Guide · 5 min
How to make the classic adventure-film travel map
Recreate the classic old-movie travel montage, a red line crawling across an antique map, often called the "Indiana Jones map effect", for free in your browser.
Updated
In MapAnimate choose the Old Atlas map style, set the line colour to deep red with a dashed or solid style, use the Plane or Ship transport, add passport-stamp signs at each city and use a Glide camera. Export as MP4 and add a vintage film grain in your video editor if you like.
Step by step
- Open the editor and select the Old Atlas map style.
- Click your stops on the map. Use Plane for flights so they are drawn as arcs.
- In Style, set the line colour to deep red and the style to dashed.
- Add a passport-stamp sign at each city.
- Use the Glide camera from a close view to a wide view of the whole journey.
- Export the MP4 and add film grain or a sepia grade in your editor if you like.
What makes the look
The classic adventure-film travel montage has three ingredients: an aged map, a bold red line that crawls from city to city, and big place names. MapAnimate's Old Atlas style gives you the parchment land, jade-grey seas and sepia borders.
Line settings
- Colour: a deep red, such as #b3261e.
- Style: dashed for flights, solid for land.
- Width: thick, 7–9, so it reads like a marker pen.
- Marker: the plane or ship icon at the line's tip.
Stamps instead of labels
Passport-stamp signs, tilted ink stamps with the city name, pop up as the line arrives. Pause half a second at each city so the stamp lands before the line moves on.
Finishing touches
Export at 24 fps for a film feel, then add a light grain, vignette and a warm grade in your editor.
Ready to animate your trip?
Free, in your browser, no account. MP4 up to 4K.
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