I don't think you've can with any Apple product. At least, I've tried a few times and never have.
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How to share your maps with the world.
- Thread starter LongHeroscaper
- Start date
I don't think you've can with any Apple product. At least, I've tried a few times and never have.
Damn. Oh well, I’ll dust off he laptop
Heroscaper 101
Well-known member
It seems that posting my maps is beyond my knowledge. I do have Virtualscape, no CutePDF yet, not sure how to use GIMP or Paint for Virtualscape. When it comes to this tutorial, there seems to be something that I'm missing.
Heroscaper 101
Well-known member
Which CutePDF should I download and how does it help. I use a laptop, also how does GIMP and Paint.NET help anyways. Watched Longscaper Virtualscape 101 today, and it had an old version of Virtualscape in the tutorial. Now I use Virtualscape to make maps, the only thing that don't yet how to post my maps. There is a problem, Virtualscape doesn't have a link to copy on side.
Heroscaper 101
Well-known member
1. Create your map.
Let me guess: you just thought: "Duh!". It is obvious, isn't it? But see, there are actually two ways to create a map. You can create a map by actually sit down (or stand up, or crawl on the floor, whatever you want) and work with the physical hexes. Let's call it the Physical way. Many of us do it this way. It is illustrative, real and hand-on. Another way is to use a map-editing software. Let's call it the Virtual way. You don't need to have the hexes with you. You can create map wherever you want, as long as you have a computer. For map-editing software, I recommend VirtualScape, which is THE best one out there.
The nice thing about Virtual way is that it is very easy to switch things up. You can change a 7-hex sand tile with a 7-hex grass tile with a few clicks. In the Physical way, digging a tile in level 1 of a mountain can be tough, but it is a very simple task in the Virtual way. You can move the tiles around, adding or removing terrain expansions easily. It also makes huge maps possible (such as Hero World by Hero-X).
Now, if all you need is to show your map to the world, either way is fine. But if you also want other players to build your map and share the joy playing on it, you will have to handle the Virtual way. There are ways to make map-building instruction without a map-editing software, but the softwares make it much more simple. You can create your map by the Physical way, put your map into a software to edit, and then make the instruction using the software. I will talk about creating the building instruction using VirtualScape in section 5. I believe that is the most common route being used by map creators.
2. Take pictures of your map.
With the Physical way, you need a camera. Take pictures of your map with the best angles. Make sure the light is sufficient and do not shake your hand(s), otherwise the pictures will be blurry and dark. If people can't see your map clearly, they may not know what great features it has.
With the Virtual way, find the option to render a 3 dimensional picture of your map. In VirtualScape, you should click on the 3D View button. The angle can be chosen by rotating, moving left-right (Left key and Right key) or up-down (PageUp key and PageDown key), and moving closer-further (Up key and Down key). The nice thing is that sometime, you can take a picture inside of a castle's complicated structure where a physical camera can't get to.
When you are happy with the angle, you have two options: either Save the 3D picture as it is, or Render it into a high quality picture and then Save it. To render into a high quality picture, click on the High Quality button with a camera on it. It may take long, depending on your computer's configuration.To save the picture (high quality or not), choose "Tools>Save picture" on the menu bar.
You now have pictures of your map ready to show everyone. But remember heroscapers.com does not show bitmap files. You need to save your pictures in jpeg or gif to share with everyone here. Normally, pictures taken by a physical camera are in jpeg. The pictures taken in VirtualScape, however, are in bitmap. The easiest way to change the type of your picture is opening it in Paint (comes with Windows) and Save it As a jpeg one. You can use GIMP, which is a free image editing software and has Windows, Linux and Mac versions. GIMP offers a lot of option, you may want to experiment with it, too. Another option is to use Paint.NET. I have not used it, but it is free and it looks good
.My suggestion is to not take a lot of pictures. One or two pictures with good angle that shows the major features of your map is usually enough. Most of the time, one is sufficient. Three, in my opinion, is already too many. But it's just me!
Another suggestion is to reduce the size of the pictures. A picture too large stretches the view screen of the forum and people will have to scroll updown or sideway to see the whole picture. Unless it is something important, they usually don't. So, resizing your pictures to smaller than 801x601 helps everyone to see your pictures in full easily.
3. Upload the pictures.
You have the pictures. Unless you are willing to let others have access to the files on your computers, you can't share them with anyone else except putting them online. The closest place to upload your pictures is heroscapers.com's Gallery. In the forum screen, the link to Gallery is in the top line, together with Home, Downloads and Events Calendar. Thanks to the hard work of our admins, your account is now unified, meaning you do not need to create separate accounts for the Gallery sections. In other words, just go to the Gallery and start upload your pictures. Well, actually you need to be a Site Supporter or a Contributor to be able to upload your pictures in the Gallery section. How to become one is explained here.
The gallery provided here is small though. You will pretty soon find yourself deleting old pictures for the newer ones due to the lack of space. "How can I delete my creations, my beautiful precious creations every bit of which the whole world should see?", you ask. Well, the answer is photobucket. Or any online photo hosting site, for that matter. After registering, you can upload your pictures and have them ready to use.
4. Post the pictures.
To include a picture in your post, the first thing you need to do is to get the link of the picture. You can do that by choosing the picture from the Gallery or from the hosting site. When the picture is opened, Right click on the picture, then choose Properties. You will see the Location of the picture, which is a link. Copy that link to use in the next step.
Now, what you need to do is to click Image button (second from the right, right above the editing box).
A pop-up window will appear and ask you to Paste the link to your picture. Paste the link in the window and click OK. Immediately after you click the button, you will see your picture sitting in your post beautifully. And of course, everyone else can see it, too.
If that is all you want to do, namely showing how pretty your maps are, you do not need to go further. But if you also want other players to build your maps and play on them, or if you think of having one of your maps accepted to the BoV someday, then you should go on and read the next sections.
5. Building Instruction.
I think having a map-editing software and knowing how to use it make the job much easier. I will illustrate it using VirtualScape. I am sure the concept is the same with other software.
The first thing you need to get is a PDF printer. It is a software. When it is installed in your computer, it will create a virtual printer which will only print to PDF files. Instead of printing on paper, it creates a pdf file with the stuff you want to print out. There are many free PDf printer out there, one of them is CutePDF. Follow the link, download it and install it.
Now, in VirtualScape, you can print out your map with building instruction using "Files>Print" from the menu bar. If you do not have PDF printer, you can only print it out on paper. But if you have a PDF printer, such as CutePDF, you can choose it from the list of printers installed in your computer. Then when you print, a pdf file will be created.
If you want to add the name and the author of the map, you can choose "Configuration>Map parameters..." from the menu bar. You can also add the scenario description, how many sets are needed to build the map, and how many layers to include in one page. Experience it to see the difference. Before you print (out on paper or in a pdf file), you can choose "File>Print preview" to see the final result.
One more note: If you want to include a 3D picture of your map in the first page of the file, you need to render a 3D version of your map (see section 2) before you print. I recommend it because it gives people an overview of your map. Only looking at the instruction does not always give a good sense on how a map looks like.
6. Upload the files.
This process is almost the same as uploading your pictures. You need to find a place to host your files. The closest place is the Downloads section here. The link to the Downloads section is next to that of Gallery. Follow the link and upload your file. And don't forget that you need to be a Site Supporter or a Contributor to be able to upload your files.
When you upload a map-building instruction, I think you should upload a screenshot. To add a screenshot of your map, you need to upload the building instruction without worrying about uploading the picture. After the file is uploaded successfully, you will see a place to add pictures. Click Browse... to choose the picture you want to add. You can use the same picture that you show everyone how your map looks like. Without a screenshot, people will less likely to download your map when they come across it in the Donwloads section. Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. One thing that Velenne has suggested is that you should put a link back to your map thread in the description of your map in the Downloads section. The reason for that is if someone finds your maps from the Downloads section before checking your thread, he will be able to come to your thread for comments. How to create a link is shown in the next section. Another thing he suggested is that you should put how many terrain sets needed to build your map in the description. Here is an example from one of my my own maps.
Another thing to notice, is that the file that you upload needs to be approved. So, if you don't see it immediately right after you upload it, don't try to upload it again nor to PM admins and yell at them. Recheck it later, you will see it there.
7. Link to the file in your post.
Just like with the pictures, you need to get the link to your building instruction file. One of the easy way is to go to the file download page and Copy the link from the address box of your web-browser.
Then Paste the link, highlight it and click URL button, next to Image button.
Just like with linking picture, a pop-up windows will appear and ask you to Paste the link. After you Paste the link and click OK, the link to your file will be created.
If you want a group of words link to your file, you should highlight that group of words and repeat the above process (click the URL button, Paste the link, click OK).
I hope this helps some of you who want to share your maps with us but do not quite know how to. I will include illustrative pictures if you think they are necessary.
If you decide to create a map thread of your own, don't forget to let Dignan know about it so that he can include you to the Index of Mapmakers. I suggest you to visit GameBear's map thread to see an example of a carefully constructed and presented map thread.
All comments and criticism about this post are welcome
.Heroscaper 101
Well-known member
I use the internet to copy image the miniature and use Xorlof Card Creator, then save it to my pictures. Then I shared the card image to Facebook, then copy image from there and post on my thread. When comes to maps, it won't be that easy to do.
superfrog
This is merely a joke.
Okay. All you need is to save your image so you can upload it.
When you have the image you want in front of you in VirtualScape, hit the Print Screen button on your keyboard. On mine, it's abbreviated "prt sc".
Open up Paint, and hit Ctrl+V to paste the screenshot in.
Crop out the VirtualScape frame, and save your image.
Then share it to facebook and continue as you do with customs.
When you have the image you want in front of you in VirtualScape, hit the Print Screen button on your keyboard. On mine, it's abbreviated "prt sc".
Open up Paint, and hit Ctrl+V to paste the screenshot in.
Crop out the VirtualScape frame, and save your image.
Then share it to facebook and continue as you do with customs.
Heroscaper 101
Well-known member
I have Paint3D on my laptop, having trouble on the Paint part. Also I have no idea how to do the last part.
Heroscaper 101
Well-known member
What option in the "Print Screen" takes a screenshot of the image.
Sir Heroscape
Sir Formerly Known As adoney
*face palm* just google it....
Heroscaper 101
Well-known member
I out the key is the "PrntScr" button, copy the image in Paint3D and the toughest problem I face now is the 'crop' part.
Heroscaper 101
Well-known member
I manage to make the map, copy the image from Facebook and post it in my map thread, hope you like it.
Anybody know if there's a mapmaking software solution for Mac? Landscape was on flash which is ending now that it's 2021.
It looks like it's been a long time since anyone has posted here and I expect there to be an uptick in map makers with the Renegade relaunch coming down the pipeline.
To make this thread relevant (considering that it's pinned) for old and new Heroscapers, here are a few questions that come to mind.
1. Is Virtualscape still the best map-making tool?
2. Is Virtualscape compatible with Mac?
3. If the answer to questions 1 and/or 2 is no, what is a person's best bet to share their maps with the world?
4. With the addition of new terrain types coming soon, who and how is in charge of these tools, and how can someone help manage that if they want to?
Thats all for now!
To make this thread relevant (considering that it's pinned) for old and new Heroscapers, here are a few questions that come to mind.
1. Is Virtualscape still the best map-making tool?
2. Is Virtualscape compatible with Mac?
3. If the answer to questions 1 and/or 2 is no, what is a person's best bet to share their maps with the world?
4. With the addition of new terrain types coming soon, who and how is in charge of these tools, and how can someone help manage that if they want to?
Thats all for now!
Shurrig
Active member
1. Yes, although there are hopes of a few potential programs on the horizon like Logrey's LandScape 2.0 and potential SOURCE and Renegade map builders (the last two are speculative).
2. No, still PC only.
3. Their best bet is either to download Virtualscape on their PC or reach out to fellow mapmakers to assist them with making instructions for their maps.
4. The creator of Virtualscape is no longer working on the project, so unless Adventure Together, Renegade, or someone else steps up to the plate, we'll just have to work with what we've got.
Hope this helps!