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Grain
June 22nd, 2010, 01:07
Hey folks,

I'm currently using CC3/DD3 for my map making software. I followed the tutorial on their website by Sweeney and created an exact duplicate of that map. It does not look anything like the .fcl when I render the image and I've tried all 3 files (.jpg,.bmp,.png). I know this is more related to CC3, but I hear there are very specific pixel requirements for FG2 that I have to follow?

Can anyone point me in the direction of how to create very detailed high resolution maps using CC3 that I can then incorporate into my FG2 game?

George

Leonal
June 22nd, 2010, 01:24
I usually use 50 pixels per 5' square for battle maps. (eg. a map that's 100 x 100 feet is 1000 x 1000 pixels) This can make rather big maps, and some prefer smaller, or even larger sizes though.

When you save your map, set the width to your desired amount of pixels and the height to something much higher as it will crop automatically.

To reduce file size, but retain the detail I first save as PNG max compression in CC3 and later open it in Paint.net (or any other image editor), and then save it as PNG 8.

Grain
June 22nd, 2010, 03:18
Ok. So basically if I want more detail then I need to set a higher pixel count per 5'?

Grain
June 22nd, 2010, 03:23
What is png 8? Sorry I'm rather new to this.

Leonal
June 22nd, 2010, 04:21
Yes, higher pixel count gets you higher quality.

PNG 8 is 8 bit. It uses less color variation, but you don't see the lower quality as well as when you reduce the quality on a JPG file.

Grain
June 22nd, 2010, 04:46
Ah ok. I thought about increasing the blur for the entire image, but that might work as well.

Sorry about the litany of questions, but how can I increase the pixel count? I know these are probably basic questions, but I'm at a loss.

Leonal
June 22nd, 2010, 05:13
No problem. The CC3 Help file has quite a lot of answers though.

I added an image showing where to set the resolution.

Select PNG bitmap, or Rectangular selection PNG if you don't want the whole map. Then click the Options button, fill inn the pixels you want for width and leave the height quite a bit larger.

I recommend the Profantasy forums though, there are much more knowledgeable CC3 people there. :)

Grain
June 22nd, 2010, 15:18
Ok. I think I finally figured it out :) You change the resolution size to something really high like 8000x8000. You'll end up with a large image so then you simply go into an image editor like Photoshop and scale the image down to something more manageable that'll only take a few minutes to transfer via the game client when you load the image. What I'll probably need to do is just select which images I want pre-loaded so I don't have a lot of wait time in the middle of my games.

Xorn
June 22nd, 2010, 15:34
When you say PNG8 do you mean dropping it to 256 colors? I typically export from CC3 as a max quality PNG, then change it to a 256 color JPG in PSP. I find it nets me a smaller image without a noticeable change in quality.

Grain
June 22nd, 2010, 15:38
He means PNG 8 bit rather than PNG 24 bit.

Xorn
June 22nd, 2010, 21:15
Okay, I don't have that option in PSP, that I could find. I only know enough about PSP to be dangerous to my pictures, anyway.

Leonal
June 22nd, 2010, 23:10
Yeah, it's the same thing. PNG 8 can have maximum 256 colors.

Zygon2004
December 28th, 2012, 21:23
I'm not sure I'm following. When I set the image to 4000x4000 I get a several MB file. If I scale it down in Photoshop, the detail is lost as well.

What is an acceptable file-size for good load times in FGII? I saved one image that keeps okay levels of detail, but it's 4.60MB. I'd rather have much higher detail but I don't want players to nod off while the image is loading. Thoughts?

Trenloe
December 28th, 2012, 21:42
I'm not sure I'm following. When I set the image to 4000x4000 I get a several MB file. If I scale it down in Photoshop, the detail is lost as well.

What is an acceptable file-size for good load times in FGII? I saved one image that keeps okay levels of detail, but it's 4.60MB. I'd rather have much higher detail but I don't want players to nod off while the image is loading. Thoughts?
Keeping it below 1MB is a good idea - unless it is a big map you will use a lot for the players, such as a whole level of a dungeon that you zoom in as the players move around; then you don't mind a delay to load it initially.

Try opening your image in Photoshop and save as a JPEG - experiment with the compression ratio that gives a good level of detail with a reasonable file size.

Zygon2004
December 28th, 2012, 22:31
Now after a fair load time on a map like that, will be stored on their computer? What about the next session, if I share it will it have to load again?

Also, I noticed there is a "pre-load" option, on big maps would that allow me to have it loading on their machines at the start while we're involved in something else in-game, so that it's up and ready when needed?

Trenloe
December 28th, 2012, 23:06
Now after a fair load time on a map like that, will be stored on their computer? What about the next session, if I share it will it have to load again?
One it has loaded to the player's computer it will be stored in a cache so it won't have to download again in that session or future ones (unless they delete their cache).


Also, I noticed there is a "pre-load" option, on big maps would that allow me to have it loading on their machines at the start while we're involved in something else in-game, so that it's up and ready when needed?
Yes.

damned
December 29th, 2012, 03:32
yes images are cached but they are all uploaded from your computer and the upload routine is not nearly as fast/efficient as say ftp so images of that size will probably take a long time to load initially...
i personally try to keep all my images below 256kb and definitely below 500kb...
if the image/map will be used often it may be worth the load times for your campaign...

Griogre
December 31st, 2012, 19:16
I'm like damned. I keep the maps less than 600K and try for less than 300K. On the preloading if you use 4E or 3.5/Pathfinder the players can open the maps and see them. Make sure you mask them first before you preload them if you don't want the player to see what's on them. You might want to be careful about map names as spoilers as well.

Generally you want the map grid on the map to be about one half the size of your medium sized tokens. You will save yourself a lot of hassles if you keep you map sizes under a couple hundred K, especially if you have a player with a flaky Internet connection.