The June Annual is not the only new download available now from your registration page – you can also download the Random City command by Lee Saunders for CC3+ from the same place. Coincidence? Hardly!

For the Annual we’ve created a lengthy tutorial on how to use the Random City command and what to do to customize and enhance the maps the command creates for you. That way you can quickly create a base map and continue to map the city after that as far as you like.

The Random City command was originally created for use with City Designer 3 and is listed separately under CD3’s downloads. But it is also included in the June Annual download, and if you do not own CD3, you can use it with the basic city style in CC3+.

In addition to the Random City command itself, the June Annual contains a 9-page tutorial and 2 example maps created with the command, one done with City Designer 3, the other with CC3+ alone.

The issue is now available for CC3+ from the registration page for all subscribers. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2017 yet, you can do so here.

City Designer 3 is now compatible with CC3+, and to celebrate, here is a round-of maps, tutorials and resources for cities.

• An 8-part city creation tutorial- Mapping Cities part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5, part 6, part 7 and part 8.
• Learning CD3
• Kartotum – a city creation example
• Making City Maps – the styles and tools ProFantasy provides for city design
• Making a City part 1
• Making a City part 2

You can create a wide range of cities and urban areas with CC3 and its add-ons and symbol sets. This article shows you a selection, and the software you need to create them.

City Designer 3 is (unsurprisingly) the best resource for urban areas – the following examples were created with CD3.

This is from the Annual Vol 5 – a 1930s style map.

a This map was created with the black and white city style released in the Annual Vol 4

Two styles in one, here in the Annual Vol 1. One is remininiscent of 18th to 19th century maps, while the second creates the look of contemporary street maps.

This map emulates the famous town and city maps of British cartographer John Speed (1542-1629). It was created with the John Speed City style from The Cartographer’s Annual Vol 1.

This style from the Annual Vol 3 does not require City Designer 3

Up to now we’ve mostly been working inside the city walls, where space is short and buildings necessarily packed

Historic map of Oxford in 1643

closely together.  We’re now going to turn to the area outside the walls.  In this installment, we’re going to turn back to some theory.

First we need to talk about why businesses decide to set up outside the walls of the city.  After all, they are forgoing the protection that walls bring, so there must be some good reasons for it.  It turns out the reasons are pretty simple:

• Avoiding authority:  This is monetary, avoiding taxes, but also includes regulation, attention of the town watch, even to avoiding the prying eyes of neighbors.  The city’s authority ends with the city walls, and some people find their business flourishes where there is less oversight.
• Accessing markets:  Gates into the city are notorious choke points for people entering the city.  The gates typically only open at certain times, guards ask questions, and just the physical size of the gate all conspire to leave large numbers of people waiting outside to get in.  And where there are large numbers of people waiting or stranded, there is money to be made selling goods and services to them.
• Space:  In many cities, space is at a premium.  So businesses that require lots of space such as cattle markets, or that need space from neighbors, such as tanners, will often set up outside the city walls.

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First buildings with effects on

Ok, we’re going to spend time today filling in a block section with houses.  We’re going to be using the House command from CD3 extensively, so you should be an expert in it once we’re done.

The house command is in the upper left corner of your toolbar and looks like a roof seen from  the top – a screen shot is to the right (you can see the “House” tooltip as well):

 
 
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