AOS: Orient Express 1883 [quench'd]

[The Bison King]

Is there something special about the rail between Munich and Vienna? The rail between them looks darker.

[natty dread]

No, it's just a trick of the eye...

[natty dread]

Click image to enlarge.

[porkenbeans]

Looking good. The mountains I no longer hate.

One thing I noticed, maybe you could rotate Russia like Spain. Just to retain continuity.

Also, your sig. could be moved over, and put under the top right legend.

[The Bison King]

One thing I noticed, maybe you could rotate Russia like Spain. Just to retain continuity.

Spain is tilted to follow along a border, I think it would just look weird if you did the same to Russia.

[natty dread]

Well, I usually like to keep my sig near the title. I think I'll just move the Russia text under the legend.

[porkenbeans]

One thing I noticed, maybe you could rotate Russia like Spain. Just to retain continuity.

Spain is tilted to follow along a border, I think it would just look weird if you did the same to Russia.

Why ?
It can be rotated to follow the border as well. What is "weird" about that ?

[porkenbeans]

Well, I usually like to keep my sig near the title. I think I'll just move the Russia text under the legend.

Yes, I thought about that. Russia would do fine over there.
Your sig is kinda just floating out there in the ocean, maybe it would look better if it was actually included under the title, in black w/out the white stroke.

Also, I noticed that you have used different style, and sized text, to distinguish the Train stations (cities), from the Countries. This is a good idea. I suggest taking it a bit further, by using different colors as well. While we are on the text, I see that you are still having kerning issues with your software. It is not as bad as your previous maps, but I can see a handful of names, that need attention. Bosnia being on the top of the list. Also some of the names can be nudged here and there to center them up better.

[natty dread]

Well, I usually like to keep my sig near the title. I think I'll just move the Russia text under the legend.

Yes, I thought about that. Russia would do fine over there.
Your sig is kinda just floating out there in the ocean, maybe it would look better if it was actually included under the title, in black w/out the white stroke.

Yeah I was also thinking of moving the sig under the title.

[natty dread]

Ta-dah

Click image to enlarge.

Text kerning: I'm not sure if I want to correct it. All the names are legible, and the slight kerning errors kinda give them an authentic feel to them, you know? Like, printing wasn't yet too sophisticated in the 19th century.

Different colour territory names for stations: eww, not going to happen. Nothing against the idea in general, but doesn't fit the style of this map.

[natty dread]

XML update -> http://www.fileden.com/files/2010/2/7/2 ... ientx4.xml

Test results:

Large 88

Click image to enlarge.

Large 888

Click image to enlarge.

Small 88



Small 888

[natty dread]

Click image to enlarge.

fixed a few small glithces, also corrected the kerning on some places where it was obvious. If there are some small kerning errors left I don't think I want to correct them, for reasons mentioned earlier.

[cairnswk]

natty....a couple of things...

1. the small locos on the title and under the Train monopoly look excatly like the trains on the monopoly board and i don't think fit the style of the map with the other trains in the background. I understand what the train monopoly bit is all about graphically, but hum...doesn't work for me with the overall layout.

2. the font on the small map "Map Key" and "Train Monopoly" doesn't work well and the M is difficult to read.

3. Any chance of increasing the yellow border in intensity so it stands out a bit more...it's kinda lost with the cream, and the hite for Romania.

4. You are using .pngs for clarity...once a previous version has been replaced by a new one, any chance you can place the old images in the hidden drop thingy show tag....your images are taking forever to download on my computer and i'd prefer to only download the latest version, not several on one page. I know its being a bit picky, but i'm thinking of the bytage that gets used with several version on one page.

[Industrial Helix]

Perhaps darken the yellow so it doesn't merge in tone with the creme color?

[natty dread]

Thanks guys for your input.

1) well that's kind of intentional. When using terms like "Train Monopoly" or "Land Monopoly" a subtle reference to monopoly seemed appropriate. I could try to find another locomotive for the title.

2) I'll try to tweak it

3) you're referring to austro-hungary? It was previously brighter but people wanted it less bright to match the other colours better. I don't want to keep switching it back and forth. In reference to IH, I'm afraid if I make it any darker it will bring colour-blind problems.

4) unfortunately the spoiler tags will not keep the images from being loaded. For the first page I've been trying to remove the img tags from old versions occasionally but I can't be bothered to do that between each update... As a workaround, you can right-click any image and select "view image" to only view the one image.

[natty dread]

v17

Click image to enlarge.

[porkenbeans]

Yes, the title looks much better centered up. I would try the train layer over the text layer. It does not matter if it covers some of it, and as a matter of fact, it would look cool that way. Even with it partially covered, it still can be read.

I see that you fixed some of the kerning problems. Much better.

I still do not like your sig floating out there in the water. I think that it will fit nicely across the boiler on the train.

[natty dread]

I would try the train layer over the text layer.

It is over the text layer. The order is, 1883 > train > main title.

I still do not like your sig floating out there in the water. I think that it will fit nicely across the boiler on the train.

Don't worry, my sig is waterproof.

[porkenbeans]

It is over the text layer. The order is, 1883 > train > main title.

What I mean is not just over the layer in order, but actually covering the text just a bit, so that it looks like the train is in front of the text.

So the order would be title, 1883, train.

[natty dread]

It is over the text layer. The order is, 1883 > train > main title.

What I mean is not just over the layer in order, but actually covering the text just a bit, so that it looks like the train is in front of the text.

So the order would be title, 1883, train.

As for the train covering more of the title text: I actually tried that when I was fiddling with the title, and I didn't like how it looked. The white part of the text outline gets covered and then it just looks uneven somehow, unbalanced, if you know what I mean.

As for moving the 1883 layer under the train layer, yeah that can be done. I'll try to remember it for the next update.

[porkenbeans]

3 suggs, I went ahead and illustrated them 4 ya.

1.) The title

2.) The rivers. Lightened them up a bit.

3.) Stretched the height of the canvas, so that you could do two things. 1st. and most important, add the rest of Italy. 2nd, so that you could make the legend bigger if you want.

Click image to enlarge.

[natty dread]

OK now don't take this the wrong way, but... none of those 3 are improvements.

1) the locomotive on top of the text just looks freakishly ugly and clumsy. It kind of hides the main part of the title, the title itself. The locomotive should be complementing the text, not dominating it. The signature overlaid on top of the locomotive just looks cheesy and ridiculous.

2) the lighter rivers just don't work. They have no reason to be lightened, if you get what I mean.

3) Adding more to the map brings absolutely no extra information, and it's a shitload of work for no gain. It only hurts the map, because it sets the two legends farther apart from each other.

So thanks for suggestions, but I will not be doing any of these.

[natty dread]

I won't be working on this for the next 2 weeks as I won't have web access. Any feedback is still welcome and will be addressed when I return.

[natty dread]

Ok so I'm back from vacation and ready to resume work on this... although it's a bit discouraging to see there has been no posts while I was gone.

Is there still support for this map?

[carlpgoodrich]

Of course there is, I think people were just waiting until you got back...