Making Hex Maps/Templates Which Fit Paper Sizes?
Marja Erwin
Traveler
I ran into trouble trying to resize a map to fit the paper. I got a white band near one edge of the map, probably due to Sheet issues, and I think I lost the alignment of objects and nodes to the grid.
I can avoid this trouble if I create a set of blank maps to fit the paper, clearly showing the available space, and if I use an appropriate blank map as a starting-point for each game map.
Some common hex sizes are around 5/8" or 16 mm, and 3/4" or 19 mm or 20 mm.
Some common map sizes are about 11"x17" for micro games, 22"x17" for folio games, and 22"x34" for full-sized games; these work with American paper sizes and can fit into American magazines. I think A3, A2, and A1 are the equivalents for other magazines. Another common size is the 7.5"x20.8" no-margin for Panzerblitz. I would like to be able to print maps to multiple 8.5"x11" or A4 sheets, with adequate margins.
To avoid recalculating page sizes, I think 1" on the page could be 16 drawing units in Campaign Cartographer 3+. So a 5/8" hex would be 10 drawing units across, a 3/4" hex could be 12 drawing units, etc. If I need micro-hexes for finer grid alignments, these could be 2, or 2.4 drawing units across; if I use even fractions the 2 grids won't line up, but if I use odd fractions they will.
I can't get this to work, though.
- Draw -- Hex or Square Overlay automatically creates a full hex in the lower left corner. So it doesn't work with styles with a half-hex on each corner, Like these Panzerblitz maps: http://www.imaginative-strategist.layfigures.com/IMSTRAT%20PB%20Maps.html Unless I can manually move the map border, and snap the lower edge to the middle of the lowest hexrow, I'd have to settle for a trim box instead of the map border, and the extra half-hex isn't going to leave much margin..
- And if I don't get the dimensions just right, it may leave odd fractions at the other corners.
- Using 1" = 16 drawing units would break the assumption that 1 drawing unit represents 1 mile, or 1 km, depending on the map; it'd definitely break scale bars.
Comments
I think the white band is the screen. You asked about it on your other current thread and I suggested a solution for it there - the commands contained in this blog by Remy Monsen should help.
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Making and positioning a grid.
In these example images I have turned the usually invisible white screen object grey to show the extent of the map, and also to illustrate what happens when you use the collar commands.
Make your grid deliberately too large by using the Select points option above the Apply button and place it very approximately in the right place. At this stage you are merely using the map to judge how many hexes you want - a bit like stretching a length of curtain material over a window to see if it will fit. There is no need to worry about accurate placement. Be more concerned that you have enough hexes.
The new grid will have generated its own snap grid, which is useless from our point of view. Next we need to make our own new snap grid and move the drawn grid to match it.
To create a new snap grid right click the Grid button and select New.
Pick 2D Hexagonal and Continue...
Give your new Grid an appropriate name and adjust the settings to your taste, then OK
Your new snap grid should appear in the drawing window.
To move your drawn grid into alignment with the new snap grid, turn off Snap and turn on Attach. Then use the Move tool and pick up the grid at the corner of one of the hexes. Don't click the outline of the grid, but the side of one of the hexes.
While you have the grid hovering on your cursor mid-move operation, turn Attach off and Snap back on. You should be able to snap the corner of your hex to the right position according to the newly generated snap grid.
So the drawn grid is now in the right position*, but the screen (grey) is too narrow to cover the grid up.
Use COLLARDEL to delete that screen and COLLARAUTO to generate a new one.
The generated screen will be generously proportioned, but it does the job of hiding all those excess hexes really well. It will automatically be white, but I've turned mine grey again in this shot so you can see it.
I hope this helps.
*Please note that I have no idea if I'm showing the correct position as you described it, but only that the drawn hex grid is now perfectly aligned to the new snap grid.