How to distort images with background in reference?

[CometChaser]

So, in essence, I wish to overlay a map on top of another to make a new map. However I can't find any way to distort the image in reference to the basemap: I can only see 1 layer. Is there any way to fix this?

(Google Drive Link because image is too large)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q9znTJNMjX7q-Ts3Nh7MIc3CAcCMfPmL/view?usp=sharing

I want the coasts to line up, is there any way to do this?

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Hello and welcome to the forum @CometChaser

 

Paste your second image into a new layer with Ctrl + Shift + V. Then you'll want to lower the opacity of this new layer (press F4 and adjust the Opacity slider) so the first image shows through a little.

[Tactilis]

2 hours ago, Ego Eram Reputo said:

Paste your second image into a new layer with Ctrl + Shift + V. Then you'll want to lower the opacity of this new layer (press F4 and adjust the Opacity slider) so the first image shows through a little.

That is essentially what @CometChaser has done. If you look carefully, you can see the base map through the upper map.

The maps look as though they are drawn with different projections, so they will not line up unless you distort them.

You could use the Grid Warp plugin to do this:
 

 

 

 

[CometChaser]

16 hours ago, Tactilis said:

That is essentially what @CometChaser has done. If you look carefully, you can see the base map through the upper map.

The maps look as though they are drawn with different projections, so they will not line up unless you distort them.

You could use the Grid Warp plugin to do this:
 

 

 

 

Through testing, there are three ways:

-Using Grid warp and making the longitude/latitude lines perfectly straight. Only works if projection has perfectly straight meridians too.

Reason is that Grid Warp only shows 1 layer instead of the whole image, so I can't use the coasts to reference.

Example: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bbrstNSZBG4TTmSt2Nt32lV8TfwsU4QP/view?usp=sharing

You can't see the background, which does have perfectly straight meridians.

-Using Distort This! plugin. Probably the most effective. Only shortfall is that there is a limit to how far you can pull the nubs.

-Making small sectors of the map and using the cropping tools to make the coasts line up, which is easier since area is smaller.

Edit: An example of Method 2 here.

Edited June 11, 2022 by CometChaser