General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
I was wondering if a tool like the one I have clearly represented in my mind do exist, and if so , if some good soul here at EW could indicate me where I can download/buy such a program.
What I am lookin for?
A very user friendly tool which, with no need of extensive informatic skills, allows me to scale the encounter maps you may find in dungeon magazine adventures (or in published ones, too) to real miniatures dimension so you can print them and quickly have an adequate battleground for all of the encounters you care to run. It would help if sucha program could also work on pdf files such as the dungeon mags;
A tool which possibly also allow you to scale maps not meant for miniatures battle (like for instance maps from older adventures) so you can use them for miniatures fights;
As a plus: the possibility to apply grids to maps not having grids;
As a plus: the possibility to modify the maps with small effects (perhpas obscuring some areas, adding simple things like trapdoors or pillars or similar).
Such a tool would be invaluable to those like me who like to plunder published adventures reworking them so they fit in the home campaign, and it would be useful not only for those of us who print maps but also for those recurring to the splendid projector solution.
Speaking of which: does anybody know where I can find a working download for Tabletop Mapper (which is free and I think does some of these points here above)?
The link Tabletop Mapper you can google does not work.
Finally, would the NWN editor work also if you print your maps and don't project them?
Thanks for your help guys!
Fabio
PS
I posted this in a wrong section of the forum before , General RPG rules discussion, apologises to those who read the double post.
Despite the fact that it's tile-based, you can get some great looking maps and it's pretty easy to add additional artwork (and you can find a metric buttload on their User Creation forums).
It can also print out the maps at the appropriate size to just plunk down minis and play.
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I see in the application site that there's also a nice demo, I'll try this tool out and see if it is up to the challenge (and up to my informatic dumbness too).
Well, any decent image editor like GIMP or Photoshop will let you do this, and most vector graphics programs like Illustrator or Inkscape will as well. The GIMP and Inkscape are both free, open source apps available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
First determine how large (in inches) the map should be. For example a map that's 20 squares by 30 squares will need to be 20" x 30" when printed. So create a 22" x 32" image file, and paste the scanned or extracted map in. Then resize it to be 20" x 30". If the map has borders, you may need to fiddle a bit on the final size or crop them off before resizing. Then, if needed, add an overlay for a grid. Lastly print it out, in this case, on a large format printer at Staples/Kinkos/wherever or load it in a program called PosteRazor that allows you to take a large image file and cut it up into smaller images and saves them to a PDF you can print out on a normal printer.
I personally use GIMP for this (although I make my counters and tokens in Inkscape), and if you want I can give you much more detailed directions.
If you're looking to make new maps, general purpose graphics applications or CAD applications do that well and it's not all that hard, but they do have a steeper learning curve then Dundjinni and most of it's competitors. Note that tools like Campaign Cartographer and it's add-ins or AutoRealm are (last time I used them) sort of a middle ground since they're, at their core, highly specialized CAD/vector graphics programs.
__________________ We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. - Werner von Braun
Right now you have no idea how lucky you are that I am not a sociopath. - A sign seen above my desk.
Never confuse movement with action. - Ernest Hemingway
Even if I'm not the OP, I would be very interested.
Serves me right for volunteering... My father warned me about that.
Give me a day or two and I'll put something together.
__________________ We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. - Werner von Braun
Right now you have no idea how lucky you are that I am not a sociopath. - A sign seen above my desk.
Never confuse movement with action. - Ernest Hemingway
Despite the recommendations for Dundjinni I would warn you against it unless you have a VERY powerful PC. Two of my PCs were significantly above the required specs but both basically stopped working as soon as I opened Dundjinni.
Note that tools like Campaign Cartographer and it's add-ins or AutoRealm are (last time I used them) sort of a middle ground since they're, at their core, highly specialized CAD/vector graphics programs.
I actually think Adobe Illustrator is easier to use than Campaign Cartographer and I have had ever version of CC. CC3 is not only a CAD program but it still uses the same basic interface as the DOS 1.0. They say their interface is intuitive, but what they really mean is "backwards" from graphics programs. So these days I take the symbol library from CC and port it into Illustrator and make my maps that way. They look waaaay better too than if I just did them in CC3 alone, or at least I think so.
Here is the world map for my homebrew for an example, it has lots of gradients.
I actually think Adobe Illustrator is easier to use than Campaign Cartographer and I have had ever version of CC. CC3 is not only a CAD program but it still uses the same basic interface as the DOS 1.0. They say their interface is intuitive, but what they really mean is "backwards" from graphics programs. So these days I take the symbol library from CC and port it into Illustrator and make my maps that way. They look waaaay better too than if I just did them in CC3 alone, or at least I think so.
Here is the world map for my homebrew for an example, it has lots of gradients.
Well, a CAD program is really just a highly specialized vector graphics program. That said, CC2 and probably 3 are build on a CAD engine. This has some advantages, namely that the application understands scaled drawings and that 1" on paper is 5' in reality and lets you auto-scale and measure lines and such.
Like I said, I tend to use GIMP when I need to make or edit a map. I have a pile of CC2 discs around, but it never worked as smoothly or intuitively as I would have liked.
Nikosandros: I should have the directions up some time this weekend.
__________________ We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. - Werner von Braun
Right now you have no idea how lucky you are that I am not a sociopath. - A sign seen above my desk.
Never confuse movement with action. - Ernest Hemingway
With my two groups we have grown a bit tired of drawing every encounter on the battle mat and we are actively looking for alternatives.
Were you more interested in making maps, or in converting scanned/downloaded/extracted maps into 1" battle mats?
__________________ We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. - Werner von Braun
Right now you have no idea how lucky you are that I am not a sociopath. - A sign seen above my desk.
Never confuse movement with action. - Ernest Hemingway
OK... Sorry, real life got in the way this weekend.
First, a caveat. Maps blow up like this will generally look poor. Most PDFs do not have 300 dpi graphics, 72 dpi seems to be the norm. They are usable, but they will usually look like they've been blown up.
Now that I've got that disclaimer out of the way. I'm using GIMP 2.4.6 for Windows and PosteRazor 1.5.2 for Windows. GIMP is relatively user friendly, but make sure you download the help files. If you're confused because something isn't happening, look at the status bar at the bottom of the window to see what you need to do next.
First you need to scan or extract the map. If you're scanning, take the time to get a good, high dpi image. 300 dpi is the 'standard' here. Make sure you scanning with the highest quality settings you can. If you're extracting from a PDF, the snapshot tool in Acrobat Reader or Foxit Reader are the easiest and will generally work, even on locked PDFs. Please note that printing a 72 dpi image out at 300 dpi and then scanning it back in will not give you a better result here, the source is still 72 dpi.
Since you said where primarily looking to extract, once you open GIMP, press Shift+Ctrl+V to paste the contents of the clipboard to a new image. If you're scanning you can either acquire the image using the app that came with your scanner and save it (try to use something like BMP or TIFF) or you can capture it from within GIMP (File->Acquire->Scanner/Camera).
If you can crop (Shift-C / Tools->Transform Tools->Crop / the razor knife button in the tool palette) the image to only include map squares, or the image you captured is all grid, this easiest way is to count the number of squares in each direction, which tells you how large the image needs to be. For example, if the map is 15 squares by 20 squares, the final image needs to be 15" by 20". You can scale the image in GIMP, but since we're going to use PosteRazor it's not necessary. Now you need to save the image. PosteRazor can open a number of different formats, but you'll get the best results using BMP. File (Image)->Save. Give it a name and then add .bmp and save someplace you'll remember. Skip down to the PosteRazor section. I really, really recommend this method for large maps, because the below method involves scaling the map up, often by a lot, and will result in a very large file.
This is the complex way for when you can't just count the number of squares in each direction the map has. It will also generally produce slightly more accurate scaling.
Now, go back to GIMP and select the Measure tool (Shift-M / Tools->Measure / the compass looking button in the tool pallet. Click on a vertical grid line, then hold down the Ctrl key and click on the little cross to create a guide line. Now, release Ctrl and hold down Shift. Click on the cross and drag it to another vertical grid line. Use one as far away as possibl. Move the mouse away from the cross and look in the status bar. The should be a line that says something like "179.0 pixels, 0.00° (179 x 0)". Note the number of pixels, this is the horizontal (or X) dimension on the map's squares. Count how many squares are between you measurement points and divide the X dimension by that and round to two decimal places (in my example, it's 20, so 179/20 = 8.95) and write it down. Do this again for the vertical, replacing the holding down Alt to set the guide instead of Ctrl. I get 179 and 20 in my example, so I'll write down 8.95. Note these number may not be the same if you're not precise enough or if the map squares aren't really squares.
Now you need to make a choice. If you're going to be using PosteRazor to print the map out on a normal printer, things are simple. If you want to rescale the map so the grid is a specific dpi resolution, then things are harder. Generally, you'll only do the later if your printer absolutely needs a specific resolution, or you want to use something like Maptool with it.
For PosteRazor printing, go to Image->Print Size..., if your numbers aren't the same click the chain next to the X and Y resolution boxes and then enter the numbers you calculated earlier, click OK. If they are, just enter the numbers and click OK. Save the file as a bmp. Go to the PosteRazor section.
If you want to rescale the image, you need to determine is the native resolution of your printer. If you're going to have these printed as large format at Kinkos or the office you'll have to ask. If it's a printer attached wither locally or via a network to your machine, you cna query the printer. In Windows, open the Printers and Faxes dialog on the start menu and right click you printer and choose Printing Preferences... and then click Advanced. Look for the item labeled Print Quality remember or write down the numbers. In my case, it's 300 x 300. You also need to know the size of the image in pixels, so go to Image->Image Properties (Alt-Enter) and note the Pixel Dimension line, writing those numbers down. You could also look in the title bar if you're lazy. My example is 476 x 611. Now you need to determine what the new size should be. Do this by multiplying the image horizontal dimension by the horizontal dpi of your printer, and then divide by the, by the horizontal square dimension. Repeat using the vertical numbers. Round to the nearest whole number.
Note, that if you're rescaling for Maptool, you'll use a much smaller number then 300. In that case it's the number of pixels you want your grid to be.
In GIMP, go to Tools->Scale Image... and click the little chain next to the top set of numbers and enter the new Width and Height you calculated. Click Ok. You may receive a warning (actually you almost certainly will) that the new image will be huge. Multiple Gigabytes huge. I warned you to try the other methods first.) Click Ok. Go get a soda, smoke a cigarette, whatever. This will take some time, and your computer may choke. When it's done, save it as a BMP and close GIMP. Go to the PosteRazor section.
PosteRazor:
Open PosteRazor and load the BMP file you saved earlier. If you changed the print resolution, the file should show as having the same resolution as you set. Click next and choose the type of paper you have in your printer. Click next again change the overlap settings if you want. A 0.5" overlap is easy to work with. Click next and choose "Size in percent" and set it to 100%. Click the two center buttons for the image alignment. The preview will show you how many pages it will take to print the map out. My example comes to 8 X 8 (64) sheets of letter (8.5" x 11"). Click next again, and then click the disk to save the map as a pdf. Open the PDF and print it, making sure you are not fitting it to the page or zooming it at all.
Cut and tape/wax/paste/mount/whatever the map to your play surface, poster board, or foam core.
__________________ We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. - Werner von Braun
Right now you have no idea how lucky you are that I am not a sociopath. - A sign seen above my desk.
Never confuse movement with action. - Ernest Hemingway
Many thanks to everybody, especially to you Krensky for your time and patience, this seems like what I was looking for.
Well, sort of...it still seems less easy than I hoped, but that's may be because I'm an optimistic guy
If anybody hears of specific and quick tools on the matter every suggestion is welcome, hoping in the meanwhile that the producers, especially does providing a web based dedicated resource whose name I'll not spell here, will finally introduce pre made, ready-to-print battlemaps for all of the encounters.
Thank you again Krensky , I'll definetely try out your methods.
, hoping in the meanwhile that the producers, especially does providing a web based dedicated resource whose name I'll not spell here, will finally introduce pre made, ready-to-print battlemaps for all of the encounters.
Back when the digital initiative was first announced, I was so optimistically delusional to believe that such a thing would have been available...
Many thanks to everybody, especially to you Krensky for your time and patience, this seems like what I was looking for.
Well, sort of...it still seems less easy than I hoped, but that's may be because I'm an optimistic guy
If anybody hears of specific and quick tools on the matter every suggestion is welcome, hoping in the meanwhile that the producers, especially does providing a web based dedicated resource whose name I'll not spell here, will finally introduce pre made, ready-to-print battlemaps for all of the encounters.
Thank you again Krensky , I'll definetely try out your methods.
The simplest way I think I mentioned earlier, but if not:
Get the map so it's all grid, count the number of squares. Open the map image in PosteRazor, click through and choose Absolute Size and put the dimensions in and then print the PDF out.
__________________ We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. - Werner von Braun
Right now you have no idea how lucky you are that I am not a sociopath. - A sign seen above my desk.
Never confuse movement with action. - Ernest Hemingway
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