Setting distance on a new map How to define units
Hi all,
I admit that I only have a chance to use this software on an infrequent basis, and I always stumble over these initial steps.
I have CC3.
Here is what I want to do:
I want to create a new overland map where the distance on the map is 1 physical inch equals 30 miles.
How, exactly, do I use the Drawing units dialog to set this up?
Will the distance tool then report to me in inches, miles or what?
I also want to be able to take sections out of this map and be able to set those sub sections to 1 inch equals 1 mile and 1 inch equals 5 miles.
Is it better to make the original map at the smallest resolution?
lastly, ho do you make a distance bar that shows that 1 inch equals what ever is set in the drawing units dialog box.
I am all at sea here, and I need explicit directions. A screenshot would be even better.
Thanks
I admit that I only have a chance to use this software on an infrequent basis, and I always stumble over these initial steps.
I have CC3.
Here is what I want to do:
I want to create a new overland map where the distance on the map is 1 physical inch equals 30 miles.
How, exactly, do I use the Drawing units dialog to set this up?
Will the distance tool then report to me in inches, miles or what?
I also want to be able to take sections out of this map and be able to set those sub sections to 1 inch equals 1 mile and 1 inch equals 5 miles.
Is it better to make the original map at the smallest resolution?
lastly, ho do you make a distance bar that shows that 1 inch equals what ever is set in the drawing units dialog box.
I am all at sea here, and I need explicit directions. A screenshot would be even better.
Thanks
Comments
I'm not able to give you a detailed step-by-step guide, but as a general rule you don't need to worry about the map scale until you print the map once it is finished. This means that when you start to map an area which is, for example, 300km by 400km, you simple choose or set up the appropriate template and start drawing. CC3 works in "real life units" and the tools report distances like that as well.
If you want to have one overland map and additional regional maps, it would be best not to try to fit all into one map. In theory you can make your maps as detailed as you want, but in practice you would want to have separate maps for the regions - otherwise your map will become too cumbersome to work with. There are tutorials about how to extract sections of an overland map to create regional maps (the Tome of Ultimate Mapping is a great resource).
Hope that helps.
Nils
But my problem is that I am trying to place individual villages, etc. at accurate distances (which in England are about 1 mile apart in places.) So I need to be able to put on a grid and know the physical "real world" distance between point rather than seeing XXX.XXX units. I need to know that it is 10 units per mile or whatever.
To me, one of the great benefits of mapping is to make an over map, and then cut out sections and be ready to go at the correct units, etc.
If I have to re-draw the same hills are different resolutions as a make smaller regional maps, that is a lot of extra effort.
But that is too much digression from the main point. For me, I need to know the "real" distance between points when I am placing things on the map, and their distance from each other. Not a general "that is close enough" If the village is 5 miles from the town, then I want it on the map exactly 5 miles from the town.
This is how you always work with CC3. The maps themselves are set up using real-world distances, scaling it down to paper distance is only something you worry about when you print, the rest of the time you work with the real distances, which means you use all numbers as-is, no need for conversion. Need to place that village 1 mile east of the other one. Then you place it one drawing unit east. If you set up a grid with a spacing of 10, it will be 10 miles between each grid line. And so on....
(*For floorplan and city maps the unit is feet. You can of course also use metric uints if desired)