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Exporting to Battlemaps

BlakeyBlakey
in Mapping with ProFantasy's Software
Hey guys,

I'm building an outdoor battlemap for an upcoming game. The Map is 1200 x 600 feet with a 5' grid. I guess that's quite a size (?) but it's my default size for maps for my online gazetteer so I've just stuck to it. If needed I can easily reduce that size (as an aside: what do others use for an outdoor battlemap size?).

Anyway, I'm coming to the export (Save As...) part and I cannot get a sensible picture that looks good zoomed into tactical level (using Fantasy Grounds but that doesn't matter - the picture is looking really grainy on any viewer too). Can anyone suggest what settings I should be using?

I'm using the attached but have no idea!

Thanks as always
Blakey
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Comments

  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 46 images Cartographer
    edited October 2018
    For battle maps, make sure to use at least 50 pixels per grid square (you might want to go higher than that, I often use 200, but I don't think fantasy grounds handles that high). So, for your 1200 by 600 map with a 5' grid, that should be 240 x 120 squares, which again result in an export size of 12000 by 6000 (for 50px per 5 foot square, it is just multiplying the map size in feet by 10). That is quite a size for a battlemap though, I really recommend you export only a section of your map instead of the whole, as a battle map of 1200 by 600 is unreasonably large. A more common size is something like 20 by 30 squares (100 by 150'), or double that for a large battle map.

    Note that the export setting for your entire battlemap is so large that you may run into problems exporting it, especially with antialias on.
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  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    This is just a side note, but the resolution setting you have is way too high. Human beings have deficient eyes (compared to hawks) and see everything perfectly sharp at 300 dpi.
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  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 46 images Cartographer
    Posted By: LoopysueThis is just a side note, but the resolution setting you have is way too high. Human beings have deficient eyes (compared to hawks) and see everything perfectly sharp at 300 dpi.
    Doesn't matter though, that setting is only meaningful if you prefer to specify the image size in cm/inches (using the controls below), or if you are printing the image. It doesn't change anything about the export.
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  • BlakeyBlakey
    Thanks all - that really helps. I am now able to generate some lovely looking battlemaps which look superb when scaled in, inside FG. I went for 100 px per square and the quality is top draw. I have dropped my massive first map down to 300' x 200' and that still keeps a sense of scale, whilst allowing lovely quality graphics. Great stuff!

    Thanks again
    Blakey
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