Adding darkness/shadows to individual squares
Hi all! Newbie user here (just over 1 week). I'm getting the hang of DD3, but I'm stuck on one effect.
I'm using DD3 to create a map for a tactical dungeon-themed miniatures game. I'd like certain squares on the map to be in darkness; this will give cover to minis in those squares. So far, what I've tried is creating a new sheet called DARKNESS, filling some squares with the Magic Stars bitmap (which is mostly black), and then fiddling with effects such as interior edge fade. But I can't get an effect that looks natural. It needs to be clear that certain squares are in darkness and others aren't, but the darkness also can't have too hard of an edge, so I'm trying for a happy medium between a hard and soft edge.
I like the natural look of wall shadows, but I don't know how to confine such shadows to individual squares, especially when the shadows aren't connected to any walls.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
I'm using DD3 to create a map for a tactical dungeon-themed miniatures game. I'd like certain squares on the map to be in darkness; this will give cover to minis in those squares. So far, what I've tried is creating a new sheet called DARKNESS, filling some squares with the Magic Stars bitmap (which is mostly black), and then fiddling with effects such as interior edge fade. But I can't get an effect that looks natural. It needs to be clear that certain squares are in darkness and others aren't, but the darkness also can't have too hard of an edge, so I'm trying for a happy medium between a hard and soft edge.
I like the natural look of wall shadows, but I don't know how to confine such shadows to individual squares, especially when the shadows aren't connected to any walls.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Comments
I would draw a straight black rectangle over the squares in question (perhaps a little smaller than the actual square) on the DARKNESS sheet, and then use Transparency and Blur effects to make it into a shadow. If you have 5' squares, I'd start with a 1 unit blur and a 75% opacity, and experiment from there.