Embedding Zoomable Images into Maps

[paulbhartzog]

Yeah I am with Mark here - not true at all. My ViewingDale does just this too. As does Celestia and to some extent MapTool and I believe even CC3. Whilst I agree that there is a limit on the zoom based on the resolution of the photo its also true that there is a limit on detail with vector graphics as well. Ok so lines stay sharp but since were talking specifically about a photo then were talking bitmaps.

I have photo albums and holiday snaps and all sorts of setups where I put my photos into it. I put photos of characters onto character sheets and into dungeons as well as making my own birthday cards, commercial art, etc - loads of stuff like that. I got plenty of demos

Video Demo

http://viewing.ltd.uk/Temp/CG/VD_Dem...gDale_x264.avi

Picture demos below.

This is pretty close to what I'm thinking about. I like the maps-within-maps also.

I should've mentioned that I'm a Mac only person. :-)

[Redrobes]

Ok I think several of us thought that with the Google Earth interface and zoomable formats that you were interested in zoomable maps to embed photos in. I guess its sort of a by product that the photos themselves become zoomable also with this kind of interface in my app and others mainly because almost all of the tokens used to make up the maps are bitmaps - the photo becomes just another (big) token. But in the video you can see embedded 'hot spots' linking to drawings and photos on a zoomable map background. The advantage of the zoomable interface in this respect is that you can keep your hot links/spots as small as you like to not interfere with the map. My app like most can also hot link web links (like to the monster stats / images on the SRD site for example), docs for the area descriptions etc, sounds, music and other random files. Hot linking to other maps is probably the most important link as you need to link a set of steps to next dungeon level or go into a house in a city etc. Its for any situation where its just not realistic to have multiple maps all stacked on top of one another, when you have a teleport / gate etc, or you want to control when characters can move into an area without merely using fog of war.

But at least from my point of view were all out of luck cos there is no Mac version of my app. If you can run a OS virtualization then you can try the demo. I have seen that work albeit very slow on ubuntu but not on a mac. Not sure about Mac compatibility with some of the others like FR8 which is the closest I have seen. MapTool is java tho and would be mac friendly.

[paulbhartzog]

Ok I think several of us thought that with the Google Earth interface and zoomable formats that you were interested in zoomable maps to embed photos in. I guess its sort of a by product that the photos themselves become zoomable also with this kind of interface in my app and others mainly because almost all of the tokens used to make up the maps are bitmaps - the photo becomes just another (big) token. But in the video you can see embedded 'hot spots' linking to drawings and photos on a zoomable map background. The advantage of the zoomable interface in this respect is that you can keep your hot links/spots as small as you like to not interfere with the map. My app like most can also hot link web links (like to the monster stats / images on the SRD site for example), docs for the area descriptions etc, sounds, music and other random files. Hot linking to other maps is probably the most important link as you need to link a set of steps to next dungeon level or go into a house in a city etc. Its for any situation where its just not realistic to have multiple maps all stacked on top of one another, when you have a teleport / gate etc, or you want to control when characters can move into an area without merely using fog of war.

But at least from my point of view were all out of luck cos there is no Mac version of my app. If you can run a OS virtualization then you can try the demo. I have seen that work albeit very slow on ubuntu but not on a mac. Not sure about Mac compatibility with some of the others like FR8 which is the closest I have seen. MapTool is java tho and would be mac friendly.

I'm an open-source programmer by trade, so if someone can share/walk-me-through their code, I might be able to port it over.

It's worth a shot, imo.

-p