Fantasy Map Making Tutorial in QGIS

[@hendrixman1996]

This is a great vid! I'm a professional GIS technician by trade so I can add some more tips as well: 1. Download "Freehand Editor 3" off the plugin repository. You'll need to enable experimental plugins first in the settings but this will let you draw in your stuff by hand instead of with nodes 2. Theres other ways to do rivers: 2a-- Take that river line file you have and run a "Buffer" on it. You can set it to say 10 meters and the algorithm will make that line into a 40 meter wide polygon. 2b-- you can also zoom in really far and draw rivers direclty as polygons. this is very tedious but it'll make your rivers look awesome at close range 3. Use the tracing tool! it's so good he lines up his stuff by hand which is a pain, especially if you have complex borders. Using the tracing tool does all that automatically and with perfect accuracy 4. He draws in each biome in a separate layer. this is something you can actually use that grid for. Or you can just have an attribute field that says "biome type" and then set the symbology to be based onthat Again great vid :)

[@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub]

Wonderful contribution, thank you so much! That is very useful information, all of it. 10/10 pinned comment

[@rikdehoop9612]

yea reel cool contribution this comment

[@katecanaveral8362]

Hey, great video thank you! I was just reading a D&D annual with my 8 yr old and we started talking about mapping worlds. I work in the mapping industry and thought oooh QGIS! I found your vídeo and it has sparked my 8yr olds imagination. I suspect he’ll be watching this and your other tutorials a lot. Thanks again!

[@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub]

Thank you for taking the time to share that! :') I'm so happy it helped get him interested

[@blakesteben8779]

Fuck yeah finally! Been trying to build my own world in Qgis as well. Nice to see some like minded people at there.

[@nsstrickland]

Like you mentioned, QGIS Cloud is a little... rough on mobile. Consider Mapserver (free, open source, and on github) as an alternative for a web app with maps. Its setup is a little rough, but the end result is a joy even on a phone browser.

[@JB1994]

Happy to be your 101st subscriber :D

[@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub]

I'm happy to have that many, thank you!

[@JB1994]

@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub You're welcome!

[@user-rg9mx8lu1g]

For adding new layers so you don't have to worry about their CRS and changing it every time try: Settings > Options> CRS > CRS for new layers > "Use project CRS" > Ok

[@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub]

Yeah I'm just planning on converting to Mercator in order to get more consistent measurements. This wasn't something I thought of until I realized I needed to explain it to other people o:

[@SenseMotive]

This guy maps. Y'all should see the oil on canvas map LYZ3RD did while high on Peyote, absolute genius.

[@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub]

can't b33t that oil

[@AdmiralKew]

You can make it easier to put everything together by using the snap settings.

[@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub]

This seems like a useful GIS trick I've been ignoring! Thanks, Bobby!

[@AdmiralKew]

@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub It took me a while to learn it existed too! Don't worry about it.

[@phitc4242]

you are a goat! this made my day. this will make my next few years.... hehehehe thanks you so much for this dank video

[@scarecrow7495]

Thanks for the video, I have been looking for a versatile map making software like this. How do you go about determining and configuring the size of the ocean? Does it matter which coordinates I'm working at?

[@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub]

I have a video about building a world map that may answer your question. Map it to be the size you want proportional to earth. My planet is half the size of earth, so my oceans are in the neighborhood of 26,000 miles, b/c I think Earth has a circumference of ~50,000. Concerning coordinates yes and no, I made my own on my map so I didn't have to worry about it!

[@erdgerd9584]

how do i do this with a smaller map thats just like a lake and a mountain range + rivers?

[@zacharyborthwick5779]

how do I import a fantasy map I made on paint onto qGis?

[@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub]

Import the image into GPlates, trace over the shapes, save-as an SHP file. QGIS can read SHP files but you have to do some work to get the scale right. The video is more in-depth but this advice should get you started.

[@zacharyborthwick5779]

@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub can I do this in inkscape as well?

[@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub]

@@zacharyborthwick5779 I think so? I'm not sure though, never used inkscape. I think it's technically possible but difficult and requires a bit of know how, or it's easier than I'm remembering, not sure! Good luck though

[@zifalvaintolk50]

Cool, I'll check it out.

[@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub]

PM me your maps if you do :)

[@mrterrysilver]

How do you set the scale? You went through it very fast and I can't figure out how.

[@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub]

You set the projection first, it should be under >Project >Properties >CRS/Projection. You're going to want to use the Mercator option. It should be all that comes up when you type it, from there use the measurement tool in the top left to see how large of a distance you're drawing at. It helps to have a polygon drawn for scaled reference and then just delete it later. You can't technically 'set' the scale because a large utility of QGIS maps is being able to view the map at different scales. It's more a matter of setting the proper projection, and then portioning your land masses using the measurement tool. I hope this was helpful! Let me know if you have any more questions! Edit was for formatting!

[@mrterrysilver]

@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub I think I understand now, thanks. I'll give it a shot :)

[@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub]

@@mrterrysilver enjoy your pinned comment, good question my guy!

[@mrterrysilver]

@@GoldstarWorldbuildersClub Cobra Kai never dies!

[@mrterrysilver]

I think I've overlooked something very simple. What I want to do is import a raster image and then trace over it. Then have the final vector (traced) map being the same scale as shown/traced on the imported raster map. I can't find any way to scale it properly - nor to resize either the raster or traced vector image to match the pre-existing Mercator scale.

[@lolloBriggi]

i think that nobody atually know how to use Qgis on youtube