Playing around with Perspectives 3

24

Comments

  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 46 images Cartographer
    Yea, I agree it is weirdly placed. I guess it was placed there originally because it doesn't really change anything, it just translates the view of the drawing to a different point in the coordinate system. Of course, nowadays it is mostly used with symbols, where origin is very important for many symbol types.
  • DkarrDkarr Traveler
    It's interesting because I've used that functionality before when inserting a png map into an existing map and I want to eventually line them up for tracing. ORIGIN resets the 0,0 coordinate to whatever you select. I just never thought about using that for the symbol because of the default 9 point origin placement on the symbol dialog. All in all I'm really glad the functionality exists. And now I know that is what I need for the symbols.
  • these are all looking really cool! Once I'm confident in using cc3+, this will give me something else to make dungeons and things for my players... but that's down the road a bit. I am thinking of 3d cityscapes for a werewolf campaign I was also asked to run. This could really come in handy! *sighs* Yet another thing I'm going to have to save up for.... man my list is getting long!
  • edited April 2016
    Creating Perspective Shearing Wall Symbols is amazingly easy. Another Happy Dance.

    The windows and door are my symbols from Genetica presets.
  • These perspectives are looking great!

    So I've been looking around for some chimneys for the houses that can be made with Perspectives 3 but I can't seem to find any. Does anyone know where they might be? or if there even are any?

    Thanks.
  • DkarrDkarr Traveler
    I have not seen any Chimneys, though there are stoves on the Bitmap B Furniture that could be used as chimneys from the correct angle.
  • You could always draw chimneys and then make them into a symbol catalog. I did this quick so my angles aren't quite right, but you get the idea.
  • Thanks Shessar, that is probably the best way to approach it.
  • ArgoForgArgoForg Newcomer
    I have definitely yet to play around with P3 in any relevant way yet, but the pictures I've seen so far are really hyping me up to try it both with the available textures and some of my own.
  • DkarrDkarr Traveler
    edited April 2016
    Attached is a tutorial for creating an isometric view symbol from a flat PNG. Please be aware that this is image editing software specific. Instructions for your editing software might vary.

    I had very little time to proof read it. So please let me know if something needs revising.

    I couldn't upload a PDF so I had to upload everything into a .zip archive. Remember that the FCT file needs to be saved to your particular location for CC3 Symbol Catalog Templates (normally CC3Plus\Templates\Symbol Catalogs)

    Hope this helps others.
  • Thank you Dkarr, I'm very glad you decided to do this :)
  • DkarrDkarr Traveler
    Posted By: tonnichiwaThank you Dkarr, I'm very glad you decided to do this :)
    You're welcome. I hope it helps to get others excited about creating more symbols.
  • DkarrDkarr Traveler
    edited April 2016
    BTW, 3d Projection is by far my favorite tool in Perspectives 3.

    Below is a sample of flat maps converted to 3D Projection in pretty much 4 clicks. The originals of these maps are the ones that began my love of isometric projection maps.
  • DkarrDkarr Traveler
    edited April 2016
    Isometric skeletal armies are also possible. I'm just having too much fun with this expansion.
  • Wonderful Dkarr!! I have to agree that playing with this has been the most fun I've had in a long time. :D

    Your tutorial is great, as are the included templates. Thank you!

    Check out the help files on creating symbols for perspectives. For wall symbols using front facing pngs, the perspective shearing symbols can be done right in CC3+. It eliminates the need to make a symbol for each direction. To see how they work, look in the Wall Features catalog. You'll see that some of the doors & windows are front facing. When being placed, they will align to the bottom of the wall and change to an iso angle automatically. Cool stuff!
  • Ok that's it. I think i have to purchase this....It's too pretty not to :) Shessar, what you did above ^^^, sold me.
  • edited April 2016
    Posted By: loreleiOk that's it. I think i have to purchase this....It's too pretty not to :) Shessar, what you did above ^^^, sold me.
    Oh lorelei, you are going to love this!

    If/when you buy it, do take the time to go through the essentials guide to learn how to do things. Also, start small - one room, cave, or house. It takes a bit to wrap your brain around working with it, but starting small really helps.
  • DkarrDkarr Traveler
    Posted By: ShessarWonderful Dkarr!! I have to agree that playing with this has been the most fun I've had in a long time. :D

    Your tutorial is great, as are the included templates. Thank you!

    Check out the help files on creating symbols for perspectives. For wall symbols using front facing pngs, the perspective shearing symbols can be done right in CC3+. It eliminates the need to make a symbol for each direction. To see how they work, look in the Wall Features catalog. You'll see that some of the doors & windows are front facing. When being placed, they will align to the bottom of the wall and change to an iso angle automatically. Cool stuff!
    I haven't tried Wall Shearing symbols yet, though the airlock one would definitely qualify for it since its purpose is specifically to align to a wall. I'll have to look into it more. There is an error in the tutorial, I mentioned that the orientation of the symbols would be North and East. The particular orientation of the symbol in the tutorial ends up being West and South. I'll make a change on the tutorial sometime today and reupload.

    I can already think of many scans of miniatures for this. Faux 3D is awesome.
  • DogtagDogtag Moderator, Betatester Traveler
    Interesting. I hadn't thought of this before you threw those miniatures in your PER map Dkarr, but Character Artist could be extremely useful in that regard! Woot! We could make "symbols" from CA characters.
  • DkarrDkarr Traveler
    Posted By: DogtagInteresting. I hadn't thought of this before you threw those miniatures in your PER map Dkarr, but Character Artist could be extremely useful in that regard! Woot! We could make "symbols" from CA characters.
    You sure can. That would be another very interesting use.
  • GatharGathar Traveler
    Hello,

    On the description of perspective 3, it says: "More than 800 color bitmap symbols in 2 different styles".
    I think that usually symbols come in fixed/varicolor variants, so to get the number of symbols that represent different things, I usually mentally divide by 2 this amount. But it also says "Each symbol comes in 8 or 4 different isometric views". Does it mean I also have to divide this figure by 4 (or 8) to get this number?

    Thank you!
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 46 images Cartographer
    A quick count gave me ~850 different collection of symbols. In per 3, most collections hold the 4/8 variants used. Also note that not all collections have varicolor equivalents, and some collections actually contains various symbols instead of directional.
  • GatharGathar Traveler
    Ok, thank you for this info. I'm going to break open the piggy bank :)
  • DkarrDkarr Traveler
    More iso symbol work continues.
  • RalfRalf Administrator, ProFantasy 🖼️ 18 images Mapmaker
    Wonderful stuff guys. Here's a quick intro on how to do wall-shearing symbols, using DKarr's airlock image.

    - take your bitmap you want to make into a wall-shearing symbol and save it as a PNG somewhere in the Symbols subfolder (I'm using the User subfolder).
    - Open CC3+
    - Create a new perspective map from the Bitmap A style. Set the size to 100 x 100, click next, disable the background and add a 5' isometric grid.
    - Click Finished and save.

    - Set the currrent layer to SYMBOL DEFITION and the sheet to "Common".
    - Choose Symbols > Import pngs...
    - browser to your airlock PNG and open it
    - For Shessar's sample, I'll choose a resolution of 100 pixel to the foot (making the airlock 9 feet wide)
    - Set the "Create other resolutions" option, Files are "Very high" and set the Symbol Origin to "Center/Down".
    - Click OK, wait until the import process is done and click Ok again.

    - Open the Symbol Manager
    - Delete the two template symbols (map title and copyright notice)
    - "Edit" the new airlock symbol
    - Set the color to red (3) - that's just a convention - and choose Symbols > Add Control Points
    - Set the first point for the Control Point at point 0,0 (the middle bottom of the symbol)
    - Click for the the second point a little distance directly to the right, e.g. at 5,0. The exact distance doesn't matter, but it needs to be a horizontal line.
    - for the CP effects set "Align on Insertion" and "Keep DynTrack Scale" - all other options should be unchecked.
    - Close the editing window and select to Save the changes.

    - Open the Symbol Manager, select the symbol and choose "Options"
    - check "Perspectives wall symbol (sheared)" from the General Options and set the symbol to automatically select the "SYMBOLS WALLS*" sheet.
    - Save the drawing as a Symbol Catalog.

    Open another Perspectives map and load the new catalog into the catalog window. Your airlock should now work as a shearing wall symbol.
  • DkarrDkarr Traveler
    edited April 2016
    Ralf that is awesome.

    Wall shearing is another fantastic tool. It works great and is rather simple as it eliminates the need to use image editing software to align the symbols to the grid. For symbols that will be used along walls, it saves the user incredible amounts of time.

    For me, the image editing has only come in handy for symbols that will "lay on the floor" such as the stairwells above. Those required some manipulation on image editing to give them "thickness".

    One useful shortcut that can be taken for those is to use the native capabilities of Perpectives 3 to automatically align fills to the grid. Use the flat symbol image as a fill. Assign it to a floor tool. Place the fill as if it was a floor. That will automatically align it on the floor sides without having to resort to distorting the image.

    Then you can extract that image to the image editor. It will already be properly aligned in one of the isometric cardinal directions. That would save lots of time with the distortion, which is what becomes very time consuming and somewhat inaccurate. Then you can add "thickness" to the image on the image editor.
  • @Dkarr, wonderful stairs and figures! I like Dogtag's idea of using Character Artist images as well.

    @Ralf, Thank you for the instructions! I am working on a couple of sets of wall symbols (doors, windows, tapestries, pictures, etc) and while I had figured out how to make the shearing symbols, having some of the standard conventions detailed is quite helpful.
  • DkarrDkarr Traveler
    @Shessar, thanks. I really like @Dogtag's idea also.
  • I have my first set of wall shearing symbols done. I'll release them once I have everything finished. These are the doors. I'm also working on windows and wall art (framed pictures, tapestries, etc)
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