Dungeon Objects in GIMP/Photoshop

[Doc_Waldo]

I would appreciate anyones suggestions or ideas on how they add, or manage all their dungeon objects in GIMP and/or Photoshop. How do you place? Are there plugin's than allow them to be like little libraries such as CC3/DD3? Do you drag and drop? How do you handle all the "junk" that needs to be placed in a dungeon, etc?

I am hoping to come up with a better way then I am currently handling it, which is dragging and dropping. Thanks.

[Jaxilon]

I have taken to saving my objects as .gbr files which is a Gimp Brush. I keep them all in the same directory. Then whenever I want to use them I go into the preferences in Gimp and move that brush directory to the top of the list - Refresh brushes - and then I just splat them as I will using the paint brush or pencil.

You will have to add this private brush directory into the Gimp preferences list. Of course, you could just save your .gbr files to your regular brush directory but I don't like getting to much crap in there unless I need it.

Here is a picture of where you would do this: (my brush directory is the 2nd one .../brushes/brushes/ ) <-- I know it's not a real intuitive name, so what?

[Doc_Waldo]

Very sneaky, I like it. Is there a quick way to convert .png or .jpg files to .gbr files?

[Jaxilon]

My workflow goes like this:
1. Draw it on paper
2. Scan it in
3. Open it in Gimp
4. Scrub the image getting rid of all the stupid white I get from scanning. I usually just create a new transparent layer then go select all the white on the scan and delete it. The paste the rest on the Transparent layer.
5. Image Autocrop the new Object
6. save as .gbr

When I get Tablet I'm sure I'll save a freakin ton of time by drawing it directly onto a transparent layer but for now that's how I do it.

Edit: I just learned Step 4 can be done by simply hitting Layers>Transparency>Color to Alpha. It leaves the lines and removes everything else.

[jtougas]

What a great idea Jax!! they way I do it ends me up with 50+ layers..

[ravells]

Another way would be to open your base map in a vector app and put your objects in. You can have as many independently moveable, sizeable objects on as few layers as you want! For the same reason vector is also great for labelling.

The vector app I use has a 'gallery' in which you can put in objects and then just drag and drop them onto the workspace.

[jtougas]

Another way would be to open your base map in a vector app and put your objects in. You can have as many independently moveable, sizeable objects on as few layers as you want! For the same reason vector is also great for labelling.

The vector app I use has a 'gallery' in which you can put in objects and then just drag and drop them onto the workspace.

Hmm..time to learn how to use that copy of Inkscape that I downloaded a few months ago..

[Midgardsormr]

Be aware that a brush in Photoshop is a grayscale image where white is transparent and black is opaque. It's not much good for dungeon objects because they'll lose all color and be semi-transparent.

Photoshop handles custom shapes the same way: they're solid black so you can make them whatever color you want; there's no way to store color information inside them.

You could try the Clone Stamp tool. Put all of your objects in a single Photoshop document with a transparent background. Open that document alongside your working document (this works best if you have two monitors, so you can keep your clone source doc on a different screen). You can clone stamp from one document into the other—just alt-click the object you want and stamp it down in your working document. The colors and transparency will be preserved, and all of the objects will go to the same layer (make sure you've got a layer strictly for these objects!) If you need to move something around, you can just lasso it.

It's not quite as versatile as a vector tool, but it works.

jtougas, what happened to your avatar?

[Jaxilon]

I think he's trying to be Moses

[jtougas]

jtougas, what happened to your avatar?

Ho Ho Ho..Darth Claus....