Wanted to try out the new Sort All Symbols function (which you can get by simply reinstalling CC3+), and since it works best with overland maps, I wanted to do a dragon's lair in the Mike Schley style. This is just a quickie - still need to see if there are weird things that need to be manually sorted by shifting onto different sheets, or camouflaged with foliage.

In one of the recent Live video tutorials, Ralf asked for suggested topics for future Lives, as many of the mapping styles and annuals have been done. I thought I would create a thread here where people could add their suggestions.

Before adding my own, I wanted to mention (for the sake of completeness) the request from someone else for a tutorial about OSR Dungeons from the 2015 annual.

My request is to learn more about creating and using house symbols.

I'm not talking about the City Designer tools for creating houses, or drawing streets of houses. Ralf has shown that in a lot of tutorials (shown in this screengrab), such as the Big City Project tutorials from a few years ago, among others.

I am specifically curious about creating house symbols. They come with a shading file that I am curious about, and they respond to sheet effects in ways that many other symbols don't.

Here are some screen grabs of the symbols with the shading files to explain what I'm referring to:

What are those shading files for? (I understand it has to do with how the building reacts to the global sun, but I am curious to learn more.)

These buildings respond to sheet effects that (usually) don't affect other symbols. For example, here's a mockup I did for use on this forum only* showing the RGB Matrix effect on building symbols from different styles. I also included some non-building symbols to show how the RGB Matrix doesn't always work on them (though apparently it does work on some but not all of Mike Schley's symbols).

Anyway, a tutorial on how these buildings work and how to create building symbols would be different and super informative.

If folks have other ideas for Live videos they'd like to see, maybe this thread can be used for those suggestions.

Thanks!

* Please don't share this mockup outside of this forum, as it is a violation of the End User Licensing Agreement to share images of rows of CC3 symbols, as they could be used to steal ProFantasy's intellectual property. Admins: please delete this image or thread with my apologies if it itself would be considered a violation of the EULA.

In fairness, it's an awfully long manual. It's great for reference, but I struggled when I tried to learn the software with just the manual. For me, the video tutorials were very helpful.

One of the things I struggled with, and this may be the same for you, was understanding how layers and sheets differ, and how layers differ from the other art design and desktop publishing software I was more experienced with.

In CC3, layers help with organizing similar things so that you can hide, reveal, or freeze them, but they have no impact on the order in which things are shown. You'll notice that the layers are all listed alphabetically because the order they appear in the list doesn't affect anything.

Sheets have the big impact here. The software renders things in order they appear on the list. In this screenshot, the BACKGROUND would render, then BACKGROUND HILL, then OUTSIDE SHADOW, etc.

This allows you to control in how your symbols and drawn polygons sort, so that your floor will always be below your furniture, for example.

The Move to Front command only affects things on the same sheet (regardless of layer). If you have two symbols on the SYMBOLS LOW sheet, then the Move to Front command could force that symbol to be on top of the other one. Both symbols, however, will be above any other symbols on the SYMBOLS FLAT sheet (because the SYMBOLS FLAT sheet would render first, and then the SYMBOLS LOW). And both symbols would be below the regular SYMBOLS sheet, because it will render after the SYMBOLS LOW sheet.

Screen captures are always helpful, but I hope this gets you on the right track.

Hello Mr. Red!

In addition to the top=down elven structurers that Ricko showed, Mike Schley also has isometric versions (like looking down at a 45 degree angle) in both his isometric cities (Symbol Set 6) and his overland symbols.

Here's some portions from a map I did using SS6:

And here's a bit of an elven city using his overland symbols, which come with CC3+:

Here's an elven village using the top-down symbols that Ricko showed:

You can find that in the Atlas here:

https://atlas.monsen.cc/Maps/fon'anar

But I also did an elven village using Darklands City and Forest Trail, where I drew platforms in trees, placed thatched homes on those platforms, and then put more trees above the houses -- with trees above and below, they look like tree houses.

https://atlas.monsen.cc/Maps/yr%C3%A9as%20k%C3%B3ltyn%20village

You can download the full FCW file from the Atlas if you want to see how I did that.

It's a useful style for creating a rough idea of what I want to map, but somewhat limited in symbols. I like the idea of doing a sketch with this style and a more detailed version in another, with this style on hand to give to adventurers when the time is right. I love the idea of using this pencil sketch style for a map handed to adventurers by some weary ranger in a tavern who has scrawled out a quick idea of where the adventurers need to go -- while omitting many of the perils they'll encounter on the way.