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Saving a map as a BMP with high resolution

zebsenzebsen
in Mapping with ProFantasy's Software
Hi all. I recently purchased CC3 as well as the dungeon and city builder. I have made some basic maps with the help of the tutorial videos and have been generally satisfied with the program.

I want to post the maps online for a game though, and this is where I'm struggling a bit. I can save the map as a BMP or JPG, and I lose a fair amount of resolution. On the overworld map, it's not a big deal, but on the city map, it makes font illegible. I tried the CC3 viewer thinking that maybe if I had my friends install that, they could view the high resolution version, but that is only showing unfinished sheets not the final map.

So my questions are related to the best way to save and send maps to those that don't have CC3.
-for a city map, can I break it into two pieces and find a way to save both halves separately? That would improve the resolution considerably. There may be a better way. I've watched how to expand a map but not shrink it.
-is there a better way or something that I'm missing? I can go through and enlarge all font, but I was hoping for a better fix.

Thanks.
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Comments

  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    edited April 2018
    The best way is to render the maps as bitmaps as you first tried. It sounds like you are using the default resolution settings which are comparatively low.

    When you export the map use Save as/Rectangular section JPEG but click the options button before you save it and adjust the width, height, and resolution there to appropriate levels.

    The only limitation then is file size. That is why I suggested JPEG, because although it is a lossy file format, its usually a heck of a lot smaller than png or bmp
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  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 46 images Cartographer
    Posted By: LoopysueThe only limitation then is file size. That is why I suggested JPEG, because although it is a lossy file format, its usually a heck of a lot smaller than png or bmp
    Note that this is only valid for the final use of the image, it doesn't effect the export process, the pixel size of images you can export will be exactly the same no matter if you use png, jpg or bmp. Personally, I prefer using the lossless png, but as Sue points out, jpg is smaller, and is generally easier for distribution, especially if you wish to use a high-resolution image.

    Posted By: zebsen-for a city map, can I break it into two pieces and find a way to save both halves separately?
    You'll probably not need this once you bump your resolution as Sue describes, but yes, you can easily break it down into parts by using the 'rectangular section jpg/bmp/png' save option, as this lets you specify parts of the map to export.
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  • zebsenzebsen
    This mostly fixed it. Thanks. The only thing that is still a bit fuzzy is some of the text. I used the same text size throughout the document. Is there a simple way to select all fonts and increase their size slightly? It looks sharp in CC3, but loses a bit as a JPG/BMP even at high resolution.

    I really appreciate the quick responses here.
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  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 46 images Cartographer
    Use Change Properties on the text. There are multiple ways to select them all, such as selecting by entity type, or simply hiding all the sheets except for the text one, and then do a simple window select.

    Note there is no way to just 'increase it a bit', you must simply tell it the new size, so if you have texts of different sizes, you may wish to do them individually, or they will all end up the same size.
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  • zebsenzebsen
    I never thought of hiding all sheets except text. Simple tricks like this are things that are great learnings. Thanks again.
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