CA112 1800's House Style

I am going through the 2016 annuals, and have largely completed this one, taken from Hobbs designs (I downloaded the lot, including descriptions). I would appreciate any suggestions for additions/deletions/modifications etc. I'll probably add my version of "Now Here There Be Monsters' next.
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Comments

  • Very nice. May I suggest a hidden room for Cthulu worship? Brought to you by Sears and Roebuck!

    Oh and they can hook you up with Roger the Shrubber, he arranges, design's and sells shrubbery.
  • Love it. Perhaps a room to lock a mad wife in, as in Jane Eyre.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    I really like it, but I think it would look even better if the glow around the picture and text was removed to make it look like the page out of an old book.

    Two versions perhaps?
  • And here it is with no effects. Comments. I think I agree with Sue.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    edited December 2016
    Well you 've got my vote to start with. Much better IMHO :)

    EDIT: There seems to be some kind of stray rectangle of shade on the top of the second 't' in the title. Is that intentional?
  • No, I think it is a glitch. I will look into it. What about the Map border effect. I quite like it.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    edited December 2016
    I'm in two minds about it.

    I really like the flat paper appearance of this latest version, but if you were going for an authentic 'this is a photograph of a real page in an actual book' appearance I would get rid of the full border and just have a rectangle of border down the left or right hand edge to cast a sort of 'this is the bit that disappears into the binding of the book' effect.

    I'd have to see it though, to know if I really liked it, and I certainly don't expect you to dance to my whim like that! LOL!

    EDIT: On second thoughts its more of an advert poster for a property than a page in a book, so I suppose a border all around would be better. I'm just not keen on the fade to darkness thing. That is of course a purely personal taste thing, though, so if you like it there, you put it back in ;)
  • KenGKenG Traveler
    Looks fantastic! Add access to a basement, root cellar/ storm cellar.
  • Beautiful house for a maniac! The secret room must surely be leading up to the mad wife kept locked in the attic?
  • Basement access coming up, along with restoration of border (sorry Sue). And Wyvern, now you mention it, the house was designed with you in mind. :) And I think this is my final touch. Thanks to everyone who have made this a better map.
  • So room for maniocs and maniacs then... ;)
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Would you like to know how to cut out the wasted white space, qwalker - or is that part of the way you want it to look?
  • Yes, I would like to know. I have also deleted the annoying little square at the top - it was part of the parchment background, so easy to put a patch over it. Also went around picture with same fill, so it got rid of the different shades of brown on the page. When you divulge your secret lore, I will post the final version.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Secret Lore?

    Oh, right... ahem...

    These instructions assume that you know the size of the map and that you don't have a handy paint programme to adjust the size of the render.

    Unless you have drawn the background larger or smaller than the original background that was created when the file was made, the bottom left hand corner of the map will be set at the coordinate 0,0 (zero comma zero). The top right hand corner will be set at the coordinates corresponding with the total width and the total height in that order, such that if the width is 800 and the height is 1000, the top right hand corner coordinate will be 800,1000.

    1. Click File/SAve as...

    2. Choose "Rectangular section JPEG" in the save as type dropdown menu.

    3. Click the options button

    4. Set the width pixels to 800, and the height pixels to 1000.

    5. Set the antialiasing to about 25%

    6. Click "ok", give the file a name and hit "Save"

    The Save as dialogue will disappear at this point, leaving you with the crosshairs. If you look at the command line it will be prompting you for the "first corner"

    7. Type 0,0 (the coordinates of the bottom left corner) on your keyboard and hit enter.

    8. When you are prompted for the second corner, type the coordinates of the top right corner of your map extent (in this example that will be 800,1000) and hit enter.

    9. Watch the pretty blue DOS list that appears as the software does its job.

    When this is done, you should have yourself a new image in the folder where you saved the new file that is the exact same size as the map with no extra white space anywhere.


    Possible problems:

    If you can't exactly remember how big the map is the easiest way to work it out is to hide everything but the background and do Info/List on the actual background, which should yield the width and height in some shape or form for you to note down.

    If the rendered image is too small you can increase its size by repeating the operation a second time, but this time increasing the width and height settings in the Save As options by a suitable factor (multiplying both by the same number - eg a scale factor of 1.2 would give you pixel width of 960, and a pixel height of 1200). To give you these instructions in a responsible fashion, I should probably point out to you at this stage a total image width of 1024 is the preferred maximum width on this forum. NB - you might think that you have to then give the coordinates of the second corner differently because you have changed the width and height pixels for the dimensions of the render, but this is not the case. Carry on with the rest of the instructions as given, using the actual map units coordinates for the second corner just as you did the first time.

    If any of this is a mess, or I've completely forgotten something and it doesn't work, please feel free to scream at me :)
  • Thanks for this Sue. Expect changes in the future. I really love all the help I am getting.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    OMG! I've just realised why your parchment texture is showing odd rectangular blocks like that. The resolution is absolutely galactically way to HUGE.

    I have no idea what scale you have it set at in the Fill Style Properties dialogue, but whatever the scale is you need to reduce it by a factor of at least 50, if not 100.

    that should also give you a better more papery texture as the background.

    That dark rectangle shape consisted of just two pixels of the texture - grossly enlarged
  • Wow, something I was unaware of. How do I reset the resolution?
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    edited December 2016
    1. Click on the top bar where it says "FS:..." (the dots representing the name of whatever fill is active right now.

    This opens the Fill Style Properties dialogue box like this:

    [Image_7256]

    2. Make sure that you have the bitmap fill tab selected (, and then select the paper texture you are using as the background texture to your map, selected from the drop down list called Fill style name. (In this example I have one of the Herwin Wielink fill styles selected).

    3. Check the scaled box (if it isn't already), and set the scale to about 40 in both the Width and Height boxes, then click ok and check the map by eye to see what the background looks like now.


    40 might not be the correct scale. I don't know because I don't know what size your drawing is, or what size that particular texture is set to by default, since I don't have the annual, but if you can now see the texture more clearly as an actual paper texture, but its either to large or too small, you can adjust it by adjusting the numbers in the Width and Height boxes.

    If it just isn't working and the texture is still just a mess of pixels we might have an issue with the display speed, but we'll deal with that when we've had a look at this first ;)
  • Thanks, that fixed it - I scaled down by factor of 10. Also used photoshop to crop (bit clumsy at top and bottom, but better than before.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    edited December 2016
    I think from the look of it you only adjusted the height of the bitmap fill. Check and see. That is most likely why there are lots of horizontal stripes to the paper texture.

    If you had to crop the image after it was rendered then the Save As/Rectangular section JPG/Options aren't quite right (the number of pixels you have put in the width and height boxes). Check that you have the coordinates of the top right corner correct and that if you have scaled up or down both of them have been multiplied or divided by exactly the same number as accurately as possible.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Incidentally where did the picture of the house come from? I only ask because now that I've been staring at the pixel problem in the background I've noticed that the house also seems to be a bit out of focus - a bit pixelated as well.

    if its a grossly enlarged symbol of some kind that comes with an annual then there's not much to be done about it (other than consider a slight redesign where the picture is smaller and the floor plans larger), but if you have borrowed it from somewhere else it might be worth trying to get a higher resolution image of it.
  • I did both height and width. The image came from the jpgs I doenloaded from the Web copy of Hoobs designs mentioned in the annual mapping guide. I also filched the descriptions for use here and later. So that is why the picture is pixelated on close up.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    edited December 2016
    ok. there's not much we can do with the house image, but the fill still doesn't look right.

    Are the height and width scales exactly the same?

    Incidentally - just an out of the blue question, but are you using some kind of image compression? I notice there seems to be a sort of flaw in the way the name "Kitchen" has been reproduced. Its the kind of flaw I've seen a lot in compressed images.

    You might be able to improve the look of your map quite considerably by using 100% quality.
  • Yes, I am using some compression, but it keeps the size of my jpgs down. And I did make a mistake - the width I accidentally set at 1000!!!, not 10 - duh. Fixed now. The pics come from Hobbs Architecture (link in Annual Mapping guide - https://archive.org/details/hobbssarchitectu00hobb. Here is a small thumbnail of a high quality B&W pic I will use for my next effort - The Interstate Hotel at Whitemark (pop350) on Flinders Island where I live (pop 800).
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    LOL!

    Just how big is your map? What are the top right hand corner coordinates?

    If the width alone in map units is way in excess of 1024 we may need to scale down the Save as/Options height and width to automatically give you the right size render directly from CC3, which will mean you don't even have to process the image in PS for it to be fine to upload as it is - without any compression :)
  • 0,0 for bottom left hand corner, 51.5, 60 for top right (of the sepia background). Other than going to Info > Coordinate, or List (which shows the nodes as the same, but the length as 223) how else do I find the coordinates or size of my map? But I am a little confused by what you are getting at (don't worry, I'm old and grey).
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Oh I'm old and grey myself, and know exactly what you mean ;)

    Those numbers seem really odd and I don't think they are right at all.

    Lets try getting the coordinates of that top right corner a different way.

    First hover your cursor over the bottom left hand corner of your map as accurately as you can, and you will see the coordinates of that point expressed in the top left hand box of the top bar, where it hopefully says "T:..." The coordinates will be expressed there to some incredibly tiny detail, but basically they should be around and about zero comma zero.

    Next, do the same for the top right hand corner of the map and make a note of what those coordinates are in the nearest whole number.

    Most maps are generated with reasonably easy to remember proportions (like the 800x1000 map unit example I used earlier in the thread), so if you have something like 503.1234987, 751.1234590867, its a reasonably safe bet to say that the actual size of your map in map units is 500 x 750.

    Once you have noted down the top right hand coordinates try adjusting the Save as/Options again to give either the exact same width and height of the map in pixels, or scale it up or down so that you have about 2500 pixels in the pixel width box (don't forget to multiply or divide the height exactly the same). Then render it out again one last time ;)

    The reason I have given you an ideal pixel width that is approximately twice the size of what you should be uploading here, is to give you the chance to reduce that raw render by exactly 50% in PS (using PS's rather superior bicubic downsampling technique) to preserve the very fine detail in those floor plans, which might otherwise be lost if you did just a straight render at about 1024 pixels in width from CC3 with a 25% antialias. (in fact, if we're going to reduce this baby by 50% in PS, you can take the antialias in CC3's Save as/Options right down to zero).

    Try that and see if it works :)
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