Making a map for your book with Pendrilo Maps

Pendrilo Maps draws the map for the front of your book: coastlines, mountains, forests, towns, rivers, roads and place names. It is a separate program from Studio and the Formatter, and it is free during the beta.

Choose a page size

Choose the size before you place anything, so the map is drawn for the page it will be printed on.

Step 1. Under Page on the right, open the list.
Step 2. For a map on one page, choose Book page: 5 × 8, 5.5 × 8.5, 6 × 9 or 8.5 × 11 in. For a map across two facing pages, choose Two-page spread, which is available for 5 × 8, 5.5 × 8.5 and 6 × 9 in books. For an ebook, choose Ebook page (6 × 8 in). For a game table or poster, choose Letter (wide or tall), Tabloid, A4, A3, Square (10 × 10 in) or Screen, widescreen (16 × 9 in).
Step 3. For any other size, type it in the two boxes under the list. Use Margin to set the space around the map.

On a two-page spread, a red band shows the fold between the pages. Keep place names out of it, or they will disappear into the binding. The band does not print.

Generate a whole world

The quickest start is a generated map.

Step 1. Choose Map → New World…, or click New World… on the left.
Step 2. Under Shape, choose One island, Scattered islands, Mainland or Coastline.
Step 3. Use the Land, Mountains, Forests and Towns sliders to set how much of each you want.
Step 4. Under Names, choose Fantasy or Horror place names.
Step 5. Click Roll a New World. Keep clicking until you like one.

A new world replaces the land and everything on it. The page, look and frame stay as they are.

Each world comes from its Seed, a number. The same seed and settings always give the same world. To get a world back, type its seed into the box and click Make This Seed. You can also share a seed with someone else, and they can rebuild the same world with the same settings.

Everything a new world makes is ordinary symbols, lines and names, the same as you would place yourself, so you can change any of it. To reshape a coast, choose Land, pick Raise land or Sink to sea, set the Brush size, and drag over the map. Hold Alt to do the opposite for a moment. Trees and towns on land you sink go with it.

Choose a look

A look restyles the whole map at once: paper, ink, sea and lettering. Under Look on the right, choose one of these:

Ink: black on white. Use this for a map printed inside a book.
Parchment: warm paper and brown ink, for ebooks, covers and game tables.
Dread: cold grey paper, heavy ink and one red. Suited to horror. Choosing Horror place names offers to switch the map to Dread.
Chart: pale blue sea and cream land, like an atlas page.

For a map in a black-and-white paperback, use Ink. Colours print as grey, and the export window reminds you if your map is not in Ink.

Add symbols, rivers and roads

Pendrilo Maps has 33 symbols in five groups. Point at one to see its name.

To place a symbol, choose Symbol, click a symbol on the right, and then click the map where it goes. To paint a mountain range or a forest, choose Scatter, pick the symbol and a Brush size, and drag across the map. Choose Erase and drag to take some away.

To draw a river, road, trail or border, choose Line, pick the kind, and drag along the path. A river widens as it runs toward the sea, so draw it from its source to the sea.

To change something you have placed, choose Select and click it. A symbol has a Size and a Flip option. A line can change its kind and Width. To reshape a line, delete it and draw it again. Shift-click to select several items, then use Duplicate (Ctrl+D) or the Delete key as needed.

Name places

Step 1. Choose Name on the left.
Step 2. Choose what you are naming: Region, Sea or lake, City, Town or landmark, Mountains or forest, or Note. Each has its own lettering.
Step 3. Click the map where the name goes. A suggested name appears, selected. Type over it.

To change a name later, choose Select and click it. Tilt turns the name, from −90° to 90°, to run along a range or river. Curve bends it along a coast or mountain range; move it left or right to bend it the other way. Spread sets the space between letters. Under Font, Size and Colour, you can change how the name looks.

Export a PDF or picture

Step 1. Choose File → Export….
Step 2. Choose PDF, PNG picture or JPEG picture. A PDF stays sharp at any size and is the best choice for print. For a picture, choose a Quality: Screen (150 dpi), Print (300 dpi) or Fine (600 dpi). The window shows the size in pixels.
Step 3. Click Export… and choose where to save the file.

During the beta, exports have no watermark.

Send the map into your book

Send to Pendrilo puts the map into your book as a map page, so you don't have to export and import a picture.

Step 1. In Pendrilo Maps, choose Map → Send to Pendrilo. You can also use the button in the export window.
Step 2. Open your book in Pendrilo Formatter or Studio. The map waits there until you open the book, so neither program needs to be open when you send it.
Step 3. A notice at the top of the editor reads Pendrilo Maps sent a map: and the map's title. Click Add as a map page.

The map goes on a page of its own before the story, facing chapter one in print. Its picture is 300 dpi, at the size of your map's page. Edit → Undo removes it again.

In Studio, the notice also offers Add N places to the Codex, which is ticked by default. It adds a Place entry for each name on the map that is not already in your Codex, with its type (town, castle, forest, water and so on) filled in from the symbol drawn beside the name. Untick it to add only the map. Not now keeps the map waiting, and the notice returns the next time the program starts. Discard throws away the sent copy. The map itself stays in Pendrilo Maps.

If you change the map later, send it again and add it. That creates a new map page, so delete the old one in the chapter list.

Saving and moving around

Your map saves itself as you work, in a file ending in .mapmaker. Edit → Undo (Ctrl+Z) reverses anything, including a whole New World. To move around the map, scroll with the mouse wheel, or drag with the middle button or while holding Space. Ctrl and the mouse wheel zoom in and out, and Fit shows the whole map again.

Town and street maps, floor plans, and your own pictures as symbols are not in Pendrilo Maps yet.