CUT menu in CC3, how to "cut", exactly?

Greetings everyone, and sorry for just another noobish question.

I started using CC3 & CC3+ just recently. As a full-time SF&F writer, I have to create tons of maps and plans, of different scale and such. Before I was doing it all by hand which was time-consuming and not very appealing visually.

I have done an extensive search of ProFantasy community, but found no clear answer - how to cut (or copy, does not matter) a rectangular piece (some part) of your map, place it on a new blank map, then scale this fragment up?

I activated the CUT menu in CC3, and tried to "cut", using options "inside the box", but it was simply selecting everything, regardless of size, so I was selecting all the features, going through my selection area, but not only what was in selection area within the borders of the box.

My map is 800 by 600, B&W, so I cannot just "enlarge" it, say, 10 times, since the limit is 1000 by 800.

So what can I do? All possible advices here from threads "larger maps to smaller maps" does not make much sense to me. They are for rather advanced CC3 users, alas.

So any help will be greatly appreciated.

Comments

  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 46 images Cartographer
    edited October 2016
    Did you try the Trace tutorial on page 58 of the CC3+ user manual? It takes you through the various steps needed for doing exactly this, using Trace and Cut to accomplish what you need.
    Posted By: Captain_Urthangsince the limit is 1000 by 800.
    I don't know where you fond this, but it is not correct, there is no (practical) size limits for CC3(+) maps. However, when making a more detailed are map, the map size will always be smaller than the original map anyway, since this represents real world distance, and not "computer units" like pixels.
  • edited October 2016
    Thank you so much for your prompt reply. Unfortunately, on page 58 (and 59) much is said about how to edit already existing map (with a given example - image with overlapping border), but not how to "cut" it at the first place - I presume it is obvious for an experienced CC3+ user, but not for a complete novice. The entry on page 58 goes like this:

    We copy and paste the section of the map we want to show in detail into a new,
    appropriately sized template, but now we have edits to do. We have the section of the map we
    want in our new template, but we also have the bulk of the land and sea entities that we don’t
    want. Let’s get rid of those by using Trace to duplicate the sections of the entities we want to keep.

    So how exactly we copy and paste the section on the map we want into a new template? How we define this template? It is said that template is a blank drawing but with special extension, .FCT, so I have to open a blank map, set up its dimensions (say, my original map is 800 by 600, I want a detailed section of 80 by 60) and save it as a template and...

    And here I'm hitting the wall.

    Before all the tracings and editings:

    How can I create the abovementioned "section of the map"?

    Shall I simply copy the whole drawing (analog of Ctrl+A) to the clipboard and then paste it into a new, smaller frame? (So that everything should be cropped that is outside it and what is inside will be automatically enlarged) I have to input coordinates for such pasting in the Command Line (my guess), but how to define them?

    Or - as I was asking in my first question - there is a a more direct method of selecting a rectangular area (like when saving parts of the map)?

    Or I can select the area by entering coordinates, saving this as a separate file, then somehow "importing" it back into program?
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 46 images Cartographer
    In this context, a new template simply means a new blank map from an appropriate template, not to create the template itself. So simply create a new map the same way you did the previous one, but with the smaller dimensions.

    As for copy and paste, yes you could copy everything, but I prefer to just copy the entities that will be in the new map, basically, when asked to select entities, use the selection window over the area you want enlarged. This will suffice to include all entities that are wholly or partly inside that area. It will probably include your landmass and other entities that extend way beyond the area, but it is no need to copy entities that are completely outside your new area.
    Posted By: Captain_UrthangOr - as I was asking in my first question - there is a a more direct method of selecting a rectangular area (like when saving parts of the map)?
    You can use the cur menu as you talked about above, but I find this not to be any simpler, because when it cuts polygons, you will manually have to add the missing lines back in and join them together with combine paths, followed by path to poly. But to use it, select the Cut -> Cut - keep inside -> box option, select all the entities on the map, right click -> do it, now define the box that contains the area you wish to keep. You should be left with just the parts that was inside the box. Now cliboard copy this to a new map of the appropriate dimensions, and either draw the missing lines of the polygons (These should be the straight edges at the map border, and combine it with the parts in view, using combine paths and path to poly, or simply trace them the same way the tutorial in the manual explains.
    Posted By: Captain_UrthangOr I can select the area by entering coordinates, saving this as a separate file, then somehow "importing" it back into program?
    You can use coordinates together with the cut command, when it asks you to select the box to cut from, you can simply type the coordinates instead, but you cannot save parts of a map directly (Not as a map anyway, you could save it as an image, import that into the background and use it as a guideline for creating the detail map, some people prefer that instead of importing the actual entities themselves. The latter is more accurate, but it does take some work to get everything in order.)
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