Scripted Exports in FT
Once I have my world finished in FT, I'm going to want to export it to CC3. I've been playing around with the option to export multiple files. It looks amazing but, unless you are using a planar map, much of the terrain will be distorted (as is the nature of trying to represent a sphere in 2D).
My first question is how have other people dealt with this?
My second is more involved. I suspect there is no perfect answer to my first question so I developed a solution that I think would be wonderful but I can't see how to implement it.
The cosmographer template converts the globe into a icosahedron consisting of 20 triangles, with a hex grid overlaid on to it. This essentially maps the globe onto 490 hexes. I want to do something similar. I would like to define a view (set longitude, latitude, and scale) centered on each hex and export a FCW map and a JPG image (to be used as a background for the map) and repeat this process for each hex. This would reproduce the entire globe with no noticeable distortion.
That's a bit much to do manually so I'd like to set up a script. I've only just started looking at the scripting language used with FT but from what I've seen it doesn't include the commands I'd need to do this. Although I'd prefer to define the views in the script, I could also manually create the views and use the script to switch to each view.
Are there any scripting gurus out there that can help me out? Or if what I want to do isn't possible, maybe someone can suggest an alternative?
Lastly, I don't know yet how to calculate the list of latitudes/longitudes for the hex center points. Any help there would be appreciated. (Edit: n/m about the coords. I sorted that out. I really would like to find a way to script this. I hope it can be done)
My first question is how have other people dealt with this?
My second is more involved. I suspect there is no perfect answer to my first question so I developed a solution that I think would be wonderful but I can't see how to implement it.
The cosmographer template converts the globe into a icosahedron consisting of 20 triangles, with a hex grid overlaid on to it. This essentially maps the globe onto 490 hexes. I want to do something similar. I would like to define a view (set longitude, latitude, and scale) centered on each hex and export a FCW map and a JPG image (to be used as a background for the map) and repeat this process for each hex. This would reproduce the entire globe with no noticeable distortion.
That's a bit much to do manually so I'd like to set up a script. I've only just started looking at the scripting language used with FT but from what I've seen it doesn't include the commands I'd need to do this. Although I'd prefer to define the views in the script, I could also manually create the views and use the script to switch to each view.
Are there any scripting gurus out there that can help me out? Or if what I want to do isn't possible, maybe someone can suggest an alternative?
Lastly, I don't know yet how to calculate the list of latitudes/longitudes for the hex center points. Any help there would be appreciated. (Edit: n/m about the coords. I sorted that out. I really would like to find a way to script this. I hope it can be done)
Comments
When we get down to country-level plotting, I figure I'll predefine views for each of those too.