Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: The Mudcaves

  1. #1

    Map The Mudcaves

    This is the project I'm working on at the moment: a set of interlocking battlemaps (in d20 scale each of the examples is 24x30 inches)

    They're not really mudcaves, but when I reduced the resolution to make thumbnails, they really went to pot, so until I fix the resolution, these are mudcaves.

    So the real question is, what sort of maps will benefit you (if you're a GM) the most? What scale and resolution?




  2. #2
    Administrator Redrobes's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    England
    Posts
    7,193
    Blog Entries
    8

    Post

    Why do you think they went to pot and what did you use to shrink them ?

  3. #3

    Post

    I just did a quick resample in Photopaint from 4800 pixels wide down to 500. Obviously, they lost a LOT of the texture details.

    I'm sure they will look better if I use Photoshop or a filter to resample the maps. But maybe this will make the final result look more impressive.

  4. #4
    Community Leader RPMiller's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Watching you from in here
    Posts
    3,226

    Post

    Quote Originally Posted by GM's Apprentice View Post
    So the real question is, what sort of maps will benefit you (if you're a GM) the most? What scale and resolution?
    Will these be for a VTT? If so, scale is a little irrelevant since that can be set in the VTT based on the resolution. As for the resolution it depends a little on the VTT that is being used. For MapTool, a "unit" is 50 pixels so generally we prefer to see a 200 pixel resolution so that we can still zoom in for details without degradation.
    Bill Stickers is innocent! It isn't Bill's fault that he was hanging out in the wrong place.

    Please make an effort to tag all threads. This will greatly enhance the usability of the forums.



  5. #5

    Post

    RPMiller,

    Thanks for the info! These are made at 200 dpi, so they should transfer over to VTT usage fairly well. The only problem might be their size: the originals are 4800x6000.

    As long as I'm making the maps, I figured they should support as many options and gamers as possible. I'll also have pdfs of battlemaps available for those that choose to print them out (although with all the black, these may not be the most printer-friendly)

  6. #6
    Community Leader RPMiller's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Watching you from in here
    Posts
    3,226

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by GM's Apprentice View Post
    RPMiller,

    Thanks for the info! These are made at 200 dpi, so they should transfer over to VTT usage fairly well. The only problem might be their size: the originals are 4800x6000.

    As long as I'm making the maps, I figured they should support as many options and gamers as possible. I'll also have pdfs of battlemaps available for those that choose to print them out (although with all the black, these may not be the most printer-friendly)
    If the black is on a separate layer, I would say offer them without the black layer visible.
    Bill Stickers is innocent! It isn't Bill's fault that he was hanging out in the wrong place.

    Please make an effort to tag all threads. This will greatly enhance the usability of the forums.



  7. #7

    Post

    Doh!

    Sometimes the obvious needs to slap you upside the head. The black actually covers up some of the other textures and what-not underneath, but it's a relatively simple step to mask it off.

    Thanks! I'm sure there will be several tabletop gamers who save a good bit of ink from your comment

  8. #8
    Community Leader RPMiller's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Watching you from in here
    Posts
    3,226

    Default

    Glad to be of assistance.
    Bill Stickers is innocent! It isn't Bill's fault that he was hanging out in the wrong place.

    Please make an effort to tag all threads. This will greatly enhance the usability of the forums.



  9. #9

    Post

    Quote Originally Posted by GM's Apprentice View Post
    They're not really mudcaves, but when I reduced the resolution to make thumbnails, they really went to pot, so until I fix the resolution, these are mudcaves.


    Probably my favorite line I've read on the site so far since I started checking it out this morning.

  10. #10

    Post

    It looks like much of the "mud" in these images came but from a very high level of JPEG compression applied to the downsampled image. It may be that your app is set by default to "thrash and mangle" level compression (which makes for much smaller files with heavy JPEG-artifacting).

    S. John Ross Ghalev
    Who Dat? Games Fonts Uresia

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •