1 AutoCAD drawing for ALL of my campaign

MarauderX

Explorer

• Feb 26, 2004

• #1

Hey, has anyone else used AutoCAD to draw out their maps and such? Or how about Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator? Granted in AutoCAD the tiles need to be hatched, but I am fitting everything for my campaign world into one file. It's nice, as I can zoom into the 12 mile hex grid for the kingdom I have created to get down to 5' squares for the details. The only drawback that I can see right now is that every map I will need is in one file... which means I need to create backups. Has anyone else used similar tools to meld together various scales of maps for a campaign?

 

log in or register to remove this ad

W

Wonko the Sane

First Post

• Feb 26, 2004

• #2

MarauderX said:

Has anyone else used similar tools to meld together various scales of maps for a campaign?

Click to expand...

I know nothing of AutoCad, but with CC2 you can link maps so clicking on a building brings up the interior, click on the stairs to see the basement, etc.

 

Ashrem Bayle

Explorer

• Feb 26, 2004

• #3

Marauder, thats a pretty cool idea. I haven't done it, but it would definately be useful.

Would you mind sending me your DWG file? I'd love to see what you've done.

 

Hand of Evil

Hero

Epic

• Feb 26, 2004

• #4

Campaign Cartographer does this, but is based off a CAD program. It also allows for you to link to other maps, so you can click and go to another file.

 

Last edited: Feb 26, 2004

MarauderX

Explorer

• Feb 26, 2004

• #5

Hey Ashrem, I can send it but must warn you the file is big - a little less than 4M. All of the hatching and the images in it really raise the file size. Without the images it's still about 2.2M.

I am thinking of WBlocking any castles or other details I create to a separate file and import them later to give a good sense of scale vs. the overland map. I'm still playing with it, but that's the plan for right now.

And you are right, AutoCAD is pretty awesome for putting everything you need together without needing to leave your computer - whether at work or home. I use 3rd party software (Spanner ~$30) to link Word & Excel files of unlimited sizes into drawings, making the whole operation pretty sleek and easy to change & manage. Now all I need is to do some 3D rendering of a few castles to see how a seige or two would work with the mass combat book Fields O' Blood.

 

MarauderX

Explorer

• Feb 26, 2004

• #6

Hand of Evil said:

Campaign Cartographer does this, but is based off a CAD program. It also allows for you to link to other maps, so you can click and go to another file.

Click to expand...

Yeah, still not as powerful as AutoCAD. It's the standard drafting program for most of the industry that I am in and has plenty of bells and whistles, though it is lacking in D&D icons to be tossed into a drawing. I guess I better work on that...

 

R

RC Hagy

Explorer

• Feb 26, 2004

• #7

I use Illustrator 10 for my maps. Symbols and layers are the boon and bane of my existence. So long as I stick with vector and away from rasters, bitmaps and other lossy, I can scale things with good results.

Hagy

 

NeuroZombie

Explorer

• Feb 26, 2004

• #8

I have just started to use illustrator for my mapping, although I have been using ill. for years for work. It works great, especially with the added functionality of the CS version. Of course, it is a rather expensive game mapper

 

Ashrem Bayle

Explorer

• Feb 26, 2004

• #9

Hey Marauder, go ahead and send that file if you don't mind. I can handle large emails.

Thanks!

 

MarauderX

Explorer

• Feb 27, 2004

• #10

Ashrem Bayle said:

Hey Marauder, go ahead and send that file if you don't mind. I can handle large emails.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Hey Ashrem, it's sent to you, but not sure if it went through as I had to use my yahoo account. Too bad my workplace sucks so much that I can't send out any attachments any longer. It's a good thing I got another job to look forward to.

Let me know what you think or if you have any questions.