map tracing

[rawegg]

Hello, I'm trying decide whether to purchase this software, and if so which version best suits my needs.

I am not a graphic designer.

I have written a manuscript which needs simple black and white maps. In order to avoid copyright issues, I want to download a map image, trace it but modify it so that it is legally different from the downloaded image. (I will reference the source with an, "after image so and so".)

Is this the correct software for this task?

Is what I wish to do difficult?

[gwpriester]

Welcome to TalkGraphics.

I think Xara Designer Pro X is perfect for this.

I draw with the Shape Editor Tool see this http://www.xaraxone.com/webxealot/wo...workbook_2.htm

[Albacore]

There have been a few other forum visitors who have done the same as you are planning to do and you could do a search on the topic. It would be the export file type and if the manuscript is to be printed professionally I would inquire about as that would alter my choices. What I mean about that is if you don't want to use PDF as your drawing output file type and you haven't stated what ver. of xara you were purchasing you might have a few problems in importing your maps into your DTP programme. All of the Xara products have a good font engine but if you were using it to publish the full manuscript the performance might get sluggish over a certain number of pages if there was a number of maps. If you would like some more info don't hesitate to ask!

[Gamerprinter]

Hello, I'm trying decide whether to purchase this software, and if so which version best suits my needs.

I am not a graphic designer.

I have written a manuscript which needs simple black and white maps. In order to avoid copyright issues, I want to download a map image, trace it but modify it so that it is legally different from the downloaded image. (I will reference the source with an, "after image so and so".)

Is this the correct software for this task?

Is what I wish to do difficult?

Nothing wrong with creating your own maps for your publishing project, but for the sole purpose of altering someone else's map so you can repurpose it for your own needs? Don't you think it would be better (and more legally responsible) if you were to design your own map from scratch, or hire a professional cartographer to do that for you? Original B/W lineart map creation shouldn't cost you any more than $20 per map. I know some cartographers that would be absolutely irate if you were to attempt a publication of one of their maps altered. I also know many cartographers who'd be willing to do a published map for the very low fee I mention, just to get some of their own work published. There are plenty of better options than the means you are suggesting.

Not to put too much of a point on it, but wouldn't you as a writer consider it wrong to plagerize someone else's written work - change a few words and call it your own? I would think so. At the same time, don't you consider altering a few drawn lines on someone elses map to be an identical activity as plagerizing someone else's work? Why is doing the one considered wrong, while the other perfectly legitimate to ask about on a public forum? I don't understand this kind of thinking.

I offer tutorials for using Xara software for the design of RPG maps - see my Map Thread...

Consider visiting the Cartographers' Guild and checking out the Map Request Forum where authors and publishers can make requests for free and paid for maps based on specific criteria to fit your needs.

[handrawn]

In order to avoid copyright issues, I want to download a map image, trace it but modify it so that it is legally different from the downloaded image. (I will reference the source with an, "after image so and so".)

If this is a commercial venture, then that is not going to automatically get you out of copyright issues - certainly in the UK you can take an idea or a treatment or a style that someone else has used and make your own version of it, but it still has to be your own version.

I think Gameprinter has made a good suggestion

[Gamerprinter]

Whoops, I made an error in my post pointing to the Cartographers' Guild - I relinked it correctly, since I can't alter my post to reflect that...

[handrawn]

I think you only just missed out on the time limit

[Albacore]

You can also visit if you live in the UK your local authority town council in their planning department and buy a copy of an O.S. map for specific area and you have full rights over the publication so long as it is only published one time. If a reprint of your publication is done then you have to pay another fee the fee in my area is £40. The format of the OS map is a layered PDF or AI file and the actual file is nearly impossible to edit as it is full of clipping views or masks but it is at least layered so that information can be turned off and on. I have used these maps on a number of occasions and it is worth the fee as if you have a complicated area to draw like the western highlands of Scotland it takes many hours of work even to draw the coast line without out even starting on other information.

If i was in your shoes and wasn't thinking of making a living out of such work I would choose Designer Pro X as it is far easier to learn than either PhotoShop or Illustrator and it is cheaper.