Random Symbol Fill

While perusing products at RPGNOW I happened to look over an update for Fractal Mapper (8?), and one of the features caught my eye. Called Random Symbol Fill, it allows the user to draw a freehand area on a map that is then filled with selected symbol at a controlled density level.

Please tell me CC3 has something akin to this function!

--Rob

Comments

  • I just checked, and there are things like Mixed Forest, etc. bitmap fill you can fill an area with.

    JimP.
  • There is also "Fill Wih Symbols" on the Draw menu, which has the random placement feature.
  • Thanks all, now the kicker.

    Can anyone provide guidance on how to change the symbols used in the "fill with symbol" function. The default is forest, or at least vegetation, and I can't seem to make the change to another symbol type.

    Thanks, Rob
  • That's something I'd like to know, too. I'vbe been trying to set up my own filler settings for other symbols, and when I click rrun now, the program runs a while and then one of two things happen:
    a) the command finishes, and the map looks exactly as it did before, or
    b) CC3 crashes.

    What things do we need to take account of to make our own filler settings?
  • Posted By: Snaga75Thanks all, now the kicker.

    Can anyone provide guidance on how to change the symbols used in the "fill with symbol" function. The default is forest, or at least vegetation, and I can't seem to make the change to another symbol type.

    Thanks, Rob
    Rob, to change the symbols, At the top of the fill with symbols screen, browse to the .fsc catalog that you wish to pull the symbols from. Then click the buttons with the dots on them to choose each symbol that you want to use. Set the parameters you wish to use. Then save the file. This will save it as a .FIL in the CC3/System/Fillers folder. Now you can run it.

    I suggest reading the help file to understand the parameters. Playing around with settings is sometimes the best way to figure out what settings you want.
  • I understand those instructions, but I can't get it to work with anything other than forest symbols.
    Does it only work on overland templates?
    Is there a guide to what sort of sizes you hsould assign symbols for a given size of map?
  • RalfRalf Administrator, ProFantasy 🖼️ 18 images Mapmaker
    Talamar posted a very good guide to Fill with Symbols settings a while ago on the CC2 mailing list. Anyone got that archived? I can't find it right now.

    Darren, the tool would normally use the detault symbol scale for the map. So if you make sure your custom catalog uses the same scale as other symbol catalogs for the same map type, you should be fine. Note that to make the randomly filled in symbols look organic, you need to create symbols at different sizes, spanning multiple "blocks" (like the forest fill symbols).
  • Thanks, Ralf.
    After your comments, I experimented again with scale, and got it to work. I hadn't properly understand what the first X and Y settings where for, but I've got it now.
  • Are we talking about the same functions for filling areas with vegetation that we had with Harn project add on? That was one nifty little macro.
  • 16 years later
  • I can't get this to work on my CC3+.

    It does nothing, or it runs endlessly. Have tried with my own settings, tired one of the defaults.

    Managed to get it to work once, with symbols that were 1/10th the size of the map.

  • There may be several issues in play here. If you have the Tome of Ultimate Mapping, that will guide you through the process, and point-up some of the problems you may run into. If you don't, our Forum experts will need more detailed information on exactly what you were trying to do with the Fill with Symbols command, to hopefully provide you with some help.

    As a quick test example, it took me just a few seconds to create a simple woodland using only the default settings in a smooth poly that was 10 by 6 miles in size. Doesn't look great, as blocks of the trees were in the varicolor grey I had selected when I ran it, but that could be adjusted first, of course! This does show the command runs under CC3+ without any obvious issues using the default settings at least.

    Now we'd need to work out what you've been trying to do that's different from that very simple set-up!

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