Scaling minis for use as tokens

[Entropi]

Greetings.

I learned from Xorn's video tute how to import images into FG2 for use as tokens. I am using D&D minis, same as he did.

In the video, Xorn mentions that he resizes all minis to be 100 pixels in height.

I did that at first, but when I started FG2 to see how my creations looked in-game, I didn't like how the minis scaled with relation to each other. For instance, the Cleric of Order mini is holding a long staff, which extends well over his head. If the image is scaled to a height of 100 pixels, half of that height is the staff - the cleric himself (who appears to be human) ends up much shorter than the goblin and dwarf minis I made! So I kept experimenting and, through trial and error using different heights, I eventually got a selection of about a dozen minis to look more or less right in relation to each other. Nice! But very time intensive. I don't know if I have the stamina to do this for hundreds of minis. Just wondered if others have encountered this and what they chose to do about it. Do you think it is worth the effort to get the minis properly sized in relation to each other, or should I just make them all 100 pixels high and be done with it?

[Griogre]

Generally speaking, I would tell you to just skip any token holding a weapon up over his head straight up unless you desperately need it. IE its unlikely you really need that cleric - there are plenty of them.

FYI because of file sizes I believe Xorn went to a smaller size than 100 pixels - I'm not sure what he is using now.

[Sigurd]

Once you have all the little pngs sizing them is an annoying but necessary step. While the program works with scaling it scales everything to on common level. (It also will scale individual tokens on the combat tracker but that is too tedious to do for each size.)

I go into explorer and turn on thumbnails. Then I make 6 subdirectories (w-sml,w-med,w-big & L-sml, L-med, L-big). It try to visually sort the tokens so that the fit in one of the categories. If a rogue has a staff swinging for an extra body length to his left then he's a width Big. If a wizard carries a 20ft staff he's a length big.

Its sometimes hard to resize for the length of the character trunk you want and not the length you see.

[Foen]

There was another thread which considered resizing so that the invisible pixels were added to the token in the opposite direction to any extended pixels. That way, a token could be made larger than your standard size, but would still centre properly.

For example, if your normal token size was 100 pixels, but your cleric had a staff extending half as much again above his head, make a token that is 200 pixels in size, with 50 pixels of staff above, 100 pixels of normal token and 50 pixels of blank space below. When placed on a map the cleric will sit properly in a square: his staff will jut into the square above, but his body will centre nicely.

Until recently this caused problems because a token would be selected even if you clicked on invisible pixels, which mean super-sized tokens were difficult to play with. A little while back, I think the FG engine was changed so that a token is only selected if you click on a visible pixel.

Just a thought.

Foen

[Xorn]

I eventually switched to 50 px/sq tokens (thank goodness for PSP batch conversion!) and that's what I use now. Primarily because my maps are 50 px/sq and I rarely have a map zoomed enough to appreciate 100 px tokens.

Here is an example of a token resized so just the body fits into 50 px:

782

That's my goliath barbarian, and his body is 50 pixels tall. The rest of the token extend far enough out to center him correctly in his square. At the time I made the token tutorial, you couldn't click through empty pixels, so I didn't present this option.

[Qual]

Do I have to do anything funky to make multi-square tokens center properly? I made a couple mounts that should be 2 squares wide by one tall, and the png's are sized that way. I haven't had a chance to play with them yet in a campaign where I'm a player, but I started up a test campaign to check them out. I opened up a new, blank map, plopped down a grid for my chosen square size, and dropped the mounts on the grid. They were, of course, centering on one square so they stuck half-way into the squares on either side. D'oh.

So, is there a way to tell the system, on the combat tracker or such, that the figure is a larger size so it centers it appropriately? (On a 2x1 region instead of a 1x1...) Or do I have to make the figure 3 squares wide, with one of the end squares being all invisible? I'm hoping it's the former so that the threat highlight would also be appropriate around the token.

(...and then a 2x2 would really have to be a 3x3 with one row and one column being invisible...d'oh, the pixel wasteage is appalling! :-)

[Xorn]

Well, I believe tokens snap (with a grid) to corners and centers. Not sure if they will snap to the middle between two squares. If that's the case, yes, you'll have to add blank pixels to one side to make it center correctly. That's technically how my barbarian was made.

I sized his body to be 50 pixels tall. I measured how high the sword went above his head and added that much to the canvas below him. Then I measured how far to the right of his base the sword went, and extended the canvas to the left by that much. I don't know that I'd work that hard on a token that wasn't for a character while speeding through a new gallery of tokens, but that's how you do the finer positioning.

[Zeus]

I have been steadily working through the D&D Mini's and got thoroughly fed up not to mention some serious RSI from all the keyboard shortcuts I ended up using per token. In the end I compiled a Photoshop Action to do the laborious stuff for me. Its 90% automatic with only a couple of steps requiring user input; image size and pad (canvas) size. Being an Action you can of course pre-fil the dialogues and set them to auto.

I now simply filter my source images into the size/shape folders as suggested in a previous thread, pre-fill the dialogues with the sizes I'll need on average and batch run the action over them. I then do a quick 2nd manual pass over those tokens which require extra attention.

Here's what the action does:

Assumes an image is loaded with a single layer named 'Background'.

1. Duplicates current image layer, disables visbility of original (background) layer.
2. Removes white pixel background for token transparancy
3. Trims the image down removing any surplus transparant pixels
4. Calls the image resize function and asks for size input - I too work with 50 pixel tokens for medium 100p for large etc. etc.
5. Calls the canvas resize function and asks for canvas size input - As Xorn(e) suggests you can re-centre your token if its centre would be naturally offset due to an outstretched arm and weapon etc. I set the dialgue to work with relative sizing meaning I simply measure the difference between the torso and the edge of the image in pixels and apply an equal amount of canvas (pad) to the opposite edge.
6. Exports the image as a PNG 24bit with transparancy

The final step should be configured for your own destination file path.

You can grab it here: https://rapidshare.com/files/238624797/D_D_Mini_Token_Creator.zip

I use it in Photoshop CS4 however it should work with other versions of Photoshop as I'm not doing anything clever.

Hope it helps. Enjoy.