A Forgotten Entity: Networks

DaltonSpence · February 2020

I like trolling through “Appendix A: CC3+ Command Reference” (and the associated spreadsheet) of the the Tome of Ultimate Mapping because I frequently find features of CC3+ that have been long forgotten but still work. One of these was a different type of entity called “Networks” that aren’t documented in the Tome itself (aside from the command table entries listed below) but do appear in the programs’s internal help system. The only post in the Profantasy Forums I found about the topic was this one which was a question that received no reply.

Command	Description	Text Equivalent	Command Syntax
Network, Add	Adds to a network, or create a new one	NETADD	xyNetwork[New];xyCorner1;…;xyCornerN
Network, Center	Sets the net insertion point to center	NETCENTER
Network, Change Node Width	Change the width of a network node	NETWIDS	xyNetworkSpan1;…;xyNetworkSpanN
Network, Change Span Width	Change the width of a network span	NETWIDE	xyNetworkSpan1;…;xyNetworkSpanN
Network, Change Width	Changes network width, and optionally draw additional segments	NETWIDA	rWidth;xyNetwork;xyCorner1;…;xyCornerN
Network, Create	Create a network	NET	xyCorner1;…;xyCornerN
Network, Cut	Cuts a section from a network	NETCUT	xyNetwork;xyCorner1;xyCorner2
Network, Left	Sets the net insertion point to left	NETLEFT
Network, Offset Copy	Creates an offset copy of a network	NETOFST	xyNetwork;dOffset1;…;dOffsetN
Network, Rectangle	Add rectangle to existing or new network	NETRECT	xyNetwork;xyCorner1a;xyCorner1b;…;…;xyCornerNa;xyCornerNb
Network, Remove Span	Remove a span from a network	NETRMV	xyNetworkSpan1;…;xyNetworkSpanN
Network, Right	Sets the net insertion point to right	NETRIGHT
Network, Set Width	Set network width and draw new network/span	NETWID	rWidth;xyNetwork[New];xyCorner1;…;xyCornerN

I was wondering if anyone has actually used this feature in their maps.

Loopysue · February 2020

Please can you define what is meant by a network?

DaltonSpence · February 2020

This is a direct quote from the CC3+ internal help page. Click the "Index" tab in the left-hand panel and type in "Ne" in the "Keyword" box to see a list of Network help pages.

Networks are a type of CC3 entity. Each network span has an intelligent relationship with other spans. They can also intelligently interact with symbols that have been designed to work with networks.

These abilities make the construction of architectural drawings extremely fast and easy. They are can be used for walls, roads and rivers.

Understanding Networks

A network in some ways is like a smart path. A path is a series of connected nodes, and so is a network. Additional segments can be added to a network in almost any direction or length, and attached at almost any point.

The great advantage of networks is that intersections are automatically cleaned up. When you create corners, T-intersections, or four way intersections, no tedious and repetitive breaking or trimming is required. CC3’s brain does it all for you.

Note too that networks, of course, have thickness. The width is assigned to each span at each of its two nodes. This allows different segments within the same network to have different thickness. Also, a segment can have a different thickness at each end of its span.

Since each network is a single entity, it can be assigned only one line style and fill style. Other entity properties, such as color, layer, etc., follow suit.

There is more of course but this should be enough to give you the idea. I suspect this may have been a feature of CC2 that was carried over.

Loopysue · February 2020

I wonder if that would make a river drawing tool where the tributaries got progressively thinner possible?

EDIT: missed the last line - no, not possible.

Monsen · February 2020

I didn't really find that many uses for networks in map-making, which is why I didn't devote space for them in the Tome either. They're better suited for more technical drawings. These commands belong to the FastCAD core of CC3+.

Loopysue · February 2020

If I'm grasping this right, then it could be kind of useful when making large cities and attempting to modify the road systems. That's if by moving one node at a junction you end up moving that entire junction, and the network distorts accordingly.

Monsen · February 2020

No. You cannot move network nodes around. To move things, you'd have to delete the span, and add a new one.

It is certain advantages to making a road network or dungeon corridor network with it, due to the way it automatically handles intersections and stuff, but it is also lacking in the available shapes. No smooth paths, or fractalized paths for example.

Loopysue · February 2020

That's a shame.

I can see why you didn't bother developing it now.

Merion · February 2020

Coming from a GIS background I wonder if you could add attributes like travel time to the network as done in 'real' geoinformation tools, thus being able to effectivly set up a routing algorithm. Google maps routing for your fantasy world, calculated in carriage hours ;-)

Monsen · February 2020

No, networks don't have attributes. Neither CC3+ nor FastCAD is a GIS tool.

Merion · February 2020

Posted By: MonsenNo, networks don't have attributes. Neither CC3+ nor FastCAD is a GIS tool.

Too bad. I know it's not a GIS tool, but some CAD tools do have similar functions. So I thought maybe. But no big thing. If I want something like that, I can always resort to such tools.

DaltonSpence · February 2020

Posted By: LoopysueI wonder if that would make a river drawing tool where the tributaries got progressively thinner possible?

I think it might be more useful in creating a street grid for a city. The tricky part comes in deconstructing the network into other entities: exploding one produces 2 lines per span (one each way) plus a line for each node (usually but not always zero length). In addition other non-network commands don't seem to recognize network nodes so tracing with drawing tools won't work. (This includes the TRACED command that I thought would work to create city blocks but has problems with upper horizontal edges.)

EDIT: Gee you guy talk fast! While I was busy experimenting you had a whole conversation.

jslayton · February 2020

Not all features currently present in the product are necessarily supported at this time. Unsupported features are unlikely to continue to work correctly in future versions and may be removed (hint, hint).

The reason is that there are a number of features that originate with the FastCAD product that happen to be included in CC3+, but that generate entities that are unsupported by the custom software that makes up the heart of CC3+ (an example of such a custom feature is the TRACE command that doesn't work with net entities). Using such features as part of your regular workflow may cause drawings to mysteriously fail in future software versions.

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A Forgotten Entity: Networks

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Understanding Networks