Map Labelling - Different Text Sheets

CeeJæy

Hi Folks,

After seeing the Mike Schley symbol sets being released it really inspired made me have a stab at doing some map designs for a D&D game that I've been running.

I've attached my first ever go at a CD3 map, but one of the things that I was wanting to try and do was to have different text effects for different types of map label. (e.g. Landmark, Street Name, Region Name)

Hi Res link here

Initially I was doing this with just fonts and sizes, but found that the shadow and glow effects would need adjusted to match the font I was using.
So I'd hoped to split this into different sheets to do this and apply glow/shadow effects in the same way that I can do to symbols.
And that would also give me a quick way to turn them on/off to export different levels of detail based on what I was using it for.

But I can't seem to figure out how to add text to different sheets (or to the default Label sheet) at all.
Is there something that I'm missing to be able to do this, or do all text areas always default to the same sheet?
(Sorry if this is in a tutorial somewhere but I just can't seem to find it)

Thanks

Loopysue

That's a very impressive first city map

Whenever you add a new label it will be placed by default on the "TEXT" sheet.

The actual default setting is "TEXT*", with the asterisk acting as a wild card. So if you name your sheets "TEXT 1", "TEXT 2", "TEXT 3" (or more appropriate names if you wish), you just have to make sure that the right one is selected for the label you are placing at the time. This can easily backfire, however, since if you have some other sheet selected when placing a label, and none of your sheets are called "TEXT" a brand new "TEXT" sheet will appear.

On a slightly different note, it can make a map look a little messy if you use more than 2 fonts. Those two fonts are usually the title font and the font used for everything else. The title font can be florid and complex, but the label font is best kept clean and clear to read. This is not a rule, by the way, but just a helpful hint

CeeJæy

Thanks, but I'll leave the credit to the symbol pack where it belongs, it was lovely to work with

And thank you! That was exactly what the issue was. Must have spent a few hours playing with that.
I'd used a convention of calling it LBL-Street, LBL-Lndmrk etc but it was defaulting it back to the TEXT sheet and I'd never thought to remove that one.

Yeah I did have that in mind to be honest, it was a labelling style that I've seen on some of the older maps of my area that I liked, but in my head I wasn't really planning above 3 being visible at any time (that was where the showing/hiding of the sheets was going to come in)

Loopysue

Oh sorry! I wasn't clear. You need to rename your sheets to "TEXT Street", "TEXT Lndmrk" and so on. The word TEXT at the front is what makes the sheet an acceptable destination for the label, no matter what comes after it.

If you don't like using TEXT and want to change the default from TEXT to LBL for this one map, open the Drawing Properties dialog and replace the word "TEXT*" with the word "LBL*", remembering to add the all-important asterisk after the LBL.

CeeJæy

I got what you meant, the fact I'd just been using LBL is what had tripped me up, as soon as I added TEXT in it started working perfectly.

But that's good to know how to switch the Drawing Properties in as well, means I can always go back to what my original convention was if I feel like it later

Loopysue

That's great