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  1. #1

    Post Dungeon Making with Xara

    After many hours spent searching through posts and forums- finding and downloading objects, and a few hours spent actually mapping, I am ready to show off my first mapping effort with Xara that didn't go horribly awry (in the end it did go slightly awry).

    The map isn't finished, some rooms on this level still need to be furnished and I haven't eveen started upper and lower levels yet. The map also has no concept as such. I don't know who lives in this dungeon, I created in order to get in practice with my new software.

    I welcome any comments or suggestions on it.
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    Last edited by yu gnomi; 07-30-2008 at 06:52 PM.

  2. #2

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    I thought it might look a little better with a different background than the blue. I tried a parchment background.
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  3. #3
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by yu gnomi View Post
    I thought it might look a little better with a different background than the blue. I tried a parchment background.
    Yep, much prettier. Now... make a higher res version! 10 or 20 px(50 or 100 px per square, assuming a 5 foot square) per foot would be be excellent for use in a VTT.

    Joe
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

  4. #4

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    I hadn't thought about vtt. Xara exports in a variety of formats, it should be able to do better quality than this jpeg. The proprietary Xera file is much better resolution.

    I'd be very interested in tips on downloading or making decent looking wall sections (from a top down view). Have so far been leaving blank space for walls to be put in.

    Likewise for doors with swing direction. I need a better variety.

  5. #5
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by yu gnomi View Post
    I hadn't thought about vtt. Xara exports in a variety of formats, it should be able to do better quality than this jpeg. The proprietary Xera file is much better resolution.

    I'd be very interested in tips on downloading or making decent looking wall sections (from a top down view). Have so far been leaving blank space for walls to be put in.

    Likewise for doors with swing direction. I need a better variety.
    I can't help you with that as I don't know Xara. TheGamePrinter uses Xara for a lot of his mapping and could probably give you plenty of pointers. If he does not pipe up within a few days, you might shot him a PM. Also, Ravells uses Seric Drawplus(??) which I take it from their discussions between each other that the two tool are closely related, so he might pipe in with some help. You may also want to take a few minutes to search for posts started by either of them to see if you can find any of their work that you might want to try to emulate.

    BTW, I really like what I can see of the map's shape. If you can make up version of minimum VTT size (10px per "foot" scale) and have no objections, I could most assuredly use this map in my campaign.

    Joe



    Joe
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

  6. #6

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    Gamerprinter mentioned awhile ago that he would soon be posting a tutorial on making dungeon maps with Xara. I should probably email him about it.

    Xara can export to a high quality pdf, if that helps any. Otherwise, give me a short list of file types that could work. And I will see if I can export a version which meets your req'ments. I will work a bit on the other levels.

    Another experiment for me is to see how big and complicated a map Xara can handle. I wonder if a 3 level map with 12 layers will cause it problems.

  7. #7
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Steel General's Avatar
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    Baaah! Baaah! Baaah! (sorry couldn't help myself )
    My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...

    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.



  8. #8

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    I made a tile for bert's lair. I had a little fun replicating it and fitting it together, and made a picture for posting.

    Picture is of four copies of same tile, which I rotated and placed in Xara. The round black bits at one end of each tile are bevels, that indicate a steep slope. For two of the junctions, where the walls meet, the bevels should be ignored. Other two either a slide down, or a steep climb is indicated (depending on which direction you are traveling).

    I am hoping it is obvious which bit is supposed to be higher than the other. I intend to do a whole set for this month's contest.
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  9. #9

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    Have finished most of terrain outside of cave itself. Rest of terrain will have to wait until I find/make good rock textures and rock/grass transition textures. I am also looking for foliage that can be placed on layer atop grass terrain layer, without completely obscuring details underneath.

    Scale of map is 1 in = 20 ft. However the terrain tiles I used are 1/2 in (10' square), because this seemed like best scale to make terrain features like roads and trails appear how I wanted them to.

    I have constructed most of the tiles I will use for the cavern complex, but they are still unfurnished. Completing the cavern complex will probably be my next step. On this scale of map, all cave tiles will appear tiny.

  10. #10

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    I thought I attached this to last post. Here is current progress of map.
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