Marsh symbols?
Hello, I am using the Mike Schley template for my map, but there isn't a good icon for grassy marshland. I looked through the stickys, but they have so much info and odd terms that I'm not too sure where to go.
Any pointers are appreciated.
Any pointers are appreciated.
Comments
And have you got some kind of image to show us of the map with the missing 'icon' so we can think along the right lines?
I'm not sure what the best way to do the symbol would be. The swamp shows water and trees. I'd like something that looks like water and long grass.
Or is there a better way to show a region of grassy marshes/ salt marsh, etc?
I tried the marsh tool, but that just makes a filled in space that you have to trace, and it really doesn't look good.
An image would be enormously helpful - of the map, or the affected part of the map that is - so we can do more than just make vague suggestions and never really get anywhere.
I'd like to see something that looks less like swamp and clutter. A lot of grassy marshes don't look that marshy until you are right in them. A tall grasses symbol, maybe with some cattails or a little water would be nice.
Thanks for any help.
On the menu, top right, click on FS and a requestor will open.
Select Bitmap fills.
Scolll down to what you are using in the maps above for the land.
Where it says: Scaled Width: [ ] Height: [ ] the numbers in those two areas are what you need to change.
I'm not sure I know how to explain this, but if this is maybe 1/100 of the area of your map, the fills are perfectly scaled. Its just that you are expecting to add too much detail for this map.
If you want to add the marsh and all the details for that tiny bit of Europe, then it would be better to do maps of smaller pieces of the large one, so that all these fills would look far better.
You see, you could easily scale that fill down so that it looked sensible for that teeny tiny bit, but if you also scaled the land fill down so that the same teeny tiny bit looked great, it would look like a horrible crazy green patterned carpet whenever you zoomed out to see the whole of the map.
I've probably made a mess of explaining that.
That's why I'd rather have something like the trees, so I can set those for the large scale maps, and then use the fill version for smaller scale maps. But there isn't a good representation of marshy grasslands.
I was hoping there was one somewhere that I could add.
Are there guidelines on format, size, etc, so they can match the tree symbols, for instance?
I'd like to make a few different versions for the random option, and a block version, like the forest.
The size of a symbol for overland use should be 20 pixels/drawing unit, i.e, if you make a symbol that is supposed to cover a 1 by 1 mile area, it should be 20x20 pixels. Now, the exact size of an overland symbol is always a bit tricky, because a symbol is used to represent something there, it is not an exact representation (A single tree symbol isn't meant to show a single tree, it is meant to show a small forest for example, so don't go out and measure an actual tree, the size we are talking about here is the size it would occupy on the map). For overland symbols, it is usually good to check out similar symbols. For example the Swamp Tree symbol is 125x118 pixels (About half the width is the shadow from the tree though). The swamp tree is quite a small symbol, but I believe it is representative for the size of the symbol you want to make. Many symbols are much larger.
Can we share them here?
Its when you use other peoples artwork that you need to be a bit more careful and ask permission.
For example, I have asked permission to use the CD3 fills to make new house symbols. If they are of a satisfactory quality these will then be shared through Profantasy, and not by me directly.
The size of a symbol for overland use should be 20 pixels/drawing unit, i.e, if you make a symbol that is supposed to cover a 1 by 1 mile area, it should be 20x20 pixels. Now, the exact size of an overland symbol is always a bit tricky, because a symbol is used to represent something there, it is not an exact representation (A single tree symbol isn't meant to show a single tree, it is meant to show a small forest for example, so don't go out and measure an actual tree, the size we are talking about here is the size it would occupy on the map). For overland symbols, it is usually good to check out similar symbols. For example the Swamp Tree symbol is 125x118 pixels (About half the width is the shadow from the tree though). The swamp tree is quite a small symbol, but I believe it is representative for the size of the symbol you want to make. Many symbols are much larger.</blockquote>
Hi Monsen, Thanks for those details. Where did you find them? I wanted to look through the existing png files and get a better idea of how to make mine, but I can't find a folder with them.
Also, my paint.net program is listing 96 pixels/inch. Is that a good setting?
I think it's not bad, but could be better. Any suggestions?
For the maps, I would add some water areas.
As for 96 pixels/inch, that is a print setting and is completely meaningless in this context, only the actual dimensions (width/height in pixels) matter.
So I made 2 different Marsh symbols and thought I would drop them into the same folder with the trees. Unfortunately, the program didn't see them as options the way I hoped. Is there a way to fix this?
The general practice is to create a new folder within the Symbols folder called "User" and then to have a folder system within that to hold your own symbols.
The symbols you have put in the standard folder won't show up in the catalogue because the catalogue is a file, not the folder. A catalogue file references the symbols in one or more folders. Again, it would be better to make a separate new catalogue for the symbols in your User folder in case the catalogue is overwritten during an update.
If you watch the vid the import resolution he sets for his symbols is 100. That's because he's creating new Dungeon scale symbols. You more likely need overland, which is 20 (pixels per map unit)
Here's a look zoomed out a distance.
Thank you!