How many man hours to make a map?

[lightspeed_aust 681]

Map making is something I'm considering tackling this year but as I'm quite time poor I would like an idea of what I'm up against to determine if it's feasible.

If I decided to tackle a map say 5x5km how long would it take to create the island without objects?

To create one village with say 10 streets and 50 houses and other bits and pieces?

To add trees and grass?

To place the roads?

What else has to be done?

If I decide to go 10x10km do I get some economies of scale? i.e. instead of it taking twice as long, it's only an extra 20-30% effort?

I know some will argue over hours spent but I'm just looking for approximates.

Thanks

Lighty.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Lightspeed_aust

[ylguf 1]

Expect a steep learning curve and quite a bit of work. it can be done quite fast if you know what you are doing. but assuming you are new try following a couple tutorials before even starting on your own work and make sure you can get those working in game. this will help learn how the folders are set up, and what file does what and will help you greatly. that is my recommendation.

[fully 1]

I would start with a few tut's (http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA_2_Terrain_Tutorial)

Then make a 2 * 2 from scratch! (as you have poor time management) This will teach you all you need to know.

Also not being so big you wont lose interest, after spending hours on it =)

Quality over quantity =)

[sthalik 10]

"man hours"? The mythical man-month...

[aussnipe73 3]

How long is a piece of string?;)

How long it will take you to make a map really depends on how much detail you want to put into it. You can spend weeks working on satellite images and heightmaps. You can easily spend as many months as you like placing objects, however if you bearing in mind your new, time etc. I would say (and could be completely wrong here) allow 6-8 months to make a 5x5km with strict controls on the object count.

AusSnipe73

[max power 21]

I kind of agree with AusSnipe. It's kind of like asking 'how fast does a car go'. 5km x 5km of desert, pretty fast... but maybe you're hand painting all of the maps texture maps? What if it's all realistic city...? I think even forests require some TLC to make sure the trees aren't floating and such. What kind of map do you have in mind, Lightspeed_aust?

[lightspeed_aust 681]

I haven't decided on a theme yet and totally understand the degree of variables that could make a project longer/ shorter.

Would not be a real location although likely modelled on a real location. Definitely not desert as these have been amply covered over the last 12 months.

The question is do I have 6-8 months available. I could complete a new campaign on existing island in about half that timeframe.

One thing is for certain, I wont do it if its not done right.

[andersson 285]

I would recommend to do a quick ugly 2x2 first just so you understand the process. Play around with the different techniques and programs so you understand it. Dont give a damn of how it looks as you will delete it all at the end. Then when you understand the process and programs you can take the decision, and if you go for it you can focus on creativity instead of tutorials and learning the software.

[ZeroG 23]

If you understand the tools and processes, the thing you described in your first post can be done in a few hours.

Time consumption will multiply with the wanted detail and realism level.

As an example for my pedantry: Currently, I am working on my forest mask for 20x20 km of Western Germany. While World tools says that only 20% of the map are actually forest, I have been working on it for more than 20 hours already....and I am now just close to finish the forest shape with excavated roads.

Next step will be to determine what kind of forest gets placed where and which random objects should be in it.

It might seem to be too much, but exactly that passion you put into an addon will determine its community and playability value...while imho that especially counts for maps, as they need to be visually beautiful...

I plan on finishing the map by the release of A3...thats realistic I guess.

[Twin2Win 1]

I'm looking at 16-22 months for my map of Hawaii and that's putting in 40 Hrs a Week on it...At least...

[freakjoe 3]

I'm looking at 16-22 months for my map of Hawaii and that's putting in 40 Hrs a Week on it...At least...

A map of ALL of Hawaii?

[Twin2Win 1]

The big island, Hawai'i. land dimensions of 36.2km x 38.6km with realistic roads.

[nailbomb72 0]

Hey Lighty,

I've been learning the tools of the trade since just after New Year and like you I'm time poor - I'm lucky to get a couple hours every 2-3 days. In that time I've followed the tutorial linked above as well as reading Bushlurkers Beginners Guide & ZeroG's Tutorial. Not to mention reading the wealth of info in this forum - I'd say any terrain related question I've had that wasn't in the above tutorials I've found someone else has already asked and there's an answer in the forum.

In addition to learning the BI Tools, I've spent a bit of time learning how to use L3DT (freaking awesome program, I bought the pro version even though I probably don't need it because it's just that good and the price is very affordable) and also time obtaining and using real world DEMs.

Now, 3 months down the road, I've got a few different heightmaps in game from either DEM or L3DT generated terrains and have a bit of a workflow sorted. When you get a 20x20 map in game and realise you need to populate it with objects the advice of all the experienced dudes rings in your ears "Start with something small, 10x10km max!"

At this point, I'm happy with the tools and have started sculpting my height map in L3DT (I chose this over using real world locations because I can get away with anything + the underwater terrain ends up looking natural which is great given there's diving in Arma3).

So time poor me has spent 3 months learning BI tools, 3rd party software and the options a terrain maker has to get a height map with an auto generated Sat Map from L3DT or a placeholder one made in Photoshop in to Visitor 3 then binarized and into Arma 2. A long way for me to go still but it's been very enjoyable. Hopefully one day, I'll even finish my main project.

[lightspeed_aust 681]

Thank fellas, v informative.

[oldbear 390]

I am able to build a terrain from scratch in an afternoon.

I am able to build a playable terrain in 8hrs.

But

6 months spend to build Yapal, nearly one month spend to tweak intro, IA paths (small desert terrain)

2 years to build Tigeria, one year spent to build terrain with high mountains, and I am still not satisfied with it (large 20km islands)

1 year to build Vostok or Tropica 1st version, 1 more year to build last version (large 20km islands)

6 months to build BearRocks (small island).

[Twin2Win 1]

Nice to see ya around still Old Bear. This man is a legend, anything he posts, listen.