Can't get effects to apply to land features

TimB

Hi all, I used CC2 many years ago but finally got around to getting CC3. I've created a map and am generally pretty happy with the results but I want to add some effects into the map to fade the regions of my land into each other (like in the youtube tutorial).

So far as I can see the areas I've added (using default terrain) have added into the "land features" sheet (how do you check what sheet an object is on once it's been placed?) but no matter what effects I apply to that sheet nothing changes. I've tried edge fade, glow, transparency...nothing happens. Is this something to do with the fact they are textured?

On a side note, is it possible to change the resolution or somehow randomize the textures? They are coming up very "tiled" looking.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Tim

elothan

Try adding them to your land sheet instead

TimB

Why does it matter what sheet they are in?

I've deleted them now and used the contour tool to add areas to the map in the contours (land) sheet and effects are working mostly fine on that.

The only wierd thing is that if I put a contour inside a contour and then apply the edge fade to both I only see the edge fade on the outer one of the two. I'm about to try a seperate sheet for the inner contours to see if that helps...

TimB

Yep, that did it. Looks like it only fades in from the edge of everything inside the sheet rather than applying it to each item individually.

Ralf

Hi Tim,

a sheet effect sees all the entities on its sheet as one big entity - that's why the edge fade only appears on the outermost contour. To have the edge fade on each contour level, you need to create a separate sheet for each one, e.g. naming them CONTOURS 2, CONTOURS 3, etc. To faciliate this the drawing tools are set up to draw on the current sheet, if its name starts with the tool's base, CONTOURS in this case.

Check the sheet an entity is on, by using the Info > List command on it. The sheet will be the first thing listed in the properties. Alternatively, use KEEP on the entity and the current sheet will switch to the entity's sheet.

You can change the resolution of the bitmap tiles in the Bitmap Fills dialog (click on the FS: property box in the upper right of the screen). It's easiest to first use KEEP on the entity in question, so that the correct bitmap fill is already selected.

Hope this helps, Ralf

Ralf

Posted By: TimBYep, that did it. Looks like it only fades in from the edge of everything inside the sheet rather than applying it to each item individually.

Yes, the sheet effects are raster-based. Basically the sheet gets rasterized into one bitmap image internally (merging all entities on it), then the effects get applied.

TimB

Thanks a lot Ralph, very helpful!

Yep, it makes sense now I know about it but I didn't see it mentioned anywhere in the guide/tutorials etc. It's actually very useful as it means my rivers and lakes merge into each other seamlessly now I've put them into one sheet... just confused me a bit at first.

When I click on the little paint dropper icon it says Warning: CC3 cannot perform the command: SKEEP.

I found the right texture anyway though and made it much bigger - the difference is enormous!