Modules for ABattlemap

@P@nther:

Personally I would prefer to use the layer “pale” instead of “very pale”… but that’s a question of individual preference.

@HolKann:

Though I’d go for the “pale” instead of “very pale” (I have trouble discerning Ita/Ger on my bright laptop screen).

FYI guys:  I used the “Pale” version for a week or two before getting used to it and deciding to go even lighter.  I think the transition from the standard map to the very pale map is a big difference and I could see it taking some getting used to.

For those who don’t have Paint.Net and haven’t looked at the available layers for the map and aren’t sure what we’re talking about, there are two backgrounds available to provide the underlying map color: one called “Pale” and the other “Very Pale”.  The Map.BMP I uploaded uses the “very pale” version.  Just so you can see the difference and choose which you prefer without looking at the .PDN file I have loaded a version of the map.bmp file using the “Pale” version these guys are talking about.  This new file is called NotSoPale_Map.bmp in the same mediafire folder.  Or, here’s a direct link: http://www.mediafire.com/?z2nxdznirzh

One concession I had to make was removing the faces from the southern indian ocean sea zones - they were just too hard to work with as I was changing colors.  Anyway, my question is:  who was the dude on the far right?

@HolKann:

@Emperor:

If you ever do another update, can I request that you increase the size of Egypt, it gets really crowded there.  :-D

I already did with the last update, and after that I promised compatibility would’nt be affected again. At most, I might take some pixels from the Red sea, East-Med and the Sahara, but if I go any further => compatibility :( We’ll see…

I completely understand, but if you do, maybe you could steal some land from Sudan…the Egyptians have been doing that for thousands of years.  :-D

@HolKann:

Hey P@nther, here (=attached to post) is the papyrus font, just remove “.jpg” as usual, and put it in C:\Windows\Fonts and all your programs should recognise it. Hopefully it works (haven’t got time to test it right now).

Thank you so much HolKann. At last I found this font on my Publisher CD that I had not installed. It is not shipped with XP as I found out.
:-)

@HolKann:

Ofcourse, this calls for some color adjusted toolpieces/bigpieces, which is a small effort compared to the great map you created.

Take these BigPieces if you like them:

@P@nther:

@P@nther:

As I am using the BigPieces (screen 1920x1200) I will recolor them to match the colours you used in your toolpieces and distribute them here when I’m ready.

@TimTheEnchanter:

I don’t use bigpieces, so I didn’t even think to recolor those.  Thanks!

Here are the BigPieces that are of the same colours as Tim’s ToolPieces:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tnthot2udjz
(7zip-format, 3.12 KB)
…

@TimTheEnchanter:

@P@nther:

@TimTheEnchanter:

The font for all the labels is called Papyrus.

Unfortunately I don’t have this font. Where did you get it from?

Sorry I don’t know.  I don’t know if it came on the computer or if my wife might have purchased a font kit for her PTA flyers and stuff.   I didn’t think about the possibility that others might not have that font installed.  :|  I wish I knew how to help you get it.

The font is shipped with some MS products but not with XP or Vista as I found out. Never mind :-)

And here I did the pixel exchanges that are necessary to change the 41-map into the 42-map.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?k4gtzzzoajy

(7-zip format, 616.32 KB; includes pale and notsopale version)

:-)

I haven’t bothered to even try 1942 yet.  :| What changes to make it work for '42?  I thought the maps would be identical… :?

@TimTheEnchanter:

I haven’t bothered to even try 1942 yet.  :| What changes to make it work for '42?  I thought the maps would be identical… :?

It’s just the exchange of GER and JAP in the “Legend”, as the turn sequence in 1942 is Jap-SU-Ger-Uk-Ita-US.
:-)

@HolKann:

Got a question: how did you do that “fading” of the borders of a territory with paint.net?

It uses a combination of gaussian blur and a technique called Alpha masking.  If you don’t have the alpha mask plugin, get it.  It is way cool.

1. Created a separate layer that had only the territory/sea-zone borders. I think I used the magic wand on a low tolerance setting and selected a black area with global fill to select all the lines, then pasted it into a new layer. I probably manually cut out the legend. I had to do some cleanup where the lines weren’t quite right and where VC stars had obliterated the black lines, etc.
   I then did some editing and created a layer with just the land borders (mostly just erasing the ocean borders :roll: )

2. Working in separate layers copied from the land borders layer, I selected the areas inside all the territory borders (magic wand-select in each territory with “union” selection setting) and applied gaussian blurs to them.  I did 3 levels - 4 pixels, 8 pixels and 12 pixels to get a gradual fading away from the borders (see layers “Land border blur 4”, “…8” and “…12”).  By combining the three blur levels this creates a fading black blur inside all the the borders.

3. using the three blur layers combined with the bg_whiteness layer as a background I saved the file to a JPEG file for use in the next step.

4. I then used a plugin called an “Alpha Mask” which uses an image to manipulate the “alpha channel” of the pixels.  I don’t really understand what that means other than to know that it allows you to apply a level of transparency to an image based on a “mask” from a jpeg file (the file created in step 3)  I applied the mask to a copy of the base map so that wherever the mask was white, it was transparent and the darker the mask got the more of the image it kept.    This resulted in the Map No Faces-Border 1 and …Border 2 layers.  (I just duplicated the resulting image to get #2 so that the net result would be darker - because they’re mostly transparent, the colors add together)

5)Then I created a layer from the original map and played with the coloration  - mostly lightening, maybe tweaking the saturation and such here and there (I don’t really remember what I did, mostly trial and error) - to create the Pale and Very Pale backgrounds.  By including the border layers over the paler background it gives the impression of gradual shading.

@HolKann:

Allright, made 2 modules with matching toolpieces: renamed some abbreviations (seems I do care :roll: ), made Chi a bit more yellowish, fixed some pixels at the bottom and side of the map, and matched the toolpieces with the according pale colors.  What do you guys think of it?

They are realy good… they match perfectly to the colours Tim used for his map.

@HolKann:

@P@nther:

Here are the BigPieces that are of the same colours as Tim’s ToolPieces:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tnthot2udjz
(7zip-format, 3.12 KB)
…

I tried them, but the color scheme seems too bright and I don’t like the Chinese colors, sry… :oops:
It’s no good to let this work go to waste though, so they’ll be added in the ABattlePack for sure :)

I don’t think that this is necessary, because it was just a color-modification of my “regular” BigPieces I provided here, too ( http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jng3uy3i4zm ).

As I see from MediaFire’s download statistics that some people seem to like my “bigger” ship models, I adjusted my BigPieces to the colours you used now for Tim’s map, so you may probably want to add these to the ABattlePack :-)
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?entnmuwzmm1
(7-zip; 3.12 KB)

@TimTheEnchanter:

It uses a combination of gaussian blur and a technique called Alpha masking.  If you don’t have the alpha mask plugin, get it.  It is way cool.

1. Created a separate layer that had only the territory/sea-zone borders. I think I used the magic wand on a low tolerance setting and selected a black area with global fill to select all the lines, then pasted it into a new layer. I probably manually cut out the legend. I had to do some cleanup where the lines weren’t quite right and where VC stars had obliterated the black lines, etc.
   I then did some editing and created a layer with just the land borders (mostly just erasing the ocean borders :roll: )

2. Working in separate layers copied from the land borders layer, I selected the areas inside all the territory borders (magic wand-select in each territory with “union” selection setting) and applied gaussian blurs to them.  I did 3 levels - 4 pixels, 8 pixels and 12 pixels to get a gradual fading away from the borders (see layers “Land border blur 4”, “…8” and “…12”).  By combining the three blur levels this creates a fading black blur inside all the the borders.

3. using the three blur layers combined with the bg_whiteness layer as a background I saved the file to a JPEG file for use in the next step.

4. I then used a plugin called an “Alpha Mask” which uses an image to manipulate the “alpha channel” of the pixels.  I don’t really understand what that means other than to know that it allows you to apply a level of transparency to an image based on a “mask” from a jpeg file (the file created in step 3)   I applied the mask to a copy of the base map so that wherever the mask was white, it was transparent and the darker the mask got the more of the image it kept.    This resulted in the Map No Faces-Border 1 and …Border 2 layers.  (I just duplicated the resulting image to get #2 so that the net result would be darker - because they’re mostly transparent, the colors add together)

5)Then I created a layer from the original map and played with the coloration  - mostly lightening, maybe tweaking the saturation and such here and there (I don’t really remember what I did, mostly trial and error) - to create the Pale and Very Pale backgrounds.  By including the border layers over the paler background it gives the impression of gradual shading.

Great description … thank you :-)  Really something for the tutorials forum at paintdotnet.forumer.com ;-)

I did not know about that Alpha Masking plugin. Is it the “Alpha Mask Import Plugin (1.2)” you used?

I installed 3 plugin packs:  BoltBait’s , Illnab’s, and MadJik’s.  I probably haven’t used 90% of this stuff…

The alpha mask one is in Illnab’s compilation pack.  It might be the same as alpha mask import thread, I don’t know.  Even if it’s the same, I think these developers have moved to delivering their stuff in these combined packs so I think the compliation pack may be more current.

@TimTheEnchanter:

I installed 3 plugin packs:  BoltBait’s , Illnab’s, and MadJik’s.  I probably haven’t used 90% of this stuff…

The alpha mask one is in Illnab’s compilation pack.  It might be the same as alpha mask import thread, I don’t know.  Even if it’s the same, I think these developers have moved to delivering their stuff in these combined packs so I think the compliation pack may be more current.

You are right. I was just irritated that the AlphaMask.dll is version 1.2 and the compilation 1.1. But the compilation is newer.
Thank you :-)

@HolKann:

Expect an updated first post soon  8-)

Will you include your “final” pdn-file? That would be great :-)

@HolKann:

First post updated with the new map and pieces, let’s hope a lot of people like them ;)

@P@nther:

Will you include your “final” pdn-file? That would be great :-)

No, but you can always find it here.

@TimTheEnchanter:

It uses a combination of gaussian blur and a technique called Alpha masking.  If you don’t have the alpha mask plugin, get it.  It is way cool.

…

Wow, tnx for the minitutorial, I’m learning new techniques :)

Whoa- way too light dude!  I like the fonts with the added names but the map and pieces are way too light.  Can you keep the fonts and such with the darker map from the last version???

Right now I prefer your last version.

@HolKann:

First post updated with the new map and pieces, let’s hope a lot of people like them ;)

@P@nther:

Will you include your “final” pdn-file? That would be great :-)

No, but you can always find it here.

Great, thank you :-)

I don’t have a lot of time to wade through the mass of missives.  Can someone direct me to a instructional post about play by forum.  Sort of a “Play by Forum for Dummies.”  Thanks.

@randyshervandyke:

I don’t have a lot of time to wade through the mass of missives.  Can someone direct me to a instructional post about play by forum.  Sort of a “Play by Forum for Dummies.”  Thanks.

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=13365.0