Playing around with Perspectives 3
Shessar
🖼️ 34 images Mapmaker
This is just my test to see if I could import my own fill styles...and the result is, yes I can. Happy dance!
I've been waiting for this release for so long that I can't stop playing with it.
I've been waiting for this release for so long that I can't stop playing with it.
Comments
I think some additional metal trap doors, in open and closed, could be substituted for deck hatches. I'm using a metal Perspectives Pro door for the hatch going into the room. I chose a water bitmap fill for the floor under the room. I'll try a space type picture and see how that looks. Why ? I've read of spaceships whose floors can become transparent.
This room could be the entrance of a luxury yacht, landed on a water world.
reduced by 50%
Also the 3d Projection and Extruding tools are very impressive, though I ran into very weird issued with the extruding as sometimes it would make negative spaces (holes) instead of positive spaces (elevations). I'll have to work on them a bit until I figure what causes the difference.
My first foray into creating an isometric symbol was long and arduous, and in the end slightly unsatisfying. I can import the png into a symbol but for the life of me I can't get the symbol origin to match the perspective grid. All in all it was a great learning experience, even if it did not work exactly as I wanted.
Below is a cavern area I created using multi-levels, 3d extrusion, and fractal poly (flat) to 3d Projection (isometric). I also included a sample of an isometric view symbol using the SS2 cobblestone as a fill. You can compare the placement to the base symbol to see the issues with symbol origin.
Just like this. All I did was use the cyinder tool.
The issue was very weird so I'll have to play around a bit more to see what causes it and if I can repeat it.
@OldGuy, I bought PerPro last year in anticipation of this release so that I could practice using it. It is tricky to get right at first because you really have to build the scene from back to front or else do a lot of sheet switching. But thank you for the compliment. This one was really just simple shapes piled on top of each other. It really is the software and amazing symbols that make this look impressive.
But I'm especially impressed with the symbol, in spite of the alignment issue. It looks fantastic with that cobblestone fill.
~Dogtag
I couldn't resist playing with this and I got it to work properly. For this symbol, when importing the png, set the Symbol Origin to the middle/center.
I think the problem I have has to do particularly with irregular symbols. If I try longer and narrower symbols does the same origin location stay true? In the symbols included with the software it seems like their origin point is always the midpoint of the front edge. It is that particular placement that I could not reproduce. And that origin makes it easier for exact placement of the symbol on the map. I thought it had to do with control points but that seems to have nothing to do with it.
I'll keep experimenting.
BTW, I noticed that there was no template for iso symbols so I spent a bit of time looking for it. Here's the template for isometric symbols. Place it where your other symbol catalog templates are located (CC3Plus\Templates\Symbol Catalogs) and it will make the import of isometric png symbols or the creation of isometric vector symbols easier.
Hope that helps.
I'll recommend that you open up the symbol for editing, and use View -> Move Origin to set the origin manually exactly where you want it.
Granted, it took me several hours yesterday of playing around with pngs to create isometric symbols, and my first results were not very satisfying at all, but the exercise really payed off today when it took me the better part of 10 minutes to create a pretty good looking iso symbol for an airlock. I didn't do any cleanup of the symbol so it still has some "dirty" edges, but it works right out of the box, which is what I wanted.
The picture below shows Walls and Floors created by simply taking images available on the web and creating fills for them. My experimentation with symbols allowed me to take a png of an airlock and create a symbol for placing on the walls, and it places correctly where I wanted.
Thanks ProFantasy.
Way to go on the symbol creation! I'm sure I'll do the same as the need arises. I look forward to seeing more!
So, when can we expect the tutorial for creating iso symbols fomr you Dkarr ?
Yeah, the DSG was one of those books that really caught my interest because of the isometric projection map sheets. Unfortunately my artistic penchant was not really good for that type of thing. I've always looked at the Ravenloft Module Map as one of those that is part tool but really it is mostly art. I've always loved isometric projection maps.
I'll see what I can put together for a tutorial for symbols. The only problem is that it also requires access to image manipulation software and that is an important step. I'm using a very old version of Photoshop but I'm sure most of the techniques would work similarly with any image editing suite.
There are 2 functions of Perspectives 3 that are really impressing me. 3D Projection, which allows you to take a flat surface object and align to the isometric view. The other is the automatic alignment of flat fills to the same view. That is such a fantastic time saver.
Wow, memories.
I can see this for details of space/star ships. You could just as easily add the metal, etc. floors into this.
What an odd menu to put that command under. Have I ever actually opened that menu since first buying the software? (Probably not)
IMHO it should be under the Symbol Manager or Edit menus. No matter. I now know that it exists and where to find it. Once again Monsen, we would all be lost without your unparalleled knowledge of this software. Thank you!