Does anyone know of a mapping tutorial? I'm trying to make a map off a scan and its not coming out very good.

do you mean an imagemap? In that case, it's not that difficult.

try using this texture on your model, render it in all angles, nore how the mapping is applied, then go into photoshop and paint your texture on the original flat map by following the number grid. That's how I do it anyway

I mean mapping as in a geographic map, as in lakes mountains, ect. I'm not too sure what program bonestructure is telling me to use for the rendering. I have Bryce 3D if thats what he is telling me to use. This is what I have so far, and the only thing that looks remotly good is the forest. I have an inked pencil drawing that I have scanned that I am working off of. As you can see, the triangle mountains and the 2 patches of forest at the bottom are remains of the scan.

ah, that kind of map. Well, I'd say go look at some dems and maps to see how other people have done it. But the parts you have colored in don't look to bad to me

Thanks, but my main concern are the mountains. I want some nice looking mountains, not black triangles. I shall look around for some examples...

Well, mountains are drawn like that in very many Fantasy books; Wheel of Time for example. Adding a mountain-look is quite easy. As you know, vegetation decreases as height increases. Say that you have a green ground, for grass, and then you simply create a cirkular selection and fill it with some green-brown-gray color, and it should turn more gray as it gets higher.

You could also use radial gradients for the mountains

Above is the finished version minus the mountains Yeah, I know, but this is a living map, kinda a small version of a top down view (as you can see from the trees). I did a version where it was sorta carved on wood (with pillow emboss on the map) it looked okay, but not to great. But Radial Gradients... I'll try that...

I actually created a map for an online novel I wrote. I wanted to create something that had an old look-and-feel. You can see what I did here: http://www.archetypal.com/xanadu/gallery/tibetan_map.html You also might want to check out the maps at the library of congress. They can provide some amazing inspiration and ideas. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html

Thanks, but I think I am finished here. After hours of expermentation, I think i made some pretty good mountains.