# Obsidian - Excalidraw - Lets Make a Map! ![[images/Obsidian-Excalidraw-Lets-Make-a-Map.webp]] [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Yz_STwan4) · 26:55 · Josh Plunkett · 2024-03-16 ## Outline ### 00:00 Intro - A different kind of video: maps rather than notes, but still built entirely inside Obsidian. - He has covered the Hex Map Editor plugin before; this time he has been experimenting with **Excalidraw**, and the regional map on screen was made completely in it. ![[images/Obsidian-Excalidraw-Lets-Make-a-Map-t0100.webp]] - **01:03** Honest caveat: dedicated map-making software will be easier, and he doesn't recommend Excalidraw over it. Still, the map took about an hour and looks reasonable, though his rivers are sloppy. - **02:03** For a GM who wants an easy, basically free option, it's very viable. ### 02:21 Installation - Settings, Community plugins, browse for Excalidraw, install and enable. - Right-click a folder and choose "Create new drawing" to get a new Excalidraw canvas. ### 02:53 Find Map Symbols - You need symbols: PNGs with a transparent background. - **03:04** Map Forge Software (mapforgesoftware.com) has a list of free mapping-asset sources; a Google search for "free map assets" also works, and some Patreon creators give symbols away. ![[images/Obsidian-Excalidraw-Lets-Make-a-Map-t0310.webp]] - **03:30** Cartography Assets (cartographyassets.com) is a sharing site for downloadable symbol packs. - **03:55** He splits maps into regional (usually isometric), city (usually top-down) and dungeon (floor view, more detail). Texture packs could make water effects, though he hasn't worked out how yet. - **04:40** He subscribes to the **Cartographer's Annual** from ProFantasy (profantasy.com), the makers of **Campaign Cartographer 3+ (CC3+)**, an ageing tool he has other videos on. The annual is a yearly subscription (he reads 7.95 on screen) with a release every month. Many of its symbols are plain PNGs usable outside CC3+. - **06:09** He browses the symbols in CC3+, copies the folder path, and opens the PNG folder so he can drag images in. ### 06:48 Make a Map - Drag a high-peak mountain into the drawing, then one with clouds. - **07:11** Key tip: start at the top left and work toward the viewer, so you layer from the furthest object to the nearest. Copy and paste the same symbol over and over; few people will notice the repeats. - **08:44** A glitch: about 5% of added images lose their preview. Reloading the app without saving sometimes fixes it; otherwise delete and re-add the image. He may check Excalidraw's GitHub issues. - **09:45** Right-click an image and choose "Bring to front" to fix layering. - **10:00** He adds structures from a monthly "dark empire" add-on, an evil city and a wizard tower, then trees, leaving gaps so the scenery reads well. - **11:22** Drawing tools: use the color picker on an existing symbol to get a pencil in the same color. - **12:24** Change the canvas background color to match the symbols. ![[images/Obsidian-Excalidraw-Lets-Make-a-Map-t1240.webp]] - **12:55** Water: pencil with dark-blue stroke and lighter-blue fill to draw rivers; a closed coastline fills the whole area blue. - **14:00** Vary the symbols so the eye doesn't pick up a pattern. ### 14:38 Add a Border - Use the rectangle tool with sharp edges, a thick stroke and no fill to frame the map. - **15:02** He screenshots the finished map with **ShareX** and pastes it into a note, where it's just an image. - **15:32** Then he creates a new drawing, pastes the flattened map, and adds pins separately from the map. - **16:32** After trying pin images and text, he settles on a green-dot emoji (Windows period key emoji picker) and uses "Insert link to file" to link it to a note. ![[images/Obsidian-Excalidraw-Lets-Make-a-Map-t1640.webp]] - **18:03** That gives you linked maps. The next video shows how to publish this map with its pins to a website, which Leaflet maps can't do. ### 18:40 Other Map Types - A more colorful, less sinister example map. Add compasses, labels and flair; you can also load the finished image into **Leaflet** and link towns to notes. - **19:33** Dungeons are harder because of the grid. Paste a transparent grid image, right-click and **Lock** it, then build rooms with the rectangle tool underneath and drag in props. ![[images/Obsidian-Excalidraw-Lets-Make-a-Map-t2040.webp]] - **21:04** Tools like Dungeondraft are better, but this is a free option for people on a budget. - **21:35** A quick city attempt using CC3+ city symbols (houses, roofs, chimneys) and a thick brown pencil for roads. Background color patches could show transitions between jungle, mountains and sand. ### 24:43 Outro - Excalidraw is flexible well beyond workflows; artists draw cartoons in it. He jokes that it updates seven times a day, a sign of a very active developer. - **25:20** He finds it faster and far more flexible than Canvas, which couldn't do this without a lot of CSS. - Part one of two; next is publishing to Obsidian Publish. - **25:50** Thanks to patrons; points newcomers to obsidianttrpgtutorials.com (start with Getting Started) and the Obsidian TTRPG Community Discord. ## Things Mentioned ### Obsidian plugins and features - **Excalidraw** (community plugin by Zsolt Viczián), free. The drawing tool used for the whole map. - **Hex Map Editor** plugin, free. Covered in an earlier video. - **Leaflet** (Obsidian Leaflet by Javalent), free. Pinnable maps, but they can't be published. - **Canvas** (core feature), compared unfavorably for map making. - **Obsidian Publish**, paid. Target of the follow-up video. ### Map assets and mapping tools - [Map Forge Software](https://mapforgesoftware.com/), list of free mapping-asset sources. - [Cartography Assets](https://cartographyassets.com/), free and paid symbol packs. - [ProFantasy](https://www.profantasy.com/) **Campaign Cartographer 3+ (CC3+)**, paid desktop mapping software. - **Cartographer's Annual** (ProFantasy), paid yearly subscription with monthly symbol releases. - **Dungeondraft** and similar dedicated map tools, paid alternatives. ### Other tools and websites - **ShareX**, free Windows screenshot app. - Windows emoji picker (Win + period key). - [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/), free. - [Obsidian TTRPG Tutorials](https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com/), free tutorial site, and the Obsidian TTRPG Community Discord. - [Josh Plunkett's Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/JPlunkett), paid, includes the Foundation Vault. ## Bios ### Josh Plunkett Australian creator of Obsidian TTRPG Tutorials and its YouTube channel, teaching GMs to run tabletop campaigns in Obsidian through plugin walkthroughs and vault workflows. He runs a Patreon offering the Foundation Vault. ### Zsolt Viczián (mentioned indirectly) Developer of the Obsidian Excalidraw plugin, known for very frequent updates, which is the "updates seven times a day" joke. ### Javalent (mentioned) Developer of Obsidian Leaflet and other TTRPG-focused Obsidian plugins.