Nuclear Blast Sized Fireballs

[mclimbin]

Hi all,
I'm wondering if there is a way to avoid or workaround this small issue.

I love using the new spell effect templates. They are great, and my players love them. The only problem is, during a game, if I drop a template onto the map that we are using, the spell effect is HUGE! I inevitably get comments like, "Yes, Mr. GM, that is exactly the size of my fireball--the whole map" or "Nuke them from orbit!!".

While I enjoy the jokes, I'd prefer to have the spell effect become visible to the players after I have a chance to resize it correctly.

Is there any way to do this? For example, set a new image layer to be not visible by default? Or some other way to deal with this?

What do you all do?

I use Unity and am playing 5E by the way.

[kevininrussia]

I use those templates in 4e. What I do is add the spell images I think will be needed to the maps as layers before game, size them and turn the layer invisible to players and drag the image off the side of the map. Then when needed I position the image and turn the image visible to the players. Its something you have to do to each map though. Would be nice to be able to save scale state of the image seeing that we don't have access to the file to resize the image in photoshop.

[jwatmough]

The spell templates, when dragged and dropped onto the map, should size automatically to their correct size compared to the grid on which the map is set. For example, fireball will always be a 20' radius or 8 squares across, 4 from the center to an edge.

[kevininrussia]

It depends on the ruleset. In 4e its 3 squares from center to an edge for fireball. There should be a system built to easily modify and save the scale to fit any ruleset.

[mclimbin]

@jwatmough, That would be awesome if it worked like that... :)

Any ideas why it could be that it is not working for me in that way? I must be doing something wrong?

[mclimbin]

I'm dragging them as images. How does a second layer know the size it should be? Isn't it just two images stacked on one another? Am I supposed to be using it as a token or something?

[mclimbin]

@kevininrussia, I have done that too. It is good if I am able to prepare all the possible spells, but if they pull out something new, I'd like it to work better.
That said, there are certain spells that they always use that I can prepare for each map.

[jwatmough]

@jwatmough, That would be awesome if it worked like that... :)

Any ideas why it could be that it is not working for me in that way? I must be doing something wrong?

The art packages are encoded with the 'size' the image should be displayed in the terms of the grid of the workspace. When dragging an image from the assets window into the image workspace FGU looks at that information and adjusts accordingly for what the grid has been defined as. I just tested to make sure and it is indeed working that way.

[jwatmough]

If you would like a live demonstration of this I would be happy to showcase its functionality on my Twitch stream tomorrow at 3pm (https://www.twitch.tv/fantasygrounds) eastern time. I am also more than happy to help you sort it out here. The first step would be to make sure you are fully updated and that you disable all extensions. Create a new campaign and then within that campaign a new blank image record. Set the grid size to 100x100 and drag the fireball template from the assets window onto the new image.

[mclimbin]

Thank you! I am using a custom map. It's a map of Skullport, and it has a grid incorporated into the image, but each square is 10'. I set up the grid with smaller squares so there are 4 squares within that 10' square.
When I drop the effect, it seems to be calculating not from the 5' square, but the 10' square. It seems to be double the size, in other words.

The other problem is that one of the fireball images that I use is from a third party; it's not a spell effect template, so it doesn't seem to have the size encoded. I think this is really the main problem.
Is there information or a tutorial out there that can show me how to encode the sized of the template so that it will drop properly?

[kevininrussia]

The art packages are encoded with the 'size' the image should be displayed in the terms of the grid of the workspace. When dragging an image from the assets window into the image workspace FGU looks at that information and adjusts accordingly for what the grid has been defined as. I just tested to make sure and it is indeed working that way.

This 'size' you speak of. Is this something the user can modify so the image will be the correct size for other rulesets besides 5e?

[kevininrussia]

Thank you! I am using a custom map. It's a map of Skullport, and it has a grid incorporated into the image, but each square is 10'. I set up the grid with smaller squares so there are 4 squares within that 10' square.
When I drop the effect, it seems to be calculating not from the 5' square, but the 10' square. It seems to be double the size, in other words.

The other problem is that one of the fireball images that I use is from a third party; it's not a spell effect template, so it doesn't seem to have the size encoded. I think this is really the main problem.
Is there information or a tutorial out there that can show me how to encode the sized of the template so that it will drop properly?

If the image comes from a third party, cant you take that image into Photoshop or another image viewer/editor and resize it there? Will be a trial and error to get the correct pixel size but that should work.

[jwatmough]

I can indeed explain to you a simple solution by using the stamp tool in the painting tab.
with the toolbar unlocked on the right-hand side of the image workspace select the painting tab. You will see the paint tools beneath the tab selection. Under those tools are a color window and square space that can accept an image to be painted onto the canvas. Instead of dragging the image onto the canvas from the assets window drag it into that square. You will now see the image displayed in that window. To the right of that window are some options you can use to control the size and orientation of the image when stamped. Again these are grid-based measurements so if it is set to 5x5 then it will cover an area of 5 grid spaces wide and high. Set the size of the image to whatever you desire. Make sure you have the stamp paint tool selected from the painting tools and you can apply the image to any spot on the canvas at your desired size, you can hold down the cntrl button to snap to the grid making placing it exactly where you wish a bit easier. Also while hovering over the image workspace you will see an image of what you are about to stamp onto the canvas. You can adjust the size of the image on the fly by holding cntrl and moving the mouse wheel or the rotation by holding shift. Once you have the image where you would like it simply left-click on the canvas.

[jwatmough]

This 'size' you speak of. Is this something the user can modify so the image will be the correct size for other rulesets besides 5e?

Unfortunately no. But you can use the technique I just described or you can also adjust the image in a similar fashion using the tile stamp tool in the layers tab.

[kevininrussia]

Unfortunately no. But you can use the technique I just described or you can also adjust the image in a similar fashion using the tile stamp tool in the layers tab.

The stamp tool works well. Thanks for that info!