Making Geomorphs with Inkscape (Part II)

Continuing my tutorial for those who would like to make Dyson-Logos-style, Dave's Mapper-compatible geomorphs. Part I is here and left us with a generic geomorph template. Part II focuses on creating an individual geomorph using this template. Open the template and use File > Save As... to create a copy with a unique name, perhaps saving it to a /Pictures/geomorphs folder.

Switch to the rooms layer to create the first part of the level. Don't use the rectangle tool to create a room or corridor. Instead, use the bezier line tool to create an outline of connected rooms and corridors, connecting at least two of the geomorph connection points (entrances/exits on the geomorph sides.) Use a white fill color with no stroke color, but for comparison, I've included a version with a yellow stroke color.

corridors + room

highlighted outline

You may have to switch to the node tool and "tug" each node a bit so that it snaps to the grid properly and lines up with the entrances/exits.

Geomorphs are improved if you add a bit of three-dimensionality with corridors or rooms above the base level. For these additions, set the stroke color to black and make the stroke thickness 1. You can set stroke width without opening the Fill and Stroke tool by right-clicking the number next to the stroke color in the bottom bar. (It took me at least a year or two of using Inkscape before I figured this out.) To get the walls of this upper level to line up, you can switch to the node editor, select each line segment, and tap an appropriate arrow key once or twice.

upper level

Add dashed lines to show walls that pass under the second level. The first dashed line in the Fill and Stroke tool will work fine.

hidden geometry

To cover up the solid line leading to the left end of the south side, use a borderless white rectangle.

eliminate
unnecessary walls

Once you are satisfied with the layout of the rooms and corridors for this geomorph, lock the layer and switch to the layer above (details). This is where you will add things like staircases, doors, traps, pits, and other symbols.

parallel line segments

shorten segments

An easy way to make a staircase symbol: Off to one side of the document, make a line segment, copy it, and paste it several times. Align them all, then select all the lines except the top line. Shorten the lines by a tiny bit (easiest way: use the W field in the toolbar at the top,) then deselect one line and repeat, so that the lines get shorter and shorter as you go down. Once you've shortened all of them, select all the lines, center them horizontally with the Align and Distribute tool, make the vertical gaps equal, and adjust the stroke width to 0.75. Group them, then adjust the size of the staircase symbol. Reposition the staircase where needed. Copy the symbol if you need more than one staircase.

group and resize

reposition

A good way to indicate a ladder or trapdoor: Make a circle (no fill, stroke width 0.75) and a line segment equal to the circle's diameter. Center the line horizontally and vertically in the circle, then use the bucket tool in one half of the circle to create a shaded half. Group the result to make the symbol and position it where needed.

ladder connecting
levels

Simple door symbols: Make line segments (stroke width 1) to seal off any room entrance or corridor where you want a door. Draw a rectangle (rectangle tool or bezier line tool) with a white fill. Adjust one of the dimensions using the W(idth) or H(eight) field in the toolbar so that it is one-half or one-third the other dimension, then change the stroke width to 0.75 or 0.5, whichever you prefer. Center this horizontally and vertically over the wall segment using the Align and Distribute tool.

adding doors

There's certainly more that can be done: more symbols, or adding text on the labels layer (not generally used with geomorphs, but you might use this same template for one-page dungeons or pamphlet dungeons.) You can draw little pictures, either directly in Inkscape using the freehand tool or with real pen and paper, then snapping a pic, importing it into Inkscape, and correcting colors with a threshold or levels filter/extension. There's also ways to add fancier background fill patterns.

If anyone would like to see tutorials for any of those techniques (or how I made something in one of my geomophs or other maps,) let me know.

Making Geomorphs with Inkscape (Part I)

I wanted to do something a bit different this week: a tutorial for those who would like to make Dyson-Logos-style, Dave's Mapper-compatible geomorphs. I will be demonstrating in Inkscape, since it's (a) free, and (b) the program I use.

You will probably want to practice first with Inkscape, in particular with the bezier line and curve tool, the node editor, and the alignment tool. I won't be doing a step-by-step walkthrough for any of the tools.

document size

grid set-up

First, you want to create a template for all your geomorphs. Starting by setting the document properties to a custom size: 3 inch by 3 inch. You can use whatever default units you wish (I use millimeters,) but the "standard" geomorphs are 3 inch by 3 inch with two connection points (entrances) on each side. You also use document properties (Shift+Ctrl+D) to set up a default grid, 10 squares by 10 squares. Set the spacing for both X and Y to 0.3 inches with a major grid line every 5 lines.

rename layer

 Rename the base layer to "background". You will have a total of five layers in your template, in this order starting from the top:

• labels
• grid overlay
• details
• rooms
• background

Add the grid overlay layer first. This is for your printable grid lines, if you want them. I don't use printable grid lines for geomorphs, but do use them for other projects.

On the grid overlay layer, create two 3-inch long lines, set their stroke width to 1, set their stroke color to aqua. Rotate one 90 degrees, select both, and center them horizontally and vertically with respect to the page. Then, use a grid rendering tool (Extensions > Render > Grids > Grid...) Set line width to 0.2 and horizontal/vertical spacing to 28.8, with no horizontal or vertical offset. After creating the grid, select it and set the stroke color to aqua. Again, center it with respect to the page, then select the grid and the two thick lines and group them (Ctrl+G).

two major grid lines

create minor grid lines

Hide the layer and switch back to the background layer. Using the bezier line tool, draw a square with this pattern, repeat for each of the four sides:

• line segment from one corner, two squares long
• short one-square-long line segment
• four-square-long line segment
• short one-square-long line segment
• final two-square-long line segment to next corner

The short segments will be where the geomorph connection points go. You won't seem them properly until you switch to the node editor tool.

background outline

Select a short segment with the node editor tool and add a node between the two endpoints. Repeat for each of the short segments.

add nodes to segments

Drag the center node one square inwards, for each of the short segments, to make this pattern.

triangle notches

Select each of the diagonal segments and add a node between the two endpoints. Again, repeat for each diagonal segment.

add nodes on diagonals

Drag each of these new nodes inwards so that it creates a square "tooth" for each geomorph connection point.

toothed background

Change the fill color to black and turn the stroke off to create this basic background shape. You may have to readjust the nodes after turning off the stroke to make it line up properly again: just grab each node and drag it a tiny bit and release. It should snap to the proper position. If not, you may need to adjust your Snap to Grid settings.

background fill

Make two layers above the background layer: rooms and details. You should also may a labels layer, either above details or above grid overlay. You may have to try both arrangements to see which you prefer: grid lines on top of your text labels, or below.

create new layers

Save this as your geomorph template. You can experiment with different fill colors for your background. It represents the solid stone portion of your map. If you want to try fill patterns instead of solid colors, I recommend making a duplicate of the background shape, centering it above the original background (but still on the same layer,) and then changing the fill color to a fill pattern. This keeps the final image from having transparent areas.

In Part II, I'll demonstrate my technique for using a template to make an actual geomorph.

How I Make Tower Illustrations

Still didn't have time to work on my next set of pamphlet dungeons, so I thought I could at least show how I make some of the illustrations I've been doing for the tower pamphlets.

They aren't fabulous illustrations, as you can see in this image from the generic bandit tower pamphlet. But they get the job done. What you may not realize is that it's a composite image made using two different programs. The main program I use for illustration is Inkscape (and occasionally raster graphic programs like the GIMP or Paint.) But the tower itself, and in this case the cart, were created in a 3d modeling program called Wings 3d. I've been using this for years, and although I'd say I still have a long ways to go, I'm reasonably good at modeling things from scratch in it.

What I do is create my scene and take a screenshot of it, as you can see in this image. In this case, each floor of the tower is a separate object, and the cart, if I remember what I did, is something like six different objects. (There's actually another hidden object because I recycled this file from the CorpseBrood Tower model. It's the weird little diamond magical artifact at the top of the tower.)

I then trim the image so that I can import it into Inkscape. Previously, I was using Paint for this, because all I was doing was cropping the image and setting the background to white. The GIMP is notoriously slow when it loads, so for a quick job like that, using Paint seemed wiser. However, I've started using the GIMP anyways because I always apply filters to desaturate the image, so it makes sense to do this in the image prep stage, as I did for the generic bandit tower.

I do both of these steps a second time to get the profile image that I use for the tower diagrams showing what's on each floor. Finally, I open my Inkscape template I've set up as a standard for my tower illustrations and start editing my new tower. I import both the perspective scene and the profile image on separate layers, then experiment with different filters to get different textures. For the cover illustration, I have a background layer where I create abstract leaf patterns for the trees, and I have foreground and detail patterns to draw other elements into the scene, for example the pathway leading to the door, or the projecting rays and bat-winged silhouette on the CorpseBrood Tower cover image.

As I said, not the greatest art, but it's something just about anyone could do, if they want some simple illustrations for a project they're working on. Both Wings 3d and Inkscape are free downloads, so grab 'em and try 'em out.