5. Using masks to colorize

Because of the high level of detail in the lines on Mountain High Maps, and FreeHand’s limit to the number of points to a single path, it isn’t always possible to close country paths in order that they can be filled with a color. The coastline of Norway on map “5.10 Scandinavia,” for example, contains no fewer than 2,500 points – excluding  islands!

Ocean fills

It’s a whole lot faster, therefore, to use the TIFF masks to create fills, and provided that you position them carefully, it’s just as accurate. The most obvious place to use masks is for ocean fills, since the entire coastlines of some maps total several thousand points. Create TIFF fills as follows:

1. Set the zero point as described in Chapter 4.

2. Create a new layer and call it “Ocean mask.”

3. Position the layer just above the Relief TIFF layer.

2. Place the appropriate Ocean mask (choose “Place…” from the File menu) and position it accurately by entering zero values in the x and y fields in the Object Editor on the Inspector palette. Check the “Transparent” option.

4. Define a color and apply it to the mask.

If there are lakes on the map, make sure that you give them the same color fill as you gave the ocean mask. You can do this very easily, because we included a “Lakes fill” layer for that very purpose (to apply a color, either switch off or lock all the other layers, then “Select All” and apply your fill color).

That’s all there is to it! Your map will look something like this (assuming that you have already colorized the relief TIFF):

Land and ocean fills

Just as you can use the TIFF masks for ocean fills, so you can use them for building up any number of country fills. Just repeat the steps above, placing each new mask on a separate layer. You can even leave individual countries as relief, as shown below right:

When using the country masks as fills, you must invert them (make them negative). Do this by editing the TIFF in the Image Editor:

                           Click here to invert the mask

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