[Tip] Exporting a part of the existing map (to a new map).

There are two popular methods of doing this

Method one involves copying entities to a new map, using trims to get rid of part of entities outside the new map border, and using fractalize to add details to existing lines. This tutorial is available as a .pdf file for registered users of ProFantasy Software.
You can get this file by logging in to your Registration Page, clicking on the "Map-Maker's Chest" link in the righthand bar (found under the "CC2 Pro" heading), and finally clicking on the "Local Map from Regional Map" link on the resulting page.

Method 2 involves exporting your existing map to a bitmap file, importing it into a new drawing, and trace the bitmap to create new entities. A tutorial by JimP describing this method is available here

Comments

  • 'Exporting a part of the existing map' would be more accurate. Otherwise fine.
  • This is slipping down the postings. Sticky ?
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    No. It is linked from my collection topic, which is stickied.
  • 7 months later
  • Is the PDF no longer available? I can't find a CC2 Pro heading or a Map-maker's chest anywhere.
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    ProFantasy has just redone their registration page, and it seems like the links to the Map-maker's Chest is now gone. I'll notify them about it.
  • edited May 2010
    OK....I'm going a little nuts here trying to figure some of this stuff out.

    I've got a large world map consisting of several large islands, each representing a nation. Now I want to do several more detailed maps of individual islands.

    So, I go to my big map. Select "COPY" and then select the landmass of the island I want to transfer to a new map. I start a new map and PASTE. Every single land mass from the big map shows up.

    I've tried to follow JimP's method from his web page, but can't figure out how to export what's within the small rectangle as a bitmap. "Save As" saves the entire map with a small grey rectangle on it.

    This is really frustrating....
  • What drives me nuts is I select the island and the command prompt tells me only 2 entities are selected (fill and outline, I assume) and I hit "Do It". If I paste within the same map it only pastes that single island, but, if I open a new map and Paste I get all my islands......AAAAUUUGHHH!!!!!
  • Windows copy and paste can be a problem.

    What you go is due to how Windows handles copy and paste.

    So just paste into another/new map.

    I don't use copy and paste... I do a 'save as' a bmp, start a new map, and load the bmp into a layer called bmp. i then use the other layers, and the sheets, to draw on top of the bmp. I delete the bmp when I am done.

    See my tutorial on my web site, linked above, for details.
  • RalfRalf Administrator, ProFantasy 🖼️ 18 images Mapmaker
    Posted By: murlyndWhat drives me nuts is I select the island and the command prompt tells me only 2 entities are selected (fill and outline, I assume) and I hit "Do It". If I paste within the same map it only pastes that single island, but, if I open a new map and Paste I get all my islands......AAAAUUUGHHH!!!!!
    This is a current bug/glitch that I'm trying to nail down. The following workaround works for me: Before doing the clipboard copy, Unlock groups, the button is on the lower right of the screen. With groups being unlocked, I never get errand entities into my clipboard.
  • I will try that, Ralf!

    Thanks!
  • Nope ... same result. I've attached a screen shot to show the behavior I'm referring to. You can see the island I originally selected in the blue box (my new map).
  • I usually use clipcopy with to CC3 instances open.
    The behaviour you describe also often happens : all the entities on the same sheet as the target are copied.
    However if you repeat the process, the second time it's ok.
    Here is how I do it :
    CLIPCOPY on first instance, select entity, click an origin point.
    PASTE on the second instance, if too much entities, UNDO
    CLIPCOPY again on first instance
    PASTE on the second, should be ok.
  • I'll be darned ... that worked Joachim. Exact same thing. First CLIPCOPY took the whole map. Repeating took only the specific entity I selected.
  • RalfRalf Administrator, ProFantasy 🖼️ 18 images Mapmaker
    The workaround is actually to set the sheet to "Common" before doing the Clipboard copy - the second try always works, because the Ctrl-V command sets the current sheet to "Common".

    Currently clipboard copy automatically copies all entities on the current sheet, if you've selected something else from that sheet. This is now on our list of things to fix.
  • 4 months later
  • Posted By: MonsenProFantasy has just redone their registration page, and it seems like the links to the Map-maker's Chest is now gone. I'll notify them about it.
    Is there any update to this? I remember doing something similar in CC2, and really don't want to have to go the bitmap route.
  • 1 year later
  • I'm sorry to bring this form back from the dead but I'm trying to crop a section of my map right now too and can't figure it out. I got excited hearing there was a tutorial on it but the registration page has no such file anymore. Can I be pointed to this pdf or can someone give me a clue I'm new to CC3.
    All I have done so far was to keep the boarder and background frozen then to scale everything else up so that grid and all would stay to scale. I moved the map so the section I wanted would still be inside the boarder.
    Now I need to cut everything that is outside the boarder off and can't figure it out for the life of me. Some people have said to trim the maps edges but I can't get the trim tool to do anything. Can anyone point me to something or if this is still possible to do in CC3 without having to make a completely new map and just guessing where the mts and structures should be.
    Thanks in advance.
  • 3 years later
  • If it helps, there is an excellent tutorial in the Ultimate Tome of Mapping.. Well worth a look!

    Basically, it copies part of the map and exports it to a new map. Then you draw across that map, trim a few elements, resize and reshape and presto..

    Now I won't lie.. This tutorial took me quite a while to grasp but in the end it was a great lesson!
  • JimPJimP 🖼️ 280 images Cartographer
    edited January 2015
  • 6 months later
  • I'm still having immense problems doing this - can anyone give me a guide which is even more of an 'idiots guide' than is already available?

    I've already worked through the guide in the PDF that came with the software and bought the Tome of Ultimate Mapping and my software doesn't seem to do what the guide says that it will.

    Maybe I'm starting somewhere different from everyone else?

    All I wanted to do was extract the Crimea from a map of the world (there's one you can download), put some mountains in and make it look pretty so that my characters could go there and meet things that don't really exist. Perfectly simple thing to want.
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    Did you try following the tutorial on page 42 (and onwards) in the Tome using the provided tutorial map? I find it easier to learn the techniques using the same map since the screenshots in the book then makes sense. If you already did this, I would like to know where you encountered problems, what did not go as it was described in the Tome?
  • Is there a new version of the Tome coming out for the CC3+ products? I'm tempted to get it, but even a few months old tutorials can be confusing and this being years old makes me hesitant to spend money on it if a newer version is coming or the contents are so different from what's here now that it gets unwieldy.
  • My large to small map tutorial page is now at:
    Exporting a part of the existing map

    I'm also started the process of redoing/making new map for Dwarf Home, my megadungeon.
    Dwarf Home
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    @kylania:
    Yes, a new version of the Tome for CC3+ is in the works. Most of the changes are rather minor however, because CC3 and CC3+ are so similar. I can't give you an exact timeframe for when it will be available however, because the main guy working on it is also busy with other things, and also kind of slow from time to time. You may wish to try to beat it out of him with a baseball bat, that might help :)
    In any case, ProFantasy has a pretty good upgrade policy, if you buy the current version now, I doubt you would have to pay anything to get the CC3+ version when released, but this is just me guessing obviously, I can't promise anything on behalf of ProFantasy.
  • Posted By: Monsen
    Yes, a new version of the Tome for CC3+ is in the works.
    Good enough for me!
  • Posted By: MonsenDid you try following the tutorial on page 42 (and onwards) in the Tome using the provided tutorial map?
    Yes, I did. It obeys me for part of the time, then seems to go off piste.
  • 7 months later
  • DogtagDogtag Moderator, Betatester Traveler
    edited April 2016
    It turns out I still have a copy of the PDF tutorial Monsen mentioned at the start of this thread, written by Erin D. Smale. I checked with ProFantasy and they gave me their blessing to post it here but then I stumbled across a slightly-revised version of it on Erin Smale's Welsh Piper website! The changes appear to be mostly just some text formatting, proofreading corrections, and a Welsh Piper logo in the header.

    So, below I've attached the original tutorial, from the old ProFantasy Map-Maker's Chest (sort of a Cartographer's Annual precursor). But you can also find the [ever-so-slightly] revised PDF tutorial on The Welsh Piper website.

    The tutorial is for CC2 but most, if not all, of it should apply to CC3 and CC3+. Also, here is another forum post where the ever-helpful Joachim de Ravenbel helped clarify some issues and pitfalls another user encountered while following the tutorial. Note: Of course, the links to the PDF in that post don't work.

    Cheers,
    ~Dogtag
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