Is Campaign Cartographer worth it?

[Imperialus]

I like maps... I also suck at them. I'm one of those 'special' people who can't draw a stick figure without it being oddly proportioned.

I've heard good things about CC3 and was thinking about picking it up. The example maps I've seen from it sure look good at least. Now my question is, how difficult is it to get results like that, when my graphics design experience consists of cutting and pasting real artwork in MS Paint to come up with message board avatars?

I've tried using Auto Realm previously but can hardly get the continents to look remotely normal, never mind mountain ranges, forests and that sort of stuff. I end up getting frustrated and scrawling something on a sheet of graph paper that looks exactly the same as the maps I came up with when I was 13 and DMing for the first time. It works, but it ain't pretty.

 

[Crothian]

If you are willing to take the time and learn how to use it then yes. I didn't find it the easiest thing to learn and I just don't have the time I felt it would take to get good so I don't use it. But I'm damned impressed and a little jealous of the ability others have with the program.

 

[Michael Morris]

It's a CAD program at heart. It is NOT a program you can intutively learn, and it will take at least 30 hours before you'll be able to produce results you'll like.

It's a CAD program. This means it will drink all the processor speed and RAM you can throw at it. I have a 3 ghz quad core with 4 GB or RAM and some of my complicated maps still take over a second to render, although admittedly it's dense.

It's a CAD program - this means no other program except can produce accurate scaling drawings that even begin to compare with it. If you are willing to invest the time to learn it then yes, it is very much worth it and comes with my highest recommendation. But I am warning you up front it is one of only a handful of programs I ever needed the instruction manual to start learning (programming languages don't count).

 

[Imperialus]

A 2.66 dual core with 4 gigs of ram should do an OK job though right?

I have a bit of free time right now, so if I'm going to sit down and learn how to use it now would be a good time... I wish they had a demo of it though. Glad I asked though. Their website implies that it turns mapping into monkey work and that a 6 year old could start churning out amazing maps in minutes.

 

[jaerdaph]

I have CC3 and have been using Campaign Cartographer for years and I love it. CC3 is much easier to learn/use out of the box than previous versions of the software.

Here's some links to threads with various people's experiences with learning to use CC3 et al.:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=191620

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=198085

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=194858

Here's a link to all resources that will help you to get up and running with CC3 in no time:

http://forum.profantasy.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=3&page=1#Item_2

Here's the CC3 FAQ. If you are running Windows Vista, check out the Vista section of the FAQ before installing for some helpful tips. There are no known issues with Vista in CC3 anymore with the current version (3.20).

http://www.profantasy.com/service/faq.asp

 

[jdrakeh]

Their website implies that it turns mapping into monkey work and that a 6 year old could start churning out amazing maps in minutes.

That's impossible unless they're talking about a 6 year old child prodigy. I've used CAD programs for years and the interface in CC3 is easily the clunkiest, most unfriendly, one that I have ever seen (barring earlier editions of CC).

 

[Scribble]

CC is probably the BEST map making software I've ever seen. Hands down.

But, like others have said it's CAD which means steep learning curve... What others haven't said is why:

CAD tends to do things ummm in reverse of what the average Windows Trained person will think to do them.. And things like circles aren't really circles (in the windows paint sense...) they're complex math problems that the system has done for you.... But if you want to say cut a section out and add something else? Not quite the click here then there then there type of thing... It's a lot more, click here, type this in, then do this, then run this then...

But the end results?

CAN be amazing... I say can because like any artistic program, the program doesn't make the map... you do.

CC will give you the tools you need to make awesome looking maps... but if you suck at map making... You'll still suck at map making. You'll just suck at fancy map making.

But there are some other benefits to the software aside from pretty maps:

It can scale things really well. So if you need to do a quick battlemap print out, you can. (I often just do a simple line drawling battle map and print it out on 4 sheets of paper.)

It can link maps to eachother or to info... If you have an overview of your continent, you can put a link on it to a map of a city, or a dungeon. One click opens the other map.

You can change things or hide things to give different maps... Want a map that has all the DM stuff on it, and one without? Just hide the DM stuff when you print... No need to make two seperate maps.

 

[Agamon]

It's not that it's a steep learning curve, it's just not intuative. If you do the tutorial without any preconceived notions, it's not tough at all to figure out. If you try to make a map out of the box with no CAD experience, expecting it to work like Paint, lookout frustration....

The software rules, by the way. It's been collecting dust during my 2-year AoW game, but I just refamiliarized myself with it for my new homebrew. Time to make some maps!

 

[Blue]

I have a cartographer for my game. He's been using the various CC products for years and was even a beta tester for CC2. The stuff he turns out is so freaking unbelievably good.

That said, I have no idea how good it is for the stick-figure impaired.

Cheers,
=Blue(23)

 

[Agamon]

That said, I have no idea how good it is for the stick-figure impaired.

My art skills are...very much misnamed. And, while my maps don't look as hot as the pros', they look pretty darn spiffy!