15 minute Cave Battlemaps!

Hello guys today i would liek to contribute to the community by posting a quick n Nasty how to on simple cave battelmaps you can make in under 15minutes. Here is an example: I will be editing / adding posts as i go, so bare with me for a bit (please dont take the posting times as the amount of time it took me to create it, im also doing the tutorial at the same time.)

Step 1 go download Gimp, a free gfx design software, that i used exclusively for the map above. <a href="http://www.gimp.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.gimp.org/</a> Step 2 Open a new Project and set the canvas size to 70xNumber of 5 foot squares you wish to use( roll20 grid size is 70x70 per square), im just going to set it to 2000x2000 for now. Go to the Layers toolbox, right click in the blank space under the current layer, and add several blank "transperant" layers.

Step 3 Go to the menu and select Filters &gt; Render &gt; Clouds &gt; Solid Noise and set the values to Detail: 15 (max), X size: 16 (max), Y size: 16 (max) and press OK. repeate this on 1-2 more of hte transperant layers

Step 4 Chose the Eraser tool, and a Solid brush, set the size as large as you wish your cave tunnels to be... Click the "eye" button to hide your other layers from view on the Layer window, now draw your cave tunnels and rooms using the eraser on your top most layer.

Step 5 Use the fuzzy select tool to select the blank space, then under the Select Menu &gt; Invert. Now go back to the Select menu &gt; Border. leave the setings at 5px or increase it to give it a larger wall section for the cave. Now go to filters &gt; blur &gt; Gaussian blur, and blur the border to your needs.

Step 6 Now clear all selection, and go to Filters &gt; Distorts &gt; Emboss. since you nolonger have the "cave wall" selected it will embos everything, excluding the blank space. Fiddle with the options with the Emboss settings until you find something you like.

Step 7 Under Color menu &gt; Colorize you can alter the color of the layer to suit your taste. i chose this...

Step 8 Now, hiding the layer you were working on with the "eye" button on the layer window, chose to show another blank layer. We will now construct the cave floor on this new layer... Go to Filters &gt; Render &gt; Clouds &gt; Solid Noise... this time use less X size and Y size to get a softer texture, then emboss the layer with a softer elevation and depth: Finish the layer by colorizing it to taste, Color &gt; Colorize.... now delete any unused layers you dont need and go to menu File &gt; Export as.. save the file as PNG... and finito

Final Product: (resized to be 600x600)

Great tutorial and officially now the way my cave systems will be built! Thanks for taking the time to share :)

Amidoinitrite?

I appreciate the time to go through this with GIMP, it is quite helpful and very relevant to producing maps for use on Roll 20. Makes a nice cave that you can doctor up with other amazing assets here.

Askren said: Amidoinitrite? NOICE, airbrush in some drop shadows, additional layers for elevation drops, add another transperant layer with sploshes of other textures then go back over the edges with a softer eraser to help blend it together, and the 15min base cave can look awesomer! <a href="http://i.imgur.com/w3wVknY.jpg[/img]" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/w3wVknY.jpg[/img]</a> the one above in the link (r20 keeps giving me connection timeouts) was done by going to <a href="http://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/dungeon/" rel="nofollow">http://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/dungeon/</a> and using the largest cavernous map settings, then 5-10min in gimp doing the same thing in this tutorial + adding drop shadows.... instant massive ice cave.

using a 70x70 grid helps in alignment of doors or other embedded features.

that it does, but i dont like using grids on the map in case i wish to enlarge it to 10ft x10ft or more, i do tend to draw the map in gimp using a 210x210 but thats just so if i stretch it out it doesnt look like a gameboy game. for the tutorial example i just smacked it together.

NOICE, airbrush in some drop shadows, additional layers for elevation drops, add another transperant layer with sploshes of other textures then go back over the edges with a softer eraser to help blend it together, and the 15min base cave can look awesomer! Actually, it's just two layers. Wall layer with some blending modes, and a floor layer with some blending modes. That's why it's quick. Also, for reference, it's made to fit exactly 150x150 grid, so my maps should always snap to that. <a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/30497230/5Minu" rel="nofollow">https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/30497230/5Minu</a>...

Ziechael said: Great tutorial and officially now the way my cave systems will be built! Thanks for taking the time to share :) i encourage you to experiment with the tools in gimp, there are many things that you can do to it to really make them PoP aside form the basic basic stuff i tossed in here.

Actually, it's just two layers. Wall layer with some blending modes, and a floor layer with some blending modes. That's why it's quick. Also, for reference, it's made to fit exactly 150x150 grid, so my maps should always snap to that. @Askren - would it be possible to provide a small step by step or small video explaining it, preferably with GIMP (since it is a common, free took)?