Vigil on 5/7/2005 at 12:35
I've updated (
http://www.washboardabs.net/thief/) WET with a set of 13 blank map graphics, which were carefully recreated from the original Thief II mission maps. (
http://www.washboardabs.net/thief/miscellany/#blank_maps) Download them here.
Now get on with making some bloody automaps for once, you lazy bastards! ;)
I actually ran up a pack identical to this a couple of years ago, but then managed to lose every copy of it before getting around to releasing it. Which was a bit of a bugger, as there's a fair amount of work involved in putting these together.
Eshaktaar on 5/7/2005 at 13:10
Automaps are on their way :D
Many thanks, Vigil! That must've taken ages to recreate them without just running over them with the clone stamp.
Edit: Seems you've accidentally linked to the .mis file association in the "Download this file (1.8mb)" link. The "Thief II blank maps" link is correct.
Vigil on 5/7/2005 at 14:54
D'oh. Thanks for spotting that, I've fixed it fixed now :)
They weren't as time-consuming as I remembered - it just always seems that way when you face the prospect of completely redoing something ;)
Several of the Thief II maps could not be salvaged, because there wasn't enough empty space available on the originals to make a convincing blank. (The beloved Bank maps are an example of this - though there's a clone-brush version of them floating around somewhere.)
What I may try next is creating a translucent overlay of the lantern-light that LGS put on the original maps - this could be used to create new blank maps that fit in better with the interface (always kinda bugs me when that's missing).
R Soul on 5/7/2005 at 17:32
Thanks.
Now we can have different pages that have different splodges and tears.
Nameless_Voice on 13/7/2005 at 23:07
Nice. Are you planning to write a 'how to draw good maps' tutorial, too?
(Not that I ever seem to get far enough on an FM to have to worry about maps...)
Vigil on 17/7/2005 at 13:29
I thought about it, but I've never been any good at writing tuts as opposed to just telling people what to do.
Some advice for Photoshop 7/CS users though (assumes decent skill with it):
* Never, ever, ever draw a straight solid line with no fuzz. They make your map look fake. Instead, even for straight ruled lines (Hammerite-style), use an uneven brush to draw or stroke the lines - adjust the brush properties to add variance to the flow and a bit of jitter. This makes it look unevenly inked.
* For hand-drawn maps, occasionally add heavier ink to the start of the line (where the pen would have been pressed hardest) using a larger brush size. Likewise, taper off the line by selective erasing or setting the size to 'fade' on the brush properties.
* The Color Burn blend mode is your friend. Set your ink layers to use this or Overlay, and adjust the fill opacity (not the overall opacity) to get a suitable tone.
* A dark brown Outer Glow with some noise, using Color Burn or Overlay blend mode, is a good way to make heavily-inked lines look like they have seeped deeper into the paper.
* Use the smudge tool to make realistic water splashes and hand smudges. A little is good for light smudges here and there - a lot of smudge and blur (along with some damp wash darkening underneath it) is good for heavy water damage.
* Bit of a no-brainer, but vary the fonts (and the strength/opacity of the writing) used for labelling on the map. Garrett will have a different hand than whoever wrote/printed/annotated the map before him.
R Soul on 17/7/2005 at 14:04
When I did the map for the final level of All Torc I drew it by hand, writing included, then scanned it in an pasted it as new layer with the blend mode set to Multiply.
One thing I hate about scruffy handwriting fonts is that every 'a' looks the same, every 'b' looks the same etc :tsktsk:
If you're writing is scruffy, that will not happen.
Hit Deity on 13/1/2023 at 15:13
I have searched and searched... several sites' URLs are no longer valid; searches via google turn up deadends..
Anyone still have these? No hurry, but I would like to practice making some when I have some free time, so I'm not rushed later.
Hit Deity on 13/1/2023 at 20:42
All right! That was fast. :)
First link works great (2nd one gives a 404...)
Thank you.
