Igloo Inc. Map Art (Official Thread)

Discussion in 'Products, Businesses, & Services Archives' started by supereskimo, Dec 1, 2012.

  1. Edit: I will no longer be taking orders for construction, but I will take orders for image editing.
    NOW ACCEPTING NEW ORDERS? Yes - for editing only
    Welcome to Igloo Inc. - EMC's first and foremost map art-making service. Not familiar with map art? Take a look at some of our example work:
    EMC Museum advertisement, made for aCookieGod, smp1:

    Jimi Hendrix outline, smp2:

    Hall of Staff advertisement, made for 333kirby, smp2:


    Currently, we offer 3 services:
    1. The sale of map art owned by the company
    2. The editing of images to make them map-able (see "more about maps" for more info)
    3. General help and information for maps and map art

    More about Maps:

    Link: Wiki page for maps
    Link: Video explaining which blocks correspond to which colors
    Link: Video showcasing image-to-map software

    Maps in minecraft show which types of blocks are at which coordinates. That is, for each x and z coordinate (press F3 in-game to see your coordinates) the game looks to see which type of block is there, then places a pixel on the map.
    *There are 11 basic colors, plus a light shade and a dark shade of each color, for a total of 33. However, in order to use the 22 extra shades, blocks must be placed higher or lower than the rest of the blocks, which can be tricky. Since there are only 11 colors which can be effectively used in a map, most images must be significantly edited before they can be used for map art.
    *The 11 colors are: Again, see the video posted above to see which blocks correspond to which colors. They may look slightly different on computers with different brightness levels.
    *It is worth noting that all colors of wool show up as light grey on maps. This means that you can't simply make wool pixel art that is visible to the player, then expect it to be visible on a map.
    *Maps are 128x128 pixels. At the closest zoom level, one pixel represents one block. At the next zoom level, one pixel represents a 2x2 block area, and so on. A map will be centered at a multiple of 128 on the x and z coordinates. For example, (0,0), (128, -128), (512, -256), etc. Note that techically, each block is centered at an integer plus 0.5 (not on a whole number). This means you must be careful when calculating what the boundary coordinates of a map will be.
    *You can copy a map by placing the map and an empty map in the crafting area. Copies of maps will stack. But be careful - If someone alters the place the map was made, then looks at it with a copy of the map, all other copies of that map will be altered.


    Image Design Pricing:
    The two programs I (currently) use to create map-ready images are MS Paint, and ImageToMap (available for free). The price for creating an image from scratch based on your description is 2000r. Note: In most cases, I will find a similar image, then shrink it, reduce the number of colors, then edit it further to make it look better. If you already have a base image (has more/different colors than the ones specified) and want me to edit it, the price is 1000r. If you have an image with 11 or fewer colors, which correspond to the 11 specified in the "More About Maps" section, I will not charge for this step.

    Sales Rights:
    If you buy a copy of map art made by Igloo Inc, you may make copies for your own use, but you may not distribute the copies without permission, and you may not sell the copies for profit.
    Exceptions:
    1. Advertisements can be copied/distributed freely (ex: the EMC Museum and Hall of Staff ads)
    2. The Jimi Hendrix one may be distributed freely, so long as you give me credit.
    3. If I give you permission otherwise.

    Unfortunately, I will no longer be making these to customer specifications, but if you need any help with maps or converting images to maps, don't hesitate to PM me.
    One last thing - if you know of a good free program that lets you directly convert all pixels of one color to another, and that can count the number of pixels of a certain color, please let me know! That would drastically improve my ability to edit images.
  2. This is some pretty cool , bump for awesomeness.
  3. Can I have one:

    Im not too sure on pricing though can you tell me the full price it will cost?
  4. This is the first time someones gone into this type of business, I hope it works out!
    SoulPunisher and supereskimo like this.
  5. Untitled.png Can I get something a little bit like this? I want something cool in the background but couldn't think of anything. (BTW, I want a lot of these maps for decoration, is there a way to duplicate maps?)
  6. supereskimo and Jeanzl2000 like this.
  7. I want to clarify that the physical 128x128 block area will be in the wild, not on your residence. Once it's complete, you will receive a map, which you can hang or distribute (depending on the situation).
    nfell2009 likes this.
  8. I don't think the sales rights are exactly fair, if we already paid, why do we have to pay you again to give copies out?
  9. Well, you don't have to. The main reason is that if you decided to sell/give away copies without paying me, I wouldn't be able to compete, since others could just get them for free from you. I can't make much profit off of labor and materials, so selling the copies would hopefully be the business's main source of income. Still, considering they might have paid to have the image edited, you make a good point. I will edit the conditions and prices for sales rights.
  10. Good news, everybody! We can now directly convert images into .dat files for single player worlds using the program Imagetomap. Watch this video to see how it's done:

    Here is a world I made with 8 of these maps:

    If you want the .dat file for any of the images shown above, just PM me and I'll send you the file for free!
    If you want a different image made into a .dat file, the standard editing rates will apply.
    How to make use a .dat file in your world:
    1. Place a map (not an empty one) in your inventory in-game. Make note of what # it is.
    2. Open your .minecraft folder (type %appdata% in the search bar for Windows). Open the "saves" folder, then open the folder for the world you used in step one. Then open the "data" file.
    3. Find the map.dat file for the map # you used in step one. For example, if the map was #7, the file would be map_7.dat.
    4. Replace the old file with the new one, but give the new file the same name as the new one. The best way to do this is to delete the old file, put in the new file, then rename the new file.
    5. Open the world in-game and look at the map. It should show the image you wanted!
  11. Good news and bad news, everyone.
    The good news:
    Today I finished my first customer order - an advertisement for 333kirby's Hall of Staff on smp2 at 4116:

    The bad news:
    Due to time constraints, I will no longer be taking customer orders. I will, however, still offer image editing services, and sell any maps I create in the future. And of course, if you have an image you'd really like to see on EMC, just PM me and I'll see what I can do (no promises here, but I might be able to help).
    I will be editing the OP to reflect these changes.
    -supereskimo, Igloo Inc.

    P.S. The slight discoloration around the edges of the chicken and spider heads, and around the beacon beams, was caused by height differences (the lava for the red had to be away from the ice for the light blue).
  12. nooooooooo I was about to order one...
  13. If you want one made, just PM me with the details. We still may be able to work something out, but I won't make any promises in terms of how long it would take me to do.
  14. No it's ok :D
  15. I just thought that the starry night and nessie one looked cool.
  16. Sorry, but those ones aren't available on EMC - they have too many different colors. Technically, you could make them, but the height differences would make it pretty complicated. Currently they're only available for single player (you have to put the .dat file in your level save).