Water, Quicksand, etc HEX MATS relocated - 06-10-07

[Draconious]

So if the hex were just a flat hex no puzzle or 3D effect what did you come up with for their hexigon size? -- I have a similar project, but its not printable... its plastic. All I made so far are single hex pieces... but because of this thread I am wondering if mine might have the same problem

I did it all based on a 1"sided hex grid...

[teekay]

Originally Posted by django

have you printed these at kinkos or anywhere and these are about poster size?? id like to laminate them after there printed.

36" x 60" is the size of my kitchen table.

I haven't looked into Kinko's pricing, but the sign shops around Chicago will ask about $160 to print the file on outdoor material (think waterproof and durable). Paper will obviously be a lot cheaper. If the print shop I work at buys the large-format EPSON, believe me, I'll work something out for gamers who want maps.

Again, the updated maps are on the web site. Once I know for sure that are good, I'll upload them back to HeroScapers.com downloads page.

bunjee, I am also using Adobe Illustrator CS and, even better, a Mac.

[teekay]

Originally Posted by Draconious

So if the hex were just a flat hex no puzzle or 3D effect what did you come up with for their hexigon size? -- I have a similar project, but its not printable... its plastic. All I made so far are single hex pieces... but because of this thread I am wondering if mine might have the same problem

I did it all based on a 1"sided hex grid...

I think Grishnakh's Custom Terrain sticky thread and his downloads (under Bin-O-Goodies) have templates for creating hexes that show hex size and outside tab size.

Actually, when I started the project, I placed about a dozen or so water tiles on a flatbed scanner and scanned the tiles into Adobe Photoshop. This gave me the actual tile size and interlock space. (At the time, I didn't realize that the size and gap of the water and land tiles were slightly different which caused this whole mess in the first place. Mistake #1.)

I straigtened the scan in Photoshop and imported the image into Adobe Illustrator. I made that image a template layer. Using Illustrator's star tool, I created a hex to scale of the middle most side (meaning not the outside or inside tabs). I then created an outside box and an inside box the size of the tabs and united and divided the boxes appropriately. I only did this for one side then copied and rotated it 30°. I did this for all sides before finally uniting them into a single hex. I then applied a round corner effect to them.

I then stepped the hex to the template and repeated the pattern over and over again. I selected everything and rotated it to see if there was any distortion side-to-side. I printed out the file on 8-1/2" x 11" paper and laid my water tiles on it. It came out perfect! I never actually measured the tiles or my print out. (Mistake #2). When I printed the map out from a large-format printer and then built an actual map on it, I quickly discovered the land tiles fell short of my printed image. Measuring all three (plastic pieces, printed sheet, digital file), I learned the map was created 1/8" too big over a 12 hex distance.

Scaling the art down 99.408% seems to have fixed the problem. Before I commit to this being true, I'll have to print my new map out at work this week. The reason I'm detailing all this is so that someone can make their own custom maps, and at the same time, learn from my mistakes.

[bunjee]

It is always nice to hear from people that use the variety of tools at their disposal. Good work.

ps: I emailed you a file with the tiles made into a repeating pattern. Merry Christmas

I think now I'm gonna play some more, I haven't done that enough lately (or maybe its work I haven't done enough, eh, whatever)

[Draconious]

Re measured my tiles for the millionth time by printing them out... found out they are NOT 1" tiles... they are 1.01" ... so I have to redo all the work I did the last week LoL... oh well it will go faster this time.

[Skeletor]

Originally Posted by teekay

I have uploaded the new, scaled maps to my web site.

http://homepage.mac.com/vigprints/FileSharing6.html

The revised water map and a generic blank map which will be easier on a person's printer.

If these new maps turn out to be correct, I'll fix the snow, sand, lava, and road maps that I have.

Hey Thanks teekay so should I just have my roommate print this as is??

[teekay]

Originally Posted by Skeletor

Hey Thanks teekay so should I just have my roommate print this as is??

Please do. Output at 100%. Use either revised map from the web link. mat_water_36x60f.pdf or the other one.

Let me know how it turns out!

[Skeletor]

I sent it to him when he gets some free time at work he said he'll print it I'll let ya know how it works with pics

[teekay]

Originally Posted by Skeletor

I sent it to him when he gets some free time at work he said he'll print it I'll let ya know how it works with pics

While I'm waiting to hear from you, I've added sand, lava, and snow maps back on my web page. I've updated the art on the sand and snow so that they now have a non-repeating pattern. Print at your own risk.

Visit my initial post on page 1 to see a preview of the road pattern. I'm not happy with the look of it yet and the file size is monsterous, which brings me to a question for bunjee; currently the hexes are individually rendered in Illustrator. Whould the file size be reduced if the whole map was a repeating pattern? (The road map would be over 100 MB if individually drawn.)

[Skeletor]

I just asked him today what up with the mats and he has been busy with the end of the year crunch at work.

What am I going to say?

hurry up with my free printing!!

[bunjee]

Originally Posted by teekay

While I'm waiting to hear from you, I've added sand, lava, and snow maps back on my web page. I've updated the art on the sand and snow so that they now have a non-repeating pattern. Print at your own risk.

Visit my initial post on page 1 to see a preview of the road pattern. I'm not happy with the look of it yet and the file size is monsterous, which brings me to a question for bunjee; currently the hexes are individually rendered in Illustrator. Whould the file size be reduced if the whole map was a repeating pattern? (The road map would be over 100 MB if individually drawn.)

Yes, tiling dramatically reduces file size. For example, the sand mat, with a 36x60 retangle is only 1 mb instead of 25.9 mb.

But, lemme tell you, the pattern basically requires a repeating tile or it can't mesh up right. Need about 11 hexes in as close to a square as possible to generate the pattern.

[cyberia]

Originally Posted by bunjee

But, lemme tell you, the pattern basically requires a repeating tile or it can't mesh up right. Need about 11 hexes in as close to a square as possible to generate the pattern.

Actually, as long as you don't mind all your hexes looking alike, you only need an area equal to two hexes, cut from a 4-hex group:

\__/___\__/
/|``\__/|``\
\|__/__\|__/
/``\___/``\

Excuse the crummy graphic, but you get the idea