RPTools.net

Using a projector to display an image on a table provides a nostalgic feel to the maptool experience. However when you use a miniature at the table, you're typically setting it directly ontop of your maptool token and blocking any visual queues from the software that are relevant for it.

There are a few features that come to mind, which maptool doesn't do, that might help accommodate this type of environment:

1) An option to display bars outside the token's image.
2) The visual representation on the bar which is tied to the "0 to 100" slider could use a circular setting, where it can use the center of the token, and adjust between 0° to 180° in an arc, rather than just the current straight vertical line.
3) An option to display states in a circular pattern/orbit outside of a token's image.

The only way I can think to pull any of these off with the current options available, would be to have a larger "bar marker" token on the object layer follow a normal token around using something similar to the invisible movement options in L. Markus' FW. Perhaps setup about 20+ bars for each state, and have those display on the "bar marker" token depending on which range° is unused circling the token - similar to how displaying multiple digit numbers as states are currently.

Well, for the bar you could just zoom in in the token (edit token, config, hover over the layout section on the bottom left, scroll mousewheel up). The bar sets to the edge of the token, so if that edge is beyond your physical token's base, you should be able to see the bar after zooming only a little bit. The same would work for states on a 4x4 or 5x5 grid (though it would only be good for 5 or 6 states). Here's a quick n' dirty sample of what I mean...



In this, the health bar is just maptool standard, set to thickness 10 (as high as it will go). The states are grid image 4x4 (though you could probably go 5x5 to slim the image down a hair and allow for one more visible state), and I zoomed in on the token by 9 ticks on the mousewheel (though that is very subjective based on your mouse settings). As you can see, both the bar and the state images are outside the actual grid square occupied by the token. You could also use a bar image that's even thicker, to make it a bit easier to see from a distance.

If you used a custom token that's mostly transparent with a little identifier in the middle, you wouldn't have that problem of the token image creeping outside the grid square. For a simple way to do that to a regular token, just edit the token image in GIMP to double each dimension, then center the image & make sure everything else is transparent. That should make the token image half its normal size before you zoom in, leaving plenty of room for the area outside the square to stay "empty". A simpler method would be to just create a token in GIMP/Photoshop, using a letter/number identifier rather than a token image... Just make sure that the letters/numbers take up less than half of the space in the token, and that they're centered. The download set "Torstan's Markers" from the RPTools Library would work well as a starter for those type of tokens.

The only disadvantage I can see is the token overlap making it difficult to select a token that's flanked on a cardinal direction (N/S, E/W) by other tokens. With tightly-packed groups of tokens you may need a quick macro to move the selected token to the bottom of the draw order, allowing you to grab the token in the middle.

EDIT: bloody tablet... redid the image link on my real computer to get it to work.

Another EDIT: You can also put notes in the Label field on Edit Token, those would show up below the token name on mouseover.

If you were to get any overlapping tokens, you can also double-left-click and choose one from the convenient popup window too.

I tried this approach, sizing the displayed image token, but with circular token images sized to 128x128 pixels. Perhaps I can adjust the token image in photoshop and expand their canvas sizes to add more transparent space outside of them. Might not be too troublesome with only doing this for PC tokens. No way am I going to adjust, or need to for that matter, the monster tokens. I don't think my players are using miniatures for monsters too... (I host from half a country away, they use a table-top projector rig).

EDIT: Here's what it ends up looking like with expanding the canvas size, and adjusting the token image after image file dropped into maptool as a token. I also added the health bars, and a 3x3 state comparing a 5x5 state...

Image

That sounds like an interesting setup, hosting for a group where they're all in the same room and you're the only remote one. Before I found maptool, I tried to do that via speakerphone and it was horrible (more because of the method of communication & lack of VTT than the fact that I was remote DMing).

If you want it, I found the macro to send a token to the bottom (has to be a trusted macro)...

sendToBack

I think I edited some more in after you started your reply... There's a bit in there about using GIMP to add space outside the token image.

EDIT: I love the image you used for that token, lol.

Oo... time to play catch-up! Well played!