Sao Feng Map

[samson7]

Hi everyone,

New guy here, name is Sam.

I'm wanting to create a full sized Sao Feng POTC map and I was wanting to bounce some ideas off of you all. I know this has been attempted by a few people here already with varying degrees of success and I know another individual on YouTube created a few versions but I wanted to get as accurate of a reproduction as possible with some tweaks.

I'm okay with the map just being on a large piece of wood and not necessarily being foldable. I have two ideas:

-Obtain board of wood and a high-quality print out of the map, overlay them, figure out which parts of the map and wood need to be movable and then cut each component before permanently attaching the map to the wood

-Repeat the above steps but have my artist friend paint the entire map onto the wood after the moving parts have been established

I have a high-res image but I'm not sure how large the image can be blow up. It's 12,740 x 10,800 and I'm not looking for this to be huge, maybe 2' x 3'?

Any other ways to approach this? I'm open to ideas.

 

[division 6]

The screen used map that turned was metal.

There was a run of maps done some years ago (don't remember who).
IIRC the backing you where supposed to adhere it to was a bamboo blind.

 

[DracoAdamantus]

Hi everyone,

New guy here, name is Sam.

I'm wanting to create a full sized Sao Feng POTC map and I was wanting to bounce some ideas off of you all. I know this has been attempted by a few people here already with varying degrees of success and I know another individual on YouTube created a few versions but I wanted to get as accurate of a reproduction as possible with some tweaks.

I'm okay with the map just being on a large piece of wood and not necessarily being foldable. I have two ideas:

-Obtain board of wood and a high-quality print out of the map, overlay them, figure out which parts of the map and wood need to be movable and then cut each component before permanently attaching the map to the wood

-Repeat the above steps but have my artist friend paint the entire map onto the wood after the moving parts have been established

I have a high-res image but I'm not sure how large the image can be blow up. It's 12,740 x 10,800 and I'm not looking for this to be huge, maybe 2' x 3'?

Any other ways to approach this? I'm open to ideas.

This is a prop I've wanted to take a crack at for some time, so I'm definitely in to swap ideas on this.

So if you care more about it having movable rings over bring able to roll it up, this is what I'd do:

• Get a piece of hardwood or plywood the size of the map that you want, and router out the shape of the rings, cutting between 1/16 and 1/8 in deep
• Cut out the rings out of a piece of wood the same thickness as the depressions you cut, or in a piece of sheet metal
• Get a canvas print made of the map scaled to the dimensions of your board (make sure that the rings are the correct scale when you cut them), cut out the moving components, and then affix all of them to the canvas with wood glue.

As for a map that can actually be rolled up... I'm still trying to figure that out myself. I need to dig up some old pop-up books that I have somewhere, I remember that they had spinning rings and they may be a good jumping off point.

On a side note, I would be interested in that high-res image if you can share it. Even if I don't make a full movable map, I'd love to have a print done for my wall of fantasy maps.

 

[samson7]

This is a prop I've wanted to take a crack at for some time, so I'm definitely in to swap ideas on this.

So if you care more about it having movable rings over bring able to roll it up, this is what I'd do:

• Get a piece of hardwood or plywood the size of the map that you want, and router out the shape of the rings, cutting between 1/16 and 1/8 in deep
• Cut out the rings out of a piece of wood the same thickness as the depressions you cut, or in a piece of sheet metal
• Get a canvas print made of the map scaled to the dimensions of your board (make sure that the rings are the correct scale when you cut them), cut out the moving components, and then affix all of them to the canvas with wood glue.

As for a map that can actually be rolled up... I'm still trying to figure that out myself. I need to dig up some old pop-up books that I have somewhere, I remember that they had spinning rings and they may be a good jumping off point.

On a side note, I would be interested in that high-res image if you can share it. Even if I don't make a full movable map, I'd love to have a print done for my wall of fantasy maps.

Thank you for chiming in Draco! I definitely would like this as a fixed piece of wood, I'm okay with it not being a roll up.

I think what you've suggested is along the lines of what I was thinking with respect to approaching this. In the steps you have above, you indicated getting the piece of wood first and then printing the map. Would it be best to see how well the image prints before getting the wood cut?

I'll have to email you the map file I have as it keeps saying it's too large to upload. Shoot me your email through a private message!

Just from the specs on my Mac I can see it's fairly high resolution but I have no idea how that would translate to printing it. I'd like at least 2' x 3' for the map. Perhaps you're more tech savvy than I, can you tell whether or not the file can be blow up to that dimension and still retain detail/clairty?

 

[David3]

I think I have the same file that i tweaked years ago in ps to enhance some of the details and also made the Stranger Tides version too.
There are some areas that lack definition and seems to be a page crease on the left that i didn't get to but if it helps you're welcome to use it. Should blow up well enough to print.
Might need some exposure adjustments too depending on the print process.
They're 160mb each so had to upload a much smaller file here but if any good just pm me and I can send you the full file.

 

[DracoAdamantus]

Thank you for chiming in Draco! I definitely would like this as a fixed piece of wood, I'm okay with it not being a roll up.

I think what you've suggested is along the lines of what I was thinking with respect to approaching this. In the steps you have above, you indicated getting the piece of wood first and then printing the map. Would it be best to see how well the image prints before getting the wood cut?

I'll have to email you the map file I have as it keeps saying it's too large to upload. Shoot me your email through a private message!

Just from the specs on my Mac I can see it's fairly high resolution but I have no idea how that would translate to printing it. I'd like at least 2' x 3' for the map. Perhaps you're more tech savvy than I, can you tell whether or not the file can be blow up to that dimension and still retain detail/clairty?

Just DMed you my email.

As for the order of steps, yeah I'd actually recommend printing up the map first, both to see how it looks resolution-wise, and you can cut out the circles and use those as a stencil for the wood so you have an exact size.

 

[samson7]

Just DMed you my email.

As for the order of steps, yeah I'd actually recommend printing up the map first, both to see how it looks resolution-wise, and you can cut out the circles and use those as a stencil for the wood so you have an exact size.

Draco, just emailed you the map I have. Let me know if you have any issues opening it.

I think I have the same file that i tweaked years ago in ps to enhance some of the details and also made the Stranger Tides version too.
There are some areas that lack definition and seems to be a page crease on the left that i didn't get to but if it helps you're welcome to use it. Should blow up well enough to print.
Might need some exposure adjustments too depending on the print process.
They're 160mb each so had to upload a much smaller file here but if any good just pm me and I can send you the full file.

David, thank you for chiming in! I might have the same file as yours that you said you've tweaked but mine reads 27mb.

If you can send me the full resolution of your V1, that would be very much appreciated. That way I can compare and go with the highest resolution. I'm assuming it's too big to send here so let me know and I can shoot you my email

 

[David3]

you can download from my google drive

Mao Kun Sao Feng map v1

Mao Kun Sao Feng map Stranger Tides

 

[samson7]

Thank you David!!

 

[DracoAdamantus]

I ran the math really quick on both David3's and samson7's files, which luckily are the same resolution. At 300 DPI (which is standard for photo quality printing in my experience), you can print them at up to 3' x 3.5' without losing resolution.

 

[samson7]

I ran the math really quick on both David3's and samson7's files, which luckily are the same resolution. At 300 DPI (which is standard for photo quality printing in my experience), you can print them at up to 3' x 3.5' without losing resolution.

This is great news!

I picked up a piece of wood at 2'x4'. The map is a slight rectangle so if I'm wanting to fit it within the 2' width parameter, I'm thinking it might end up at around 2.5' in length, give or take in which case I'll trim the piece I bought.

FedexOffice has a canvas print option but with the way they stretch the canvas, I think if I selected a 2' width, the map will be smaller than that, width-wise. I might have to go with 36"x36" and if it comes out to be a bit taller than 24" width, perhaps trim it a bit to fit my piece of wood.

How are you approaching the wood vs. canvas fit?

 

[robstyle]

as prior stated there were various prop maps for particular scenes. The metal lazy susan, made from brass rings with channles milled in at the bottom for ball bearings, is the only one that physically turned. if its turning in the film, thats the only one. When it was folded, that was an off the shelf set of bamboo blinds from Target. No joke, simple and effective. The folding prop maps were never intended to be seen in detail, folding was the only function. There were a couple made with the solid map Super 77'ed to bamboo blinds as a whole with no cuts for the slats. Others were made with cuts to the map at the slats for practical prop use which would be what has more screen time in the film as its a rolled up version.

The map as you would imagine it in the film, spinning, folding, being laid out to read as a map, never existed and never has as a single item. It took variants to make it appear as one in the films. Once you cut the map to work within the bamboo slats, you lose a lot of map. The spinning map was a one off, tightly machined in brass then the map itself cut by hand with a sharp surgical blade to have as little room between gaps as possible.

For a seemingly basic item, its a wormhole.

 

[DracoAdamantus]

The map as you would imagine it in the film, spinning, folding, being laid out to read as a map, never existed and never has as a single item. It took variants to make it appear as one in the films.

Then again, I've seen folks here work miracles in recreating props that never existed in a whole form in their original source material.

 

[samson7]

There's a great YouTube video on the map. It's 5 mins long and describes the process of how they created it and the reason why they used two iterations of it, a foldable one and a stationary one which had the moving parts.

 

[robstyle]

If you're talking about the prop master video, he didn't make the maps as the props were talking about. There were multiple early variations of the map different from the final version. Those variations all had multiple coloring and proposed technics to realize it's function on camera as per the map design itself. Once the final map design was chosen they were printed and prop makers now had the task of making them come to life. The spinning map was the conundrum yet a simple item in the end as it only had one function for camera which was to spin. That single spinning map prop was made by one person hand and eye on a lathe and CNC machine. I never got along with the guy but there is no taking away his talents and skills. One of the best around at his work.
Final weathering and on set alterations may well have been done by KP himself. He is a super talented and amazingly level headed in a panic situation type of person. The way he pulled those two films together art dept /prop wise deserves it's own book. There is a reason why these guys are at the top of the food chain.

 

[DracoAdamantus]

I have an idea on making a map that both spins and rolls, but it's contingent on if the type of backing material I am envisaging even exists or not.

For the meantime the first iteration I'll attempt (if I have the time) will just be a static map on the bamboo backing. Does anyone have any reference images of the back of the map? Or any of the prop itself? I remember it wasn't just plain bamboo slats, there was like charring and I think writing on the back of it.

 

[David3]

Not sure if this is accurate to the original or an approximated replica

 

[samson7]

Here is another version of the back, this one from a replica made my someone else.

I might be taking a more complicated approach but my plan is to score the back with vertical lines, spray the back with spray paint, paint all the white symbols by hand, and then sand a bunch of it to give it a weathered look.

 

[robstyle]

If memory serves, and I may be wrong, the reason for change in the map for the fourth film was due to changes in production. People originally attached to the production were either ignored or looked over, dept heads changed, lots of behind the scenes happenings. So wherever you see past the second and third film is an all new from scratch creation.

 

[samson7]

If memory serves, and I may be wrong, the reason for change in the map for the fourth film was due to changes in production. People originally attached to the production were either ignored or looked over, dept heads changed, lots of behind the scenes happenings. So wherever you see past the second and third film is an all new from scratch creation.

Have you worked with the prop guys from these movies?