Hand Drawn Symbols and Proper Scaling - Any Suggestions?
Terraformer_Author
Newcomer
Ok - so - I am at the stage of my symbols project where I am almost ready to begin drawing out the standard types of CC3 symbols (Trees, Towns, Mountains, so forth). The last major question is image scaling. I know that the default Apple symbol has a width of 300 - granted - but some of my symbols may have to be a little larger. My basic place number symbols roughly run 179 x 175, is this too small? Also I am drawing out spider webs that I mean to be used to be placed in the middle of forests - like the original Tolkien Mirkwood maps, and maybe big enough to slap my spider symbol on top of as well (I don't want the spider symbol to be bigger than the spider webs). Does anybody have some suggestions on how to "fine tune" the scaling on these in a somewhat quick way where I won't have to fiddle around with one symbol for hours trying to get a halfway decent scale ratio to look right on the test maps at all 3 major CC3 scale sizes?
Scaling is my very last major hurdle on these - any ideas are welcome (tricks and tips).
P.S. - some of these images are HUGE (1000+ width).
Scaling is my very last major hurdle on these - any ideas are welcome (tricks and tips).
P.S. - some of these images are HUGE (1000+ width).
Comments
Someone much better at it will have to help you with that.
Are the symbols going to be different sizes once you finish or will they all be the same resolution (the 175x179)? Specifically, will a symbol that represents a small thing (like the shrimp) actually be smaller than a symbol of, say, a whale? I ask because I find that I am rarely satisified with the "default" symbol size when I start mapping, and I would wager that many in the community also tweak symbol sizes to suit their needs per map.
My suggestion would be to find a balance between resolution and size, that you are happy with and trust that users will fine tune it to their needs.
Secondly, I love the design of the uncharted island, that would look great as a logo for some type of rum!
#1, Crops
#2, Resources (Gems, Mines, Loot, Food, Weapons, etc.)
#3, Hazards - Monsters
#4, Generic number, arrow, letter, and pointer sets
#5, Races
#6, Hazards / Miscellanious
#7, Standard CC3 Symbol Types (Mountains, Trees, Towns, etc.)
#8, Special symbols (Contextual).
Therein lies the problem - because when I draw this stuff - I do it in ink - by hand - with a pen on a standard sheet of 8.5 x 11.0 inch acid free printer paper. I then scan it with my Epson CX6000 Scanner / Printer. After I've scanned the image - I send it in Bitmap format to the GIMP - where I convert it to Greyscale, High Contrast it, and then reconvert it back to .RGB after cropping it. I then open it back up in Microsoft Paint - clean the image up - colorize it - and then save it as a .PNG file in my symbols project folder. I don't apply transparency because I want to do that when I'm done with the set, and it's ready for CC3 conversion.
Ultimately the point is that after cropping - these images have all kinds of screwy resolutions, and I'm afraid that I'll have to "fine tune" each symbol's scale size one at a time, switching constantly between CC3 and the GIMP, working on it in the GIMP - and then going back and checking it / preview testing it in CC3 - as opposed to batching them - in order to get them to look right. THEN - I'll have to save all of these symbols as either a single catalogue - or a series of CC3 catalogues. The question might be in trying to find a way to scale them so that I won't draw a mountain - and have it come out HUGE after cropping, and then draw a volcanoe of equal size - and have it come out in CC3 as being twice as small.
Like I said previously - I'm going to have spider web symbols that I want to be able to accomodate my spider symbol - if a user wants to slap a spider into a web symbol - and I don't want the spider to come out to be bigger than the web on a CC3 test map when these are converted. For example - here is an original Tolkien map of Mirkwood from an original printing of "The Hobbit" - showing here for purposes of academic analysis. Notice the spiders and webs in Mirkwood? I want CC3 users to be able to create this effect - but in a much more awsome way. My Spider symbol, and my Web symbols must be sized accordingly. I could just draw a web with a spider already in it - but if you'll notice Tolkien's map - some areas have just spiders, some have just webs, and some have a combo of the two - I also have a Drider symbol that can be used with the web symbols as well to show the locations of Drider lairs (Driders are centaur like creatures with the upper body of a dark elf, and the lower half is a spider body):
Andrew
GOod Luck!
If anybody else wants to chime in on this thread - any info is helpful.
As for the others, for each group, I think I would start by finding one standard CC3 symbol that is about the same size on the map that you want your symbols to be, then bulk resize them to that size. Once you have done that, start a map, place ALL your symbols in the map, and note any that looks to large or too small, then go back and change the sizes of those.
Thought about the test map approach - it's a can do. I'm gonna have to tackle this that way anyway it looks like, because my resolutions on these images are - pardon the pun - all over the map, lol.
Can't think of anything else to say to help, but thanks for the hard work and good luck !
Might even download some Tolkien maps and see if I can do a font based on his english (place name) writing style. That would be a cool addition to the symbol package
...by tweaking "Maximum Image Resolution"