Feature Request

So, I've been using CC3 for quite sometime now, mostly with PBP games. However, I'm going to be starting some F2F games soon and so have started looking at how to show players maps in that setting.[p]

Now, obviously I can just print them out and will probably do that for a while at least, but an idea occurred to me that I thought that I'd bring up here so that the community can comment on its relative usefulness and the developers can think about how it might be implemented (if at all) should the community find it useful.[p]

The idea is to give CC3 projection capabilities so that it could be used with a setup like this or this.[p]

The way I envision this working would be for a computer setup with the projector as a second monitor. CC3 would then have a "Projection Mode" that is enabled when a second monitor is attached. In this mode, the main CC3 editing window remains on the primary monitor (the GM's laptop/computer) while a player display appears on the second monitor (the GM could also test their maps out with a regular second monitor and not a projector). This player display would show none of the map tools, just the current map view enlarged to fill the screen (preferably with window edge elements removed).[p]

Why I think this tool would be really useful in CC3:

-By using layer/sheet visibility and/or the dynamic lighting effects, the GM could control what appears on the map; revealing map features as the players move around into a position to see them.

-GMs could make use of the vector nature CC3 drawings to move symbols and other elements around on the map display in response to player/monster actions.
-By projecting the map, the GM saves considerably on ink and paper.

-Since maps don't need to be printed, the GM has effective and immediate access to all of their maps, allowing them to better respond to the unexpected things that players do at the table.[p]


Additional Features that would work well with this one:

-To facilitate getting the map to the right scale for use with physical minis, I think a new Zoom tool would be needed that allowed for finer control of the zoom level. Maybe a % tool that allowed one to change the zoom to a percentage of the current zoom where the percentage can be specified by the user.


-It would also be nice if the mode had a "Freeze" command that would fix the player view so that it stopped it from reflecting changes to the main view on the primary monitor. This would aid the GM by allowing them to reveal layers/sheets that the players aren't supposed to see but that he needs to setup the next display that the players do need to see without turning off the Projection mode. "Thawing" the player view would cause it to change to the current map view and make it so that it would actively reflect changes to that view.[p][p]


Well, that's my idea. Like I said I'm just putting it out there for the community to comment on and developers to think about. I have no idea how easy or hard this would be to actually implement.

Comments

  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 46 images Cartographer
    Sounds like an interesting idea. I've been thinking in similar ways myself, although I would much more prefer to have CC3 connect to a different computer (Perhaps running CC3 in a "projection mode"), and display it through that, rather than use it as a secondary display on my laptop.
  • RalfRalf Administrator, ProFantasy 🖼️ 18 images Mapmaker
    Thanks for the suggestions, that's certainly interesting stuff to think about.

    As I'm regularly workign with two monitors, I've had some ideas that could facilitate a setup like this even with the current features of CC3.
    - You can easily open the same map tiwce in two different instances of CC3.
    - Making changes in one instance doesn't immediately effect the second.
    - So you could open the DM version on one monitor and do any current changes there. The player version is on the second and remains static.
    - Once you're satisfied with the changes you've made, you simply save the DM version of the map, and then reload the player version.
    - Voila, the changes appear for the player without them seeign any interim stages.
  • That would certainly work for now. The second display will include all the toolbars, which cuts down on the amount of map that can be displayed, but I suppose that isn't that big of a deal. Hmm... maybe the accessibility features of Windows can be leveraged to minimize the appearance of the toolbars... A little screen magnification... I'm going to have to play around with that.
  • Simon RogersSimon Rogers Administrator, ProFantasy Traveler
    I've considered doing this somehow using the Viewer, although we'd need to duplicate raster drawing resources or somehow make the viewer look in the CC3 folder for resources. You could probably change the Global Layer Settings in the viewer so that it hid layers for the players you didn't want visible, and the viewer version could have the lighting turned on.

    There is always the option to turn off the toolbars in the second version of CC3 if you do it that way; you'd have to do this every session, though.
  • I would love to see a DM interface of some sort as a future addon! I just got CC3 and DD3 and currently print out all my maps, but it would be great to have a Viewer just for running interative maps and so on.
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