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[CC-L] Problems with dounuts & hex grids
From: Mark at ProFantasy
>>> 1) I need to draw towers with thick walls. This is easy with the ability to draw donuts. Unfortunately, I can't see how to put a break in the wall for a doorway or archway. How do I put a break in the donut?
>>
>>EDIT>TRIMS>BREAK
>
>Rats, I've tried this dozens of times and I can't break a donut. I can break a line, but not a donut. Are you using CC2 or some new version of it? Have you successfully done this? If so, where do you place that little box on the donut to select it?
>
You can't break a donut because it's actually a multipoly consisting of two circles. So how can you put an arrow slit in a round tower?
1. Draw a circle with width (you can break these along the center)
2. Most dungeon wall breaks have a white background, so you don't need to break the tower anyway, just place the symbol over it.
3. If you want an absolutely 'correct' way of adding a break into such a shape,
1. Draw the donut.
2. Explode it.
3. Draw a line starting at the center of the circles. Select another point so that it forms one edge of
the break.
4. Repeat step 3.
5. Trim the lines using TRIM TO so that they run between the two circles.
6. Break each circle in turn, starting at the endpoint of one line and finishing at the endpoint of the
other.
4. Draw wide arcs with the same center (use Center and Radius Arc, pressing escape to finish)
[CC-L] Problems with donuts & hex grids
From: Mark at ProFantasy
>I don’t believe that CC2 has the ability to conveniently SNAP to the center of a hex grid.
CC2's templates have hex grids that snap to both the center and corner of hexes (there are a couple of other slightly less useful snap points). E.g. open up 1000x800.fct, draw the default hex grid, then select "50 mile hex" from the list of available grids (grid icon.) You can change the center, x and y spacing of a grid as well as the number of snap points, so you can create a hex grid for any size and orientation of hex.
[CC-L] Line Styles
From: John Csaky
Now I have a question about line styles: Is the river drawn with smooth path, or is that a line style? I tend to use the river button to draw rivers, and I was just wondering. I have tried drawing with smooth path, but it does not seem to look the same. Also, where is the smooth path command? I know where the buttons are, but I can not seem to find the command in the menus. Is 'smooth path' and 'smooth poly' an option to the regular path and poly?
[CC-L] Line Styles
From: Linda Kekumu
There is not a smooth path command, only the icon, however you can use Draw>Paths & Polys>Paths & then EDIT the path to make it smooth. Much easier to use the icon.
Rivers - when you choose the river icon, it uses a predefined line style. You then choose whether to use a (smooth) path or line. If you do not like the predefined river line style, you can edit it. Just click on the line style icon & choose edit. This will change the line style for this template. Hope this helps.
[CC-L] Line Styles
From: Mark at ProFantasy
>There is not a smooth path command, only the icon, however you can use Draw>Paths & Polys>Paths & then EDIT the path to make it smooth. Much easier to use the icon.
The Smooth Path icon is the same as the Draw > Curves > Cubic Spline (Cubic Smooth Polyline). A cubic spline is one that curves inside the frame you draw. The other curve, the Parabolic Spline curves outside the frame you draw. I almost always use the icon.
You can swap between types of curves by using the EDIT icon, selecting the Curve then pulling down the Smoothing list box and choosing another option (including no curves at all.)
There's also a bezier curve (type BEZ and press RETURN) but that has very specialized CAD uses, so its one of the commands we didn't include on the menu.
>Scaling for user created templates. ProFantasy's suggested scales for their templates are 1000 x 800 a scale of 1, 2000 x 1600 a scale of 2, etc. You'll need to figure out where your dimensions fit in & then scale accordingly. For example 640 x 250 would yield a suggested scale of .64 or 1500 x 900 would suggest a scale of 1.5
We did our best to scale the symbols relative to each other to take into account: The majesty of mountains (relative to trees) Avoiding excessive tiny tree symbol syndrome.
Purely for aesthetic reasons, I think that (excepting the campaign scale maps that Linda describes) mountain symbols could be made a little larger. If you always do big mountains:
1. File > Open up Mountains.fsc.
2. Save it as Larger Mountains.fsc.
3. Put a grid and snap one.
4. Place one of each symbol in the drawing at a grid point.
5. Explode the symbols.
6. Select Purge Symbols.
7. Scale the mountain symbols about 0,0 by the scale you want (e.g. 2
8. Create a new grid which is twice as big.
9. Redefine all the symbols.
10. Save the map.
[CC-L] Line Styles
From: Mark at ProFantasy
>Is there a way I can set the Icon for coastlines to draw smooth? Is there a way to define these buttons? Part of my question was answered in explaining what form of smoothing was used for rivers. This allowed me to edit similar paths to the same style.
>
You can change what the buttons do, but its a bit technical (if simple to execute)
1. Select Options > Macros > Edit macros.
2. Scroll down the macros until you see
MACRO COASTLINE
CO
PATH
ENDM
change this to read
MACRO COASTLINE
CO
SPLINE
ENDM
Select OK, then Save Macros as FCW32.mac
You might want to make a backup of the macro file before doing this. Note
That you could use SPOLY or any other drawing command there instead.
[CC-L] Problems with Importing Symbols
From: Linda Kekumu
I just did some more symbol catalogs & it was not that hard. Here's how I did it.
1) I saved each symbol as a part Insert>Write Part (of course you would already have all those parts from the conversion). 2) I opened the blank dungeon template & inserted every part I wanted to make into a symbol catalog & then saved it as whatever.FCW & also saved it as whatever.FSC (symbol catalog). 3) Next I started defining each part as a symbol Insert>Symbol>Define Symbol 4) (SAVE AS) I saved the drawing (now empty) as the symbol catalog whatever.FSC
That's it - all symbols came into the new catalogs.
[CC-L] Multipoly/fill styles...
From: Mike Wilson
I am still trying to get the square fill types to line up when using different drawing types... say I use a square drawing tool... then the triangle, the square fill (symbol) does not match or line up. Lonny suggested using multipoly to do this but I can't seem to get it to work...
Example, select the square fill type (outlined) and then draw a circle. Attach a square hallway running through the middle of it. Attach a triangle somewhere to...The square fill background will not line up...
[CC-L] Ridges using thick line style
From: Mark at ProFantasy
Someone asked about ridges. They are not too tricky.
1. Open up 1000x800.fct
2. Set width 10, fill style solid.
3. Select Line Style,New, give a name Ridge.
4. I'll assume you want the ridges to be a fixed distance apart on the map - uncheck paper scale.
6. Select Pattern Length 10.
7. Type 1 in the line style section. Select Replace.
7. Type 1 in the line style section. Select Replace.
8. Type 99 in the line style section. Select Insert after.
It should read
Draw 1 of full length
Draw 99 of full length
9. Select OK
10. Draw a smooth path.
You can easily adjust the ridges distance apart by editing the line style Then changing the pattern length. You can also create tapering ridges using the technique described for increasing width rivers. (draw a thin ridge then attach a thicker ridge, etc.)
If you want this line style to be one of the default line styles (e.g. when You select the NATURAL FEATURES icon) re-define the appropriate existing line style. (NATURAL FEATURES)
[CC-L] Multipoly/fill styles...
From: Mark at ProFantasy
One way to make sure your whole dungeon has proper fill styles:
1. Draw the passage ways, rooms, etc using CC2 entities, using PATHs instead of LINEs unless the wall only has two nodes.
2. Copy all the walls to the side of the template.
3. Using the break and trim commands, make the floor plan into a fillable shape. (e.g. to do a t-junction into a circular room use TRIM TO ENTITY on the incoming walls then BREAK the circle, selecting the end points of each corridor (or using Attach mode).
4. Select the square fill style. Select Multipoly, then the trimmed up copy. It should be filled evenly with squares. If it isn't, then the shape hasn't been trimmed properly. Explode and try again.
5. Move the multipoly back into position.
6. Front everything else.
Another use of this multipoly:
1. Make a copy the multipoly and the map border (just the four edges.)
2. Choose a background fill style.
3. Make a multipoly out of the map border and existing multipoly. You've got a filled background for your map.
[CC-L] City Walls
From: Linda Kekumu
>Has anyone come up with a good way to make these kinds of walls besides drawing all the details by hand?
Have you done Lonny's Tutorial 3? This tutorial dealt with a circular tower with crenellations. The principals should be transferable. Although I have not tried this, I would try making one side of the wall, making 1 crenellation & then using rectangular array to finish this first side. Once that is complete I'd do a mirror copy to complete the second side of the wall. As I said, I don't know if this will work, but this is how i would proceed.
[CC-L] City Walls
From: John Csaky
I think it might be easier to create a symbol for the wall section. The symbol should have one crenellation and one opening per symbol, or should begin with a crenellation and end with the opening. Then all you have to do is connect them together in series for your walls. The end could be another symbol, and you could get industrious and do various curves as symbols. The symbol would allow the scaling to be fixed even when you zoom in. I will work on this over the next week and let you know what I come up with by next weekend. If anyone has any preferences for wall width or crenellation size and spacing let me know and I will try to set them up to that ratio.
[CC-L] Fills and zoom
From: John Csaky
I am not sure if this a bug, but I have a problem with the fills changing color, or distorting when I zoom in on an area. This makes it difficult to edit drawings without hiding the filled layer. I have not tried printing a zoomed area, but I am concerned that it may print the distortion. Redraw does nothing to correct this problem, and when you hide the filled layer then show the layer the error in display is still there. Is this a common problem, or am I doing something wrong?
[CC-L] Campaigns & Tiling
From: Lonny Eckert
F. Matthew Fagan wrote:
> I do have one question (I lied before) though. In CC-DOS, when you would tile-print by printing by using the F1-F4 keys, the printed map didn't exactly match-up. Each map "edge" had portions of items from the other "edges". So, if you wanted a big map of all 4-sections, you had to tape (and cut a little), with the end-product less than perfect and not something I was ever happy enough to "frame" and wall so to speak. I assume this was a problem with the CC-DOS and not some failing of mine (was I not doing this right?). Are there provisions for Tiling in CC2 and is the same "bug" present?>>
This hasn't functionally changed in CC2. I'm not sure why you would consider this to be a "bug" though. If *I* place a symbol directly over a locale which will be the border of a future blow-up map, splitting it in half may not be of any benefit to me.
Sometimes you'll realize where you will be cutting out map portions to make blow-up maps. If so, you can draw your entities with this in mind. For example, when approaching map borders when drawing a polygon, place nodes directly on the future map border(s) so that you may conveniently BREAK and TRIM the polygon in the future. Even if you don't do this you still could BREAK the polygon and TRIM using the INTERSECTION modifier (blow-up map border).
[CC-L] Distortion in some V1.0 sysbols
Date: 2/28/98 7:47:02 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: Carolyn J. Jarman
I have a City Designer map that I converted to CC2. I noticed that the house symbols have a strange 'p' looking character on the left side of symbol. I also downloaded the fort symbols, and a few of them also have this strange 'p' looking character. I tried to simply load the file into CC2, and have tried using the update utility with no luck. Does anyone have any ideas what this is, or causing it, etc.
Re: [CC-L] Bugs?
Date: 2/28/98 11:53:42 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: Linda Kekumu
Using ATTACH has solved my problem with the disappearing rivers. The line still disappears, but using ATTACH & Nearest Point On at least gets it attached to the right spot.
Regarding selecting symbols - if they had made it so you could just click on a new symbol before choosing finish, would you be able to place more than one of each symbol or would you need to click on each symbol several times to place multiple copies of the same symbol? This may be the "why" behind this. I prefer to be able to place numerous copies of the same symbol. It's pretty easy to learn to click on finish & then pick another symbol.
I've never experienced the problem with the zoom extends. have you re-installed the program & fixed the installation problems? This may correct your problem. I'll forward Profantasy's report on the installation fix to you.
Making your own templates - the first thing you'll need to consider is what you want 1 unit to be equal to. CC2 has defaults for Inches, Feet, Millimeters & Meters. Inches equates each CC2 unit to one inch. Feet equates each CC2 unit to one foot. Millimeters equates each CC2 unit to one millimeter. Meters equates each CC2 unit to one meter. You can change this scale by selecting Options>Units & then choosing Custom & entering whatever you want 1 unit to equal. Next start a blank.fct & define your unit. Draw a box for your border in whatever dimensions you desire, like 1,000,000 x 1,000,000. You'll need to also define new a grid pattern - because the preset ones are too small. The symbol scale for this example would be 1000. The map template 1000 x 800 has a symbol scale of 1 & you will notice that all other template symbol scales are relative to this (2000 x 1600 is a symbol scale of 2 & 500 x 400 is a symbol scale of .5) this makes it fairly simple to figure out the symbol scale. I hope this helps.
[CC-L] Walls
Date: 3/1/98 2:10:06 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: John Csaky
Someone was asking how to do fortification walls with Crenellations on both sides. I was originally thinking of creating a symbol, but I discovered a quick way to create a variety of walls widths with only one specialized creation. First you need to create a dashed line style with the scale to paper unchecked. <.25 draw; .5 skip; .25 draw> You then need to determine the width of the crenellations. Then set your pattern length <My example was 10 ft>. Name and save this line style<wall>. Then choose an appropriate layer to draw on. First draw all your walls with the solid line style to width <20> using a halftone fill and a light color. Then go back and draw the 'wall' line style on top of the solid wall using a darker color and/or a solid fill(You will need to zoom in to pin-point the attachment.)
You now have walls that have crenellations on one side, you can use the offset command to add crenellation to the other side of the wall. If I were doing this for a lot of walls, I would put the wall background on a separate layer so it could be frozen. This would allow editing the 'wall' line style easier. When you are finished you could bring them all to one layer and group allow the wall to be moved as a unit. I think it would be easier to create a variety of wall styles and save them as a drawing or parts. If you are planning on doing a lot of walls, you could easily convert the parts into symbols of different wall sections. If you determine a ratio that meets your requirements, the symbol would be the way to go. I use a variety of wall styles when I map limiting the usefulness of a single symbol.
[CC-L] Color and Contour Questions
Date: 3/2/98 4:01:33 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: Lonny Eckert
Frank Vicari wrote:
> >I've got the basic coastline done....I was looking for a basic "paintcan" icon to fill it with color and didn't find it.....so, how do I do that???
The flood-fill function in CC2 is called MULTIPOLY. You can access it through: DRAW>MULTIPOLY
or the Multipoly button.
> >Also, the use of contour bars has me completely confused.....How do I use them? How do I put them in my map?
You can insert one file/map into another through the INSERT PART command. Just keep in mind Frank that each of your maps has certain dimensions so be careful about the SCALE of the maps you are inserting.
You can also PASTE from one map to another. EDIT>CLIPBOARD>PASTE
For example, download the heraldry files I created from the URL below. Create a Heraldry Subdirectory for better file managment because I'm going to start working on another set shortly. Bring up a 2000x1600 mile template and use INSERT PART to insert one of then heraldric arms into the map. I doubt you'll be able to see it. Select EDIT>UNDO. You can't see it because I drew the arms in a 1 mile by 1 mile template. Now try a scale of from x30 through x90 when inserting an arms.
[CC-L] Coastlines
From: Linda Kekumu
You need to select EDIT - click on the line & then choose Smoothing – by choosing closed you are telling CC2 to make it a closed entity :-) Smoothing is in the drop down box.
>Well, I wanted to create a coastline on my map (not an island, just a part of a coast). Now I enter the points for the line and then I want to make it smoother. Regarding to the manual I close the spline, but then it connects the first point (on the top of the map) with my last one (on the bottom of the map). Now this connection to close the spline is a straight line across the whole map and really annoying. How do I get rid of it? Any hints? >
[CC-L] Newbie Question: Hexes Addendum
From: Joe Bronikowski
Vertical hex fills
-----------------------
The geometry of a vertical hex can be summarized as follows (feel free to derive the geometry yourself to confirm these figures :-)
- Call the width of the hex W
- The height H of the hex is W * 1.1547 (or W * 2 tan(30) )
- The length L of each hexside is W * .57735, or H/2 (or W / (2 cos (30)) )
- The center of a hex is W/2, H/2
- The vertices of a hex (starting at the top and proceeding clockwise) are:
- W/2, H
- W, 3H/4
- W, H/4
- W/2, 0
- 0, H/4
- 0, 3H/4
(This assumes the hex's left edge is at the Y axis [x = 0] and the hex's bottom point is at the X axis.)
All that's left is to decide on the particular hex width. I like to use 640 miles for the largest hexes, dividing by 4 for each smaller size.
So:
- W = 640 miles
- W = 640 miles
- H = 739.0 miles
- L = 369.5 miles
To make a repeating fill pattern, we'll need to include five hexsides of a basic hex, plus the vertical edges of the diagonally adjacent hexes. The key to producing a complex fill pattern in CC2 seems to be making the center of the symbol the exact center of the drawing elements, so we'll use L/2 vertical lines above and below the hex. Here is the basic vertical hex fill pattern:
The pattern has a width of W and a height of H + L, or 3H/2. The center of the pattern is at W/2, 3H/4. Note that the right hexside is not needed in this pattern because the left hexside of the next pattern repetition will fill it in. The pattern is now ready to be made into symbol, from which custom fill styles can be generated. Be sure to save your work drawing as a template if you want to use the hex fill pattern in many drawings.
[CC-L] Description of Symbols
From: Linda Kekumu
You can view a listing of the whole symbol names by clicking INSERT>SYMBOLS>LIST SYMDEF>if you see pictures check the box at the bottom & a listing of the names will appear.
[CC-L] Trim, I have to be doing this wrong...
From: Joe Bronikowski
Mike Wilson wrote:
> Can someone explain this to me. Whenever I use the trim option to cut some extra length off a line it cuts out the part I want to keep and not the part I told it I wanted off?
The solution is simple: select the _other_ side of the line! I.e. you click the portion of the line you want to keep, not the portion to delete.
> Also, when trying a trim on a square my machine locks every time. Example, create square box (hollow) then attach two verticil lines, then trim (wanna cut a hole between the two lines) after selecting the start and end it hangs Cc2. This happens every single time.
Wouldn't you want to break (or at least explode) the square first? As far as I could tell, trimming lines belonging to polygons ended up warping the whole polygon.
[CC-L] Filling in land bordered by the map border
From: Dr. Erin Smale
Linda Kekumu wrote:
> I took a look at both maps & it appears that the 2 offending land masses are not completely closed polys. When you copied the coast & the border to the SCRATCH layer, did you TRIM the border to the coast? It looks like the polys are bleeding & this is usually caused by an incomplete join or a join that overlaps slightly.
You're right--neither seems to be completely closed. However, after the initial land border lines were drawn with the SMOOTH PATH tool, I zoomed in and connected them to the map template border via the ENDPOINT and ON tools.
I agree with what you've pointed out. The frustrating thing is that I did the same thing with landmasses elsewhere on the map (i.e., unless they were enclosed islands, I drew them with the SMOOTH PATH tool and then attached them to the template with the ENDPOINT and ON commands) and they seemed to fill in fine.
As far as an overlapping join goes, however, I'll look into it. Although I'd rather not have to do so, perhaps a redraw of the offending lines will clear this up.
> I usually use COPY>COPY to LAYER & select the coast & the map border & put them on a temp layer, then I BREAK the border & TRIM to the coast, then multipoly & then change the multipoly back to it's right layer.
[CC-L] Smooth a polygon?
From: Linda Kekumu
If you used the straight path to make the polygon, you can select EDIT, click anywhere on the path & then choose smoothing>cubic spline (from the drop down box) & it will smooth the shape. If you just used lines you can not choose to "smooth" it.
[CC-L] Filling in land bordered by the map border
From: Dr. Erin Smale
Linda Kekumu wrote:
> It looks like you zoomed in & selected the endpoint of the map border - not the endpoint of the coast, this would cause the distortion you have. If you are still having problems later, you can e-mail the map to me & I'll see if I can fix it for you & write out exactly what I did. Sometimes it is hard to pinpoint what is happening without the actual map. An excellent map, BTW
Thanks for the compliment. I checked the lines on the original map, and the endpoints were attached to the coastlines themselves; the ON command was used to attach the coastline endpoint to the template border. As an experiment, I used EDIT to make the SMOOTH PATH lines into closed polygons, and that created polygons which, if filled, mirrored those on the test color map I posted.
> > I usually use COPY>COPY to LAYER & select the coast & the map border & put them on a temp layer, then I BREAK the border & TRIM to the coast, then multipoly & then change the multipoly back to it's right layer.
I had some difficulty with this, since CC2 kept crashing when I selected certain points to break on the template border. When CC2 behaved, I was able only to select template border lines between the coastal endpoints, and that didn't really do what I needed.
However, your advice wasn't in vain. Your tip above gave me an idea, which was to HIDE the map template (HEX LAYER) and then use PATH to connect the coastal endpoints (essentially along the lines of where the template border would have been). Once these lines were created, I remade my Ocean layer, filled in the continents with MULTIPOLY (which worked fabulously, since all were properly closed). I finished up by revealing the HEX template, tracing around it with the POLYGON tool, and then filling it in with a pleasant blue color to represent the sea.
[CC-L] Polyhedral to Regional template
From: Joe Bronikowski
I haven't actually done any copy/paste between maps, so this is conjecture, but I was planning on just copying a rectangular Window of stuff and trimming off the pieces I don't want after pasting. (I'm still a novice really; will this paste to the appropriate layers or just the current layer?) Select the Copy origin as a triangle vertex on the large map, so you can paste in exactly the same spot on the detail map. The triangle lines are not part of the hex fill pattern on those templates, so you should be able to use F5 or F6 (endpoint or intersection?) to select the correct point.
>This question is specifically aimed at Joe Bronikowski, but I'm posting it to the group in case others face (or will face) similar challenges.
>
>I'm using the flattened polyhedral template supplied by Joe for my global map. Each triangle of the map is known as a region, and Joe has fashioned regional templates--essentially for "blowing up" regions of the global template.
>
>My question is: How does one easily transfer the contents of a region on the global template to a regional template. Because the regions are triangular, I seem to be having difficulty making the transfer easily. Any advice on this?
[CC-L] Polyhedral to Regional template
From: Dr. Erin Smale
> I haven't actually done any copy/paste between maps, so this is conjecture, but I was planning on just copying a rectangular Window of stuff and trimming off the pieces I don't want after pasting. (I'm still a novice really; will this paste to the appropriate layers or just the current layer?) Select the Copy origin as a triangle vertex on the large map, so you can paste in exactly the same spot on the detail map. The triangle lines are not part of the hex fill pattern on those templates, so you should be able to use F5 or F6 (endpoint or intersection?) to select the correct point.
This workable, but there may be a faster way. I'll try to be as clear as possible, but if the following steps are confusing, let me know and I'll try and clarify:
1. On the main global map, HIDE all layers save for COAST/SEA and HEX GRID.
2. Use CTRL-C to invoke copy and select EACH.
3. Select each coastline in the triangluar region to be copied.
**NOTE: because I used MULTIPOLY to fill in land on the global map, coastlines I selected extended beyond the region; in other words, you'll be copying the entire continent/island to the clipboard. This is OK.**
4. At the CLIPBOARD ORIGIN prompt, use the mouse to select the region's
vertex (as you mention)
5. Use the File|Template command to select the appropriate regional template (either up- or down-pointing triangle).
6. Use the File|New Drawing command to generate a new map with the regional template you've chosen.
7. Use CTRL-V to paste the clipboard's contents. Use a scaling factor of 1.000 and click OK.
8. At the INSERT AT prompt, use the mouse to select the same triangle vertex that you selected in Step 4, above.
9. Use ZOOM EXTENTS; if your continent/island had borders outside the region, you should see them; note that the coastlines should have copied to the COAST/SEA layer. Because these have been copied from MULTIPOLY entities, you will not be able to break them to fit within the region template, so another strategy is required.
10. Create a temporary layer (e.g., "Scratch")
11. Use Copy|Copy to Layer and copy the displayed coastlines to the Scratch layer. Before going further, verify that the coastlines did in fact copy properly by setting Scratch as the Current Layer and Hiding All.
12. Return to the COAST/SEA layer and delete the coastlines. Return to the Scratch layer and change the coastlines' colour to anything light (like purple). When this command is complete, you should see your coastlines normally, though rendered in the colour you've selected.
13. Switch to the COAST/SEA layer and trace over the coastlines, excluding anything that spills beyond the borders of the region template.
14. When the tracing is finished, delete the Scratch layer and invoke ZOOM EXTENTS. You should see the normal sized region template with the coastlines within.
From here, you may have to close off the coastlines in order to create a closed polygon that can be filled, but this should get you to the desired point.
[CC-L] Polyhedral to Regional template
From: Linda Kekumu
>>Either way, does anyone else have a tip on how the transfer can be effected without tracing?
COPY>COPY to Layer your multipolyed land masses. Then EDIT>EXPLODE *EACH*. I stress the each, because if you choose Explode All, everything will be reduced to very tiny lines (thousands of them) & this will increase the size of your maps 100 fold, also if in the future ProFantasy implements the fractualizer you will not be able to use it on these coastline - the coastlines must be paths. After exploding by each you will have your non-multipolied entities (you may need to SHOW ALL & CHANGE LAYER>PRIOR, because CC2 puts the exploded multipolys back to their original layers). Now that you have your non-multipolied entities you may break & trim them anyway you wish. This is much easier than tracing.
[CC-L] DXF Files
From: Linda Kekumu
Once entities are lines - they are lines :-) you can't convert them into something else. This is why it is so important to not use EDIT>EXPLODE>ALL. ALL converts everything down to lines. Use EXPLODE> & anything else but all.
Jerry wrote:
>> Okay, I need a way to either turn a whole lot of little lines into a path. I'm working on importing a DXF, so I can either do this with some utility that works on DXF files or within CC2 if possible. I'm generating this DXF file within a program called Wilbur which can generate random terrain maps. I can then export a 2D Dxf contour map only showing sea level contours. I want to be able to pull these coastlines into CC2 as objects, but in the DXf they consist of many, many little lines.
[CC-L] templates
From: Linda Kekumu
Click on File>Open & select templates. Move to the directory where your map templates are store (default is CC2\Templates\maps & double click on the 4000x3200 template. There are lots of other sample templates available here. Check out the Dungeon & Other directories, as well.
>is it possible to take the 1000'x800' template and say multiply it by 4 to create a 4000'x3200' template? If so, what all do I have to change to make this happen?
[CC-L] Phantom Coastlines & Rivers
From: Linda Kekumu
I ran into something similar just recently. Here's what I think happened. I had used the merge layer to move some entities onto & then did a multipoly (on the merge) layer. Later I had to explode that multipoly & the entity "disappeared", only it really was still there. It showed up in List, I could select it & change it's color, but I could not see it. I asked Simon about the merge layer & his advice was "The MERGE layer is used for "punch outs" - i.e. creating bitmap symbols. You shouldn't use it for drawing multipolies."
This is the only time I have encountered this & strongly feel it has something to do with the merge layer, which is a special layer for making symbols from bitmaps. I think the program handles entities drawn on this layer differently.
[CC-L] Phantom Coastlines & Rivers
From: Linda Kekumu
BTW - just for everyone's information - when you explode a multipoly & have some hidden layers - CC2 puts the exploded entities back on the "original" layer (which may be hidden). This got me a few times, before I figured out where they were. For example - draw an object, multipoly it & change it's layer. Go to the new layer & set it current & hide all. Now explode the multipoly. It looks like everything has disappeared, but if you show all - you'll see that it's there (exploded) on the layer you drew it on.
[CC-L] cc-l@onramp.net
From: Rowan Dunch
At 01:34 PM 4/27/98 EDT, you wrote:
> 3. The same question except for the background colors. I colored the whole map light blue (for water) before beginning to draw the coastline. I am drawing the grasslands in large blocks of hexes, but obviously can't do the whole continent at once. I would like to combine all the grassland backgrounds into one entity.
Why not draw the map in layers? Draw the ocean, then draw the grasslands as the next "layer", then draw the hills/mountains as the next layers, then the vegetation as the next layer etc. This will allow you to draw everything as large blocks of stuff, rather than lots of little bits here and there. It works for me...
[CC-L] Various questions
From: John Csaky
> From: Archimagus
> 1. To simulate the look and feel of Greyhawk's maps, has anyone found a good color scheme. I would like to know what colors (ie the numbers) you have found most closely approximate GH's hills, marsh, grassland, forest, and mountains colors.
Print out the 256color drawing to see the color choices. Then choose the colors you like best. I have found that different printers print the same colors differently. Then copy the color chart to your new drawing and create a window to show just the colors. Then you can use the 'LIKE' command to add or change colors in your drawing, using the preferred color.
> 2. I am drawing the map hex-based. As such, I usually drawn the coastline from hex to hex. Is there anyway to combine the coastline multipolys, with the one in the next hex, so that there is no gap and I can use them as one entity.
>
Not sure exactly what you are talking about, but try using the 'ENDPOINT' modifier when you start into the next hex. If this seems confusing to you, it is my fault(I misunderstood your question!)
> 3. The same question except for the background colors. I colored the whole map light blue (for water) before beginning to draw the coastline. I am drawing the grasslands in large blocks of hexes, but obviously can't do the whole continent at once. I would like to combine all the grassland backgrounds into one entity.
I would add the color after all the hexes are completed. I find the colors make editing difficult. This is a personal preference.
> 4. Is there a way to thicken my coastlines. The blackline I used is awfully thin. I would like to thicken it, so that it looks like the Greyhawk map.
>
Yes, 'EDIT LINE STYLES' There is an icon that allows this(It may be 'EDIT LINE THICKNESS' ??!!
Da answers
From: Linda Kekumu
> 1. To simulate the look and feel of Greyhawk's maps, has anyone found a good color scheme. I would like to know what colors (ie the numbers) you have found most closely approximate GH'me. I would like to know what colors (ie the numbers) you have found most closely approximate GH's hills, marsh, grassland, forest, and mountains colors.
Green 109 for the plains, Tan 43 for the hills, Gray (17?) for the mountains, Cream (24?) for the desert (the numbers with ? are the ones displayed on the colour bar, I'm pretty sure that is their number, but......
> 2. I am drawing the map hex-based. As such, I usually drawn the coastline from hex to hex. Is there anyway to combine the coastline multipolys, with the one in the next hex, so that there is no gap and I can combine the coastline multipolys, with the one in the next hex, so that there is no gap and I can use them as one entity.
I think I understand what you are doing - try this - click on the "smooth path" icon, then on the "endpoint" modifier & the on the coastline (not the hex) this should attach the coastline pieces together & give you an entity - you can select them by colour, later if you need to.
> 3. The same question except for the background colors. I colored the, whole map light blue (for water) before beginning to draw the coastline. I am drawing the grasslands in large blocks of hexes, but obviously can't do the whole continent at once. I would like to combine all the grassland backgrounds into one entity.
>
When you have the grasslands all done, click on "multipoly" & by colour & choose the colour of the grasslands & CC2 will multipoly them all into one entity.
> 4. Is there a way to thicken my coastlines. The blackline I used is awfully thin. I would like to thicken it, so that it looks like the Greyhawk map.
Click on the "change line widths" icon (left hand side, right above the "change text" icon & choose a different line width - like .5 or something for thicker lines. This would be easy to do if the coastlines were all - purple - you could just choose "change line width" by colour.
[CC-L] Multipoly for cutting "holes" problem.
From: Mike Wilson
I've used multipoly to cut a hole in a solid fill before but I've got this one problem that won't seem to go away.
I create a hollow object (lake) on top of a land mass, then set my fill style to solid, run multipoly->each and then select lake and land mass... it cuts out the land around the lake and NOT the lake inside the land.
I've tried creating a solid and hollow lake on the land to try and get it to cut it out but I just can't seem to do it.
[CC-L] Multipoly for cutting "holes" problem.
From: Linda Kekumu
The only way I can get it to do what you are saying is by selecting 3 entities - is either the land mass or the lake part of another multipoly? This may be what's happening. Click Info>Count & select the lake & then the land mass & see if one of them is already a multipoly. If it is, you'll need to edit>explode>each & then just multipoly the lake & the land mass.
>I've used multipoly to cut a hole in a solid fill before but I've got this one problem that won't seem to go away. I create a hollow object (lake) on top of a land mass, then set my fill style to solid, run multipoly-each and then select lake and land mass... it cuts out the land around the lake and NOT the lake inside the land.
I've tried creating a solid and hollow lake on the land to try and get it to cut it out but I just can't seem to do it.
Re: [CC-L] Distortion in some V1.0 symbols
Date: 3/4/98 2:51:45 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: Simon Rogers
Carolyn J. Jarman wrote:
> > > I have a City Designer map that I converted to CC2. I noticed that the house symbols have a strange 'p' looking character on the left side of symbol. I also downloaded the fort symbols, and a few of them also have this strange 'p' looking character. I tried to simply load the file into CC2, and have tried using the update utility with no luck. Does anyone have any ideas what this is, or causing it, etc.
The strange text you see is due to a feature in City Designer that enabled you to label buildings on mass using Change Text. They are invisible in CC-DOS buildings, but visible when you import them into CC2. They should be dealt with in DOS. e.g. ERASE TYPE TEXT, NOT EACH, the text you want to keep.
Re: [CC-L] Bug? Oh, now I understand!
Date: 3/4/98 10:52:41 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: Simon Rogers
Layer shortcut commands:
LAYERDLG to get the layer dialog box.
LAYER to set the current layer by name
HIDE to hide a layer by name
SHOW to show a layer by name
THAW to thaw a layer by name
FREEZE to freeze a layer by name
THAWA to thaw all frozen layers
HIDEA to hide all but the current layer
FREEZEA to freeze all layers by name
SHOWA to show all layers by name
An example of their use:
Copy and paste the following at the end of the macros (i.e. Options>Macros>Edit Macros):
MACRO MYLAYERS
RDOFF
HIDEA
SHOW COAST/SEA
SHOW MAP BORDER
SHOW RELIEF/CONTOURS
FREEZE RELIEF/CONTOURS
SHOW VEGETATION
SHOW NATURAL FEATURES
SHOW MINERALS/MOUNTAINS
RDON
REDRAW
ENDM
Now type MYMAP at the command prompt in a map based on a map template and you get a Natural Features map. You can use this idea as a way of customizing views of your maps.
Re: [CC-L] Stuff
Date: 3/6/98 7:42:22 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: Linda Kekumu
File sizes - I experienced an unusual situation last week in that I had a map with contours that I copied (as a new name) & made some modifications to. The copied map was more than 4 times as big as the original map. Simon at Profantasy made some suggestions & this is what I have discovered.
If you choose EDIT>EXPLODE>ALL everything, including your paths, are exploded into their most basic part ie. paths are exploded into lines. However, if you choose EDIT>EXPLODE>EACH (or anything other than ALL) the entity is exploded into paths.
This has major consequences, not only on file size but for future enhancements like a fractualizer that will probably only work on paths. So, my advise would be to NOT use EXPLODE>ALL :-) The reason my file size increased so dramatically was because the paths got exploded into line & lines take up a lot more space than paths.
Custom Colours - I used some custom colours on a drawing, saved the drawing & when I reopened it, the custom colours were gone! Reading further & with Simon's help have come to the conclusion that we need to stick to the default palette if we are going to share drawings. CC2 has only 1 custom palette (fcw32.pal). Let's say you define a custom colour for drawing A & save the palette, now you define another custom colour for drawing B & save this palette. The custom colour for drawing A is no longer available & CC2 substitutes a standard colour for it. Please keep this in mind ;-)
Re: [CC-L] DXF Files
Date: 3/11/98 10:58:43 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: Linda Kekumu
I've been doing some work with dxf formatted files, too. CC2 will open dxf files File> Open>click on the arrow to select the file type. Tour dxf file is now opened in CC2 - it will be a whole bunch of lines/polys that hopefully look like the original picture. Now all you need to do is color it. Mine come in as white images on a black background, so I change the color to red & copy to clipboard & paste into a different template. This s much easier & faster than tracing bitmaps. BTW clipboard & paste into a different template.