New User With Several Questions and no luck Searching for Answers
I just purchased this software and I'm extremely frustrated. I'm using CC3+, v3.67 with Windows 10. I'm not as familiar with CAD programs, so that might be contributing. Perhaps I'm in the wrong mindset and I'm trying to solve problems like a typical user and not a CAD user.
First, problems I'm having with my first, terrible map (base map.png).
So the upper left contains a cave in the face of a cliff. I created it on the wall layer and, obviously, the resulting shadows were not in line with the lighting of a cave. So on a new layer/sheet, I created a few lines of where the top of the cliff would be and created a wall shadow from it.
So now, how do I make this line invisible while still keeping the "Shadow" effect? I set the width to 0, and now I have an ugly green line. I tried to hide the layer or sheet, but then the shadow disappears. I tried to create a custom fill that was all black with black transparent (which cast no shadow). How do I create a just a shadow?
Problem #2. The shadow itself changes with the zoom level?
Zoomed In...
What am I doing wrong here? How can I set a consistently sized shadow, or is that not possible?
I also attempted to install the CSUAC files and that didn't go well at all. I don't see any problems with the directory structure, file permissions, or anything I can think of.
This is what my menu looks like. I can click on all of the buttons (some are invisible) but I always get a corresponding popup error window. The MNC files are all in the root of my Menu folder and I've copied the fcw32.imn file to the root on my CC3Plus directory (I assume it produced the broken menu bar).
Does CSUAC not work with CC3+ or something?
Thank you for your help.
(Editing for typos and thumbnails to conserve space)
Additional Issues 11:00am: Saving as rectangular PNG does not save anything. Saving as PNG does work.
First, problems I'm having with my first, terrible map (base map.png).
So the upper left contains a cave in the face of a cliff. I created it on the wall layer and, obviously, the resulting shadows were not in line with the lighting of a cave. So on a new layer/sheet, I created a few lines of where the top of the cliff would be and created a wall shadow from it.
So now, how do I make this line invisible while still keeping the "Shadow" effect? I set the width to 0, and now I have an ugly green line. I tried to hide the layer or sheet, but then the shadow disappears. I tried to create a custom fill that was all black with black transparent (which cast no shadow). How do I create a just a shadow?
Problem #2. The shadow itself changes with the zoom level?
Zoomed In...
What am I doing wrong here? How can I set a consistently sized shadow, or is that not possible?
I also attempted to install the CSUAC files and that didn't go well at all. I don't see any problems with the directory structure, file permissions, or anything I can think of.
This is what my menu looks like. I can click on all of the buttons (some are invisible) but I always get a corresponding popup error window. The MNC files are all in the root of my Menu folder and I've copied the fcw32.imn file to the root on my CC3Plus directory (I assume it produced the broken menu bar).
Does CSUAC not work with CC3+ or something?
Thank you for your help.
(Editing for typos and thumbnails to conserve space)
Additional Issues 11:00am: Saving as rectangular PNG does not save anything. Saving as PNG does work.
Comments
I suggest you create another layer or set of layers to handle the cave due to the fact (as you allude to) that the lighting in that part of the map will be substantially different from the rest of the map. To create the shadows of the cave wall, I believe most users use a "glow" effect (colored black or a dark color).
Problem #2:
Regarding the zoom question. When you edit the sheets effects properties, there is a selection titles "percentage of zoom width" or something like that. Select the option "map units" instead.
There are threads discussing the CSUAC and its proper installation. I've always had an easy time installing it. Maybe I'm just lucky. Short answer to your question is, Yes CSUAC does work with CC3+
I've dug through quite a few CSUAC threads but only found threads discussing the "red x" issue, which I am not even able to get to.
Making an object transparent (decreased opacity) seems to remove its associated shadow. I have not tested all scenarios of this, but that seems to be what I'm seeing.
You might not need to make the object invisible, just obscured by the walls. Reverse the order of the sheets so that the WALLS sheet is directly below, in the sheet list, from the sheet that contains the object. The WALLS sheet will be drawn after the sheet with the object, thereby obscuring the object. But if the shadow is long, it will still extend past the WALLS section.
First, let me assure you that your first map is not remotely terrible. It looks quite good, actually.
Second, about the cave shadow. From the looks of it, it appears you're trying to convey that the shadow of the cliff face (where the cave is) falls over part of the woods and (rightly) that the shadow would not have anything to do with the cave. Is the image below similar to what you're after?
If so, I recommend a simpler solution.
- Delete the extra lines you added for the cliff.
- Move the cave to another sheet or, if you don't have anything else on the Walls sheet, simply deactivate or delete the Wall Shadow effect from that sheet (that would be easiest). If you move the cave to another sheet, be sure the new sheet is listed below the Walls sheet in your Sheets list. That will make the new ("Cave") sheet draw over any walls and wall shadows. Sheets are rendered in order from top to bottom, so the bottom-most listed sheet is rendered last (on top of all other sheets).
- Add a new "Cliff Shadow" sheet. If you want the shadow to cover the cliff and cave as well as part of the woods, then place it after the "Caves" sheet (or whichever sheet you placed the caves on). If you want the caves to be drawn over the cliff shadow, then place the "Cliff Shadow" sheet above the "Caves" sheet in the list.
- Add a Transparency effect to the Cliff Shadow sheet. Then add a Blur effect or Edge Fade effect — they'll both accomplish pretty much the same thing for this particular purpose.
- Now draw a solid black smooth poly on the Cliff Shadow sheet covering the area you want the shadow to fall on the map.
I think that might give you the shadow effect you're after. I've attached a sample map for you to examine with the sheets and effects I describe.Hopefully looking at it can give you some ideas.
Note that I changed the direction of the Global Sun because the default value cast shadows toward the cliff face, which would mean there'd be no cliff shadow. But it looks like you did something similar, too.
And stay with it! CC3+ has a learning curve but, honestly, it gets easier and once you get used to it you can do some pretty amazing stuff! It really helps to read the Essentials booklets and follow the tutorials. They're fun and informative. The CC3+ User Manual has a lot of good information too. And if you like videos, be sure to check out Joe Sweeney's tutorials on YouTube.
Cheers,
~Dogtag
After using it for just a few more hours I'm learning a lot of the "little quirks" of working in this environment that I didn't pick up from the videos I watched the other day. There are just so many little things that I needed to understand that seem simple but didn't immediately occur to me. For instance, I didn't understand that you must select objects by their edge, and if that gets other undesired objects (floors, the grid, etc), hide the layers of the other objects and try again. Also, I just recently discovered the render order of sheets, which you mentioned. I also found the ability to bring in my own assets from my Dundjinni days, which are helping quite a bit given the limited assets DD3 starts you with.
Thanks all for your help. I hope to report back my success shortly!
Oh, and welcome to profantasy! These guys(and gals) are a great bunch of people, they are definitely willing to help us newbies, and I seriously suggest you check out the show and tell area!!! I go there a lot for help with my maps, or sometimes to get inspiration when I get stuck with a map I'm working on. Plus, they way these people can manipulate this software is nothing short of amazing.
Another thing I would suggest, and I can't believe I'm saying it... is to invest in their Tome of Ultimate Mapping. I was a really hard sell...I couldn't see why I would need it... but it's a GREAT sourse of information. I would also suggest, when you aren't working on something specific.. to go through its set of tutorials. You will be shocked at the things you will learn! I've just begun my own walkthrough with it, and I've learned alot already!
And yes, like Dogtag mentioned, Joe Sweeney's tutorials are great! Just a small warning... he's working with cc3 NOT cc3+, but the only real difference is the interface appearance. Most of the buttons do the same thing between both programs.
Oddly enough, I just ran into a problem (that I also ran into trying to create something following Joe's videos) - my Poly's don't always fill! These are the kind of things I still don't understand and which really kind of discourage me. I hate bothering people for help (I've spend 4-5 hours testing and reading search results between this morning and yesterday before posting). Yet here I am, a fairly technical person and I can't fill a polygon. I was able to work around it using the "default cave" tool and just changing it's properties. Is there something I'm doing that disables the fill of polygons?
Also, I am not at all able to save using the rectangular section tool. When I hit the save button, nothing happens. I've tried all three file types and nada. The regular save options work well, I just then have to trim the edge of the resulting image which is kind of silly. Any ideaS?
Fills, for example, are set in the FS box on the far-right of the Status Bar. Click any field in the Status Bar to open its settings dialog. If you're going to draw a poly — for example, the black poly I suggested earlier for the cliff shadow — then you need to manually set the sheet, color, width, layer, and fill style before you draw it*. It may sound annoying at first but it gives you insane amounts of control over your drawings.
One thing to keep in mind is that the width for shapes is actually for the line that defines them. When the width of a shape — including lines — is set to zero (0.00000) then the shape itself is filled, with the color for solid fill styles, an image for bitmap fill styles, or whatever the active fill style calls for. If the width is any non-zero value, then the line that defines the shape takes the fill properties and the shape itself is hollow. If you want to keep a zero line width and still have a hollow shape then set the fill style (the FS field) to Hollow.
Also, if you don't already know this (because it sounds like you've been doing some reading and viewing already!), many buttons on the interface have several actual options that you can access by right-clicking them instead of left-clicking. Left-clicking simply uses the default function for the button.
I hope that helps!
~Dogtag
* If you later want to create another shape with the same properties of an existing shape, you don't have to manually re-set everything. Instead, you can use the Extract Properties button
Cheers,
~Dogtag
When using the export to rectangular area PNG/JPG, etc. The next thing the software waits for is the user entering the actual rectangular area to export. The command prompt will have something like First Point, or some such. Until the user gives the software the location of the area to export the program simply waits.
Check out if this is what is causing your export not to work.
Your question about polygons seems like you might have a width selected for your line width that is not 0, or that you have selected hollow as your fill style. Check those two things.
Hope that helps.
As per everyone's recommendations, I have purchased TUM3 as well. Right off the bat, however, it seems that the supplied tutorial maps, or at least the installer for them, are not yet compatible with CC3+? The installer (even run as admin) "couldn't find CC3 on this system" and will not install the tutorial maps. Registry entries are as they should be (as per the PF support section) assuming I can replace references to CC3 with CC3+. I checked their TUM3 product page and it doesn't mention compatibility concerns there. Assuming this isn't an installer issue, do they offer the tutorial maps somewhere else or do I need to install CC3 instead of CC3+ to go through the tutorials?
Thanks!
I'm guessing the example maps will open properly in CC3+ (I haven't tried it myself yet) but they'll be located within the CC3 folder structure.
Cheers,
~ Dogtag
If you want to avoid that, open CC3 or CC3+ first, whichever you want to use, and then browse to the map file you want to work on.
I have a set of folders on my computer:
C:\Profantasy\CC3\
C:\Profantasy\CC3Plus\
Under the CC3 one, I have folders for my Traveller site and my Crestar site. That way the map location on my hard drive is the same as my sites. Makes it easier to find the map I want to work on.
When I installed cc3+, the program went to the program data file, but all of the tutorials, including the ones for the tome, went into the profantasy folder in the program files(x86). I suggest you check those files on your comp. You might find them there...
Any other ideas?
It may also be affecting my "Numeric Edit" button. I attempted to perform that part of the TUM3 tutorial and just ended up using the "Change Properties" trick to make the changes. I did, however, have trouble selecting text even with that tool as it seems you need to select the origin of the text and not the actual text. Perhaps I was just unable to select the text without the rectangular selection box (is the technical term Window?) method available through the use of the "Change Properties" drop down?
Personally, I almost never use Edit Properties, because Change Properties does the same things, the only advantage of Edit Properties is that it shows a preview in the dialog.
As for selecting text, all text must be selected by clicking on the baseline of the text.
So I realize I messed up with my western coast line (vs my original hand drawn map) and need to fix it. The selection issue comes up again! I've been using the "Default Landmass" tool with a few tweaks. I click on the tool, hit the "E" key, and the console says "Pick start node:" - I've done this literally hundreds of times getting my land mass as it is. So I click on the western coast... console now says "Fractal Polygon: First point (E - Edit):" that's weird. I've tried this over and over with different zooms for precision, different layers, different sheets, effects on, effects off, all layers but the coastal layer hidden, all layers thawed, checked and resaved my "Select Method" under options... I cannot edit my coastline! It's like the moment I touched the mountains CC3+ locked my land masses. WTH did I do? My original before the mountains does NOT have this problem. Both attached.
Also, never had this before, but the entire map is a field of red Xs when I try to use CC3. I'm only using the bitmaps and symbols that came with the program. Realized I had the map also open in CC3+. Closed CC3+, tried to open in CC3 again...now CC3 crashes upon opening either map.
Now you said you are using just the basic programs... You don't have any annuals? Or Vintyri's collection or the CSUAC? Did you get City Designer and Dungeon Designer also?
There are only two things GS that come to my mind...Either one or both of the programs didn't I stall correctly, or possibly didn't update correctly.
So let me ask you this. When you installed your programs, you were supposed to install the updates twice, if I remember correctly... Once just after installing cc3(+) then again after installing cd3(+)/dd3(+). I messed up the first time, and only installed the update once. Did you I stall the updates twice?
Also, there is a new update for cc3+. Update4. Did you install the new update?
If that doesn't help you, then I apologize, and someone more experienced than I will have loom into it.
The maps I am working with have fractal default landmasses, smooth poly light mountain bitmap, and Mike Schley's mountains. Perhaps there were features involved with my map that aren't CC3 compatible.
Right now, I honestly don't care about CC3 having issue with my CC3+ map. I was just another thing I did to try and figure out a solution to my current problem. I want to figure out what I did to break my ability to edit my landmasses via the default landmass tool. I'm now paranoid that I'm going to put all this work into my map, find some coast I want to tweak, and have to revert back to an older version and lose hours worth of work.