MapTool 1.2 Development Release Build 17

[galneweinhaw]

...hit the plus key to reset zoom to 1:1 ...

This reminds me. Is there a reason for this? It seems counter-intuitive

'=' --> 1:1
'+' --> zoom in
'-' --> zoom out

It just makes sense that way doesn't it?

[Phergus]

I vaguely remember some discussions about these hotkeys a long time ago.

Part of the reason may be that on most notebooks you don't have a numeric keypad but the = key is available without a modifier and so you have easy keys for the zoom in/out.

But, yes, your way makes more symbolic sense.

[galneweinhaw]

* Move New Map and Quickmap menus to File menu

I don't think I like this. The top level "document" for MapTool is the campaign. Maps are part of campaigns

And it clutters up the File menu and leaves the Map menu with only 3(?) items.

I agree. Having it not in the File menu enforces that a map isn't an mt document, but an item within the document, which wasn't clear to me when I first tried maptool, and this will only enforce the confusion, imho =)

[galneweinhaw]

There are a few items that could go in many places; take Show as Player for one - that could also go under Map becasue it seems logical but so does View. "View -> View map as a player" or "Map -> View as a player".

One way you could differentiate what should go in which menu, is to have global options in the view menu (those which affect all maps in the campaign) and map specific actions in the map menu. (those that only affect the active map)

This is pretty much how it is now, except Zoom would be in the Map menu... that would be silly.

Never mind. Ignore me =P

[dorpond]

The new drawing fix is leaving an odd end result when doing things that are semi-transparent. Notice the darker inner border in the water that is showing up when I don't even have a border on:

[trevor]

Thx for the note, good info

[dLANbandit]

dorpond I hope you adopt Dalna's method of creating lessons on how to make maps. You guys have some valuable knowledge I'm sure the community would love to have you share.

[trevor]

dorpond I hope you adopt Dalna's method of creating lessons on how to make maps. You guys have some valuable knowledge I'm sure the community would love to have you share.

We'll be creating some screencast tutorials for the 1.2 release, stay tuned !

[dLANbandit]

I never thought I would be one to make maps. But Dalna's tutorial made it seem so clear to me, and had such a good result it made me want to spend the time to work learning some of those skills.

[trevor]

I never thought I would be one to make maps. But Dalna's tutorial made it seem so clear to me, and had such a good result it made me want to spend the time to work learning some of those skills.

Let us know how it goes !

[dorpond]

dorpond I hope you adopt Dalna's method of creating lessons on how to make maps. You guys have some valuable knowledge I'm sure the community would love to have you share.

As Trevor stated, I plan on making a lot of tutorials on how to do things with Maptool. I am currently reviewing different Screencast software to get the job done. It seems the biggest obsticle I am facing is end-result-file-size.

Nonetheless, I do plan on taking care of the community

Let me ask you a valuable question though if I may. Do you find that the theory of map making is difficult or the technical aspect of pulling it off in Maptool is? Many time I wonder if it is just too hard to figure out in Maptool or just a challenging process designing and laying out the stuff.

[thelevitator]

I can't speak for anyone else, but the creative part is very easy for me. It's getting my vision into the program that I sometimes struggle with. I feel lucky that I found Maptools fairly early in it's development and have been able to evolve along with it. The one area where I haven't evolved as quickly is in creating maps in Maptool. The little twiddling I have done has been promising. I REALLY like the ability to make outdoor encounters feel more like the wilderness with the LBL (like my Big F'n Forest map). At some point, I'd like to learn some shortcuts to putting more fluff in my maps. My main concern now is creating a map that is mechanically accurate, but they could be prettier!

[dLANbandit]

Well let me just tell you my story so far...

I downloaded some maps from others, and a few parts, and tried to make a map in map tools. I quickly discovered I didn't have enough in the default MapTool to draw anything as simple as a dungeon. So I went off trying some different dungeon mapping tools. I found they all cost lots of money or were another tool I had to learn. Gave up for the time being.

So I hung out on the forums collecting up parts, and then found I couldn't figure out how to add images to the tool. A quick forum post fixed that.

Problem 1. Not enough stamps and objects in MapTools.
Problem 2. MapTools isn't clear about how you add stamps and objects to MapToos.

So the other day I downloaded almost all the textures and walls off of the gallery, collecting took over two hours. I also got the ones off the great thread you made. Added them to MapTools

I tried to make a simple INN map. I had some nice wooden walls, trees that I could resize for bushes or trees, tokens from FUM for the bar patrons, a wagon or two and horses for visitors outside. But then noticed, I have no bar, no wooden floor, no chairs, no carpets, no way to make a path. So I saved and quit.

Download session 2. Time to scour other galleries for pieces. I'm currently stuck on this item.

So now I find Dalna's neat campaigns and read through them. They are very informative on how you create tiles. I notice a bug, report it, and am told it is something about rounding. So I get discouraged it won't get fixed and that even if I make a map in MT it will have annoying gaps in the backgrounds all over.

So that is where I am now. I'm still back at step 1, looking for more parts to make maps. I'm hopeful that Dalna and Dorpond will create some more tutorials that will give me some incites on how I can make more of what I have, and maybe create my own parts. And I'm also hopeful my incessant whining about the space in the tiles rounding bug will get trevor to fix it.

[trevor]

So I get discouraged it won't get fixed and that even if I make a map in MT it will have annoying gaps in the backgrounds all over.

Trust me, I get a lot of encouragement to work on this one It'll get fixed

[dLANbandit]

Ah that makes me feel much better.

So let me put some more relevant points on the newbie trying to figure out how to make a map.

Just some questions I thought of as I used MapTools. I discovered the answers by reading the forums regularly.
1. Where are all the examples?
2. Where are the sample walls, floors, and items? You have sample tokens.
3. What is a stamp?

An opinion I had when 1st using the drawing tools...
I grabbed the eraser tried to erase something I had drawn and failed. Started pushing all kinds of buttons on the interface and discovered 20 minutes later in the session, OH I have transparency on. Why would I ever erase with a percent of transparency?

So I kind of think there should be a set of simplified tools for playing, and a set of complex tools for authoring. Maybe the tools could be called marking tools, and authoring tools. In my mind it is obvious there is a difference between marking a map and authoring a map.