Health Bars in MapTool

[Orchard]

Yeah, that's an array copy, right? (Or at least, isn't that what GIMP calls it?)

In PS I created a single "tick", created an action to create 49 more and name them sequentially.
After they were created I put one at each end of the black bar and then used the Layer Distribute command to have it do all the work of distributing them evenly along the bar.
The color changes are actually just a single adjustment layer that is clipping the tick layer which I turned into a smart object. That allowed me to have a separate window open where I hid each tick layer at the same time I manually adjusted the hue setting on the adjustment layer in an even increment to get the smooth color change. (The creation of the GIF sort of screwed up the effect, but the actual images are precise.)
I probably should have scripted the adjustment and layer hiding, but I was bored and needed something to do. I still took me less than half an hour once I got the work flow down.

You see, this is why you are the graphics guy and I'm not. Actually it's why I'm the psychologist and you are the graphics guy. I'm decent with inkscape and some other tools, but this? Heh. I'm lost.

[BigO]

Yeah, that's an array copy, right? (Or at least, isn't that what GIMP calls it?)

In PS I created a single "tick", created an action to create 49 more and name them sequentially.
After they were created I put one at each end of the black bar and then used the Layer Distribute command to have it do all the work of distributing them evenly along the bar.
The color changes are actually just a single adjustment layer that is clipping the tick layer which I turned into a smart object. That allowed me to have a separate window open where I hid each tick layer at the same time I manually adjusted the hue setting on the adjustment layer in an even increment to get the smooth color change. (The creation of the GIF sort of screwed up the effect, but the actual images are precise.)
I probably should have scripted the adjustment and layer hiding, but I was bored and needed something to do. I still took me less than half an hour once I got the work flow down.

Well, however you did it, it looks great.

[RPMiller]

Well, however you did it, it looks great.

Thanks.

[GreenMan]

It's actually a lot easier than you would think. There are some really great things that PS can do for you. Just a matter of knowing how the tools work.

Wow... you just mentally shot me right back to the amateur stage in PS. I thought I knew what I was doing... but now I guess it's time to dig out the PS for Dummies book again.

[RPMiller]

Wow... you just mentally shot me right back to the amateur stage in PS. I thought I knew what I was doing... but now I guess it's time to dig out the PS for Dummies book again.

You're kidding right?

[salmelo]

Yeah, that's an array copy, right? (Or at least, isn't that what GIMP calls it?)

In PS I created a single "tick", created an action to create 49 more and name them sequentially.
After they were created I put one at each end of the black bar and then used the Layer Distribute command to have it do all the work of distributing them evenly along the bar.
The color changes are actually just a single adjustment layer that is clipping the tick layer which I turned into a smart object. That allowed me to have a separate window open where I hid each tick layer at the same time I manually adjusted the hue setting on the adjustment layer in an even increment to get the smooth color change. (The creation of the GIF sort of screwed up the effect, but the actual images are precise.)
I probably should have scripted the adjustment and layer hiding, but I was bored and needed something to do. I still took me less than half an hour once I got the work flow down.

you know, when i looked at it, I thought of mask layers. Not really sure what all that says, I'm not exactly a graphics guy, but i do have some proficiency in the programs like ps gimp and fireworks. although, firewworks is significantly different then the others.

[RPMiller]

you know, when i looked at it, I thought of mask layers. Not really sure what all that says, I'm not exactly a graphics guy, but i do have some proficiency in the programs like ps gimp and fireworks. although, firewworks is significantly different then the others.

I actually use masks a considerable amount any sort of nondestructive modification is going to be miles ahead of damaging your other levels. In this particular instance I considered using a mask to block off the ticks, but once I thought about where I was going to go with it, it made more sense to create them as individual layers so that I could use the technique above which proved to be a lot faster then using masks this time around.

The other health bars above that I created I used masks in, but this beast was definitely a different animal.

[nwelte1]

I can not seem to get the getBar() and setBar() functions to work. Can some one give me a sample macro I can see and test? Thanks.

[PyroMancer2k]

I can not seem to get the getBar() and setBar() functions to work. Can some one give me a sample macro I can see and test? Thanks.

I just made a macro to test it out.

Code: Select all

[bar.Health=0.25]

It sets the bar just fine. I made a guess on it since state.StateName = # was the setup for states . I even tried it with equation like HP/MaxHP and it also worked great at setting the bar.

EDIT:

Also just typing in [bar.Health] returns the percent of the bar that is full. It goes from 0 to 1.

[Nadare]

Don't forget to replace "Health" with the name that you called your bar in the Campaign Properties > Bars tab.

If you create a bar called "Mana", the syntax would be something like:

[bar.Mana = CurrentMana/MaxMana]

[nwelte1]

I can not seem to get the getBar() and setBar() functions to work. Can some one give me a sample macro I can see and test? Thanks.

I just made a macro to test it out.

Code: Select all

[bar.Health=0.25]

It sets the bar just fine. I made a guess on it since state.StateName = # was the setup for states . I even tried it with equation like HP/MaxHP and it also worked great at setting the bar.

EDIT:

Also just typing in [bar.Health] returns the percent of the bar that is full. It goes from 0 to 1.

I understand the bar.Health variable, but what about the functions?

[jfrazierjr]

Try this again...

I fooled around at lunch with a new toolbar idea that could serve both the GM and the players. It uses 51 images to go in 2% increments, but for the player view you can just choose the number of images that you want to use.

Here is a sample of it in action:



Here is where you can grab all 51 images via one album.

http://gallery.rptools.net/v/contrib/RP ... ndicators/

need to bug Jay..... he only added 30 increments to the bars dialog. Not sure if there is a reason (rounding??) or if he just picked 30.

[RPMiller]

I was surprised that there wasn't a place to enter a number in the UI. It appears that you can single click the slider, but a number entry would sure be faster and more accurate.

[jay]

I can not seem to get the getBar() and setBar() functions to work. Can some one give me a sample macro I can see and test? Thanks.

They are token macro functions so you have to be executing them in token macros or you have to have a token in context. The macros are getBar('barName') and setBar('barName', value). The value should be between 0 & 1 inclusive.

[jay]

Try this again...

I fooled around at lunch with a new toolbar idea that could serve both the GM and the players. It uses 51 images to go in 2% increments, but for the player view you can just choose the number of images that you want to use.

Here is a sample of it in action:



Here is where you can grab all 51 images via one album.

http://gallery.rptools.net/v/contrib/RP ... ndicators/

need to bug Jay..... he only added 30 increments to the bars dialog. Not sure if there is a reason (rounding??) or if he just picked 30.

He just picked 30 as it was twice the amount of patience that I would be able to muster when entering the images . I'll bump it to 100 for the next build.