Subterrainian Map Prettier Script

[aerduin]

ok - so i figured out the answer to question #1 - i changed the 'Distort Amount' on the Dungeon Map Maker script to 25 (results below)

would still be interested in answers to the other 2 questions.
2. also yours looks a little more beveled than mine - do i just change the stroke level or something?

3. i am still learning about image size, pixels per inch, grid sizing, grid spacing, etc., and how to get things to line up properly... any tips on how to understand or make sense of all that? like.. explain it like im 5?

[Midgardsormr]

3. i am still learning about image size, pixels per inch, grid sizing, grid spacing, etc., and how to get things to line up properly... any tips on how to understand or make sense of all that? like.. explain it like im 5?

Let's start with physical size: What you'd expect to see on paper. A typical map that you'd find folded up in the back of a gaming supplement might be about 20 inches x 32 inches (5 x 8 folded in half twice). If it's a battlemat with standard 1-inch = 5-feet squares, you'd have a 32 x 20 square map, which covers extents of 160 feet x 100 feet.

Now, a "high quality" print is 300 dots per inch. That usually looks really good at arm's length. An art print, as johnvanvliet has said, is 600+ dpi, but in my opinion that's really overkill for these kinds of images. For a poster-sized print, I would go no higher than 300, and I'd only go that high if I was planning on printing to very nice paper. Low quality paper just won't hold the ink well enough if you're printing full-color. I have gone as low as 120 dpi and been satisfied with the quality for a poster map.

Okay, so let's assume that you want your map to look really good close-up, and it's going to be 32" x 20". 300 dpi * 32 inches = 9600 pixels. 300 * 20 inches = 6000 pixels. So if that were your target, you would want your eventual image to be 9600 x 6000 pixels.

All of this assumes that you are going to print your image. If it's not going to a printer, dpi doesn't matter!

BUT, the image resolution—the actual pixel dimensions—are still a pretty good guideline for your final output. If it turns out too big to view comfortably, it's very easy to scale down. It's almost impossible to scale up.

A virtual tabletop (VTT) such as Roll20 or MapTool will usually have a recomended resolution per square. It can be anywhere from 50 - 150 pixels per square. Using what you know about typical battlemats above, you can do the math to discover that 32 squares (inches) * 100 pixels/square = 3200 pixels. So using your target sizes, you know what size you want to make your ultimate image.

Now, that doesn't say anything about working resolution. As I mentioned, it's easy to scale an image down, but hard to scale it up. So you never want to work at a smaller size than your eventual final image. Some people like to work at twice the resolution of their eventual image. I prefer to work at my actual resolution so that I know exactly what the end result will look like as I am working and because resource management is easier that way. Remember that since you're working in two dimensions, doubling the resolution (twice as wide) actually quadruples the data you're dealing with! (Twice as wide * twice as tall = 4 times as big.) If you're already aiming at a pretty big image, quadrupling it to work on it could make it unmanageable. But I do usually work as if I am eventually going to print at 300 dpi. After all, if I make a really cool image, I like to have the option of putting it on my wall some day!

[aerduin]

thank you all for your input. I am aware that this technique is several years old, but I am somewhat new to this and found the tutorial on this forum. But thanks for the input all the same!