[CC3+ / CC3] Creating CC3 Maps; helping with different styles
So,
with BlackFriday I treated myself to the trinity (CC, DD & CD), Schley's Map Pack and Annual Vol. 10, 9 & 7.
Quite a haul, if you ask me, but with that and a lot of cluelessness (gonna watch those tutorials again) and wishes...
So... I really love the July '13 (Vol 7) Map Pack... I love when stuff is not color, so it adds more to the Imagination of my (RP) players, however I really would love to do some colored borders around some sections of the map (so I can add some hostile lands to the map).
My questions in particular (TL;DR) are
• Can I install Vol. 7 to CC3+ (currently have CC3 and CC3+ installed), or do I need to wait for ProFantasy to update that retroactively.
•How could I add colored borders to the different regions... I tried some funky stuff with sheets, but yet I am out of luck, any pointers with that specific map pack?
I do not need a detailed answer (though it is preferred) and a pointer to the right tutorial is sufficient (if this applies for July '13 (Vol 7).
Thanks for helping out a beginner
-- Florian
with BlackFriday I treated myself to the trinity (CC, DD & CD), Schley's Map Pack and Annual Vol. 10, 9 & 7.
Quite a haul, if you ask me, but with that and a lot of cluelessness (gonna watch those tutorials again) and wishes...
So... I really love the July '13 (Vol 7) Map Pack... I love when stuff is not color, so it adds more to the Imagination of my (RP) players, however I really would love to do some colored borders around some sections of the map (so I can add some hostile lands to the map).
My questions in particular (TL;DR) are
• Can I install Vol. 7 to CC3+ (currently have CC3 and CC3+ installed), or do I need to wait for ProFantasy to update that retroactively.
•How could I add colored borders to the different regions... I tried some funky stuff with sheets, but yet I am out of luck, any pointers with that specific map pack?
I do not need a detailed answer (though it is preferred) and a pointer to the right tutorial is sufficient (if this applies for July '13 (Vol 7).
Thanks for helping out a beginner
-- Florian
Comments
You can have both programs installed just for that purpose.
With that I need only the second question answered...
-- Florian
I think from your question about coloured regional borders you may be talking of something like these:
If so, you can simply create a polygon of the appropriate colour over the area you wish to highlight on its own sheet (you can just add a new sheet to the map to draw this onto, but make sure it lies closer to the MAP BORDER sheet than the sheets you've drawn your land surfaces on for the map). You can use the Trace command to follow any coastline or river segments which form the region's border as you draw the polygon shape, so you don't have to laboriously redraw them. Then add an "Edge Fade, Inner" effect to the sheet with your coloured polygon(s) on. For the effect, set the Inner Opacity to 0 (zero) and the Outer Opacity to 100, with an Edge Width suitable to whatever size your map is - the default setting gives you something to experiment with for this. When you turn on the sheet effects, this will give you a coloured border for your region, fading away to nothing in its interior. If it doesn't look right, just keep adjusting the effect parameters till you're happy with it, or even change the colour of the polygon.
Welcome to CC3 and the ProFantasy forum!
As cobra mustang pointed out, ProFantasy is still converting some of the older content to work with CC3+ and, unfortunately, only Volumes 8-10 of the annual currently work with CC3+. There are ways to manually convert annual content to CC3+ yourself but it's a little involved. You may want to wait until you've familiarized yourself with CC3 a bit first. However, if you're feeling adventurous, there are some general instructions outlined on the forum here and here.
As for colored borders, the drawing tools that come with the template for that style of map (the buttons on the left for roads, rivers, terrain, and such) default to a black and white color scheme but you can always change the colors of entities that you've drawn, such as lines, paths, and shapes, by selecting the entity and then clicking the Change Properties button . Thus, it is easy to change the color of a border that you've drawn using a drawing tool.
Otherwise, if you want to draw a border later, you can simply select a color from the color and then draw a smooth path or smooth poly around the region, using the buttons on the right.
If you want the border to be transparent or to glow, you'll want to place it on a sheet with the proper effects. You can add your own sheets.
If you haven't done so already, I highly encourage you to follow the tutorials in the short Essentials guides. They're very informative and fun to do. You'll find them in your Documentation sub-folder and you can also download them from your account page. Start with the CC3 Essentials guide because it will familiarize you with the software. CC3+ (and the add-ons) are powerful and can do great things, but it does take some getting used to. The Essentials guide was written for CC3 but everything in there applies to CC3+. Some button images might be different but they're similar enough it shouldn't be an issue.
Also, you may want to check out the video tutorials on the ProFantasy tutorials page. They're really helpful, and fun as well. Again, they were originally made for CC3 but everything still applies.
I hope that helps!
Cheers,
~Dogtag
EDIT: Wyvern beat me to it! That'd teach me to be long-winded... if I could learn.
Cheers,
~Dogtag
Wyvern has pointed out pretty nicely, what I really, really want. I will try to recreate it in due time (currently don't have that much time on my hands), but if it is not too much trouble, can you elaborate a bit further and where I find all these tools?
Especially, but not limited to the TRACE command.
Anyway a big thank you!
-- Florian
a] make the glow
b] hide it under the countours, but I gather with me wanting to hide the actual borders, it's a matter of organizing my sheets?
Again, I used the Annual Vol. 8 July '13 Style.
Can somebody help me here out?
-- Florian
a] When (re)loading the map I have to reactivate the sheets
b] it does not matter the effect (or how silly big I inflate the numbers) it does not Change anything...
Aternate Stuff; I already have the (similiar) Annual May '15 style, which even works with some effects (tested on a stupid CC afternoon testride), but I can't remove the parchment background (want to Keep it mostly B&W, other than the "glowing" borders).
To have effects on when the map is loaded, open the Display Speed dialog and enable 'Effects are on when loaded' (This applies to this map only). In the Options dialog, you can also control the option globally (allways on, always off, or on for maps that has the aforementioned option set)
Thanks, what should I use the tool for (Icon to search for)
For the second thing, thanks!