The Third "Best of CC2 Mail List" Archive

Last Archive Back to Fantasy Cartography Next Archive

 

 

Re: [CC-L] DXF Files

Date: 3/12/98 4:38:51 AM Pacific Standard Time

From: Simon Rogers

Kai and Dorothy Larson wrote:

> I have a clip art program which can export clip art as DXF files. Is there any way to easily insert this clip art into a CC-2 map? There are thousands of heraldic shields and other interesting pictures which would be most useful if I could figures of heraldic shields and other interesting pictures which would be most useful if I could figure out a way to put them in my maps.

Because CC2 is vector based, there really are only two file formats which can be imported into CC2. Because I didn't want my life's work to be reverse compiling the DWG drawing format, and because it includes DXF, we used Marcomp's file translator under license. (This costs us a fair proportion of our income.) However, we feel that it is worth it, because there is so much clip art available for none-commercial use (see Linda's message.)

There are some drawbacks with importing DWG and DXF, e.g. giving entities solid fill, changing background colours, etc. but there really isn't that much to do to imported files to make them useful. We have improved the stability of DXF import for the next patch.

Re: [CC-L] Still can't get color on maps....

Date: 3/12/98 12:59:19 PM Pacific Standard Time

From: Linda Kekumu

To add color to your maps, you'll need to make use of the poly or multipoly. Draw your coast line & land form lines on the Coastline layer. Make sure you are using paths for the Coastline & use the ON modifier & TRIM to Intersect modifiers to get clean joins. Then COPY>COPY to LAYERS these entities to the Relief/Contour layer. Change to the Relief layer, check that you have Fill Style Solid selected & choose whatever color you want. Now choose multipoly & select the entities that you want to make fillable. If part of the coastline is longer than the adjoining land mass, you'll need to break & trim so you can actually create a multipoly from it. (This is why you copied to another layer). You can COPY>COPY to LAYERS as many times as you need to make your contour lines. The ocean can be a big, blue filled box with other shaped multipolys on top of it in different colors. Hope this makes sense.

Re: [CC-L] Distorted view on zoom

Date: 3/13/98 10:07:49 AM Pacific Standard Time

From: Simon Rogers

> >

> Here are my settings for the color switching and patch-work appearance on zoom. 800x600 256 colors. I have recreated once or twice with different maps, and this is what I found: Draw a coastline(I use smooth path/polygon for the lines) Draw some elevation lines(using smooth poly) draw a few forest polygons and use a fill style(again smooth). Modify the elevation lines with the ADD NODE and REMOVE NODE tools(I think this is where the problem occurs). Now add your color using halftone fill style on a new layer. After you get everything fronted where it is suppose to be, save the map and then Zoom in on an area where several of the fill colors and styles are visible. The colors switch between those that have the same fill style. Zoom in on an area where the Nodes were added or moved and the patchwork occurs. It does not print this way, but it makes it hard to edit features. I also found that my printer will not print certain halftone colors and several of the colors are not true; Light Green halftone is solid. (Epson Stylus 200). I have removed the colors from my maps for this reason, but if it is not the printer, I would appreciate some suggestions on how to make this print, if possible.

I'll look at the changing colors later. We don't recommend the use of halftones for precisely the reason that different printers handle this differently. You can use light color solid fill styles instead.

CC2 prints by sending drawing information to the Windows printer driver software. The print preview window shows you what Windows thinks it has received. Windows then sends this info to the printer software for the printer you have installed.

If everyone could try this on their printers it would be useful:

1. First make sure that you have the latest Windows 95 driven for your printer.

2. Print "All 256 Colors.fcw".

3. Change Fill Style All Do it, select Halftone. Save as All Halftone colors.fcw

4. Print.

5. Select Explode All Do it (making the boxes into zero width lines). Save as All Line colors.

6. Print again.

If any of these don't print our properly, fiddle with the settings under the Graphics and Color tabs in the Printer Setup, then try printing again.

[CC-L] Still can't get color on maps....

Date: 3/13/98 11:10:15 AM Pacific Standard Time

From: Simon Rogers

QBall wrote:

> While someone brought up the topic of "I wish we had" + "layers". I wish I had someway of specifying an order on which layer take precedence. I mean it really makes sense that the oceans get put down first. Then the land masses. Then the vegetation. Then the building. Then the labels for the building or whatever. You know what I mean. Instead CC2 the treats everything as an equal object. In reality there is no way I want water to be drawn on top of building for instance. Layer precedence feature would really make layers mega-powerful.

First of all "Why not?" then "How?".

If you had strict layer precedence (even user definable layer precedence) you Would not be able to have mountains nestling in forests, cities in front of mountains, cities partially concealed by mountains, basically any pseudo-3D feature would be difficult. You can reorder your layers according to strict precedence if you want. Copy and paste something like this into your fcw32.mac file at the end:

MACRO REORDER

RDOFF

SELBYL

FRONT COAST/SEA

FRONT VEGETATION

FRONT STRUCTURES

RDON

REDRAW

SELBYD

ENDM

Save the macro file.

The section that starts FRONT ... should be a list of all layers in the Reverse order you would like them fronted (lowest first, highest last). Type REORDER at the command prompt to activate this macro file.

Re: [CC-L] [BUG] It's a doozy!

Date: 3/13/98 11:26:15 AM Pacific Standard Time

From: Linda Kekumu

Simon wrote:

>Sorting out the palette switching may take some time. I'll reduce the depth to 16 (where only 16 colors are needed) for the next patch. This will eliminate about 70% of the instances of this bug occurring. As we haven't heard many people complain about this, it either means that hardly anyone is using 256 color display settings, or that no-one looks at the help file. Oh well.

Personally, I use 256 colours, & hardly look at the help file :-) I started my "career" with computers back in the early 80s when you HAD to read the manuals to figure anything out - there was no on-line help & no one to help you either! Old habits die hard & I have never made the switch over to the on-line help. This, BTW, was/is my biggest complaint of CC2 - the lack of a good written manual. The on-line help is very good, but not especially useful to new users because you basically need to know what term to look up before you look it up. For example, when I first started CC2 I wanted information on how to join lines/paths, so I looked up join & there is nothing there, then I tried close & I don't know how many different words I came up with, but I did not stumble on trim. There are other examples but this one comes immediately to mind.

Re: [CC-L] Missing feature?

Date: 3/15/98 12:02:02 PM Pacific Standard Time

From: Lonny Eckert

Tim Manchester wrote:

> I was trying to print a blown up section of a map last night and I recalled that with my old CC Pro that I could zoom in on a section then say Print->Selected Window (or something similar) and just the zoomed area would be printed. Is there some feature like that on CC2 that I just haven't found? Is there some way to do this when converting a map to *.bmp format? Actually, I need the ability to do this so that I can take big maps and put parts of them on my web site. The resolution on big, unzoomed maps is often unacceptable poor so I consider the "print/convert selected area" feature a big one.

> Has anyone found a way to do this that I have missed?

Did you try:

Print>Active Window OR

Print>Named View

[CC-L] Quick bitmap export

Date: 3/17/98 6:46:59 AM Pacific Standard Time

From: Simon Rogers

The following macro offers a very quick way of copying the entire drawing (all layers) to the clipboard in 16 million colors. The only disadvantage is that you have to select Yes in the dialog box when the map has been copied to the clipboard.

1. Select Edit Macros

2. Copy then paste the following at the end of the macro file.

3. Select Save Macros

4. Select Clipboard>Options to choose a resolution.

5. Type COPYA at the command prompt then press ENTER.

6. Switch to your paint package.

8. Select Paste.

MACRO COPYA

SAVE

RDOFF

SHOWA

THAWA

SELBYA

CLIPCOPY 0,0

SELBYD

RDON

RESTORE

ENDM

How does this work? SAVE saves a copy of the drawing to remember the state of the various layers. IRDOFF turns off redrawing to prevent unnecessary redraws. SHOWA,THAW shows then thaws all layers. SELBYA means that any command from now on will apply to all entities (Select By All.) CLIPCOPY copies everything to the clipboard, origin 0,0. SELBYD restores the usual selection method (Select by dialog). RDON turns redrawing on. And RESTORE reverts to the drawing as it was before all layers were shown and thawed. The user has to be asked permission to restore the drawing.

Other points on this subject:

Producing bitmaps of particular views: If you've got a reasonably powerful PC, use the above macro at a very high resolution, paste it into your paint package then cut windows out there.

To get rid of the white border ion, paste it into your paint package then cut windows out there.

To get rid of the white border on your exported bitmap (in Paint Shop Pro):

1. Select the Magic Wand icon.

2. Select a point in one of the white areas.

3. Select Selections>Invert Selection

4. Select Edit > Cut

5. Select Edit > Paste as new image.

6. Get rid of the image with the borders.

Re: [CC-L] [Q] Text Labels

Date: 3/18/98 5:23:22 AM Pacific Standard Time

From: Simon Rogers

Solus wrote:

> is there a way to make text labels follow elements like and uneven mountain range or a river?

Cut and paste this (slightly clumsy) macro into your macro file.

How to use it.

1. Choose an unused layer

2. Draw a smooth path following the curve you want the text to take

3. Count the number of letters in the word you want to type (sorry!)

4. (Optional) Hide all other layers. (if you don't, you might find the text hits the wrong entity - experiment please!)

5. Make sure that the text properties are set correctly (e.g. the text height and justification)

5. Type TEXTA at the command prompt.

6. Select the Smooth Path you want the text to curve along. If you miss, the macro won't work.

7. Type the number of letters.

8. Type in one letter at a time. Spaces are not allowed, I'm afraid.

9. The text will appear, correctly angled along the smooth path. (I hope!)

This macro should also work on arcs or any other entity, but I haven't tried it. It could be made slightly more sophisticated (e.g. pressing the right button when asked for a letters adds a space).

MACRO TEXTA

ECOFF

SAVE

GP ent ^DSelect entity:

IFERR etexta

GN num ^DNumber of letters:

IFERR etexta

GV per 100/(Num-1)

GV currper 0

GV currang 0

:1texta

GW lett ^DLetter:

IFERR etexta

GBRNG ang1 % currang ent % currang+.5 ent

GV ang1 ang1+0

TSPECA ang1

TEXTM lett

% currper ent

GV currper currper+per

GV currang currang+per

IFP 100-currang 2texta

GV currang 99

:2texta

IFP currper-100 etexta

GO 1texta

:etexta

TSPECA 0

ECON

ENDM

Re: [CC-L] Rotation...

Date: 3/18/98 10:40:35 AM Pacific Standard Time

From: John Bacon

Hold down the "shift" and "Ctrl" keys and rotate with the mouse.

Re: [CC-L] Rotation...

Date: 3/19/98 4:52:40 AM Pacific Standard Time

From: Simon Rogers

Mike Wilson wrote:

> > Hold down the "shift" and "Ctrl" keys and rotate with the mouse.

> That works fine for symbols but what I am talking about is say I draw out a dungeon map add my hexes then realize I want it at a different angle so I can place a zoom in there somewhere... cnt-shift don't do it.

Use DRAG. Choose a drag from point anywhere. Press SHIFT+CTRL. Rotate the entities. When you are happy with the angle, you can either:

1) Release SHIFT+CTRL, move the cursor place the entities.

2) Release SHIFT+CTRL, type @0,0 to get the same origin point as before

This is the best way of doing a dynamic rotate.

Re: [CC-L] Filled Symbols not filled

Date: 3/20/98 7:29:02 AM Pacific Standard Time

From: Simon Rogers

Tim Challenger wrote:

> My problem is that some of the symbols in the "filled symbols" catalogue are not actually filled, they are identical with the line symbols. eg. the deciduous trees, single, wood and forest. Whereas the pine trees are filled correctly. This is really irritating. Am I doing something wrong

This has happened because you've put line symbols in your before putting in the filled versions. Delete any line versions from your map, select Purge Symbols then try again.

Re: [CC-L] What?!?! :)

Date: 3/27/98 12:24:47 PM Pacific Standard Time

From: Linda Kekumu

You needed clarification on deleting one line of your straight polygon. Hope this makes more sense:

Select the line in the polygon that you want to delete & click on the BREAK icon (or EDIT>TRIMS>BREAK) & click on the line to select the first point & then select another point on (or EDIT>TRIMS>BREAK) & click on the line to select the first point & then select another point on that same line & click for the second point. The line should now have a break in it. Now you can choose the TRIM icon along with the INTERSECT modifier (or EDIT>TRIMS>TRIM TO INTERSECTION) to make the lines all nice & neat. If the wrong part of the line gets deleted, choose UNDO & try selecting a different portion of the line - sometimes it takes a few tries to figure out which part of the line the TRIM will remove.

Re: [CC-L] Bitmap Fill Pattern Coordination

Date: 3/30/98 3:46:10 AM Pacific Standard Time

From: Simon Rogers

Simon Rogers wrote:

> Making bitmap fill styles more portable.

> CC2 recognizes the # (hash) character as your CC2 directory. So when you

> are happy with your bitmap fill styles, change the file name in the bitmap

> fills directory from C:\CC2\Bitmaps\Fills\My fill style.bmp (or whatever)

> to #Bitmaps\Fills\My fill style.bmp.

Sorry. This really doesn't make much sense now that I read it. What I meant was:

1) Put the bitmap tiles in the Bitmaps\Fills directory

2) Create your Bitmap fill style in the usual way using the Find button on the Bitmap Files dialog tab.

3) All bitmap fill styles should be named something bitmap.e.g. Marble Bitmap. Usually, Outline should be Off.

4) When your happy with your bitmap fill styles rename the *file names* thus:

C:\CC2\Bitmaps\Fills\Marble.bmp becomes #Bitmaps\Fills\Marble.bmp

(Just select and overtype the C:\CC2 in the file name box)

Save the drawing after each definition.

Re: [CC-L] Multipoly for cutting "holes" problem.

Date: 4/30/98 11:36:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Mike Wilson

> 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' need to edit>explode>each & then just multipoly the lake & the land mass.

Indeed the item was already multipolied so I did just have to explode it to get it to work. Didn't realize this. It's got the hole in the right place now.

Re: Question & Aloha!

Date: 5/1/98 3:44:21 AM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Linda Kekumu

Archimagus Writes:

>Greetings you looked at my map, I drew my coastlines using the smooth path command. At first I used it on the islands in the southeast of the map. I tried to color the island light green (i.e. grassland) but I then lost the coastline. So now I draw the coastline with the smooth path, then trace it again with another smooth path (colored yellow) and the surrounding hexes. I then use multipoly to change the entity into the color filled I want.

Problem

>Is the coastline does not line up completely with the surrounding colored areas. So how can I fix this so my coastline "hugs" the colored area.

This is exactly what I did the first few times - but then I found the COPY>COPY TO LAYER command This make it so much easier. First draw you island (or coast or whatever) on the Coast layer, now go to COPY> Copy to Layer & select the island & copy it to the Temporary layer (or whatever). You now have 2 identical copies of the small entity. You can fill the island & still have a copy to help align the other entities. This is especially useful when it involves the coastline & several land masses that touch the coast. Another useful item is the OPTIONS>EXAMPLE ACROS>OUTLINE - this will outline in black whatever you select - nice for putting a black outline perfectly on the islands.

>Could I copy the path to more than one layer and use one as the coastline and the other for the multipoly to color in the area ?

Exactly! Now you have the idea :-) COPY> Copy to layer -

>As I am drawing the coastline, I tend to do it hex by hex, but the paths always don’t attach completely. Can I combine them with attach or a similar command ?

This is tricky & I'll try to explain as clearly as I can. Using the smooth path - you draw a line & have right clicked or have attached it to the hex grid. Now you need to attach the next smooth path to the previous one - Click on the "smooth path" icon & the click on the :endpoint" icon (it's on the right hand side, near the middle & looks like a line with a red ball on the end) now click on the previous smooth path. The new smooth path should attach to the ending point of the previous smooth point - joining them together.

>To the other question about combining background colors you said-- "when you have the grasslands all done, click on "multipoly" & by color & choose the color of the grasslands & CC2 will multipoly them all into one entity." Wouldn't this cause a problem since some of the colored areas are going to be cut off from the others by hills, mountain ranges, or water ?

This is the beauty of CC2, layers & the front command :-) You can multipoly all those land masses together & still have the mountains, trees, rivers in front of them.

[CC-L] How do you get the hex grids to line up

Date: 5/1/98 3:45:47 AM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Linda Kekumu

How to get the hex grids to line up - this was the hardest part of "doing" the Greyhawk maps :-) After much effort & numerous posts it was finally determined that TSR measures it's hexes on the diagonal, but the hexes run horizontally. Simon developed a hex grid for me (that I have modified slightly) & it is available at the web site for downloading. You'll need this template to do Greyhawk maps.

After getting the bitmap into CC2 as the background, I measured the bitmaps hexes & scaled the bitmap so that it's hexes came out to 30 miles. OK – so now you have the map the correct size & the correct template, but the hexes do not match up all across the map! I found that there is an inherent drift to bitmaps, maybe the paper stretches, maybe we are not precise when we scan - whatever - it's there :-) the maps hexes line up in certain parts but tend to drift off at the edges. In order to solve this problem for tracing the coastlines & filling the hexes I have had to resort to "dragging" the bitmap around. This makes sense! If each hex is correct - then the map will be accurate. Once I have determined that the bitmap hexes are scaled to 30 miles & the overlay from the template will match certain parts of the map. I started in the corner & lined up the bitmap with the overlay hexes (by dragging the bitmap), then tracing the coastline & land masses as long as they lined up. When they started to drift, I dragged the bitmap again to line up with the overlay hexes & continued in this fashion until all of the coastline & land forms were drawn.

The main thing to remember is that the hexes must match - if the same information is in each hex your map will be accurate regardless of how the overlay looks on the bitmap. I must have done 3 different renditions of the wall map before I got this figured out. If you just trace the coastline from the bitmap - the map will be off - the coastal cities are out by a whole hex! I know it sounds confusing - but really it is not - it just takes a little patience.

>When importing a BMP as a background, that already has the hexes on it (like the Greyhawk map) how do you get the hexes to line up with the hexes in CC2 ?

Re: [CC-L] Ya Know...Layering

Date: 5/1/98 4:33:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Linda Kekumu

QBall wrote:

> While someone brought up the topic of "I wish we had" + "layers" ...I wish I had someway of specifying an order on which layer take precedence. I mean it really makes sense that the oceans get put down first. Then the land masses. Then the vegetation. Then the building. Then the labels for the building or whatever. You know what I mean. Instead CC2 just treats everything as an equal object. In reality there is no way I want water to be drawn on top of building for instance. Layer precedence feature

would really make layers mega-powerful.

Simon responded:

First of all "Why not?" then "How ?" If you had strict layer precedence (even user definable layer precedence) you would not be able to have mountains nestling in forests, cities in front of mountains, cities partially concealed by mountains, basically any pseudo-3D feature would be difficult. You can reorder your layers according to strict precedence if you want. Copy and paste something like this into your fcw32.mac file at the end:

MACRO REORDER

RDOFF

SELBYL

FRONT COAST/SEA

FRONT VEGETATION

FRONT STRUCTURES

RDON

REDRAW

SELBYD

ENDM

Save the macro file.

The section that starts FRONT ... should be a list of all layers in the Reverse order you would like them fronted (lowest first, highest last). Type REORDER at the command prompt to activate this macro file.

Re: [CC-L] Glossary

Date: 5/1/98 5:49:18 AM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Linda Kekumu

>Questions

> 1. Explode-- what does it do, what is it for, and why would one want to use it ?

Explode is like undo - but you can do it later :-) It is used to undo a multipoly or to make a symbol editable. I use it when I need to fix something that I have previously multipolied or when I want to change the color of a symbol that I have added.

> 2. Connect-- what does it do, what is it for, and why would one want to use it ?

Connect is very useful for resizing entities to be in conformity with other entities. For example - let say you have drawn a tree & you want it to be the same size as the filled tree symbol that comes with CC2. You can place a CC2 tree on the map & draw a box around it, move the box over to your tree & using Edit>Resize>Connect make your tree the same size as the CC2 tree (you could also try to guess what it should be scaled at, but Edit>Resize>Connect is more accurate).

> 3. Ungroup-what does it do, what is it for, and why would one want to use it ?

In order to use Ungroup, you must be working with some entities that have been previously grouped :-) If your preferences are set to "Group parts on Insertion" (Options>Preferences) & you have inserted a part, like a shield, you will need to ungroup the shield if you want to work on it.

> 4. Fill- what is a fill, and what is it used for ?

Fill - there are so many flavors! Fill is what gives the maps their colours & makes them look good. Without fill all of our maps would just be a bunch of lines. You can fill a closed entity with solid, halftone, symbol or bitmap fills. Experiment!

> 5. Fractalizer-- What is a fractilzer, what does it do, what are the advantages of one (a good question for me, since everyone wants one included in CC2)

A fractalizer is a utility that will take a straight or curved path & give it lots of curves or indentations without adding a lot of overhead to the map.

> 6. On-- What does this command do and why is it important ?

On is a modifier - it is used in conjunction with one of the other icons. For example - lets say you are drawing a road & you want it to meet (join) another road, you would select the "on" button to make the roads join. If you wanted the roads to join at the end of one road, you'd use the "endpoint" modifier & if you wanted the roads to meet in the middle of one road, you'd use the "midpoint" modifier.

>

> 7. Attach- What does this command do and how do you use it ?

Attach does just what it says - it attaches one entity to another – you choose the how by right clicking on the Attach button. This is good when you are using smooth paths for drawing rivers & want the river to attach to the coast, but you want to be able to see the river. If you use the "on" modifier - the river will temporarily disappear, but if you choose "Attach" & right click & select "nearest point on" you'll still be able to see the river & the coast & can pick just the right spot.

> 8. Trim-- What does it do and how do you use it ?

Trim is how you fix your mistakes. When you want to fill an entity or use multipoly, your entities must be closed perfectly. Trim allows you to tidy up your mistakes & make all of your lines attach perfectly to each other. There are several different Trim commands, but the most basic involves selecting Trim, selecting the line that is too long, choosing a modifier like "Intersect" & then selecting the line that crosses the first line & then selecting the first line. It sounds harder than it is.

>

> 9. Smoothing-- What does it do and why would you use it ?

Smoothing takes a straight path & makes into a smooth path. I use it a lot for drawing coastlines. I use the straight path to make the basic shape & then smooth the coastline so it does not look too artificial.

> 10. Endpoint- What does it do and how do you use it?

Endpoint is another modifier. It is used to connect 1 line to another line at the endpoint of the first line or to "join" to arcs together at their endpoints. You will use the endpoint modifier a lot when drawing coastlines.

> 11. Break-- What does it do and how do you use it ?

Break is used to break a line (arc, path) into 2 pieces. If you've drawn your coastline & some contours & are ready to fill the contours, you'll need to copy the coastline (Copy>Copy to Layer) to another layer several times (once for each contour that touches the coast). Sometimes you need to break the poly (line/circle/arc)so that you can trim them.

> 12. Merge-- What does it do and how do you use it ?

Merge is a special layer used for drawing bitmap symbols & should not be used unless you have read the help file on it :-)

> 13. Snap-- What is this and what does it do ?

Snap makes the point you just drew go to a predefined spot on the map - great if you want your lines to be straight - not so good if your trying to attach a line to a certain spot that is not one of the predetermined spots.

> 14. Grid-- What is this and what does it do ?

The grid is an artificial set of dots on your screen to assist you in determining distances & when combined with Snap, drawing objects that follow the specific pattern you have set up in your grid.

> 15. Midpoint-- What do it do and how do you use it?

Midpoint is another modifier. It lets you attach 1 line to the exact center of another line.

>What is the difference between a path, a polygon and a multipoly ? What are the advantages of each (i.e. when do you want to use one rather than the other

A polygon is an object (entity) that you draw & when you right click, will automatically close. A path is an entity that you draw & can be attached to other entities & is NOT automatically closed. A multipoly is a special entity. You can not draw a multipoly - you make a multipoly out of other entities - you select numerous entities(paths/lines/arcs) to closed & this is called a multipoly. We have been using paths for coastlines because in prior versions the fractalizer utility would only work on paths. Paths take up less space than lines. Any entity that has all straight sides & you want filled should be a straight poly. Smooth polys are great for making irregularly shaped entities like lakes or islands where you are not concerned about following a model. Sometimes the only way to get an entity filled is to multipoly it's various parts.

[CC-L] What is this front thing anyway?

Date: 5/1/98 6:44:51 AM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Simon Rogers

Why is it that everything gets fronted when it's edited? Is there anything we can do about it?

CC2's database is a simple list. This is primarily for speed (try opening the Jaw Penisular as a DXF file in any other program. Make a cup of tea whilst the screen refreshes). Every time you add a new entity, or change existing entities they are moved to the end off the list. Sending entities to the back is not undoable and has to send selected entities _right_ to the front of the list (i.e. behind frozen layers such as the RELIEF/CONTOURS layer). This means when the screen refreshes, it gets drawn first, and everything else gets drawn over it. Even so, we've added a back command in the patch.

This method can actually provide some advantages, e.g.

It's simple. You always know that when you add something or edit something, it will be brought to the top.

If you have two entities on top of each other and you want to erase one. Select EDIT. Select the edge of the two entities. The back-most one (first in the list) is selected. Select OK. It is brought to the front. Select it by PRIOR with the next command.

If ten entities are on top of each other, you can EDIT them one at a time.

The problems that can be caused by fronting tend to be: Existing entities covered over. Drawing a whole bunch of symbols then deciding you want to add one in the middle of the symbols. Adding a contour _below_ an existing contour.

How hard is this to deal with? Well, it can be a problem at first (until you get used to it). A combination of thinking before you draw, freezing layers and grouping makes it relatively easy to deal with.

For example, when you've finished with your contours, freeze the layer. When your happy with a complex combination of symbols, group them. You can then front and back them by each.

Try this macro as well:

MACRO I

:1instafront

SELBY1

GP p1 ^DSelect entity to front:

IFERR einstafront

FRONT p1

GO 1instafront

:einstafront

SELBYD

ENDM

Paste this at the end of fcw32.mac.

Type I and press enter at the command prompt to use.

You always want text on top? How hard is it to occasionally FRONT by TYPE TEXT?

In the long term we are devising a linked list approach to the drawing database in assembly. It is (slightly) slower until we refine the algorithm. We hope to reduce this to a very small difference.

Re: [CC-L] layering

Date: 5/1/98 6:44:24 AM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Simon Rogers

Lord Mandrake wrote:

> 'Now, a couple questions in case anyone knows. I understand most of this macro. The RDOFF and RDON commands I do not... they don't seem to be in the Macro command listing in the Help.

You are correct. I'll add these to the next help file. RDOFF suppresses Redrawing when you hide and show layers. That way you can hide and show a whole bunch of layers and then redraw at the end.

> Also, does anyone know how to select using "not" and such in a Macro? If I can do that... select "All" not "certain layer" then I can write a macro to do what I REALLY want...

There is a way. Show then Freeze the layer. Select the entities. Perhaps if give me an example of what you want?

> See, you're absolutely right about the harsh layer ordering. But IF I could just write a macro to force all coast/sea to the background, then force the land to be just above that, then force the text to the front... you could preserve all the forests snuggling around mountains and cities and such, while having the beauty of water that won't pop over land and text that never disappears.

The patch will let BACK the layers you want, retaining the others as is. Unfortunately, there's no select by type macro, so the text has to be done manually (Unless you draw text in an unusual color (e.g.240 instead of 0 - they are the same color, just a different number)

In this example, the RELIEF/CONTOURS layer will be sent to the back, the COAST/SEA next, then all the text (assuming you've drawn it in color 240)

MACRO REORDER2

RDOFF

SELBYL

BACK RELIEF/CONTOURS

BACK COAST/SEA

SELBYC

FRONT 240

SELBYD

RDON

ENDM

alternatively, before BACK is available:

MACRO REORDER3

RDOFF

FREEZE RELIEF/CONTOURS

FREEZE COAST/SEA

SELBYA

FRONT

SELBYD

RDON

ENDM

This FRONTS ALL but not the two layers you've frozen

I would recommend that you (and anyone else interested in macros) joins the developers list

This will be very painful to do up front, but as long as someone remains responsible for topical area it won't

[CC-L] Questions...

Date: 5/21/98 2:58:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Linda Kekumu

Lasivian wrote:

>how to combine symbol libraries..

>how to fill symbols..

>how to fill areas already drawn.. (I.e. "paintbucket")

To fill areas:

This depends on what type of entity you are starting with. For example - if you have drawn a circle (box, closed poly) & it is not filled, you simply need to select the Change Fill Style Icon (left hand side, near the middle), Select by each, choose the circle (OK do it) & right click to get to the property box, now you can select Solid & the circle will fill with the current color.

If you do not have a closed entity, but you want to fill it, you will need to make the entity closed. You have to Trim all of your lines & make sure the entity is closed. Once it is closed - proceed as above. If you want the default fill to be solid - go to the Fill Style Icon on the right hand side & change it, from that point forward your default fill style will be solid (or whatever you choose)

I am not sure what your question regarding filling symbols means - there are numerous catalogs already filled with filled symbol. They are in the C:\CC2\\Filled directory, just choose one of them. If this is not what you are asking, please elaborate & I'll try to answer.

To combine symbol libraries:

Let's say you want to add several symbols from the Geometry catalog to the Vegetation catalog.

First - make a back up copy of your catalogs File Open> Vegetation.fsc Choose the Geometry catalog by clicking on the catalog bar (near the top, left - beside the double line icon) Insert the symbols from the Geometry catalog that you want to be in the Vegetation catalog, when you are done inserting the symbols you want Choose File>Save AS>Vegetation.fsc (you might have to move to this directory) CC2 will ask if you want to overwrite & answer yes - IF you've made a back up - go ahead ;-)

That's it, now when you choose the Vegetation catalog it will have the Geometry symbols that you picked added on to the bottom of the catalog.

Incidentally, you could make a whole new catalog with all the symbols you usually use - call My Symbols or tally, you could make a whole new catalog with all the symbols you usually use - call My Symbols or Favorites or whatever. Open Blank.fsc, choose the All filled symbols catalog, insert the symbols you want in your new catalog & choose File>Save AS> My symbols.fsc & you now have a new catalog.

RE: [CC-L] Questions...

Date: 5/21/98 8:10:47 AM Eastern Daylight Time

From: William Wire

Lasivian,

Of the three questions you asked, the only one I can really answer is the "paintbucket." Sadly, the answer is that you do not have a "paintbucket" available in a CAD engine. You must either select and multipoly the borders of the area, or, if the borders are not paths/lines which form a closed shape, create a new polygon which fills that space. Make sure to have the fill, color, and layer set to the ones you want before you create your polygon or multipoly.

Creating a new polygon to "fill" a space is not as bad as it sounds. Here is what I have done several times: Zoom WAY in on a corner of the area you want to fill. Click on the polygon button. Toggle the ATTACH feature along the bottom toolbar to ON (depressed). Start clicking along the line which makes up the border of your area. You will find that ATTACH is fond of attaching to the nodes of the object you are clicking on. This can be a pain, but usually it is what you want. If it isn't, toggle ATTACH off, and use the ON modifier. Continue clicking points & scrolling around until you finish. It may be just a tad bit tedious, (especially for that 1245 node coastline I did last night) but it's easy and it works perfectly every time.

Re: [CC-L] Changing Symbol Layer

Date: 5/21/98 12:34:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Linda Kekumu

There are numerous benefits to changing the symbols layer, but it is not absolutely essential. You could make a map with everything all on the same layer & it would still be a functional map :-)

Click on the Layer Icon (right side - middle) & take a look at all of the choices you have. These are the pre-defied layer names that come with the template you are using. You can add new layers or delete layers you don't need. You can also hide &/or freeze layers.

I find it very convenient to put all of the vegetation symbols on the Vegetation layer & the rivers & lakes on the Rivers layer. I also make a new layer for each map called Text & yep - I put all my text on that layer. If I need to do detailed work on any specific entity & simple choose the Layer Icon, set that layer current - Hide All of the other layers & go for it. Everything else disappears & I get to easily select what I need to work on.

You can freeze some layers - while working on your map. This allows you to make selections (like front) without disturbing the entities on the layers you have frozen - very handy.

You can also use Copy>Copy to Layer to make an exact copy of an entity & put it on a different layer. For example - let's say you just made your main landmass & have filled it with a beautiful shade of green. You'll want to outline it in black for the coastline. No need to redraw or trace over it. Just select Copy> Copy to layer & make a second copy of the landmass on a different layer. Now you can change to the new layer, hide everything else & select the new entity & change it's properties to Hollow fill & color black. Now show all layers & front the color black & you have your landmass with a nice black outline exactly on top of the green landmass.

Experiment - I'm sure you find many uses for the different layers - you can put stuff you don't want the players to see on the GM's layer & hide it, too.

>What's the purpose of changing the symbol layer? What does this get me, how is this advantageous???

>And what am I changing the Symbol Layer TO?

 

Re: [CC-L] Symbols and strange problems therein

Date: 5/21/98 11:25:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Linda Kekumu

<<One, is that now when I do a HIDE ALL, all my symbols disappear. Including the symbols in the catalog. (IE I just see a list names with no pictures over them)

I'm sorry - you didn't mention this "problem". Actually it is not a problem You need to not hide the Symbol Definition layer. There was a problem with symbols & layers prior to the patch - it's kind of technical, but suffice it to say - ProFantasy has developed a method of moving all of the symbols & their references to the Symbol Definition layer & as long as this layer is NOT hidden you'll be able to see all of your symbols.

What you are experiencing could have something to do with the fact that the map was started before the patch & was "fixed" when you installed the patch. OK - so the technical part - prior to the patch - if you drew an entity on the Borders Layer & multipolied it, & then drew an entity on the Vegetation layer & then made these 2 entities into a symbol & moved them to the symbol definition layer, the original parts would still be on the Borders layer & the Vegetation Layer & at some point if you hid one of those layers part of the symbols would disappear. Now the patch fixes this so that all those parts are on 1 layer - the Symbol Definition layer. Don't hide it or Freeze it & everything should work OK. When we installed the patch & did the EDIT>CHANGE>CHANGE SYMBOL LAYER CC2 went through & rounded up all those "stray" entities from all the different layers & put them on the Symbol Definition layer.

Re: [CC-L] Text & Text Properties

Date: 5/21/98 11:50:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Linda Kekumu

Now I have a question. I have 3 different sizes of text on my map & I only want to change to change the smallest sized text to the next larger size. How do I select this? The Help file says that if I click on the Change Text Icon & select the text it will display it's current properties, but checking all 3 sizes results in the same information! This is not correct - they are different sizes. Maybe I’m just missing something, but can anybody help?

Re: [CC-L] Questions...

Date: 5/22/98 11:07:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Linda Kekumu

ok, take a line symbol that is a closed entity.. attempt to make a pile of them so the one on top covers the ones on the bottom to show depth..what I was working with specifically was the "sack" symbol trying to make a pile of them

Here's what you need to do - choose the sack symbol & put in the drawing. Explode>Prior (the sack) & Insert>Ungroup>Prior. Click the Change Layer Icon & select the 4 "corners" & the 4 black lines of the sack & change to the symbol definition layer. Hide all. Now, multipoly the 4 black lines & change the fill style to solid. You can either multipoly the 4 corners or leave them as is, you'll want to change the colour. Save this as sack.fcw. Open the Basic Dungeon.fsc (symbol catalog) Insert Part>sack.fcw. Insert Symbol>Define Symbol & type sack - it will ask for the symbol origin – pick the center & then select by window. The final step is the SAVE AS Basic Dungeon.fsc - you need to actually save this as a symbol catalog.

Now you have a filled sack in your Basic Dungeon catalog. You can place as many of them on top of each other as you want.

Re: [CC-L] Greetings

Date: 5/23/98 11:50:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Lonny Eckert

I imagine you are reproducing your map you have posted at your website. If so, why not use your existing map as a trace to help out. You can work with bitmaps in CC2. First of all you need to know how many pixels are in your existing map. You can use Paint (attributes) or Paintbrush Pro. I highly recommend Paintshop Pro which you can download at: http://www.jasc.com

Now go to Fill Style Properties>Bitmap Files and load up your bitmap file. Make your bitmap the currently selected fill style. Change to the MERGE layer. Now using the rectangle select any point on your map. Type in @xxx,yyy where xxx is the number of horizontal pixels in the bitmap and yyy is the number of vertical pixels in your bitmap. You can read more about this subject in the on-line help.

 

Last Archive Back to Fantasy Cartography Next Archive