New Feature: Under or Over Frame

[dorpond]

Trevor, Token Tool would be 100% better if we could have the ability to specify if the picture is to appear over or under the frame.

Currently we can only use Token Tool if we have alpha centers in our frames but what if we didn't want our picture to be under the frame? Think of those little minis that are for sale in the stores; many of them have plastic bases on them and the mini sits directly on top of it. This would create some very nice tokens.

I love the overhead tokens but the problem I have with them is that I cannot see them sometimes in different environments. Plus they don't rotate or move well because of their odd shapes. I would love to be able to put the overhead minis on a base like this:




This is what we get currently if I try to use Token Tool to make these types of tokens:



Here are some bases I made in case this option is available in the future:
http://gallery.rptools.net/v/contrib/Dorpond/Bases/

Thoughts?

[trevor]

interesting, and how should the case be handled when the top down token actually spans outside of the token ? I suppose it could just bound by the non transparent pixels.

[dorpond]

interesting, and how should the case be handled when the top down token actually spans outside of the token ? I suppose it could just bound by the non transparent pixels.

You lost me.

Token spans outside of the token? Do you mean token spans outside of the frame?

For now I am totally happy with sizing the character object so that it is the same size as frame. I don't plan on having the arms or bow hang over the edge of the frame so that being said, cut it off if the picture sizes larger than the frame. In other words, if the frame is 200X200, the picture on top of it will have to be 200X200 or less or get clipped.

Now, once Maptool can account for limbs and such extending outside their cell, then that is a totally different story but I am not worried about that at this time.

Does that answer your question?

[trevor]

Yes

[Steel Rat]

Would it be better for MT to handle bases so one could drop a top-down rendered image as a token, size it as wanted and attach a base to it? If bases are always going to be symmetrical on all four sides, then the base never needs to rotate, only the token.

[Dracorat]

Seeing my top downs getting use makes me happy.

Happy enough to get crackin on more! Probably tonight!

[heruca]

Seeing my top downs getting use makes me happy.

Happy enough to get crackin on more! Probably tonight!

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

[trevor]

Would it be better for MT to handle bases so one could drop a top-down rendered image as a token, size it as wanted and attach a base to it?

That thought crossed my mind. And it is certainly a possibility. The reason it still works for TT though is because not everyone that uses TT makes tokens for MT, so it would be valuable to people who don't use MT.

[johnzo]

Would it be better for MT to handle bases so one could drop a top-down rendered image as a token, size it as wanted and attach a base to it?

So it sounds like, ideally, TT would have four layers:

1. Base. Always at the lowest level. Doesn't need any masking support. Optional. Can be dragged so that the base can be placed under the 'feet' of the figure. This could be used to define the in-square portion of the token when used in MT. Could it do this using PNG metadata, maybe the iTXT chunk?
2. Art. Can't be blank. Can be dragged. As exists today.
3. Overlay (http://forums.rptools.net/viewtopic.php?t=2073). Optional. Draggable. Can't think of why it would need masking support.
4. Frame. Always on top. Needs masking support. This layer defines the cropping area for tokens, right? So it needs to exist in some way so that MT can crop the tokens, even if it's invisible.

[trevor]

That sounds about right Johnzo.

So when can we expect it to be done ?

[johnzo]

So when can we expect it to be done ?

I'm going to be geeking around with TT for the next few days -- this is a fun project in between crazy-donkey life crunches. But I can't make promises, because these new components will need selector interfaces, probably neat draggable panes like the token selectors in MT, and I've no idea where to begin with those....

[johnzo]

So when can we expect it to be done ?

I'm going to be geeking around with TT for the next few days -- this is a fun project in between crazy-donkey life crunches. But I can't make promises, because these new components will need selector interfaces, probably neat draggable panes like the token selectors in MT, and I've no idea where to begin with those....

I've sent a TT patch to Trevor that implements a very simple basing facility -- it moves the token overlay to the bottom layer and allows you to drag the token art anywhere you like on that layer.

[johnzo]

Here's some screenies. We start with some art dragged in and a base image selected in the overlay selector, but with the Base checkbox unchecked:



No joy. Let's check Base...



And then uncheck Solid Background to remove the white background...



And here's our based fig!



(Sorry for the weird white halo around the figure, I had to cut it out from Dorpond's example in this thread and my gimp-fu is not strong.)

[Phergus]

Excellent start! Now we need a token format finalized so that MapTool can correctly place them into a single cell.

[Hawke]

Excellent start! Now we need a token format finalized so that MapTool can correctly place them into a single cell.

Exactly!

I especially am curious for a means to have part of that image bleed out. Example:



I don't know if that'd be useful, worthwhile, easy to setup, or something anybody would be interested in.