The great user action shot thread

[sunbeam60]

I thought it'd be fun if we gathered some user action shots in a thread to give prospective customers a "real" peak at what the software looks like. I know I'm always a little sceptical of official shots, and much prefer user opinions.

So without further ado, let me go ahead and be the first to post a customer action shot!

https://sunbeam60.net/actionshot_fantasygrounds.jpg

[Crusader]

Hey, it looks really good! :)

That landscape image in the background looks really inspiring, where did you find it?

[sunbeam60]

Took it when I climbed Stob Ban a couple of months ago.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/48525677@N00/

I find even a bad picture can liven up a dead session.

[Crusader]

Are you kidding? Those are great pictures, I nicked one of them - hope you don't mind. Eventually I'll send my players up in the mountains, and now I have a view for them. :D Thanks!

[gurney9999]

Great looking work there sunbeam... I'll have to take a screenshot during our next session.

[sunbeam60]

Are you kidding? Those are great pictures, I nicked one of them - hope you don't mind. Eventually I'll send my players up in the mountains, and now I have a view for them. :D Thanks!

They're Creative Commons licensed so do whatever you want with them dude. I'll upload the rest when I get back from work.

Gurney: Cool! I'd love to see a typical layout of everyone's screen.

[sunbeam60]

Flickr photos are updated.

[richvalle]

Very nice! Wow, you can tell you put a lot of work into FG. Look at all those personalities!

rv

[Khartoum]

Forget the picture, I'm more impressed by the "charcoal" orthogonal view of the keep you have there - - - how'd you do that? And how did you get the background color to be so FG-like, the beige is spot-on! Is that a program or did you import a picture of a drawing or something else. (Please realize you're talking to someone who has used MSPaint to a point WAAY beyond what it was intended for, lol.)


Also, how can we take screenshots so that we may post them here? I have some interesting MSPaint work i've done and it may inspire some people who don't have other mapping programs....


Great work, btw. I've been humbled yet again. I LOVE the maps they are wonderful, the caves, the charcoal look to them.....beautiful.

[sunbeam60]

Thanks for the kind words.

The building was drawn on a piece of paper in a lunch break. I then scanned it at home, and imported it into a natural art media program (I'd be damned if I can remember the name, but I'll find it for you when I get back from work tonight) as a stencil.

I then redrew the picture on top (in a new layer ... most programs beyond MSPaint can draw in layers; each layer is like a transparent sheet on top of another that you can reorder, remove and reinsert into the final picture) using the art media tools in the program and a tiny Wacom A5 tablet. The fortress was mostly sketched using the "pencil" tool, and then the roof was shaded using the "charcoal" tool.

The dungeon was drawn straight up in the natural art media program; no paper sketch first. I outlined the caves using the pen and then proceeded to fill in the border with a thin charcoal in streaks away from the cave outline. Finally I applied a waterbrush to draw the edges out somewhat. No science really, I just thought it gave an interesting effect.

The painting was then exported as a bitmap, black and white, and imported into Paint Shop Pro. To get the background I applied a mask on top of the picture layer. A mask is essentially a grayscale picture that tells the underlying layer how much it can show through. The mask data was the picture itself, if that makes any sense, so I ended up with a mask that perfectly mimicked by image below, only I could now fill any colour below the mask. In essence, I had seperated the black and white dungeon picture from the background. I then cheated and opened one of the skin pictures from Fantasy Grounds as a layer below the dungeon. This is why it looks "spot on". It is Fantasy Ground's own parchment picture.

Hope this helps.

Regarding the screenshot, all you have to do is press "Print Screen" and then CTRL+V in any program that accepts bitmaps.

I'm a map nut myself, so I'd love to see other people's work.

[Ilwan]

Here is one from my setting. Map was made with dundjinni. Play is in german

https://www.earlsdale.com/fangro/screens/screenshot0017.jpg

[Khartoum]

OK, this is my attempt at showing what I was able to do for my campaign.

Please remember, I only got FG 2 months ago, I haven't played D&D in 20 years, and well, I haven't caught up with the computer revolution yet (by my gut is pretty good at directing me, i.e. Int=12, Wis=16 :D )

Except now I've ruined the page size - so I'll repost when I can figure out how to "resize" the pic... :(

[Crusader]

Except now I've ruined the page size - so I'll repost when I can figure out how to "resize" the pic... :(

I can help you with that if you want. E-mail it to me at henrik (dot) gyllkrans (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll fix it!

[Crusader]

Khartoum, here's your screenshot: :)

https://www.arecta.se/images/FGexamplePIC.JPG

[Khartoum]

Thanks Crusader for posting that for me!

Just by way of explanation:

The flashlight thing is just that (the campaign is set in Eberron). The thing inside the tube is a sunrod; the tubing is a threaded pipe with a cap on one end and a reflective "hood" on the other. It even comes with a cap so if you want not to shed light you have that option.

The outdoor scene is of a Fair. The whole picture is a bit bigger (you'd be able to see the crossroads - the brown at the upper left).

The black and white is a top down view of a well with the metal rungs that go down. The doors are located at the bottom (so it's a see-through). Two of the doors are standard, the third is a circular door.

The color version of this well, showing the side-view, complete with the winch set up, ropes cordoning off the well-opening, metal rungs, and just the top of the dome (the doors aren't visible there).

Finally, there is a head on view of the circular door with the bell-pull and the secret door with the "emergency open" lever exposed by the party after a search. I tried to show that the lever is "clutch" lever - so once the clutch-lever is depressed the handle has to be moved to the left then pulled down (hence the gap that you may notice).

Anyway, it's obviously not as pretty or informative (I figure my pics are only worth 300 words instead of 1000, lol), but it does the trick and it's relaxing for me :D

Thanks for the opportunity to share.

[sunbeam60]

Map was made with dundjinni.

Do you find Dundjinni speedy enough to use? I loved the idea of it, but after you start putting any amount of detail onto the map, it just slowed down to a crawl. I'm literally talking 30 second waits between updates.

[Xaltar]

This is a screen shot (not full sized) from a campaign that I preparing based on the new Age of Worms adventure path from Dungeon. I think that I will be looking for some help testing it out before long.

https://www.thetapleys.com/dnd/screenshots/preparing_aow.jpg

- Xaltar

[Ilwan]

Map was made with dundjinni.

Do you find Dundjinni speedy enough to use? I loved the idea of it, but after you start putting any amount of detail onto the map, it just slowed down to a crawl. I'm literally talking 30 second waits between updates.

Not at all - the 1.3 mb hill graphic takes a minute to load on a brand new PC :shock: . The program is slow and coded very badly in my opinion. It gives the user no possibilities to customize what so ever. I bought it just because map making is my passion and I wanted to try it out. Still the outcome can be very nice and it draws good battlemaps if you use miniatures or tokens like in FG. Especially battleplans in the wilderness areas, where I have not found a style in other map making software doing the job very good. I guess Dundjinni is so popular because it supports PNG images (so you can find art everywhere) and is easy to handle, despite being very slow.

For a full version of the map from the screenshot go here:
https://www.earlsdale.com/cc2maps/details.php?image_id=124

I would always advice map fans to go for CC2 Pro instead. But if you have CC2 Pro and add-ons, a few bucks left over and a need to produce local battleplans then Dundjinni is (still) an option.

[Belizan]

Not to hijack the thread or anything, but how do you feel CC2 compares to FM7 from NBOS? I found CC2 pretty hard to get into. Personally, I would like a mapping tool that will let me build maps without having to learn a software package with a learning curve approaching Photoshop :/. Any ideas?

I haven't had the chance to play with Dundjinni yet, but I used a mapper program called DungeonForge that was quite straightforward.

[Hrathor]

DJ is definitely too slow, but the maps are faster and there is virtually no time to learn it. It is faster just to drop tiles, i found, than to do fills. Fills take anywhere from 30 sec to a few minutes on my pc (xp2800,1 GB pc3200, fresh windows install,radeon 9700). That is unacceptably slow. If i remember correctly, fluid put out the original e-tool for d&d and did so poorly fixing it that CMP took it over. It was released with several HUNDRED bugs. I do like it for it's ease of use and my ability to take a break to cook dinner.
I tried both demos (cc2-fm7, more than once,lol) and found both hard to use. I just bought cc2 with the new tome (tutorial book, 512 pgs.) and i am moving along pretty rapidly. After taking a very long time to decide which to buy, i am happy i chose cc2.

[gurney9999]

I definitely like CC2 the best. Here is a map I did after going through just one tutorial... once I got an understanding on how the CAD controls work compared to the normal photoshop/paint controls, I found it isn't hard to learn.

https://www.pgholyfield.com/maps.htm

[BRiM]

Here's one of mine.

https://home.comcast.net/~brmiller4799/fgcap.jpg

Yes, all the doors on the prison map are actually tokens.... I like to reveal doors in their proper time...

BRiM

[richvalle]

Nice idea.

And maps. :)

rv

[Crusader]

I just wanted to revive this thread with two screenshots from my campaign:

https://www.harn.se/img/screenshot0008.jpg

https://www.harn.se/img/screenshot0006.jpg

[wavecutter]

Crusader, how did you make those maps?

[richvalle]

Wow, those screen shots make me want to play your game! :)

Very nice.

rv

[Crusader]

Crusader, how did you make those maps?

They are made with the editor that accompanies Heroes of Might & Magic IV. I didn't really like the game, but I found a new use for it! :wink:


Wow, those screen shots make me want to play your game!

Very nice.

rv

Thanks! :D

[wavecutter]

Thats awsome! Guess what I'm going to buy today? you guessed it!

[Valgard]

Somehow I feel sales for Heroes of Might and Magic IV are about to rise somewhat, at least in my area. :)

[Crusader]

One tip if you're getting Heroes of Might & Magic IV for the mapping capabilities is to see if you can get the Winds of War Expansion at a reasonable price because it had the added feature to paint with terrain, such as trees, rather than dragging them out on the map one by one.
Saves you a lot of time I can tell. :shock:

In the meantime, if you want to check the map out in all it's glory I have it available for download here:

Huge friggin map (https://www.harn.se/img/laket.jpg)

Yeah, that's right - it's big. All the isometric maps you see above is part of the same area, but the map is so big that you'll have to split it up to use it in FG. It's 9724X5115 pixels and the filesize is over 18MB.

[wavecutter]

I wonder how one would create modles to import into the game.

[Crusader]

Sorry, what?

[Snikle]

The previous version of Elder Scrolls had something that was pretty good for that as well. Not sure of the version of the program but it came with a campaign editor that allowed you to do buildings, dungeons, and wilderness maps. Looked pretty good, and I actually bought the program to use it for that very reason, just never got a chance to get in there and play with it enough.
Some of those screenshots are great!

[wavecutter]

I meant, I wonder how one would be able to import modles into HoMM. User created stuff.

[Crusader]

Ah, right. Well, I haven't given it a shot actually, I took the easy way out. I have a few isometric object that fits the purpuse, and whenever I want to use them I put them in the map afterwards with GIMP. Maybe not so fancy but it does the trick.

[Nursenut]

Hey nice maps every one...makes mine look pitiful.

I have a question. I make maps via Dunjini and also use alot of pics I download from the internet. Sometimes when sharing maps and/or pics, it will take forever to them to load for the players. Some pictures/maps will come very quick to the players, other very slow or not at all.
It doesnt seem to be related to the pic size because some large pics I have no trouble with, while others I do.
Anyone else have this problem?

thanks!

[Snikle]

I have very rarely experienced problems with images, usually when we are all sitting around BSing before the game, the players dont know this, but I am usually preloading the images to them, that way during the game there is nothing to slow us up.

[richvalle]

I've found sometimes I have to 'double share' the images. Share it once, wait about 10 seconds and then share it again. It usually pops in the 2nd time.

rv

[Craw]

I have very rarely experienced problems with images, usually when we are all sitting around BSing before the game, the players dont know this, but I am usually preloading the images to them, that way during the game there is nothing to slow us up.

Oh, we know. We know. 8)

[LordTomar]

I have very rarely experienced problems with images, usually when we are all sitting around BSing before the game, the players dont know this, but I am usually preloading the images to them, that way during the game there is nothing to slow us up.

Oh, we know. We know. 8)

yeah its not like you don't tell us your doing it.

[Neofite]

wow, some nice pics :)

Wish i had some artistic talent :(

[Crusader]

Don't feel bad. I don't have it either. I wish I could make maps like Snikle's. But I can't, so instead I stood on the shoulders of others. :wink:

[Snikle]

Oh, we know. We know. 8)

yeah its not like you don't tell us your doing it.

LOL Smart asses...

[sunbeam60]

Awesome screenies man! I haven't been able to play for the last couple of months because my job is 100 hours/week at the moment, but I'll get back to it in December and post some shots from it there.

[Cantstanzya]

They are made with the editor that accompanies Heroes of Might & Magic IV. I didn't really like the game, but I found a new use for it! :wink:
Thanks! :D Crusader, how do you export the file out of HOMM to use in FG?

[Crusader]

Well, that takes quite bit of work actually, and is best done on a PC with a HUGE-resulution screen. I started in one corner of the HOMM-map, took a screenshot and pasted the screenshot in an image-editor, then back to the campaign editor and move the map, take a new screenshot and paste it as a new layer in the image and align the edges of the new layer, and so on.

As I said, a lot of work but I found it worth it in the end.

[Cantstanzya]

Well, that takes quite bit of work actually, and is best done on a PC with a HUGE-resulution screen. I started in one corner of the HOMM-map, took a screenshot and pasted the screenshot in an image-editor, then back to the campaign editor and move the map, take a new screenshot and paste it as a new layer in the image and align the edges of the new layer, and so on.

As I said, a lot of work but I found it worth it in the end.Wow, that is alot of work, but I think you are right, it is worth it. I got a copy of HOMM off of eBay and it is very easy to make a map, but I thought I was missing something with the export. I should have the Winds of War expansion pack next week, also from eBay.
I did notice that HOMM 5 is due out in March. Hopefully it will have a campaign editor as well with lots of new enhancements.
Another thing I found was an easter egg that will add more objects for you to use in the campaign editor. I haven't had a chance to try it, but I hope to get to it this weekend. Here (https://www.eeggs.com/items/35771.html) is the link that shows you how to get to it

[Crusader]

Cool, I'll try it out as soon as I get a chance! Thanks for the tip!