What is Inkarnate?Inkarnate Worlds is a web-based cartography tool that allows you to quickly and easily illustrate your fantasy worlds. It was created by reddit user nickrart almost a year ago and is still in the open beta stage, but you can sign up on the website to start creating maps. This can be very useful for fantasy roleplays, or just in general roleplays that need a map but you don't want to draw it up yourself.
"The goal of Inkarnate - Worlds is allow DMs to map out their custom campaign worlds in as much detail as they desire. We have aimed to make the tool easy to pick up and use by a 'non-artist', but also providing enough customization for power users and artists."Youtube Video by WASD20 that explains it a bit more than I do.
In the coming weeks, the team is planning on bringing Inkarnate to commercial light and adding more map styles to create, such as a more parchment world style and the capability to flesh out cities.
How do I use it?Visit
inkarnate.com to access the tool. You must sign up for beta at the top left first! Check your email after registering so you can login and start making maps.
After logging in you'll be redirected to an empty map maker. The icons to the left are pretty straightforward - hover over them to see their tooltips and what they do. There is a toolbar at the top of the program that lets you change options of the tools. To the left of the toolbar is your account icon, where you can see all of your created maps and edit them if you want.
Use the
Sculpt Tool to add or erase land mass. You can change the brush size to add more detail/
The
texture tool will allow you to paint the terrain to your liking. There are a variety of different parchment and land textures to choose from.
Objects such as a compass, towns, castles, and icons can be placed and manipulated with the
Object tool. The
Pattern Tool lets you add trees, hills, and mountains to your map.
The
Text Tool is used to add... surprise! text! to your maps.
The
grid tool adds a square/hex overlay to your map so it reflects lines of longitude/latitude or general designated areas. You can change the color, size, and opacity of it. If you don't like the grid effect and want to get rid of it just set opacity to 0.
The
note tool lets you add little location icons that you can view in the user panel later. You can't see notes in the general editing/overview, though - you have to click on the note tool to bring them up again [they weren't magically deleted or not saved! they're just hiding]
To delete objects after you place them, make sure you're on the "Select" setting at the top, then highlight them and select "Delete" from the dropdown that pops up.To save your maps, click the "save" button, which is the second-to-last icon. This saves the map to your account so you can access and/or edit it later.
To download the map, click the "export" button. You'll get a popup that lets you save it as a .jpeg image. Name it what you want and voila! You're finished.
