Mapping Utility

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rredmond
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Re: Mapping Utility

#2 Post by rredmond »

Funny enough, when I use to play on RPoL I used EXCEL. I forget how, but I know there's a grid format, and using that and "lock to grid" was helpful for mapping.
Now I draw it and just post the pictures or scans.

I'm sure someone will come in with a more hi-tech version. But this is how the low-tech social worker from Jersey does it! :)
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Re: Mapping Utility

#3 Post by migellito »

I just discovered a site that lets you work out the map on their web page, then save it to your machine as a jpg, png, or pdf. So far I like it quite a bit.
http://pyromancers.com/dungeon-painter-online/

There was another very simple one that I liked a lot, but have lost the link. Alethan may remember it, as he was using it for a while in the Greyhawk pbp I run.

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Re: Mapping Utility

#4 Post by Alethan »

Yep.

http://www.dungeonographer.com/

It's designed to be used by people to CREATE dungeons easily. I "reverse engineered" it (ummm... OK, I just bought a license) and tried using it to map our way.

It is a little clunky for on-the-fly mapping (like a party mapper might be) and you have to pay for a license to get most of the features. There were definitely some good aspects to it, but it also had some drawbacks. The learning curve is easy for the basic tools, but a bit steeper when it comes to the more complex things. I guess that's probably normal.

Generating the maps was a bit of a hassle, but the quality was good.

Unfortunately, I had the license on my PC at work. And I got a new PC a few months ago and hadn't done much mapping in a while so I totally forgot to pull the license info from the old PC... I'm not sure if I still have the license information or not. I might not.

I'm probably going to check out the link Migellito just provided and see if that could be useful, instead.
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Re: Mapping Utility

#5 Post by Alethan »

migellito wrote:I just discovered a site that lets you work out the map on their web page, then save it to your machine as a jpg, png, or pdf. So far I like it quite a bit.
http://pyromancers.com/dungeon-painter-online/
I looked at this a little bit on my lunch break. I'm definitely going to give it a whirl some evening this week and see if it might work well for mapping...
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Re: Mapping Utility

#6 Post by Argennian »

Alethan wrote:
migellito wrote:I just discovered a site that lets you work out the map on their web page, then save it to your machine as a jpg, png, or pdf. So far I like it quite a bit.
http://pyromancers.com/dungeon-painter-online/
I looked at this a little bit on my lunch break. I'm definitely going to give it a whirl some evening this week and see if it might work well for mapping...

Let us know what you think after you give it a test drive, Al.


I'm already trying to figure out how I'm going to put my artwork & hand-drawn maps up when I get my PbP launched later this month. I am admittedly somewhat a "caveman" when it comes to being uber-proficient with computers, although I am a quick study and getting much better than I used to be!

Honestly, I've never used any of the online sites for posting photos/maps/anything, so I will probably be looking to get some help & advice from you fellas when it comes time to officially gain a proficiency slot in this stuff! :)
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Re: Mapping Utility

#7 Post by Alethan »

Argennian wrote:
Alethan wrote:
migellito wrote:I just discovered a site that lets you work out the map on their web page, then save it to your machine as a jpg, png, or pdf. So far I like it quite a bit.
http://pyromancers.com/dungeon-painter-online/
I looked at this a little bit on my lunch break. I'm definitely going to give it a whirl some evening this week and see if it might work well for mapping...

Let us know what you think after you give it a test drive, Al.


I'm already trying to figure out how I'm going to put my artwork & hand-drawn maps up when I get my PbP launched later this month. I am admittedly somewhat a "caveman" when it comes to being uber-proficient with computers, although I am a quick study and getting much better than I used to be!

Honestly, I've never used any of the online sites for posting photos/maps/anything, so I will probably be looking to get some help & advice from you fellas when it comes time to officially gain a proficiency slot in this stuff! :)
Happy to do so, sir.
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Re: Mapping Utility

#8 Post by Bhart »

I use rptools' MapTool. It's a free app we use for our Fri night Skype game. I just draw the map and move tokens and take a screen shot. It's the fastest way I've found to create maps.

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Re: Mapping Utility

#9 Post by ToniXX »

I've wanted to use maptool, but end up getting frustrated with it. Bhart, would you mind writing up a quick tutorial on how to manage simple maps, move tokens and export the result? I realize this might be asking a lot, so no worries if you don't have time... even a link to another tutorial?

Thanks in advance!
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Re: Mapping Utility

#10 Post by Bhart »

ToniXX wrote:I've wanted to use maptool, but end up getting frustrated with it. Bhart, would you mind writing up a quick tutorial on how to manage simple maps, move tokens and export the result? I realize this might be asking a lot, so no worries if you don't have time... even a link to another tutorial?

Thanks in advance!
I understand, it is not the easiest app to get started with. I dont have a lot of time but I'll see what I can do!

EDIT: ToniXX, where would I post something like that? Is here in this thread ok?
Last edited by Bhart on Tue Oct 09, 2012 12:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Mapping Utility

#11 Post by rredmond »

Stuart "OSRIC" Marshall (aka PapersAndPaychecks) used twiddla but I believe they just pasted an image of the map on the whiteboard there and then drew on it. When they were done, they'd take a PrintScreen snapshot of where they all were to use again next time.

Lately I've been using the image editing function in PowerPoint (always my go to) to post my maps.
This is a game about killing things and taking their stuff so you can become more powerful in order to kill bigger things and take even better stuff.
Alethan: I'm good with NOT pressing our luck this time.
mjulius: That's how I know I'm home.
Pulpatoon: The whole point of PbP is to take the scheduling pressure off the game. We're just chatty because we're so eager!
Scott308: ...everyone should be reminded of just how wonderful the people they play games with here can be in real life.
Leitz: Quality and quantity wise, I think US is the best I've seen.
Paladin: I can promise terror, glory, and riches...or a quick and brutal death.
Inferno: Come on! That's was Vicar's Head, a completely different doomed village!
Rex: I can move to the wait list to let someone else into the game.

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Re: Mapping Utility

#12 Post by ToniXX »

Bhart wrote: EDIT: ToniXX, where would I post something like that? Is here in this thread ok?
Thanks, Bhart. You could start a new thread in the Tips for the DM section.
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Re: Mapping Utility

#13 Post by Bhart »

Until I have time to finish the primer on how I use MapTool for PBP games, here is a link that might help...
http://www.rptools.net/index.php?page=tutorials

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Re: Mapping Utility

#14 Post by Bouv »

Alethan wrote:Yep.

http://www.dungeonographer.com/

It's designed to be used by people to CREATE dungeons easily. I "reverse engineered" it (ummm... OK, I just bought a license) and tried using it to map our way.

It is a little clunky for on-the-fly mapping (like a party mapper might be) and you have to pay for a license to get most of the features. There were definitely some good aspects to it, but it also had some drawbacks. The learning curve is easy for the basic tools, but a bit steeper when it comes to the more complex things. I guess that's probably normal.

Generating the maps was a bit of a hassle, but the quality was good.

Unfortunately, I had the license on my PC at work. And I got a new PC a few months ago and hadn't done much mapping in a while so I totally forgot to pull the license info from the old PC... I'm not sure if I still have the license information or not. I might not.

I'm probably going to check out the link Migellito just provided and see if that could be useful, instead.
So I played around with this a bit (free version) and enjoyed it though a few things

1. Is it easy to make non-straight passageways & tunnels? I tested it out on the second level of the Moathouse from ToEE.

2. Printing seems odd. Doesn't print 100% how I want it to but I would have to "redraw" from what I have to place it better. Is there a way to just print a section out that mapped or the whole thing?

Anyway, I hope to play with it some more and see what I can do.

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