Grids

[Savage Orc]

This may sound stupid but how do you do grids for maps? Do you make them by hand? Or is there a template you download?

[Southern Crane]

This may sound stupid but how do you do grids for maps? Do you make them by hand? Or is there a template you download?

I haven't used these as I just came across them tonight. They might help:

http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/gprojector/

https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.htm...c11bc599e629f1

[Gamerprinter]

People who use image editors sometimes use a repeating texture of grids (hex or square). While I have some premade grids, I made for past maps and can raid past maps and use them again, my maps are never one size so often I create a new map and an existing grid doesn't fit. (Note I use a vector application for all my maps so a repeating texture is less than ideal). So I usually create them by hand for each map as the last step I do (and I almost always use square grid). It doesn't take long compared to anything else I do in a map. Hex are a bit more pain in the ass with each row offset from the other to do by hand, but then I mostly play and create maps for the D&D and similar square grid using games. Or no grids at all for maps used in virtual tabletop applications, because most VT's have their own grid layer in software.

[rathergoofy]

Many programs like Photoshop have grids built in. Personally, I adjust the size of the default grid to however many pixels I want, then use it as a starting point. After that, I manually add in lines along the grid, or use grid lines from a previous map. The nice thing about using built-in grids is that you can use snap-to features if you want.

[Gamerprinter]

Well of course, in vector apps, there's always a grid (that you can shut off) of dots on the background that you can preset in measurements (I use inches) with Snap to Grid feature as well. Vector doesn't generally set by pixels, since pixels are meaningless in vector, until you are complete then export the file to whatever pixels you want. From the same map design, I can export at any resolution, I usually export at 100 or 300 dpi from the same file without actually changing the physical scale of the map. I use the dot background grid to line up any line grid I wish to place.

[johnvanvliet]

the grid depends on the mapping and type of map

for gaming hex grids are used a lot

for cities and states and countries and worlds
the latitude and longitude are used

i tend to be using geo-referanced images . Images that have a lat/long for every pixel area in the image .
so the software can add the lat / long lines

for that i use gdal or Qgis
http://www.gdal.org/
http://www.qgis.org/en/site/

or the tool i use most ISIS3 ( Integrated Software for Imagers and Spectrometers -- version 3 )
https://isis.astrogeology.usgs.gov/index.html

or sometimes i use MMPS
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~arcus/mmps/


or for a plain old graph paper grid i use Gimp and or the Gmic image tool plugin
( GNU Image Manipulation Program )
http://www.gimp.org/

[Hai-Etlik]

Well, you need to have a clear idea of what the "grid" is.

There are differences between say the grids used on game maps, the locator grids used on road maps, and the graticules used on navigational, engineering, and some reference maps.

The first two are generally fairly easy as you can just use a repeating pattern or a the "grid" tools built into many graphics editors. Graticules though are complicated as they depend on the details of the projection you are using, and the particular coordinate system of the graticule (Graticules for coordinate systems other than latitude/longitude are rare outside of very technical maps)

For large scale (zoomed in) maps, you can get a decent lat/lon graticule with a grid of rectangles. The closer to the equator the more square the rectangles are and as you approach the poles they get narrower. More details here http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ight=graticule

For medium or small scale maps, you are best of finding/writing a program specifically for the task (G.Projector or a GIS) or using a pre-generated template: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ight=graticule

You might also be thinking of what happens when multiple sets of rhumb lines start intersecting. For that, you can do it using a vector graphics editor and a lot of rotation. I was too lazy for that so I wrote a program to do it http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=11692 I also have a template generated using it http://hai-etlik.deviantart.com/art/...ines-176848667

[Neyjour]

I use the Bucket Fill method (in PaintShop Pro) for my battlemaps.

Just create a new blank layer, select the grid style I want from "Patterns" (and the size of the squares), then flood the layer, and... instant grid over my entire map. No worries about resizing down existing grids, or them being too small, etc.

I just recently offered some of mine for download here:
RPG Map Elements 83: Battlemap Grid Bucket-Fill PNGs

[wdmartin]

I work primarily on battlemaps, so my comments below reflect that.

My process involves several programs: Inkscape for making masks for key areas/walls, Paint.net for grids and DPI adjustments, and Photoshop for the heavy lifting. I use grids throughout. The procedure goes roughly like this:

1) Decide the dimensions of the map in inches, and the desired output DPI. I generally do 100 DPI. For online use, that tends to generate tolerably decent file sizes (especially if you tweak the JPG compression ratio rather than just accepting the default). For print, 100 DPI looks okay. 300 DPI would be better, but my computer tends to struggle with larger maps at higher resolutions.

2) Open Inkscape. In the document properties, I set the dimensions to the desired size (say, 2000x2000 px for a 20x20 inch map at 100 DPI). Also in the document properties, I create two grids: one grid repeats every 100 px on both axes. The other repeats every 10 px on both axes. For the smaller grid I check the box for showing dots rather than lines. The larger grid defines the basic squares of the map, the smaller grid makes it easy to create regularly-sized doors and things, because I have 10 subdivisions of each square.

3) I draw in a mask for the thing I want in black, then I export it as a PNG. For example, here's a platform made up of large, rough-hewn stones that I made for my Erobelis Entrance map:



Inkscape has a super-weird concept of DPI that doesn't conform with anyone else's. In order to export at 100% of the designed size, you have to set the DPI at 90, and every other graphics editor is going to see it as 89.99 DPI, which is bizarre.

4) Here is where Paint.net comes in. I open up the exported image in Paint.net, use the Image Size tool to adjust the DPI up to 100. Then I add pure white under the black outline of my mask, then invert the colors (so my desired object is white), flatten the layers, and save. This could definitely be done in Photoshop, but I figured out how to do it in Paint.net long before I learned Photoshop, and have just continued doing it there out of habit. The previous image was adjusted in this way, compared to the default Inkscape output.

5) At this point, since I have Paint.net open, I use the Grid Maker plugin to make a grid image in the same size. Typically I use white lines on a transparent background, with a width of 3 px or so. Like so:



6) In Photoshop, I set up my grid preferences to use 100 px steps, with 10 subdivisions, exactly as in Inkscape. And at this point I can take the mask and grid that I generated earlier and put them all together. Here's a PSD at this point, cropped to save on file size:



And a JPG for those that lack Photoshop:



It's pretty basic -- a layer of dirt texture, a layer of rock texture with the mask and a bevel filter, and the grid as a layer on top (overlay mode, 60% transparency, gaussian blur 2px for blending). It's a bit hard to see the white lines on the white-ish stone in this example. If I were developing it further, I'd probably swap in a darker stone texture, or else lighten the dirt and then use black lines (with multiply) instead of white lines (with overlay).

So to sum up, I use grids throughout. The key is using consistent dimensions and DPI settings between applications, and then everything lines up. And that is probably way, way more answer than the question needed!