah. But you have the territories as a separate layer? I mean the coloured part of the territories, not the territory borders?

Borders and colors are together on the same layer.

I could beef up the relief a bit more. Like this.

[ironsij0287]

But now that you mentioned it, making the borders and polygons separate layers is a smart idea in the future.

[natty dread]

Ok, it doesn't matter that the borders are on the same layer actually. But yeah, in the future it would be a good rule of thumb to put everything, I mean everything, on it's own layer. That way if you have to make changes to one element it will be much easier for you.

Anyway, go to the layer where you have the territories. Since you use photoshop, you should be able to use layer styles to bevel them. I'm not sure but I think they're somewhere in the layer options... From the layer styles, select inner bevel, and play with the settings until it looks good. Set the angle of light to 135 or 45 so that the light comes from either upper left or upper right...

[isaiah40]

If want to add a bevel to the bonus regions, right click on the layer and select Blending options, then select Bevel and Emboss. Then play around with the settings!

[ironsij0287]

Yeah, I really don't like using the bevel and emboss tool. What about this to make things pop more?

Click image to enlarge.

[natty dread]

Yeah, I really don't like using the bevel and emboss tool.

You don't "like" using it?

Those white things don't work, sorry. They stick out too much, but do nothing to pop out the land area from the background.

Try the bevel and let us see how it looks.

[RjBeals]

i don't really like bevel either, unless it's very very subtle.

[natty dread]

Yes, subtlety is the key to succesful beveling.

[Riskismy]

WTH?! They stick out too much, but don't pop enough? That doesn't make sense at all.

[ironsij0287]

Light beveling with darker boundary lines.

Click image to enlarge.

[isaiah40]

Is each territory its own separate layer?

[Riskismy]

meh. I see the difference, but I could take it either way. I'll admit it does look better than the previous map with black border, but it doesn't matter at all to me.

Lemme save someone else the post: Next up is bevel of the rivers.

[natty dread]

Are the territories detached from each other? Because it seems each territory has it's own bevel now... It would probably look better to have one bevel per bonus area...

And no, rivers don't need bevels, that's just silly.

[ironsij0287]

Is each territory its own separate layer?

No I went back and created a separate layer for just borders and then set the bevel to that.

[ironsij0287]

Are the territories detached from each other? Because it seems each territory has it's own bevel now... It would probably look better to have one bevel per bonus area...

And no, rivers don't need bevels, that's just silly.

I can try to do just the bonus regions. I'll need to go back into ArcMap and do some stuff so it'll take me a little bit before I have something ready.

[natty dread]

Here: I took the earlier version, and added a bevel to North Davenport only, to show you how I think the bevel should look.

Click image to enlarge.

[ironsij0287]

Attempt at duplicating that.

Click image to enlarge.

[ironsij0287]

Actually I think I got it better than that now. I'm going to do the rest and submit a full draft.

[ironsij0287]

Beveled

Click image to enlarge.

[jefjef]

Looks nice. Arsenal Island is noticeably darker on the map vs the Legend. Could you match it to the shade on the legend.

[ironsij0287]

Looks nice. Arsenal Island is noticeably darker on the map vs the Legend. Could you match it to the shade on the legend.

It is the same shade. The beveling just made it look darker.

[jefjef]

Looks nice. Arsenal Island is noticeably darker on the map vs the Legend. Could you match it to the shade on the legend.

It is the same shade. The beveling just made it look darker.

Well it is no longer the same shade.

[natty dread]

Tune the bevel down on Arsenal.

Also, in Moline, change the bevel so that it follows the Rock river. It looks odd when it does what it does now.

[ironsij0287]

Tune the bevel down on Arsenal.

Also, in Moline, change the bevel so that it follows the Rock river. It looks odd when it does what it does now.

OK. Yeah Moline is all one contiguous piece that is just layered underneath the river right now. That's why the bevel doesn't follow the river properly. I'll fix that.