Hex Combat Tiles: Caves, some issues

I'd like to get started on my caves but unfortunately I can not use the default parameters for the 2007 Caves and Caverns. It just doesn't work with my Battle Tiles. The light features on the default plays havoc on such a small area amongst other issues. Despite using Campaign Cartographer since the late 90's I end up taking huge breaks between projects and its like learning it all over from the beginning. I'm afraid this old brain does not retain knowledge very well. I like to say my mind is more of a sieve than a bucket.

Screen Shot of Caves

Now with my Dungeon Battle Tiles the floor texture is the background. Then I draw the walls, then the "Earth" around with them. This allows the Earth Layer to be placed above the background and the hex grid so the grid only shows on the dungeon. I'd like to achieve this with the caves but I'm unsure how to do the edges of the caves.

Screen Shot of Dungeon

I'm currently experimenting with adding blur and outer glow effects to my Earth Layer but I have yet to find something that looks nice.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Comments

  • It looks you put the cave floor as the bottom sheet and the brown dirt as the walls on top? That would have been my suggestion if so.

    Looks good so far!
  • Yes the brown dirt is on top and the grey cave floor is on the bottom with the hex grid in between.

    The problem with Bevel is it changes when you zoom in and out so I would have to be careful to have it at the same "zoom level" when exporting the image otherwise it may not match up with another tile.
  • Try using the 'Percent of View Width' units setting instead of 'Map Units'. This setting makes the effect scale based on your current zoom level. It will probably take a bit of fiddling to get it to look how you want but would solve the variations when zooming.
  • I had issues with the bevel. If I could get them both to be the same colour then it would work out but having one lighter than the other causes issues when you rotate it against itself as they don't match. Still looking for options.

    Cave Attempt 3
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    Posted By: Highland_PiperI had issues with the bevel. If I could get them both to be the same colour then it would work out but having one lighter than the other causes issues when you rotate it against itself as they don't match.
    That is the issues with bevels unfortunately, to make them, you need to vary the lightness levels, which causes the issue you described. You have the exact same problem with your walls in your dungeon hexes, although probably a lot less noticeable.

    You can get the same bevel on both sides if you put each wall on its own sheet, and use "Bevel, lighted" on it, and configure the effect with opposite sun positions. It may be more tricky with bends though, so I am unsure if it will work for you. Having tiles that can be rotated in 6 directions makes light and shadows quite difficult.
  • 11 days later
  • Well you are correct that having the six sides still brings up the same situation. I'm just going to not use Bevel. One fix would be to touch them all up in Photoshop but honestly I've been working on these hex tiles on and off since 2009 so realistically I'd never get around to it. Too many hobbies and not enough time, patience, and lets face it, dedication.

    Another cave
  • I'm thinking of getting these printed on A0 posters (841 x 1189 mm or 33.1 x 46.8 in) then cut & mount them myself on 1 or 2mm greyboard or chipboard. Might even splurge for 2mm MDF with cutouts for magnets to bind them together.
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