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Creating Tilesets out of Paizo GameMastery/PF Map-Pack PDF Images

Discussion in 'User Created Content' started by Steel_Wind, Sep 28, 2015.

  1. Steel_Wind

    Steel_Wind New Member

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    I have asked this question of Matt Morton over the course of time and his response (h'es given me two of them!) is perhaps not as easily recalled as I might prefer. Or maybe it's just not as easily understood as I might prefer...

    Whatever the case...

    Here's the deal. I subscribe to Paizo's Map-Pack and Flip-Mat line. I can (and have) made maps out of their flip-mats often. That's easy.

    What I would like to do is to make tilesets out of their various GameMastery and Pathfinder Map-Pack PDF products. I would like to know how to do that, how to paint them down with a degree of success, how to store them in a folder so I can recall them quickly and mix and match them as I might prefer. Many of their Map=Packs are ideal for this purpose and the usefulness of some of them is vastly enhanced by an ability to re-use those images many times to create new maps based on those "tiles".

    I would like some guidance on how I should law down those tiles over an existing flip-may or other map image, if needs be.

    I cannot be the only one out there who has wanted to do this or who has made the attempt. Anyone have a walk-through on this for me?
     
  2. Wesley Gorby

    Wesley Gorby Production/Community Manager
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    The short answer is that you need a PDF reader that can extract images (Such as Nitro reader). Once the images are extracted, you use a paint program such as photoshop or Gimp to clean them up (edging, square aspect, scale). Once both of those operations are done, you can organize them in your '<d20proinstalldir>\judge\campaigns\<yourgamename>\res\flr' directory anyway you wish and use them to create maps..

    There are some detailed threads on this here in the forums.and there is an article in the help section to guide you thru this over here.
     
  3. edwardcd

    edwardcd Administrator
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    If you have Adobe Acrobat you can
    File > Export to > Image > JPEG
    This is briefly explained in my map making video https://youtu.be/THqTmeEN1dg?t=2m21s

    Save all in the directory structure you like inside d20Pro/judge/campaigns/(your campaign)/res/FLR/(your directory name)

    Then when you use the image inside d20Pro, format it for 150dpi autoscale.
     
  4. Wesley Gorby

    Wesley Gorby Production/Community Manager
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    I wish I could afford Acrobat, it's a great app.
    It's good that there are reasonable alternatives tho..
     
  5. edwardcd

    edwardcd Administrator
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    Can also use PDF to PNG online service for free http://pdf2png.com/
    If using PNG files, remember that these files are bigger than JPG files, so it will take longer for your players to download. I would suggest converting this PNG file to JPG before using it in d20Pro. These files usually use 200 pixels per grid square.

    Another free online service is http://pdf2jpg.net/. I would recommend using the "Good" setting, which is 150 pixels per grid square (Same as 150dpi).
     
  6. Steel_Wind

    Steel_Wind New Member

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    Well, as it turns out, now that I have all of this sorted out, I have come to the following conclusions:

    1 - d20Pro's implementation of tiles and use of Map Packs is monstrously powerful;
    2 - the interaction of tiles with overlapping tiles, clipping off squares, sub-elements and other shapes you need within GIMP to also import those in smaller more nimble sizes/variations, and in using the image stamper, color painter and other draw tool options -- using all of it together -- the result is SURPRISINGLY powerful and remarkably adaptable. In short, you probably have NO IDEA that d20Pro is as good a map creation program as it is. But it is absolutely kickass if you take the time to prep your art samples and learn how to use it.

    To create a Main tileset from a collection of Paizo Map Packs:

    1 Get PDF image extraction software that preserves the .PNG elements of your file. You want this instead of defaulting to lower resolution jpg. While not free, RL Vision PDF Image Extraction Wizard works remarkably well and a has a trial version. Image extraction and quality is excellent and VASTLY better than "Some PDF Image Extractor", which extracts some very poor and low quality images, especially from Paizo's earlier map pack releases. PDF Image Extraction Wizard may be found here: http://www.rlvision.com/pdfwiz/about.asp

    2. Extract your Map Packs to a directory , example e:\PathfinderRPG\Extracted\DungeonMapPacks\

    You can go to town and extract all your Map Packs, but when importing images to make a tileset(s) to work with, you dont' want too many grouped together as it makes it difficult to find the tile you want. Subdirectories on a per map basis, or at least thematic groupings of tiles meant to work together are preferable. So Dungeon Corridors, Dungeon Chambers and Dungeon Dangers is a great grouping. It's still a lot of tiles to scroll through to find what you want though.

    After the images are extracted, go in there and delete the random crap and images you do not want, leaving you with the 18 tile images (for each map pack) that you DO want to keep.

    3. After you have your images extracted, fire up d20Pro. Go to the Library window and at the bottom, choose "Import"> Import Images. A new window will pop up directing you to the directory of where the image files will be stored, and below in the same window, which files or, alternatively, whole directory, the images will be found in.

    So in the example above in your \RES\FLR subdirectory, you will create a subdir named \PaizoDungeons and import all your images in there. Click through and allow your computer to copy the files, and more importantly, d20 pro to index them.

    4. After that is complete, in Draw Tools, select Manage Tiles and your subdir you created and stored your PaizoDungeons in should be listed in the dir tree list in the upper left hand corner. Select your directory and a preview thumbnail image of each extracted tile image will appear in the small window on the right.

    And that's it for Main Tile Import

    Now, this is the problem with d20Pro as it currently stands. This preview window is WAY too damned small and it makes scrolling through the tile images a chore to find the one you want. Often, you don't KNOW which tile image you want when you are building a map, so the sixe of the preview window matters. A window as large as exists for the previews of the various character or image icons would be FAR preferable here, and I hope Mat can make some code changes to support that.

    Anyways, there you are. To assist you in correctly sizing your extracted tile image, you can turn on autoscale and for most Paizo Map Packs, the correct value to choose is 150 dpi for a 10x5 tile image. While the dialog drop down pre-populates at 50, 100 and 150 dpi values, you can erase that and manually type in another value, 300 say, and d20Pro will correctly scale a 300dpi tile image at 10x5, too if you have a map tile image at 300dpi.

    To Create Customized Tile Elements Features (Critical for Map Building)

    To provide you with the most flexibility possible, the real work for you is to go back and carving up those map tiles images carefully to extract smaller elements from them, in exact size measurements at 150 dpi. what you need to do to make all of this work optimilly is use GIMP to copy+paste and create smaller floor/wall sections (and dead space, where necessary) with rows in 1x2, 1x3,1x4, 1x5, 2x2, 2x3, 2x4, 2x5, 3x3, 3x4, 4x5 and 5x5. Doors, pillars and other features can be EASILY plucked from your tiles using GIMP, saved as images and imported in using the same procedure outlined above. They will simply be tiles which differ in size from the 10x5 default Paizo uses. Using the tiles, and the far more flexible elements carved off from the tiles, as well as .PNG objects and texture placements form these map packs and from elsewhere on the web, you can create IMPRESSIVE dungeon maps to duplicate virtually any dungeon layout in any printed product and the result will be technically exacting, and of very high quality. Even 30, 45 and 60 degree angled corridor map layouts, while problematic, may be pre-arranged in GIMP and imported as a rectangular tile containing the angled elements and .png transparencies on the edges so that it all works out for you in the end. (Look at GIMP tutorials for creating transparencies and using the transform tool on Youtube)

    Bringing it All Together

    Using tiles, tile elements, overlapping tiles, and painting colors and 1x1 images you can accomplish a staggering level of detail. If you care to create wall edges with shadows from your tile elements using .png transparency effects, you can create a room of any dimensions from a couple of Paizo Map Packs and the overall texture effect and artwork will look like Paizo's Map artist (Jason Engle) -- and not your own. Of almost any variation, dimension and size.

    It takes some technical prep work, but after that, the draw tools and tile manipulation software is ridiculously easy to use and provides you with most of the power of Dundjinni - all ready built within d20Pro. Add in custom shadow effects and floor texture effects using transparent tiles to finish off your map for a professional look.
     
  7. owlbear

    owlbear Administrator
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    Great article! Thanks for posting it!

    The Gen Con map from 2014 was entirely built out of tiles using the tile editing functions in d20Pro as well.

    [​IMG]


    We have a couple of ready made tile sets in the store already, ours:

    http://www.d20pro.com/MarketplaceWeb/Ma ... ductId=116

    and a handful of others:

    http://www.d20pro.com/MarketplaceWeb/Ma ... earch=tile

    Some of the content creators would be happy to include more tiles if folks are likely to part take. Let us know your thoughts on tiles and we'll push to add more sets to the marketplace!

    (grimjack aka Owlbear)
     
  8. edwardcd

    edwardcd Administrator
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  9. hnoor0044

    hnoor0044 New Member

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    I would like to know how to do that, how to paint them down with a degree of success, how to store them in a folder so I can recall them quickly and mix and match them as I might prefer.
     

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