Bug or Feature? Transparency Drawing

[Jagged]

On thing I find annoying with the drawing tool is how it deals with transparency. If you draw a polygon with a line width and a fill colour AND set the transparency value to anything less than 100 you get an overlap. Personally I consider this a bug, but wonder what everyone else thinks?

To see what I mean, set your draw tool to black line and black fill. Set the line width to 26 and the Opacity value to 50. Draw a rectangle and what you get is the first box, when what I want is the second.

[aliasmask]

Yeah, the border is centered on the outer edge and overlaps the fill color. I usually either just use the border only or fill only when using the draw tool.

[Jagged]

My problem with this is that this becomes limit in what I can draw in Maptool. I know its not designed as a map creating tool, but I like to restrict my maps to Maptool-constructed for performance reasons.

In the diagram above, it is possible to create the second image but not if you are drawing over things, which is why I am using transparency options in the first place.

[wolph42]

you mean like this:

Screenshot 2014-03-20 11.04.44.png (70.03 KiB) Viewed 732 times

(dragon is medium sized, for reference)

[Jagged]

Indeed.

Typically I want to use the transparency drawing features to provide shadows to my maps, so I want to lay down a shadow that includes whatever wall width I am currently using. There are various ways to cheat, but these only work if I am drawing over plain squares. If the squares have any drawing detail contained within, then I am stuffed

[wolph42]

Indeed.

Typically I want to use the transparency drawing features to provide shadows to my maps, so I want to lay down a shadow that includes whatever wall width I am currently using. There are various ways to cheat, but these only work if I am drawing over plain squares. If the squares have any drawing detail contained within, then I am stuffed

im not following you entirely, my example shows that it *is* possible, but maybe im misunderstanding you in what it is you want to achieve. Can you show an example of where it goes wrong (so what you cannot do).

[Jagged]

im not following you entirely, my example shows that it *is* possible, but maybe im misunderstanding you in what it is you want to achieve. Can you show an example of where it goes wrong (so what you cannot do).

If you just add a thick line to your transparency you will see what I mean.

Typically what I want to do is draw a building with walls and a drop shadow. I will draw the floor using simple polygons, all fill and no line. To draw the walls, I use the line tool. To draw an appropriate matching drop shadow, I need to create a transparency area that includes the width of the wall lines. Unfortunately when drawing transparent shapes with both a line and a fill, you get an overdraw (as shown in the first diagram) which mucks up the shadow

Currently the only way I can achieve the effect I want using Maptool is rather complex and involves drawing the shadow and walls in the Object layer rather than the background.

[wolph42]

indeed, if you draw both line and fill you get that effect. What I'm trying to understand is why you do not simply turn the line off and use fill only to draw the dropshadow.

apparently its all about this:

To draw an appropriate matching drop shadow, I need to create a transparency area that includes the width of the wall lines.

but I don't understand what you're saying.

[Jagged]

indeed, if you draw both line and fill you get that effect. What I'm trying to understand is why you do not simply turn the line off and use fill only to draw the dropshadow.

Because then the shadows won't match the walls, which offends by OCD

I clearly need to produce a map showing the effect I want to create.

[wolph42]

indeed, if you draw both line and fill you get that effect. What I'm trying to understand is why you do not simply turn the line off and use fill only to draw the dropshadow.

Because then the shadows won't match the walls, which offends by OCD

I clearly need to produce a map showing the effect I want to create.

ah ok. now I see. yes thats a bit of a pain indeed.

[Jagged]

I guess this problem (for me) would be reduced if we had configurable drawing layers. If I could create a "Top" layer that was above everything else, I could draw the shadow and the walls on that layer.

This would have the added bonus that everything would be effected by the shadow.

[Bone White]

I guess this problem (for me) would be reduced if we had configurable drawing layers. If I could create a "Top" layer that was above everything else, I could draw the shadow and the walls on that layer.

This would have the added bonus that everything would be effected by the shadow.

I believe that multiple, configurable layers (not just for drawing, but for tokens as well) is a much requested feature for MT 2. We can dream...

[Jagged]

So here is an example of the kind of thing I am trying to create. The map below is created by putting the drop shadow on the Object Layer rather than the background layer and then using the erase function to get rid of the double layer. Unfortunately when you place back the single layer, you get annoying gaps that show up when you move the map.

Example Drop Shadow Map