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ver. 2.5
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CONTENTS |
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Color Depth And File Size
An Operational Level Map: Base Terrain
Adding A Hex Grid
Adding Terrain Features
Manipulating Vector Objects
Adding Roads And Rivers
Adding A Rail Line
Adding Compound Terrain Features
Adding Text
Adding Symbols
Obtaining Symbols
Creating And Adding Counters
Designing Counters
Creating a Counter Template
Labels & Transparency
Counter Rotation
Antialiasing
Creating Charts & Tables
Moving On
A Tactical Level Map: More Complex Clear Terrain
Creating ADC2 Or CB Hex Grids
Adding Elevations
Adding Depressions
Completing The Tactical Map
Adding Atmospheric Effects
Creating Your Own Patterns
Creating Seamless Tiles
Creating Non-Seamless Patterns
Blending Layers
Using Textures
A Man To Man Level Map: Using Picture Tubes
Final Thought |
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If you are fortunate enough
to have a copy of Paint Shop Pro 7, you can create decent looking
wargame maps and counters in a fraction of the time required when
using the CyberBoard
or Aide de Camp editors. I created
the demo maps that are part of this package in less than 3 hours.
This paper will walk you through the process and explain the
techniques. Although the features of PSP7 we will be using
are somewhat "advanced", the process is not hard. |
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A note on Paint Shop Pro
versions: Versions
8 to 11
are now out, but
I continue to recommend version 7 (or 7.04, to be exact). Version 7.04
contains the highly useful Alien Skin EyeCandy 3.1 filters, is
fast, bug-free, and uses a modest amount of RAM. Versions 8
to 11 lack these
filters, offer little additional
functionality, are noticeably slower,
somewhat buggy, and use more RAM.
The marketplace tells the story: as of Sept./07, versions 8 to 11
were selling (new) for $17 to $60. Version 7 (new) still
sells at its original price of $100. |
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COLOR DEPTH AND FILE
SIZE |
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Before
we begin, we must address the trade off between color depth (or
density) and file size. |
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As you
create your map using PSP7, you will have to work entirely with a
color depth of 16 million colors (24-bit color), as many of the
features we will be using are only available in this format.
This raises an issue that needs to be considered at the outset.
Will your final product be displayed in 16 million colors (24-bit
color) or in 256 colors (8-bit color)? If necessary, you can
use Colors>Decrease Color Depth>256 Colors to change the image
from 16 million to 256 colors at the very end of the map creation
process. |
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If
you will be using CyberBoard, version 2, you have no choice –
it
can only display images in 256 colors. Reducing your image
to a depth of 256 colors tends to cause some loss of definition
and raises the prospect of unsightly “palette shifts”, where one
or more of your chosen colors is changed to something else you did
not intend. You can minimise this problem by always choosing
colors from the CB color palette (included in this package) and by
checking the appearance of your map from time to time in the CB
Design module as you progress. Version 3 of CB uses
65535 colors (16-bit color), which largely eliminates
the problem. |
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Aide de
Camp 2, however, IS capable of displaying a map in 16 million
colors. Use that capability if you can. |
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Why
would you choose to display a map in ADC2 in just 256 colors?
Because of file size – an image with a color depth of 256 is
stored in a file just 1/3 the size of the same image in 16 million
colors. Since ADC2 also limits a single map sheet to a
maximum file size of 4 MB, your map may simply be too large for a
depth of 16 million colors. To avoid this problem, you will
have to reduce to a depth of 256 colors (which poses the same
disadvantages explained above) or cut your final map into sections
which are each less than 4 MB in size, and then use ADC2’s ability
to display multiple map sheets joined together to form one large
map. |
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It’s
your call – is superior color more important to you than file
size? I would stick with 16 million colors if at all
feasible. The demo maps in this
tutorial have a color
depth of 16 million. |
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To
estimate the file size of your map, find the number of pixels it
contains by 1) multiplying the number of pixels per hex times the
width in hexes, 2) multiplying the number of pixels per hex times
the height in hexes, and 3) multiplying the two resulting
products. The result is an estimate of the number of pixels,
and also the size in bytes of the image file if it has a color
depth of 256. Triple that figure to estimate the file size
in 16 million colors. |
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Once
you have made that decision, we can begin. We will create 3
demo maps. If
you make a mistake (and if you are like me you will make a lot of
them), just hit the Undo button on the tool bar. Let's get
started. |
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AN OPERATIONAL LEVEL MAP: BASE TERRAIN |
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Map graphics differ
significantly according to the scale of the map and the game.
Mountains, for example, should be portrayed differently on a map
for a strategic or operational level game than on one for a
tactical level or man-to-man game. To cover the ground
thoroughly, we will walk through the creation of an operational
level map, followed by a tactical level one, and then end with a
bit of practice on a man-to-man level map.
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Let's start by building a demo map for an operational level game.
Open the
Operational.bmp file included in this package and examine it –
that is what we will create. |
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First, we will create a new
image and cover it with our base terrain. Most of the demo
map will be clear terrain, so we will use that. |
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Select File>New and set the
image dimensions to 800 by 600 pixels. Use a white
background color. Make sure the image type specifies 16.7
million colors (24-bit color). You should always work in
24-bit color even if you know that you will be reducing the image
to 8-bit color (256 colors) before using it in CB
or ADC2 or
posting it on the net. This is because many of the more
advanced features of PSP7 are only available in 24-bit color mode.
Click OK to create the image. |
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Set the Foreground Style
to Patterns by clicking on the small black triangle and
then selecting the Pattern icon, which is the second one from the
right. Click on the current foreground pattern to display
the Pattern Selector. Use the Edit Path button
to point the Pattern Selector at the folder where you have stored
the patterns in the package
that is part of this tutorial. Then, click on the vertical bar in the
Pattern Selector window to bring up a display of the patterns we
will be using. Select the "clear" pattern. Make sure
the scale is set at 100% and the angle at 0 degrees. Click
OK and the clear terrain pattern appears as the Foreground Style. |
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Select the Flood Fill Tool (the paint can) and then click on the
image to fill it completely with the clear terrain pattern. |
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ADDING A HEX GRID |
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The next step is to add a
hex grid to the image. Actually, it is best to let CB
or ADC2 draw the hex grid itself, as there are certain advantages to
that (such as the ability to use the line of sight capability in
ADC2). However, we still need a hex grid while drawing our
map for the purpose of placing objects in their proper locations.
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You cannot just draw a
hexagonal pattern on the image because neither CB
nor ADC2 uses
"true" hexagons (where each side has an equal length). We
need to use a hex grid which corresponds precisely with the one
used by CB or ADC2. I will describe later how to create your
own hex grid for CB or ADC2
in your favourite size. For the time being, we will use one
of the six CB
grids (or 6 ADC2 grids)
that I have already created for you. |
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Use
the File>Open command to open up the file selection window. Then,
open the hex
grid image "CBHexGrid75Vert", a vertical grid
of 75-pixel hexes.
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We are going to draw the
various elements of our map in layers. This gives you far
more flexibility than just creating an image in a single raster
layer. Layers can be altered and deleted without affecting
the rest of the image. The visibility of a layer can be
turned on and off, or adjusted to create special effects. A
layer can be “locked” to prevent unintended changes to it. |
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Select Layers>New Raster
Layer. It is a good idea to name each of your layers; name
this one "HexGrid". After you press OK, you will have an
image containing two layers, with the hex grid layer selected.
Confirm this by opening the Layer Palette and examining it.
At this point, any changes you make in the image will only affect
the current layer. Nothing you do will alter the background
layer at all. |
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Open the Pattern Selector
again. Scroll up to the very top of the thumbnail image
display and you will see the hex grid pattern whose image you have
just opened. ANY open image will be displayed,
for as long as it
is open, in the pattern list. Any such image can be applied
as a "pattern" to another image. The fact that the image contains some
transparent portions, as the hex grid does, does not prevent its
use as a pattern. |
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Use the Flood Fill tool to
completely fill the new layer with the hex grid pattern.
There you have it, a 75-pixel vertical hex grid in the exact shape
used by CB. This will guide us as we create the rest of
the map. |
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Open the Layer Palette
Window and click the small lock icon on the right hand side of the
hex grid line; that will protect this layer against any accidental
changes by locking it. |
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At this point, you should
save the file. Be sure to save it as a Paint Shop Pro image
(*.psp), because this is the file format which will retain all
the advanced features we are going to use. We will change
the file to a Windows bitmap eventually, but it is very important
to do all your work on a PSP7 native format file and change it to
a bitmap as the very last stage in the process. |
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ADDING TERRAIN FEATURES |
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Let's add an area of Rough
terrain. Later, I will explain how to create your own patterns;
for now, use the ones I have made for you. Change the
Foreground Style to the Rough pattern included in this package.
As always, be sure the scale is set to 100% and the angle to 0
degrees. |
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Now, set the Background
Style to Patterns and then select the Rough pattern again for the
Background Style. We want the same style in both the
foreground and background at this point.
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We need to create a new
layer but this time it will be a vector layer (I will explain why
in a minute). Select Layers>New Vector Layer and enter the
name "Terrain Features". |
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Layers can be moved up and
down in the image. We want the terrain features layer to be
above the background layer but below the hex grid layer.
Open the Layer Palette window and click and drag the terrain
features layer into the proper position. |
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We are going to draw the
terrain features as vector objects. Using vector graphics
provides a lot more flexibility than raster graphics. Vector
objects can be moved, enlarged, contracted, and pulled into a
different shape easily. They are also easier to delete if
you make a mistake. |
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Click on the Drawing Tool,
which looks like a pencil drawing a line. Make sure the Tool
Options Window is visible, and then select the first tab of that
window.
Set
the type to Freehand Line, the Width to 1, the Line Style to Style
#1 Solid, and place a tick beside Antialias, Close Path, and
Create as Vector. Select the second window tab. Open
the drop-down list under "Join". Now choose the Round style
and set the Curve Tracking to 10. These are the settings we
will use for creating irregularly shaped areas of rough,
mountains, forest, etc. In effect, you are drawing a line of
"rough" one pixel wide and filling in everything enclosed by the
line with a background of "rough".
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Draw yourself a Rough area
somewhere on the map. Make it an irregular shape with lots
of indentations, etc. Don't make it too large as we have a
number of other objects to draw. Left click on the layer and
trace the outline of your Rough area. When you get back near
the starting point, release the mouse button and the line will
complete itself. Do not release it too soon as the line will
be a straight line and you do not want a square edge on your
terrain. At this point, the Rough area is a vector object
surrounded by a selection box indicating that that object has been
selected. |
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MANIPULATING VECTOR OBJECTS |
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To select a vector object
after it has already been deselected, use the Vector Selection
tool that is the last one on the toolbar. Alternatively, you
can select the object from the Layer Palette Window. |
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For practice, we will delete
this object and draw it again. Hit the Delete button and
draw another area of Rough terrain. |
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Now let's move the Rough
area somewhere else. Place the cursor over the selection
point in the middle of the selection box; the cursor should change
into four arrows. Now click and drag the vector object to
some other part of the map. |
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Let's make our Rough terrain
a bit bigger. Place the cursor over the selection point in
the upper right corner. Right-click
and drag it outwards. When you release the mouse button, you
will see a larger patterned area. Now do the same thing in
reverse to make it smaller. |
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Want to rotate the area of
Rough terrain to a different orientation? Place the cursor
over the selection point that is immediately to the right of the
central selection point. The cursor should change into two
circular arrows. Click, and then drag the vector object in a
circular rotation and it will change to a different orientation. |
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You can gain even more
control over the shape of the vector object by going into Node
Edit Mode. Switch to the Vector Selection tool and select
the vector object you want to edit. Open the Tool Options
window and click on Node Edit. The vector object will change
to a single line with small boxes indicating nodes along the line.
You can click and drag on any node to move it and change the size
and shape of the object. To add a node, place the cursor on
the line and press the CONTROL key. The cursor will change
to the word “ADD”. Now, left-click and a node will be added
to the line. |
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From time to time, you may
need to make the same change (e.g., a 90-degree rotation) to each
of several vector objects. You can select several vector
objects by clicking and dragging with the Vector Selection tool,
by selected individual objects while pressing the SHIFT key, or by
using Selection>Select All to select all the vector objects in a
vector layer. Then, use the Objects>Group command to group
them, after which they can all be rotated, etc., with a single
command. Use Objects>Ungroup to release them when you are
done. |
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Often, you will want to add
a terrain feature that is adjacent to one or two map edges.
No problem. Draw the feature in the usual manner and, when
you get to the edge of the image, just keep on drawing.
Swing the line around to the place on the edge where you want to
enter the image window again and draw the line back to near where
you started. Part of the vector object is outside the
visible area, but it is all "there". If you wanted to, you
could click and drag the entire vector object into the visible
area of the image. Try this technique for the final Rough
terrain area, which you will place in the lower left corner of the
map. |
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Now,
go ahead and add another terrain feature to the layer. Leave
the top part of the map open as we are going to put some ocean and
a coastline there. Try adding a mountain range using one of
the mountain patterns I have included. These are handled in
exactly the same way as the area of Rough terrain. |
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Next, we will add forested
areas on the right and left sides of the map. My forest
pattern is partially transparent, like the hex grid patterns, so
it must be opened in its own image
window (as you did with the hex grid). Once that is done,
the forest pattern will appear at the top of the pattern thumbnail
display when you open up the Pattern Selector. Set the
forest pattern as both the Foreground and Background pattern and
then draw some forests as vector objects in the same manner as the
Rough terrain area. Draw one on top of the Rough area to
demonstrate the partial transparency of the pattern. |
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Use
the Town pattern to add an urban area. There are a number of
other patterns I have provided; their purposes are obvious from
the file names. Save the file. |
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ADDING ROADS AND RIVERS |
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Let's add a river. Set
the Foreground Pattern to Deep Water. Set the Background
Pattern to None (select the null indicator on the far right of the
small window that opens when you click the black triangle).
Open up the Tool Options window, select the left-hand tab, and set
the Line Width to 20 pixels. This time, clear the check box
beside Close Path. Leave everything else as it is.
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Move the cursor down to the
bottom of the image then click and drag towards the top to create
the river. Be sure to include some realistic twists and
turns. After you have created it, you will find that it
doesn't quite join the bottom edge correctly; it doesn't look like
it flows off the bottom edge. To rectify this, click and
drag the selection point in the centre of the object and move the
river down until the appearance is correct. |
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Let's draw a paved road from
right to left across the upper part of the map and across the
river. We need to make sure that the river vector object is no
longer selected.
Use Selections>Select None to get rid of the selection box.
Set the Foreground Style to Paved Roads and the Line Width to 10.
Leave everything else alone. Draw yourself a road that
starts at one side of the Window and runs off the opposite side.
Move the cursor a few pixels past the edge of the window so as to
create the impression the road is running "off" the edge of the
image. These lines you have drawn are vector objects and can
be grouped, moved, rotated, enlarged, contracted, and deleted in
the same way I have described before.
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As you can see, where it
crosses the river, the road is on top. But let's assume that
you had drawn the road first and, when you drew the river, you
found that it was flowing over the road. Unless you want a
washed out road, this needs to be fixed. It's simple. |
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The answer is to move the
road vector object to a higher position in the layer hierarchy
than the river vector object. Let's see how this works. |
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Open up the Layer Palette
Window and click on the plus sign to the left of the Terrain
Features layer. This opens up a list of the vector objects
you have created but, at the moment, each one is called
"Freehand". You can, and probably should, rename these,
which you can do by right-clicking on "Freehand" and selecting the
Rename menu option. |
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When you rest the cursor on
the line for a vector object for a couple of seconds, a small
window opens up which shows you the vector image. Use this
feature to locate the road image. For practice, click and
drag it down below the river vector image in the Layer Palette
Window hierarchy. When you release the mouse button, presto!,
the road is now underneath the river. Click and drag the
road back into its proper position. |
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Use
Selections>Select None to get rid of the selection box and then
use the Dirt Roads pattern to draw yourself a dirt road feeding
into the paved road. Save the file. |
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ADDING
A RAIL LINE |
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A railway line can be added
to the map in exactly the same way as a road or river. The
only difference is you need to use a "Custom Line" that resembles
railway tracks. I have included one for you in the Styled
Lines folder. Use the File>Preferences>File Locations>Styled
Lines command to point at the Styled Lines folder I have provided.
Set the Foreground Style to Color and select a suitable dark brown
color. |
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This time, set the Line Type
in the Tool Options Window to Point to Point and the Line Width to
2. Select the drop down list under Line Style and scroll
down to select the Railway style. Check the Antialias box
but leave the Close Path box unchecked. |
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Click at the left edge of
the Image Window to start drawing the line.
Move right and down, then click again to end the first track
section. Each time you click on the map a node is added to
mark where the section in question will end. The last node
should be placed just below the bottom edge of the image window.
If you want to add a curved section of track, left click and then
drag to draw a curve in the line section that ENDS where you have
just clicked. |
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Press CONTROL Q to end the
line drawing process. |
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ADDING COMPOUND TERRAIN FEATURES |
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I use the phrase "compound
terrain feature" to refer to a vector object which contains a
foreground pattern of one thing and a background pattern of
another. Let me illustrate. |
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We will draw ourselves a
coastline - a body of deep water fringed by a sandy beach.
Set the Foreground pattern to Desert, set the Background Style to
Patterns, and then set the Background pattern to Deep Water.
In the Tool Options window, set the Line Width to 15 pixels (the
width of the beach) and tick off the Close Path box. Leave
everything else alone. |
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Now
we will draw our coastline. Starting from the right hand
side of the image near the top, draw an undulating line across the
map to the left side. When you get to the left side just
keep on going off the edge of the image and then, still holding
the left mouse button down, swing the cursor above the top border
of the image all the way over to the right hand side and down
close to where you started. Then release it. At this
point you have a coastline vector object (a "compound terrain
feature") which is partly inside and partly outside the image.
As usual, it can be moved, rotated, enlarged, etc. |
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Let's draw one more compound
terrain feature to make sure you've got the concept. Set
the foreground pattern to Marsh, the background pattern to Shallow
Water, and the Line Width to 10. Make sure Close Path is
checked. Draw yourself a shallow lake fringed by marsh.
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Now, uncheck the Close Path
box, set the Foreground pattern to
Shallow Water and the
Background pattern to Null, and draw a stream flowing from the
marsh to the near edge of the map. Save the file.
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ADDING
TEXT |
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Let's add some text to label
a couple of features and give the map a name.
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Create a new vector layer
called "Text". Move it to a position above the terrain
features layer and the hex grid layer. All text will be
created as vector objects. This allows you to manipulate
text objects in any and all of the ways described earlier.
For example, you could Group a number of text objects and then
rotate them all with a single command. |
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Let's give a name to the
urban area. Click on the Text Tool (a capital A).
Click on the layer somewhere near the town you have drawn; it
doesn't matter exactly where you click - because this is a vector
object, it can be easily moved after you create it.
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Set the font to Arial (a
nice, clean font with good visibility), the size to 9, and click
the Standard Text button. Click on the Fill Color to open up
the Color Palette and then choose pure black. You can set
this numerically by setting Red = 0, Green = 0, and Blue = 0.
This is called the “RGB Value”. |
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Fill in the name of your
town in the large text box and choose Create as Vector. Check the Antialias check box. Leave Auto Kern turned off. You may
wish to make the text Bold by clicking the Bold button. |
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When you click OK, the text
will appear as a vector object on the layer. Move it into
position and deselect it. If you don't like its position,
you can always select it again and move it. |
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If you want to change the
font, text size, etc., then select the text vector object, click
on the Text Tool, and place the cursor over the object. When
the cursor changes to display a capital A, click again and the
text entry box will open up. You can now make your changes. |
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Let's add a map name in the
upper left corner. Click there with the Text Tool.
This time, set the size to 18. Set
the Fill Color to pure white (RGB = 255, 255, 255). Save the
file.
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ADDING SYMBOLS |
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Let's add a couple of
graphic symbols to the map to liven it up a bit. |
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Create a new raster layer
called "Symbols" and position it above the Terrain Features layer
but below the hex grid layer. Go into the folder where you
have stored the symbols included with
this tutorial and select the
symbol called "airfield1". After it opens in its own image
window, hit the Copy button to copy it to the Clipboard.
Then, switch back to the demo map image and select Edit>Paste>As
New Selection. The symbol appears on the tip of your cursor
and you can now click on the layer to position it. Click
Selections>Select None to remove the marquee.
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As
you can see, this symbol image
is partly transparent; that gives it a natural look against the
background. Save the file. |
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OBTAINING SYMBOLS |
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Where do we get symbols
from? Assuming you are as artistically challenged as I am,
drawing them ourselves is not really an option.
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A variety of symbols are
available on the Internet, but the best ones can usually be found
in old computer wargames. This raises aspects of copyright
law which are beyond the scope of this
tutorial. Suffice it to
say that lifting a few small symbols from an old, out of print
wargame that is no longer available commercially is not likely to
offend anyone. |
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Let's assume you have an old
wargame with some useful symbols. The first step is to use
PSP7 to do a screen capture of the symbol.
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Run PSP7, select
File>Import>Screen Capture>Set Up, and then set the capture value
to "Area" and the hot key to F11 (or F12). Click the
Capture
Now button and PSP7 will minimise itself and run in the
background. |
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Next, run your wargame and
bring up on the screen a scene that includes the symbol or symbols
you want to capture. When you are ready, hit F11 and the
cursor will change. Left click a little above and to the
left of the image area you want to capture and the cursor will
change again. You will see a rubber-band selection box with
some numbers in it. These numbers tell you the size, in
pixels, of the capture area. Expand the selection box until
it is past the lower right corner of the area you want.
Then, click again and PSP7 will maximise itself and display the
selected area in a separate image. You can now save this
image to disk. |
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The next step is to zoom in
and select a rectangular area that includes only the symbol you
want. When you have it, hit the Copy button to copy the
image to the Clipboard and the Paste button to paste it into a
separate image. |
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Next, you need to isolate
the portion of the symbol you want and render the rest of the
image transparent. Select Layers>Promote to Layer to enable
yourself to use transparency. The area you want to make
transparent will probably be an irregular shape, so use the Magic
Wand to select the first such area. You will probably have
to play with the Magic Wand Tolerance settings a bit before you
get the selection correct; start at
Tolerance=0 and slowly increase it if necessary. This takes a bit of practice.
Leave the Match Mode at "RGB Value" and Feathering at 0.
Clear the box for Sample Merged. |
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Once you have made a correct
selection of the first area to be rendered transparent, you need
to extend that to the other similar areas in the image.
(Here, I am assuming that all of the background you wish to make
transparent has similar RGB values, i.e., is a similar "color").
To do this, choose Selections>Modify>Select Similar. This
should extend the selection to all portions of the image that are
similar. If it doesn't work, you will have to play with the
Magic Wand Tolerance setting or select them individually.
(Note that "Select Similar" uses the Magic Wand Tolerance
setting.) |
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Now hit the Delete button
and the selected areas will be replaced with transparency.
Save the symbol to disk as a Paint Shop Pro (*.psp) file.
That's it! You now have an image that you can use repeatedly
on your maps.
Another good alternative, if
you own a copy of Corel Draw, is to use the 2 TrueType symbol sets
included in that package: the "Military" set contains symbols of
tanks, planes, artillery pieces, etc., and the "Military ID"
set contains NATO symbols. Once Corel Draw is installed,
these symbol sets should show up as fonts in PSP7.
You "write" the symbol onto
the map or counter using the Text
tool. Create the symbol as a Vector, so you can scale it
afterwards. In the Text Entry window, select the symbol set,
set the size, and then press the key for the symbol you
want.
You can get an image of all
the symbols in the set in MS Word from the Insert>Symbol menu
item. By comparing this image to one of an ordinary alphabet
font (do screen captures and print them out), you can infer which
key to press for a particular symbol.

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CREATING AND ADDING COUNTERS |
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Let's make a couple of
counters. We will also add them to the demo map although,
when we finally save the map for use in
CB or ADC2, we will render
the counters invisible at that point. The counters you
create will be saved as separate files and can be imported into
into CB using the Design Module or into
ADC2 using its Symbol Editor. |
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Go to the folder where you
have stored the counters and counter templates that are part of
this tutorial. Select CounterTemplate50.bmp,
which is 50
pixels square and the right size for a 75 pixel hex grid
(if there is no stacking of counters - see below). |
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The template is
gray, but you can
easily change the color. Select the Dropper Tool and right
click on the gray to make it the Background Color. Set
the Foreground Style to Solid
Color, click on the Style box to
open up the Color Palette, and choose the color you want.
Then, select PSP7's Color Replacer Tool, set its Tolerance to 0,
and double click on the image. The
gray color will be
replaced with your selection. |
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You can easily draw standard
NATO symbols in the square outline I have provided on the
template. |
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As an alternative, you can
erase the square (select it with the Magic Wand and then replace
it with the color of the rest of the counter) and add a symbol to
the counter. Load the tank symbol file included with this
tutorial and place the tank image on the centre of the counter in
the same way you earlier placed symbols on the map. Then,
use what you learned earlier to place text on the counter (I
suggest Arial, size 9, Antialiasing on, no Bold). I have
included four sample counters in two colors in the package. |
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Counters look better if they
are "Buttonized". This gives them a bit of a 3D look that is
similar to the appearance of a cardboard counter on a paper map.
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First, you should set the
Background Style to Solid Color and the Background color to
RGB=192, 192, 192 (gray). You can buttonize the Background
layer (i.e. a raster layer) of the counter by selecting Effects>3D
Effects>Buttonize. This opens up the Buttonize window.
Set the values to: |
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Height = 2 pixels
Width = 2 pixels
Opacity = 100
Solid Edge |
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When you have created your
counter, save it to disk as a Windows bitmap (*.bmp) file because
you will want it in this format in order to import it into the CB
Design Module or
ADC2 Symbol Editor. |
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Let's add some counters to
the map to see what they look like on the map. Create a new
raster layer called "Counters". Place it at the top of the
layer hierarchy, above the HexGrid layer. Load a counter as
a separate image, hit Copy to copy it to the Clipboard, and then
Edit>Paste>As New Selection to paste it on the layer where you
want it. |
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You can add some of my
sample counters as well. Save the file.
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DESIGNING
COUNTERS
We now need
to take a more detailed look at designing and creating counters.
The first
question is counter size.
Wargame maps
and counters seem to look best on a computer screen, most of the
time, when they are displayed at the same size as the cardboard
maps and counters they represent. A good, average screen
resolution suitable for most monitors these days is 100 pixels per
inch. We will use that as our standard.
Many typical
wargames use a hex size of ¾ inch; translated to the computer
screen, that
equals a hex size of 75 pixels. Most counters are square.
The largest square counter that will fit into a 75-pixel hexagon
without overflowing the edges is 56 x 56 pixels.
That
represents about 75% of the hex size. More generally, we can
adopt the rule that a square counter should have a maximum size =
75% of the hex size if it is to fit comfortably inside the hex.
Most
wargames allow counter stacking. CyberBoard illustrates stacked
counters by offsetting each such counter after the first by 3
pixels horizontally and vertically when you use the AutoStack
feature.
(The offset value can be changed by the scenario designer in CB’s
Play module.) Assuming you do not want a stack image to overflow
the hex outline, you need to take stacking into account in
deciding upon counter size. You must estimate the largest number
of counters a player will typically have stacked in a single hex.
Then, maximum counter size can be calculated by this formula:
MaxCounterSize = (HexSizeInPixels * .75) – (3 * (NumCountersInStack
– 1))
For example,
for a 75-pixel hex size where the stacking limit is 3 counters,
maximum counter size would be (75 * .75) – (3 * (3 – 1)) = 50 x 50
pixels. That is the size of a ½ inch counter displayed on the
screen at 100 pixels per inch.

How do you
fit all the data a counter might contain onto an image of 50 x 50
pixels? Good question. Buttonizing uses up 4 pixels in each
dimension, so the usable counter real estate is reduced to 46 x 46
– not a lot, considering how much data is sometimes found on a
counter.
You must
select a font, size, style & color for each of the data items on
the counter. Legibility is critical. I have found that
Arial is
a clean font with good legibility at
small sizes, but by all means
try out others. As for size, the smallest provided by PSP,
size
8, is generally the most useful. (Other designers may disagree –
some have used fonts as small as size 6 successfully.) Data items
can be distinguished from each other by text color, Bold
characters, and position on the counter; often, you will use all
3. Color is particularly useful, as it does not increase the
space consumed by the text (unlike Bolding).
Things can
get pretty crowded on the counter. There are several things you
can do to conserve space. First, be aware that Bold text takes up
slightly more room than normal text. Second, you should
familiarize yourself with the effects of “kerning” and “leading”,
two adjustments you can make to text in PSP’s Text Entry Window.
Kerning adjustments push the characters closer together or spread
them further apart
horizontally; leading does the same in the vertical dimension.
Kerning and leading are the keys to making decent looking counters
with a lot of data on them.
As
always, experiment and take notes. I have found a leading value
of minus 3 to be generally useful; try minus 25 as a starting
point for a kerning adjustment. One
alternative to a negative kerning value is to use the Arial Narrow
font, which accomplishes the same thing. Arial Narrow is the
rough equivalent of setting kerning = - 25 for size 8.
CREATING A
COUNTER TEMPLATE
Let’s work
through the process for our typical 50 x 50 pixel counter. The
first step is to create a counter template which will be used as
the starting point for each individual counter. That will both
speed up the process and ensure that the counters have a
consistent style.
Open a new
image of 50 x 50 pixels, flood fill it with a background color,
then buttonize it as explained above. Create a new vector layer
on top of the buttonized background. Save the image as a *.psp
file.
Now, set the
background color to your chosen text color (usually black) and the
foreground color to nothing. Select the Text Tool and click on
the image to open up the Text Entry Window. It is in this window
that you will make all the font, size, color, kerning, leading,
bolding and antialiasing adjustments described above.
Set these
values:
font = Arial
size = 8
Bold = off
Alignment = Left
Create as Vector = on
antialiasing = on
Note that
the Text Entry Window allows you to set Left, Right or Center
Alignment for the text: these buttons align the text with
itself so that, for example, a column of numbers can all be
aligned to the left. From the Objects Menu, you can select the
Align>Center in Canvas, Align>Horizontal
Center in Canvas and Align>Vertical
Center in Canvas commands to align the text in relation to the counter.
Each of these alignment methods is highly useful.
Type a
column of 2-digit numbers 4 rows high and click OK to close the
Window.
Use
Objects>Align>Center in Canvas to center the text on the counter.
Zoom in to 12:1. We see immediately that the text is too long in
the vertical dimension. Place the cursor over the text object
until an “A” appears as the cursor, then click to reopen the Text
Entry Window. Set Leading = -3, close the window, and align the
text in the center of the canvas again. Now it is spaced so as to
fit nicely on the counter.
Hold the
SHIFT key down and press the Left Arrow key to “nudge” the text
towards the left edge of the counter. Check its appearance by
zooming out to 1:1.
Let’s do
something to make the more significant data items stand out.
Reopen the Text Entry Window for the left hand column, highlight
one row, click the Bold button, and close the window. This
will Bold that row while leaving the other numbers unchanged.
In other words, you can
Bold selected parts of a single text object.
Now, we will
place a similar column of text on the right side of the counter.
This time, we want to use different colors for each item, so we
create 4 separate text objects in 4 different
colors. Use the Object Selection Tool to pull them into
approximate positions, then select Objects>Align>Right to align
them with each other. At this point, if you have zoomed in
to 12:1, you can align their bottoms by eye with the text on the
left.
Once you
have all the data arranged on a counter the way you want it, save
the result as a template. Typically, you need to create a number
of counters of similar appearance with only 1 or 2 data items
changing from counter to counter. Each successive counter can be
created quickly by duplicating the template (use
Window>Duplicate), double-clicking on the relevant text object in
the Layer Palette and changing the text. Then, you can use
Edit>Copy Merged to copy the counter to the Clipboard, switch to
CyberBoard, and Paste the image into a new “tile”.
Creating
counters can be tedious in the extreme. You owe it to yourself to
think through the process and do everything possible to shorten
the sequence of mouse clicks. I recommend adding the most often
used commands, such as Center on Canvas, Copy Merged, and Select
None, to the toolbar (use View>Toolbars>Customize). Simple
preparation of this sort can save you many mouse clicks. (If you
need to perform a certain action on each of a large number of
counters (e.g., buttonizing), you should consider using PSP8
or 9, which add scripting as a new feature.)
LABELS &
TRANSPARENCY
When it
comes to creating game markers, give some thought to making use of
the advantages of the computer. CyberBoard supports transparency
in both “pieces” and “markers.” The default transparent
“color”
is cyan, RGB=0/255/255.
The
typical cardboard game marker is the same size as a unit and
covers it completely. A more useful approach, in CyberBoard, is
to create a partially
transparent “counter” which allows some of the underlying image
(the unit it is marking) to show through.
I
call this a “label.” Much of the time, a player will
not have to select and move a label to determine what unit is
sitting underneath.

The
technique is simple. Just flood fill the bottom layer
with the cyan color and any areas
where it shows through will display as transparent in CB.
You can also
use transparency to advantage when you need to use multiple labels
which will sit on top of a single unit. For
example, if you had 4
different status indicators, all of which might be displayed on a
unit simultaneously, you could create a transparent square with an
opaque border and place the 1st label type in the upper
left quarter, the 2nd in the upper right quarter, etc.
Even when all 4 labels are sitting on top of each other on the
counter, the 4 indicators will all be visible.
(They will, however, be misaligned unless you set the offset value
to 0 when creating the scenario in CB.)
Some
labelling can also be done on the counter itself. The standard
counter image offset in CB is 3 pixels horizontally and
vertically; buttonizing requires a 2-pixel border all around.
That leaves the 3rd row of pixels available to
indicate, for example, a unit’s command affiliation. If you
assign distinct colors to units in different commands and draw a
1-pixel wide square 3 rows in, that color will show up in CB when
the unit is buried in a stack (assuming CB’s offset value = 3).
Some board games expect
a player to keep track of the changing status of a unit, such as a
ship, on a log sheet. You can usually substitute a screen
display for the log sheet, using tracks with
letters
or numbers and a label to indicate the current value. A
square label with a 4-pixel wide border and a transparent center
will work well
to highlight a given
position on a track.
Labels can also be
used to good effect on a map. The changing status of a hex,
for
example from clear terrain to cratered, can be marked by dragging
a label onto it. The label can indicate the current and
former terrain type simultaneously by the use of transparency.
Give some
thought to how labelling and transparency can make things easier
for the player. Take advantage of the computer.
Effective use of labels can do a lot to make your gamebox both
functional and attractive.
COUNTER ROTATION
Some games require counters to be rotated to indicate
facing. This gives rise to a potential problem – the counter data
may become illegible.
Let
me explain. Any computer graphic image can be rotated
“orthogonally”
(i.e., by 90 or 180 degrees) without difficulty. However, if you
rotate to ANY other angle there is NO way the computer can display
the image with its original clarity. Small text, in particular,
becomes muddled.
Rotating a unit to face a different hexside requires a 60
degree rotation, so the
problem cannot be escaped.
Consider
creating a special “facing” arrow on a transparent
background to use as an indicator. Instruct players to rotate the
arrow, not the unit. The unit data will still be legible; the
arrow may look a bit skewed, but no one is likely to complain.
ANTIALIASING
When working
with any vector object, including text, the question of
antialiasing must be considered. I think I can hear you asking –
what the heck is “antialiasing”?
Computers
are good at drawing lines in an orthogonal direction – 100%
vertical or 100% horizontal. When a line (any line) is drawn at
some other angle, it will look jagged because it is made up of
discrete pixels offset slightly from each other.
“Antialiasing” is a process by which the computer applies
shading to the line in such a way as to smooth out its appearance.
You can examine the effects of
this by creating a vector text object (upper case “S” will do)
with and without antialiasing and zooming in on it to 32:1 to
examine each pixel. The effect of antialiasing will be obvious.
PSP always
gives you the option of turning antialiasing on or off. As a
general rule, turn it on. There are some exceptions though. Very
small text may look better with antialiasing turned off. Or you
may want a jagged appearance on the edge of an object for some
specific reason.
When it
comes to labels (remember, I mean partially transparent markers),
you must turn antialiasing OFF. Why? Because antialiasing works
by varying the opacity of pixels at the edge of the line, causing
them to blend with the underlying layer which, typically, is the
transparent color. Once a transparent pixel becomes blended with
something else its RGB value changes and CB can no longer
recognize it as transparent, so it displays the pixel. The result
is that your carefully antialiased label will display in CB with
an ugly cyan-like border around the text or object. You have been
warned.
CREATING CHARTS & TABLES
The
quickest way to create charts and tables for on-screen viewing is
to use MS Excel. It allows you to use text color and shading
to differentiate individual rows, columns or values. Do a
screen capture into PSP, convert the image to a bitmap, and load
it into CB or ADC2 as if it were a map. For very large
charts or tables, you may have to do multiple screen captures and
"stitch" the images together in PSP.
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MOVING ON |
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Lets wrap up our Operational
Demo Map. Make sure you have saved your demo map in PSP7
format. |
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Now is the time to reduce
the color depth of your map if you have decided to display the
result in 256 colors. Use Colors>Decrease Color Depth>256
Colors to do that. If you are using
CyberBoard version 3, there is no need to reduce the color depth
to 16-bit color; CB will do that automatically when you add the
image to the
gamebox. Then, save the map again, this time as a
Windows bitmap file. PSP7 will warn you that all of the
layers are going to be merged into one and ask if you would like
to continue. This is the reason for saving the original of
your map in PSP7 format first - the bitmap file cannot retain the
layers, vector objects, and other sophisticated elements you have
been working with. Select "Yes". |
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Later, when you create a
final, finished product of your map, you will want to toggle the
visibility of the Counters layer and the Hex Grid layer to "Off"
if you do not wish to display these components in
CB or ADC2. |
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To view the demo map in CB,
run the Design Module, Create a new map, hit the Edit button,
click the Base Drawing Layer button, and then load the Demo Map
bitmap into CB using Edit>Paste Bitmap From File. |
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To view the demo map in
ADC2, run the ADC2 Map Editor and select File>Create New Map
Board. Click on the "Use Scanned Map" button. This
phrase is a misnomer - ADC2 can actually display any windows
bitmap, scanned or not, by this method. Clear the check box
called "Select and Position the BMP Map Sheet", click the Change
button, and then load your bitmap file. Set the Zoom 3 hex
size to 75 and the Orientation to "Hex Column". Hit Continue
and bring up the map display in the editor. |
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A
TACTICAL LEVEL MAP: MORE COMPLEX CLEAR TERRAIN |
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Now, let's work on a demo
map intended for a tactical level game.
That
will
give us the chance to explore some different, and somewhat more
sophisticated, techniques. Open the
Tactical.bmp file included in this package and examine it – that
is what we will build now. |
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Undeveloped and uncultivated
"clear" terrain does not usually have a uniform appearance - it is
a mixture of different terrain types. We will build a clear
terrain that contains randomly sized and located patches of rough
terrain, using layer blending and a mask. This technique has
other uses also; you could use it, for example, to create a
camouflage pattern. |
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Create a new 800 by 600
image, as you did earlier. Flood fill the image with my
Rough pattern. Then, create a new raster layer and flood
fill this layer with my Clear pattern. Make sure the Clear
layer is on top of the layer hierarchy and the Rough layer is on
the bottom. |
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