D&D General Making 3d Maps For Foundry: Not That Hard. Yes, seriously.

[Steel_Wind]

There is a whole lot going on this past week+ over the OGL, and I have written elsewhere that I believe the primary commercial reason for all of this is that Foundry VTT is already providing the sort of sizzle that WotC wants to be the sole purveyor of for 6e when its VTT is ready in 2024/25..

In other threads, many of you have also remarked how much harder 3d maps are to deal with, and how this inherently reduces the ease of access to 3d VTTs by elevating the bar each of us must jump over when working with these assets. Now, this point about moving capability From the hands of the Many - To the hands of the Few is a point worth making and I don't want to understate it. There is real truth there. At the same time, we can overstate this fear, too. Some of this stuff really isn't that hard at all.

Over on Baileywiki's Youtube Channel, there is a new special 3d Canvas series of videos to walk through what is possible. Have a look at this and tell me if this is beyond you. I really don't think it is. And for set-piece maps that appear in published modules, we can, of course, expect from this what we see so often in 2d maps: community made maps, most of em for free -- with some of the better ones available via Patreon.

Have a look. I think you will find it eye opening that we are at this point already.

 

[gamerprinter]

Well I create some 3D maps myself, though I don't use Foundry, nor any VTT apps. Though as a publisher, I'm still creating topdown maps even for 3D. I have no desire to create "isometric" view style maps (as depicted in your image/video above). Many of my recent maps are 3D/vector hybrids as well. However, I'm using Modeling software and rendering software, so I'm using more complex applications than Foundry, so it's not easy for the creation of maps that I do in 3D. Like this topdown kasbah depicted below...

 

[Steel_Wind]

What the video shows is not isometric: it's x/y/z full 3d. The view modes in the game tool switch between "top-down", first person perspective, and an arbitrary camera which can be positioned at 1/2 to 2/3rds angle -- but the camera rotates from any angle and the geometry is created for viewing from all angles.

Obviously, a random scatter tool is not going to be as sophisticated or polished in terms of output as a careful artist can create. But for many scenes? "Screwing around with the Randomizer" is more than good enough for a wilderness encounter.

And of course, more sophisticated maps can be created and shared in the ordinary way - or sold via Patreon.

 

[gamerprinter]

I understand and appreciate this being a tool for non-artists, I just do topdowns, as mine will be used as illustrations in a print or PDF, while they could be used in VTT, only as a static topdown map.

 

[gamerprinter]

Double post, delete, please.

 

[Azzy]

It's a shame that Dungeon Alchemist doesn't export its maps to a 3D format. It would be perfect for this.

 

[gamerprinter]

Of course I also create illustration views (often 1/2 view or less), but I don't make illustrations of every scene, I map...