MapScaleTool v1.01

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Amaril
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Post by Amaril »

Steel Rat wrote:Holy crap, Amaril! I wish I had found this post 2 weeks ago! Very simple yet elegant solution!
Hey, thanks! Yeah, it's a much faster approach than scaling the image beforehand.

Something that might be handy is to have another "background" layer that is dedicated for map images. Essentially a "map" layer. This would help separate the map image from other objects on the background layer.

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Post by Steel Rat »

I think the only problem (haven't tried it yet) is that large objects tend to jump around when you try to resize them.
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RPTroll
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Post by RPTroll »

Wow, what a great solution.

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Amaril
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Post by Amaril »

RPTroll wrote:Wow, what a great solution.
Thanks again. :)

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Post by biodude »

I've been trying out other VTTs (MapTools is by far my favourite), and most others "match" an imported map to a grid by resizing the map image, not the grid. MapTools currently does the reverse, which causes problems when the grid on the image has a cell width that is not an integern number of pixels.

Ideally, the map image would be resized to a specified number of "grid cells" tall x wide, with a "fudge factor" of partial cells in either direction. This is the approach used in BattleGrounds RPG, and it works very well. Other than that, MapTools' UI has my vote (and donation$) :wink:

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Amaril
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Post by Amaril »

biodude wrote:I've been trying out other VTTs (MapTools is by far my favourite), and most others "match" an imported map to a grid by resizing the map image, not the grid. MapTools currently does the reverse, which causes problems when the grid on the image has a cell width that is not an integern number of pixels.

Ideally, the map image would be resized to a specified number of "grid cells" tall x wide, with a "fudge factor" of partial cells in either direction. This is the approach used in BattleGrounds RPG, and it works very well. Other than that, MapTools' UI has my vote (and donation$) :wink:
As explained by myself earlier in this thread, that's exactly what bringing in the map image on the background layer lets you do.

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Post by biodude »

Amaril wrote:As explained by myself earlier in this thread, that's exactly what bringing in the map image on the background layer lets you do.
Absolutely correct - I just found the relevant post :oops:. It is unfortunately buried in the middle of the thread. This is exactly what I Love about MapTool: it doesn't always do exactly what I want, but it's powerful enough to often find a surprisingly elegant work-around.
Thanks everybody! :D

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Post by trevor »

There's also a feature on the wall of features for Advanced Grid, which will make aligning the grid much more intuitive and acurate
Dreaming of a 1.3 release

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Post by biodude »

I already donated to "advanced grid" as soon as I saw it :D
Keep up the excellent work.

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Daniel
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Re: MapScaleTool v1.01

Post by Daniel »

Note for gridless players:

The ruler tool to measure distances is based on the grid size, even if the grid is switched off. When you make a new map, it might be a good idea to include a reference bar, like on actual maps. If you chose the roughly correct (invisible, which is a bummer) grid size, you can then resize your map background object (lower right corner icon). If you press shift the aspect ratio stays constant. Compare the length of the reference bar with what the ruler tool measures. If you get the numbers to match up (at least roughly), your map is "to scale" with the ruler tool.

Would it be possible to make the grid visible on gridless maps for resizing purposes in a future release? Or even better, allow a sort of reference length to be defined (click point A, click point B, enter the distance this is supposed to correspond to). In the case with grid enabled one could: click A, click B, enter to how many grid distances this corresponds. The grid is then adjusted to the closest full pixel, fine adjustment comes from resizing the map background object. If I'm not mistaken, in the case where one uses endless maps, resizing the grid is not an issue anyway.
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Re: MapScaleTool v1.01

Post by IMarvinTPA »

Daniel wrote: Would it be possible to make the grid visible on gridless maps for resizing purposes in a future release? Or even better, allow a sort of reference length to be defined (click point A, click point B, enter the distance this is supposed to correspond to). In the case with grid enabled one could: click A, click B, enter to how many grid distances this corresponds. The grid is then adjusted to the closest full pixel, fine adjustment comes from resizing the map background object. If I'm not mistaken, in the case where one uses endless maps, resizing the grid is not an issue anyway.
The grid will appear if you "Adjust Grid" under the Map menu. Then you can adjust pixels to squares. So, the goal is possible today. The technique outlined above is not.

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Daniel
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Re: MapScaleTool v1.01

Post by Daniel »

IMarvinTPA wrote:The grid will appear if you "Adjust Grid" under the Map menu. Then you can adjust pixels to squares.
Actually, that's what I tried. I can adjust the size of (invisible) grid units in pixels, but I can't see what I'm doing. I made a new map, gridless, background RGB-color (0,0,0), then dragged a map image onto the map in the background layer. No grid visible. I also tried adjusting the grid color in the "adjust grid" window, still nothing visible. Or am I doing something wrong?
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Re: MapScaleTool v1.01

Post by IMarvinTPA »

Try View> Grid (Ctrl-G) to have the grid appear?

You may also need to zoom in or out to get a grid that matches your visible area.

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Daniel
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Re: MapScaleTool v1.01

Post by Daniel »

Yep, View > Grid is enabled. Zoomed in and out before "edit grid", can't see any grid lines. Well, it's a quite minor issue, and at some point the grid UI will probably be overhauled anyway.
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Re: MapScaleTool v1.01

Post by DMFTodd »

I can't seem to get Amaril's method to work. The image of the map is in the background, the image has a little box in the lower-right corner with 4 arrows on it. I'm trying to use that to resize the map image, but it only drags it. Is there someway to resize the map in the background?

Or, hopefully, this very basic need has addresses?

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