How to fill a land mass with a different terrain type?

LordJR

When creating my map, I used the same default land fill terrain on my map as I was tracing another map. Now that I have all my land masses, some of thing I wish to completely fill in with a different terrain type, for example, green grass to marshlands. How would I do this in CC3+ ?

Monsen

Use change properties on the landmass and change the fill style. Make sure to target the landmass itself, and not the outline, which is often a separate entity in the exact same location.

LordJR

When I try to follow those directions it forces me to make a window selection, which I do not want to do. I'd like to just left-click and do a fill, is there something else I must do on Change Properties?

Dogtag

If you're having trouble selecting the landmass, it might help to hide all sheets except the one with the landmass. Then, try the Change Properties command and selecting the landmass.

Does that help?

Cheers,
~Dogtag

Monsen

Also remember that as with any CC3+ entity, the landmass must be selected by clicking on the edge. A window selection is usually the result of trying to do the selection in the wrong spot.

LordJR

Thanks guys! Still new to this and will give those suggestions a go.

LordJR

Whew.. was bit more complicated than I would of liked, but I got it to work using both those suggestions!

I isolated the sheet first, then made sure I was selecting the edge. Then in the upper right under FS, made sure I had the texture I wanted, then right clicked and Do it!
That did it.. thanks again.

Monsen

Posted By: LordJRwas bit more complicated than I would of liked

It gets much easier as you get used to it. The important thing to remember is that CC3+ is not a painting program, so a lot of things works very different. You usually don't have to fo through all those steps either, those were just tips for when sometimes it is a bit difficult to select a given entity, in most cases you don't really need to hide anything.

LordJR

Regarding the Change Properties selection tool, I'm not sure it's working correctly for me as intended. I've recorded a short video showing me trying to select the main land mass in CC3+ and it never does work. This is without selecting Hide all sheets not selected.

Any ideas?

**removed**

JMunsonII

OK, first, in your layers, make sure the layer containing the landmass is not also frozen.

Second, to pick an entity, you must pick the actual entity - not its fill/color/etc. So, in the case of the landmass, this means its edge. If you select an entity from anything other than its edge (or, rather, attempt to do so), you'll get the window cursor instead.

Try clicking the edge when in select mode.

Monsen

And by edge, we mean the actual edge, not near the edge, which you seem to be doing several times in the video. Notice that litt black rectangle that appear on your cursor when you are selecting stuff. That is the pick aperture. When you are selecting something, the edge must be inside this box.
I recommend you review the editing chapter in the manual, it starts with much information about selecting.

JMunsonII

+1 Monsen.

LordJR

Thanks guys... I zoomed in and took some more time and figured out what I've been doing wrong, all is working great now. Just a bit of a learning curve for me.

Dogtag

I also recommend this excellent blog essay on selecton techniques, by RA Jacobs.

Cheers,
~Dogtag

JimP

Yup, this software is based on a CAD program... so the selection/editing process is in a different sequence than a paint program.

ScottA

When I first started with CC3+ I had some similar problems. I had to overcome what I knew of commands in paint-type programs and learn that CAD programs were a totally different beast, so things like "erase" and "select" weren't the same. But once I got used to it it was pretty easy and is second-nature now. Just work at it. It's frustrating at first, but once you get the hang of it its all good. And for me, when I learn a new command I use the crap out of it until I know it in my sleep! Then I move on to another. If you try to master everything at once it will just overwhelm you. Just keep at it.

LordJR

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm making better progress now. My next step to overcome is keeping everything on the right Sheet. Even if I have the right one selected, for some reason they end up on Symbols or some random sea/ocean sheet. But using the Hide All method mentioned here earlier, I'm able to see what got misplaced and reassign them to the intended sheet.

Lorelei

Posted By: LordJRThanks for the encouragement. I'm making better progress now. My next step to overcome is keeping everything on the right Sheet. Even if I have the right one selected, for some reason they end up on Symbols or some random sea/ocean sheet. But using the Hide All method mentioned here earlier, I'm able to see what got misplaced and reassign them to the intended sheet.

Try clicking on Options as seen below...uncheck "symbols choose own sheet" this should allow you to place symbols on any sheet you are currently on, rather than the default, which for most symbols is the SYMBOLS sheet

Monsen

Most drawing tools and symbols automatically choose their own sheet to help users place them on the correct one. You can turn this off for symbols by clicking the options button on the top of the symbol catalog, and turning off this option. Another tip is to name your sheets the same as the default sheets, just add your own postfix. Symbols and drawing tools looks for sheets starting with a specific text, so if you name a sheet SYMBOLS FLOWERS, all symbols configured to go to the SYMBOLS sheet will go to this sheet when it is active, otherwise they will go to the default SYMBOLS sheet.