Trying to find Mapmaking Software

[Ravenscroft]

A gaming friend is looking for :

i'm looking for a halfway decent mapmaking software in order to create maps for a game world.
Something easy and more than a little intuitive.

I have seen a few that have limited function as shareware and are not functional because of it.
One would even let you use all the features but the save feature was disabled

I think quite possible that i am looking for something that does not exist but thought i'd ask anyway.

I'm guessing that this guy is being too hopeful.
Seemed worthwhile checking with you more knowledgeable folk just in case.

[YR7]

You mean a FREEWARE software? Don't know of one. I would urge you to make a post at RPG.net (the largest roleplaying board) or ENWorld.org (the largest d20 roleplaying board), however. It may be more productive.

Yair

[Cuchulainshound]

Apologies for the slight thread-o-mancy, but AutoRealm fits most of what you seek, with the possible exception of "intuitive".

It's very powerful, but a little cludgey around the edges of some features. It can do everything from topos to Tolkien-esque maps to hex to floorplans to treasure maps to political maps to blueprints and so forth.

It has placeable icons (and you can make/add/edit your own), an adjustable fractal feature for rivers/coasts/whatever, you can import jpegs/bmps, save as either, and so forth.

gryc.ws/autorealm.htm

It might take a full day to get used to it, but then, for freeware, it rocks.

[Ravenscroft]

Thanks for that.
My friend was muchly appreciative for the link.

[Cuchulainshound]

No prob.

One nice feature (if a bit awkward to manage) are the "overlays"- you can put different parts of your map on different "transparencies", and remove/add them as you please for the final effect.

That means you can import a jpeg of an RL map, size it as you want, and then "draw" a crude map over it, or part of it. Or, have an OOC version of a map with "all" the details on it, and an IC version with only what the PC's are aware of IC. On and on.

(Also good for cropping/resizing portrait avatars and other Jpegs, or translating bmps into jpegs or vice versa, tho' there's smaller freeware that can do that too.)

[Cornelius (Simon Cornelius)]

Would anyone like to compare Autorealm with Campaign Cartographer?

[Cuchulainshound]

(I can't personally, but, iirc from other, similar discussions, CC is easier to use, but more designed just for RP purposes (ie, less versatile), while AR is potentially more powerful re the final product, if a bit less intuitive to use/learn, less "user friendly" with all the various tools. Maybe someone who has both can verify that?)

[Cornelius (Simon Cornelius)]

If CC is the easier to use then heck! CC does support Space to an extent