Comprehensive Templates and Etc
SkidAce
Traveler
So I decided during the switch to CC3+ to start defining my own styles. (Own being a loose sense of the word)
I use a combination of Annual styles for my overland mapping. Fantasy Realms, Fantasy Worlds, and Jon Roberts Overland being the main ones.
Even before deciding to switch to CC3+, I constantly had issues. Importing fill styles, defining draw tools, sheet effects, where are the symbols I used for continent settlements. I spend more time setting up a map than drawing one. also, there are a lot of fill styles and drawing tools and symbols that I don't want to see unless I go digging.
Can someone outline a comprehensive step by step to setting up all of this, ideally so I can open either a large continent template or a smaller kingdom template and go from there. With the drawing tools, fills, symbols, and sheet effects already set up? (I know I could get one map right and just keep opening that one, but I think I have a lot of confusing instructions and fill directories stuck in there, so want to start semi fresh).
Thank you.
I use a combination of Annual styles for my overland mapping. Fantasy Realms, Fantasy Worlds, and Jon Roberts Overland being the main ones.
Even before deciding to switch to CC3+, I constantly had issues. Importing fill styles, defining draw tools, sheet effects, where are the symbols I used for continent settlements. I spend more time setting up a map than drawing one. also, there are a lot of fill styles and drawing tools and symbols that I don't want to see unless I go digging.
Can someone outline a comprehensive step by step to setting up all of this, ideally so I can open either a large continent template or a smaller kingdom template and go from there. With the drawing tools, fills, symbols, and sheet effects already set up? (I know I could get one map right and just keep opening that one, but I think I have a lot of confusing instructions and fill directories stuck in there, so want to start semi fresh).
Thank you.
Comments
- Import any additional fill styles you want, then go into the fill style dialog and delete the ones you do not want.
- Create a new drawing tool set for your style. This is done by creating a new folder for your style under @system\drawtools. Copy all the drawtools you want from the original map style, as wel as from additional map styles into this folder.
- Access the map properties, and set the map style to the drawing tool set you just made. Now, edit any drawing tool you want, create new ones, and delete the ones you don't want.. Since you are working on a copy, you won't change the original styles.
- Optionally, edit the sheet effects for the map, and save the new setup under a new name.
- Finally, use file -> save as and change the file type to a CC3+ template (fct file) and save it in the appropriate subdirectory under @Templates. Whenever you start a new map, your custom template with your tools and fill styles should be available (Under the pick a predefined template option)
If you wish to edit the template at a later stage, just open it up as you would a regular map file, make the changes, then save it again.
Thanks Monsen.
Broke the mountain symbols I was using by adding and deleting fills that they used. They all reset them selves to "hollow" some how. But I finally used the symbol manager to edit them, and changed the fills back to the proper type.
No way was I going to place all those mountains again.
Everything else works as described, although I did find a bug.
You can change and save the files and templates all you want, but every time you reload a file, the drawing tools get set back to what they were at first (I assume). Changing to my custom set of tools and saving gets lost every time.
Still, its easy to manually set it back when opening the file.
Edit: There may also be a macro in the OnOpenMacro map note that forcibly changes this property. Check if you have a line starting with DTSTYLEM, then remove it if present (Or change the style name it sets to your own style)