DungeonDraft - 15 Quick tips & tricks to improve your map-making!

In this video, I give 15 simple tips & tricks that you can use to improve your map-making!

Some of these tips might not hold up without custom assets, for that reason I added a link to the Forgotten Adventures Patreon page & Website in case you want to check it out!

Wish to support the channel? Check out my Patreon:

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:10 Tip 1 - blending textures
0:25 Tip 2 - Use ALL the textures
0:43 Tip 3 - Make your own shadows
1:01 Tip 4 - Pillars over walls
1:15 Tip 5 - Shadows pattern on floors
1:31 Tip 6 - Angle furniture
1:57 Tip 7 - Change colours and materials
2:15 Tip 8 - Use the alpha value
2:35 Tip 9 - Clutter!
2:58 Tip 10 - Adding fluids to containers
3:13 Tip 11 - Shade all the things!
3:48 Tip 12 - Use highlights!
4:16 Tip 13 - Spice up bushes/trees
4:48 Tip 14 - Use objects to create depth
5:08 Tip 15 - Collect HEX codes
5:20 Outro

ASSETS and Textures!
The Forgotten Adventures Patreon:

--------------------------------------- Music --------------------------------------
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

[DrVesuvius]

2:15 This is also very effective for carpets and rugs. A very slight touch of transparency can show a little bit of the darkest areas of the floor texture through, as if it's causing the carpet to wrinkle or dip with the uneven-ness. Very subtle if done right. I've also used a tiny amount of transparency with imported objects to make them sit better in the scene
3:13​ In 3d CGI there's a type of shadowing effect called Ambient Occlusion, which is a darkening of the line where two objects in contact meet. It's so subtle we don't generally notice it in real life, but it's something that greatly improves the realism of a render. This is kind of what the shading in this tip does, not shadows cast by light sources but creating the occlusion between objects and the surfaces they're sitting on.

Another trick I've started doing as standard is adding extra layers to new maps, between the default layers. This is done by opening the dungeondraft_map file in a text editor (I use Notepad++, but good old Notepad will do), searching for "layers": and adding new layers to the definition block like this..
"layers": {
"Below Ground",
"Below Water",
"User Layer 0.25",
"User Layer 0.50",
"User Layer 0.75",
"User Layer 1",
"User Layer 1.5",
"User Layer 2",
"User Layer 2.5",
"User Layer 3",
"User Layer 3.5",
"User Layer 4",
"User Layer 4.5",
"Below Walls",
"Above Walls",
"Above Roofs"
},
I don't edit any of the default layers and try to do this as soon as I've saved a new map for the first time. 575 Below Walls is very useful, used mainly for wall shadows that will always be above the contents of the room. For contents I try to stick to the full x00s default layers, but can use the halfway x50s if I want to add something extra between two layers without having to re-shuffle all the objects above. The 25, 50 and 75 layers are useful if you want to put shapes, objects or paths below the default floor level but above the ground terrain. I've used it to create a crevasse cliff face descending away below the dungeon floor level.
If you have a map with multiple levels you have to make this edit for each level and while you can squeeze in as many layers as you want between default layers (up to 99) I find the above gives me more than enough breathing room that I've not found the fixed number of layers to be a problem since starting doing this by default..

[Moulk]

My life has changed since I've watched this tutorial! I'm now rich, beautiful, smart... and more importantly, so much better at making maps! Wow! Thanks so much man!

[CanadianHoneybadger]

That tip with the trees is such an galaxy tier idea. Holy crap, had no idea you could do that with trees

[AnaMahsati]

I liked this tips. It'd be great to have a comparison of the same room with and without them in a split screen, so we can fully appreciate the overall impact of using your advice.

[MutleyXIII]

You teach a lot in 5 minutes! Congratulations and thank you!

[JohnnyMasters]

The rotated chairs is a "truth in tv" kinda stuff, real life chairs are neatly fixed in place in most places most of the time, the exception is the messy person😅
But yeah It looks better on a vtt. Thanks for the vídeo!

[JanHoos]

Awesome! Got dungeondraft yesterday and these tips help a lot!

[drew_and_dragons]

Good stuff! Thanks for the effort and your contribution to the community!

[tuleikhaus]

solid tips! thank you! I especially liked the tips about making your own shadows, highlights, and color gradients.

[joshpatton]

Very nicely done, a great little summary.

[davidurquiamedina]

Hey very nice stuff here. I've learned a lot. Many thanks!

[mymysterymysterio]

Holy crap I just received so many tips that are actually useful!

Edit: Subscribed and look forward to more 5 min tip and tricks

[gebboh]

i should give you another tip on Patreon

[aranertugrul]

Hey, I love the tutorials so far, they've been a great help! Could you maybe also do a cave tutorial sometime? I'm currently really struggling with an underground dwarven stronghold connected to some caves.

[J-Hepp]

Great, just perfekt. I mean, yes really.

[jekkareznikov]

How much time do you usually spend on any given map? And what are maps used for? TO display a scene? Or for combat only?
If you need 2-3 combat maps a week, when do you even have time to create them all?

[Fatslam]

Great video and beautiful assets? Are they all from the patreon?

[turtlecheese]

At 3:19, he has a lot of shadows in the left bar but no right bar with the usual path items. Are these downloaded assets or accessed some other way?

[f.b.]

Very nice video, well done! I just couldn’t understand what tool you use for the shadows (no native speaker and new to dungeondraft), maybe care to give me a hint? Thanks!

[SunBrohan]

Love the video where did you get all the assets and shadows?