Using CC3 Over Graphic Terrain Maps

Mark Ollard

Hi. A question for CC3 experts. I have a rather nice colour bitmap in PNG format (4096 pixels square) that I would like to embellish with CC3. What's the best way of going about this?

Monsen

You can just insert your image into a drawing (Using Draw -> Insert File). I recommend putting it on a dedicated sheet, so you can move the sheet up and down the stack depending on your need. Then you can just use CC3+ normally, with your image as a background.

Do remember that CC3+ isn't an image editor though, you can't do any changes yo your file, you can only put stuff on top of it.

Loopysue

When inserting a bitmap in CC3, bear in mind that CC3 is a vector app, and will not be able to edit a bitmap. So the inserted file can only serve as a background image.

First, choose which map style you want to use to embelish your existing map, and make a new map in that style. It probably won't be the right size, but we can sort that out once you have imported the png image.

If you are aiming to use the bitmap as the background map, create a new sheet just below the BACKGROUND sheet and call it MAP, or some other such suitable name. Create a new layer with the same name and make sure both the sheet and the layer are active.

Then use Insert file from the Draw menu, and pick your png image to insert. So that you have the bottom left corner right on the origin, place it by typing the coordinates, 0,0 and hitting enter on the keyboard. Then you can stretch out the map to whatever size is correct for the scale (remember a map unit is equivalent to 1 mile or 1 km in an overland map, or 1 foot or 1 metre in either a city or dungeon map), or type the coordinates for the top right corner, if known.

Once you have finished inserting the map you can then use Resize Drawing Area in the File menu to make the map the right size to fit the inserted map.

Mark Ollard

Thanks guys. Yes, I know the image itself can't be changed, but that's not a problem for me.