Working on the Top Down Maps, and the rest will be ready later today!
The top down maps along with the heightmaps form the data needed for the 3D maps like the isometric and special renders.

What I was hoping would take a month will take around two months to finish, so this have been a learning experience that will shape things going forward. Doubling the size of the project from 30 miles (50 km) to 60 miles (100 km)at the same scale means the area (and therefore the work involved) four times. 

In addition to taking four times the effort to edit, with this much more data barriers in hardware and software becomes much more apparent. For example to render things in World Machine went from ten hours to over four days. 

The Islands Project is 32K resolution which means that each type of data (elevation, texture masks etc) is an image 32,768 pixels across. until I have better hardware and updated tools, future projects will be limited to 16K resolution. Applied to the Lendore Isle this means 100 ft/pixel resolution, so there are hopes for the "Flanaess Map 2.0" update!

Resolution isn't everything, there are also features included and how well it scales both up and down. When you from 10 ft to 100 ft per pixel things like buildings and roads are no longer visible and need to be represented by symbols instead, either individually for roads or aggregated into settlements for buildings.

But now my thoughts are wandering off into the future, back to Photoshop again!   

Here are the next top down final map of the Islands series, this is the most inaccessible island of them all. With a hidden pirate outpost and the most sought after monastery this side of the ocean!

You can also grab the file here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dl1mb2k9v4xnb6q/Project%20Islands%20Area%204%20full-res.jpg?dl=0

Here is the third top down map. This time it is the flattest groups of islands with a little bit of settlements, not that many want to live out here on the edge. A few other features a sprinkled in here as well.

Here is a download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fsd2deqedlqx92p/Project%20Islands%20Area%203%20full-res.jpg?dl=0

Here comes the second top down final map. This island is a bit more mountainous and geographically more interesting, but less human habitation.
You can download the image here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uankdfcd9ur543r/Project%20Islands%20Area%202%20full-res.jpg?dl=0

Here is the top down map of Area 1. Here is the link to the image in case Patreon mess it up: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4b3c46kqta7qogc/Project%20Islands%20Area%201%20full-res.jpg?dl=0

I've changed the 100 Patreons goal from website upgrade to VUE 2016 & 3D Studio Max. I need to these tools to lift my projects to the next level, and to make it possible to work on projects from battlemap resolution to planetary level.

I'm working with an older version of Vue at the moment which doesn't cut it for large terrains and integration with other tools. With an upgrade and addition of 3D Studio I can work on projects of various sizes and scope with objects like buildings in a way not possible at the moment. 

Its been a long hard struggle to get here but final maps are getting ready. First out will be top down views of the minor islands, with the first one coming later today. The other ones will come in the next two to three days, and the main Island by the end of the week.

This gives a hint at what the final maps will looks like. I'm pretty shure this will be the most detailed fantasy terrain ever created for use in RPG's.

Working on the last details of the island in Area1, the town and its surroundings.

Isometric, detailed 3D views and special maps will come next week. 

The last bits to be added to this projects are a set of landscape images and the how-to videos. The reason for this is two fold, the main reason is that this is the first time I've done a project this complicated with a fully 3D terrain covering an area of this size with forest roads and buildings represented. I wanted to find out what actually worked before trying to convey that knowledge to you guys.

I have learned some hard lessons about limitations, but technical and personal during the roughly 8 weeks of arduous but very interesting work. Me being more than a bit frustrated with progress, quality and deadlines I've set for this progress, have made me more than usually unfit to record How-To videos. It is much easier when you have understood what you need to do.

Now back to Photoshop for a few hours of details....

Project Island are after much hard work finally progressing into the final stages of editing. In order to check that what I'm doing will actually be usable in 3D I had to take a small sample and render it.

Far from perfect it is still more than OK in my opinion. The textures are a bit flat and too murky and the 3D and texture data mismatch by a pixel in a few places, but that is can be fixed.

There are a number of little details on this sample alone, take a closer look and see what you can find!

Also working on videos, and I just wished I had ten times more talent at presenting what I do in videos. It is a struggle to make sense, but I'm  working on it. Deadline is end of the month and its going to be ready!

Thank you so much for your support and patients with the time this takes. 

The final look is starting to emerge and I'm very please with the results, my best texture work so far. Still things to work on but I really like the color tone and how the forest and shading looks.

Here comes a video that gives an overview of how things are set up in World Machine. Cartography Backers have access to this file, but it might be of interest to all of you to take a peek at how the "sausage" is made.