Only some of the sheet effects work with symbols - shadows and glows outside the edge of the symbol, but not much else.

This is easier if you use single tree symbols. Here I have use single trees and put all the symbols onto the same sheet using Change Properties then sorted them all at the same time using Sort Symbols In Map in the Symbols menu.

Well, there are actually several ways of getting the shadows to behave themselves properly. That was only one idea, which may or may not work for you. The other way is to create a new sheet called something like CLIFF TOPPING and use it to draw a shadow-casting plateau that covers the entire area of the higher ground a bit like this.

Here is the FCW for you so you can show and hide sheets and see what I did. It might be harder or easier to do it like this. I don't know. Only you can tell what issues might arise, as the creator of the map.

And here is the alternative I described before.

I haven't even tried to imitate those beautiful colours you created, but these are just 'how to' examples ;)

Hi Everyone! :D

In this week's Live Mapping session Ralf will be adding shadow and light effects to a dungeon map from the ground up, i.e. on a map that was not set up to do it before.

Come and join in the chat live on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpQetrH8yb4

Or watch it right here on the forum if you prefer.

Version 2. Already I have run out of space, quite apart from the problem with the hard edge at the top of each bevel. So it looks like this is more of a sketch than the actual map. But at least I am working out the sheets and effects.

Well, I finished the more simple map as one of the example maps, and I think it shows the style more clearly. One of the other examples is a conversion of Ranger's Hill from Forest Trail part 2. It should be reasonably easy to convert Forest Trail maps to Winter Trail maps.

Winter Trail is due out as the March issue this year.

Both of my example maps can be viewed at much higher resolution in my New Style Example Maps gallery.

I've located the original work files for this set of hedges from about 3-4 years ago. Unfortunately the symbols themselves need to be regenerated and the source files look a bit of a mess. But is this the sort of thing you were looking for? If it is then I can do a free symbol pack here on the forum, but it may have to wait for more pressing projects to be completed first. That might be several weeks.

A number of hours?

Not really appropriate for this problem and right now, but for other maps to speed up the process type EXPORTSETMPPP and hit enter. Check your Maximum Pixels Per Pass in the command line. If its only 4 million type "40000000" (40 million) and hit enter.

Unfortunately, I don't have CSUAC so I can't do a proper actual test on the map, but maybe someone else can try?

How does it render if you drop the antialiasing to 15%, or whatever number you need to drop it to in order to reduce that work size to fractionally under 10,000px each way?

Other things you can do to help include clearing the cache before you export and exporting straight away before you pan or zoom at all. You get to the cache by clicking the Display Speed button|CC2RESMODE|. Just hit the Clear bitmap cache button. My map is only using 63 MB at the moment, but yours may be a lot closer to the limit.

Another option is to render it as JPG rather than PNG, and/or to render it in quarters using the Rectangular Section exports then stitch it together in GIMP or another bitmap editor. This export in parts idea is easier if you have a small overlap on each quarter of the map.

And a little more...

@caveCrawler Do you mean like this?

I think you should be able to use the cutting doors and windows anyway, as long as you copied the properties of the sample wall and used them. It's all about which layer the walls are on.

I cut this circle I drew with a regular cutting door symbol after I converted it to a path using "Line to path" in the right click menu of the Fractalize button. Looking back I can see I forgot to mention the conversion.

If you treat the smooth walls the same way they should also cut.

And in fact I've just tried it and discovered that you don't even need to convert them. Both Circle and smooth line should cut, but they must be on the same sheet and layer as the walls drawn by the regular wall drawing tools.