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Training - Colormapping

Colormapping the
Qui-Gon Way

by Qui-Gon Gandalf ~TMBM~

      Tools Used
Photoshop
 
      Resources
Mapmaker's Food
 
      Prerequisites
Basic Photoshop Usage

      Colormapping the Qui-Gon Way
Before I start I feel I must warn you, the reader, that my methods may lead to pyschotic episodes and are generally unhealthy and dangerous. Use at your own risk.

I start the mapmaking process by sitting at my computer with a blank Photoshop document open. Now I know deep in my heart that this will never be a colormap. But I throw some textures on and start to toy with ideas. Generally when working on solo maps, I make someone make a concept map for me first so I have a direction to work in. But on multiplayer I let the creative genius come out. Which for some reason or another he never does and I'm forced to do the work myself.

After going through several concept maps, I begin the work on THE blank Photoshop document. The most important part of the colormap is not the design or the size, but the textures. Now I sometimes make my own textures but I generally use Soma's Mapmakers Food. These are the best textures that have been publicly released. By blending a few of these textures together you can create new ones for your map. Creating your own is a whole nother ball game and many lonely hours.

When choosing these textures I usually try to keep it down to a few basic colors. You will find that 240 colors does not go very far. If I find a texture that is really really cool, but maybe not a good shade for the map, I just stick a color layer over it and it usually fixes the problem. Now we're gonna skip all the lonely,sad,depressing,crazy,dark,evil hours I spend alone in my room cursing at Photoshop and such.

Once most or all of the layers are down, I begin the long tedious task of blend all these layers together. How so? The WONDERFUL feature in Photoshop, LAYER MASKING. This method first become popular in Morte Della Luna, By Clem of Creation. This is what made the water appear transparent so you could see the sand underneath. Layer Masking in short, makes or breaks your map.

Now that all the fun stuff is out of the way, it's time to send the map into Indexed Color mode. 240 colors. 240 freakin colors.

(Continued in "Mapmaking the Qui-Gon Way" . . . )



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