RPTools.net

Hello,

I have been trying to create a map for my friends to play but I encountered another problem. I found out that I had to resize all the images I created since not all of them are standardized dimension pictures. I was wondering if anyone could provide me with the ideal dimensions for me to use so that it would fit with the grid "40" system so I don't have to manually change every bit of the map.

I'll let dalna, phergus, snikle, or dorpond respond, they're the masters.

A couple quick comments right now.

You can use map images that have any number of pixels/grid as the grid is adjustable in MapTool. 40 pixels/grid is the default but once you have the map loaded, hit Ctrl-Shift-A to bring up the grid adjustment options. Use the Left Mouse Button to drag the grid around and the mouse wheel to adjust size or use the number fields directly. Close the window when you have it the way you want it.

For objects that you bring in to use on a map like, for example, furniture or treasure graphics, use the stamp tool to drag them onto the map and not the pointer tool. This will bring them in at their native size which will probably be too large but that is okay. Use the resize gadget in the lower right of the object to resize it to be the size you want. Hold down the Ctrl key to snap to grid sizes or use Shift to constrain the ratio.

In general, I recommend that you use maps that have 70 or more pixels/grid for a reasonable compromise of detail versus memory usage. Go with higher resolution images for character/monster tokens but anything over 200 pixels for a single-grid token will probably be wasted.

If you can supply more specific information about the difficulties you were having we could give more specific advice.

When I make grid 40 maps, I actually take all the images I get from Dundjinni.com which are usually sized for a grid 200 setting and resize them in Photoshop to be more friendly for a grid 40 setting.

I actually created an automatted script in photoshop that will take a whole directory of images and resize them all down to 20% of their original size. Grid 40 is in fact 20% of grid 200 so if you take your images and size them down that way, they will fit perfectly.

Or if you are creating your own art, sometimes it is easier to use grid 50. Grid 50 is easier because for th emost part you work in a 5' square. Let's see; in a 5' square there are 50 pixels - easy - There are 10 pixels per foot! So now when you want to resize that 5'X10' bed, it would be 50X100 pixels - just add a zeron on the end. If you have a bridge stamp that should be 20'X50', it would be sized to 200X500 pixels.

So there are a lot of tricks. Like Phergus said, pick a grid setting that works for you visually and fits into your memory nicely.

Hope we were able to answer your question.

Depends on what I am trying to do.

Objects: (I am planning on using in 1 square): Alot of times I do as dorpond does and just conver them to 40x40 for grinds. I normally will also resize smaller items to 40x40 putting them with the invisibility mask around it...depending on the object I will either center the object or on purpose off center it some (like for a barrel) so I can just rotate or flip the object to make it look different.

Remember that rotating and flipping helps to make a item look differently most of the time. Also another trick I use is for example...for rubble and stuff...One overlapping tiles can make it look completely different...of for like a sand edge, take a full tile and erase the edges with the eraser tool and make odd outside shapes (In a drawing program like Paint.net or whateve.) Overlapping this on a straight edge removes the straight edge of the full 200x200. Also sometimes resizing a token on purpose might be combined with non resized with this over lapping technique...also remember to use flipping and rotations.

Other objects according to the size I want them to cover...like I added a pipe organ for a tavern, I wanted it 3X2 squares so I made the picture 120x80. Remember to use the invisibility masks so you can tile it ontop of the texture you want.

Remember you can use masking tiles. (Masking tile is a tile that is normally a tile semi-transparent.) Example...I am using marble for my flooring and I want a marble stairs. The masking tile would probably just be a covering tile of of blacks that have the shadowing and black edges of the stairs...remember to put shaddowing (Important to making the stair effects to look like going up or down. The kewl thing about doing it this way is. I now with the mask has stairs in several different materials. So Just by overlaying this mask I have stairs for the various different floorings I want to use. Also what is neat, it saves on memory since I can use the same flooring for steps as I do for the normal floors. And if I use the same mask in several places on the map...it saves memory. Also since You can resize masks or stretch them you can get away with one mask for different widths or heights.

Backgrounds: For tiles that I want to use that I want more surface like sands, grass and forests...I create them 200x200 because they are nice 5x5 squares for maps. And 5x5's help to give them variety in looks.

Anyone who wants to see how I make my maps, are more then welcome to ask for a demo of it. I will explain what I did to make my tiles and such. We can compare notes persay. You can catch me on YIM alot (apzedalis) and we can do a one on one or whatever. I admit I am no professional...but I am fairly creative and I think my maps are plenty nice for most uses.

This is good stuff. I've made the post sticky until we have an appropriate place on the main site where we can put this kind of instructions

Thanks Trev
Making these stickies may be easier than doing the manual constantly... one draw back is the first page will fill up quickly in the forum

Perhaps a new forum called Hints and Tricks with threads for various topics like mapping, token use... having a Mod assigned to Copy/transfer useful user tips, etc...

For you command line commandos out there, you can use ImageMagick to scale things. Here's an old thread about it,

http://forums.rptools.net/viewtopic.php?t=66

It does flips, rotates, scaling, and format conversion.

Hey,

Thanks for all these great advices! I couldn't reply to them earlier because I had some internet failure... But I'll definitely give these techniques a try and tell you how it goes =)

Thanks for those tips.

I like the 5'= 50pix concept, and thanks for the info about the 20% difference in size for DJ objects and 40pix grid

Dundjinni forums are a top-notch resource for mapping objects and they have a great mapping tool. That info helps

I think we now have a place to put this. Can we move this to the Documentation forum?