# 1 AutoCAD drawing for ALL of my campaign



## MarauderX (Feb 26, 2004)

Hey, has anyone else used AutoCAD to draw out their maps and such?  Or how about Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator?  Granted in AutoCAD the tiles need to be hatched, but I am fitting everything for my campaign world into one file.  It's nice, as I can zoom into the 12 mile hex grid for the kingdom I have created to get down to 5' squares for the details.  The only drawback that I can see right now is that every map I will need is in one file... which means I need to create backups.  Has anyone else used similar tools to meld together various scales of maps for a campaign?


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## Wonko the Sane (Feb 26, 2004)

MarauderX said:
			
		

> Has anyone else used similar tools to meld together various scales of maps for a campaign?




I know nothing of AutoCad, but with CC2 you can link maps so clicking on a building brings up the interior, click on the stairs to see the basement, etc.


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## Ashrem Bayle (Feb 26, 2004)

Marauder, thats a pretty cool idea. I haven't done it, but it would definately be useful.

Would you mind sending me your DWG file? I'd love to see what you've done.


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## Hand of Evil (Feb 26, 2004)

Campaign Cartographer does this, but is based off a CAD program.  It also allows for you to link to other maps, so you can click and go to another file.


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## MarauderX (Feb 26, 2004)

Hey Ashrem, I can send it but must warn you the file is big - a little less than 4M.  All of the hatching and the images in it really raise the file size.  Without the images it's still about 2.2M. 

I am thinking of WBlocking any castles or other details I create to a separate file and import them later to give a good sense of scale vs. the overland map.  I'm still playing with it, but that's the plan for right now.

And you are right, AutoCAD is pretty awesome for putting everything you need together without needing to leave your computer - whether at work or home.  I use 3rd party software (Spanner ~$30) to link Word & Excel files of unlimited sizes into drawings, making the whole operation pretty sleek and easy to change & manage.  Now all I need is to do some 3D rendering of a few castles to see how a seige or two would work with the mass combat book Fields O' Blood.


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## MarauderX (Feb 26, 2004)

Hand of Evil said:
			
		

> Campaign Cartographer does this, but is based off a CAD program.  It also allows for you to link to other maps, so you can click and go to another file.




Yeah, still not as powerful as AutoCAD.  It's the standard drafting program for most of the industry that I am in and has plenty of bells and whistles, though it is lacking in D&D icons to be tossed into a drawing.  I guess I better work on that...


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## RC Hagy (Feb 26, 2004)

I use Illustrator 10 for my maps. Symbols and layers are the boon and bane of my existence. So long as I stick with vector and away from rasters, bitmaps and other lossy, I can scale things with good results.

Hagy


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## NeuroZombie (Feb 26, 2004)

I have just started to use illustrator for my mapping, although I have been using ill. for years for work.  It works great, especially with the added functionality of the CS version.  Of course, it is a rather expensive game mapper


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## Ashrem Bayle (Feb 26, 2004)

Hey Marauder, go ahead and send that file if you don't mind. I can handle large emails.

Thanks!


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## MarauderX (Feb 27, 2004)

Ashrem Bayle said:
			
		

> Hey Marauder, go ahead and send that file if you don't mind. I can handle large emails.
> 
> Thanks!




Hey Ashrem, it's sent to you, but not sure if it went through as I had to use my yahoo account.  Too bad my workplace sucks so much that I can't send out any attachments any longer.  It's a good thing I got another job to look forward to.  

Let me know what you think or if you have any questions.


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## mikebr99 (Feb 27, 2004)

MarauderX said:
			
		

> Yeah, still not as powerful as AutoCAD. It's the standard drafting program for most of the industry that I am in and has plenty of bells and whistles, though it is lacking in D&D icons to be tossed into a drawing. I guess I better work on that...



VERY Kewl Idea!

Are you also zooming in, down to the 5ft. scale level and using CAD as your combat map? I.e. plotting it out and using minis or counters? Or actually playing on the screen that all your players can see?

What version of CAD are you using? I've got AutoCAD LT 2004, right now for work. 

I've been using CAD for work and school now for over 19 years... never even thought of it as a D&D application... D'Oh! 

Mike


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## MarauderX (Feb 27, 2004)

mikebr99 said:
			
		

> VERY Kewl Idea!
> 
> Are you also zooming in, down to the 5ft. scale level and using CAD as your combat map? I.e. plotting it out and using minis or counters? Or actually playing on the screen that all your players can see?
> 
> ...




Just using it as a mapping & encounter mapping tool right now.  I don't have the means to provide access to the players yet, besides I don't want them turning on all of the layers to sneak a peak at the army of terrasques marching towards them.  

Using 2000 at work and home, and will be using 2004 at my new workplace, along with 3rd party software.  I have been trying to meld it all together into one dwg, and the file is getting HUGE.  So while it's good for getting a sense of scale that you can print out at any size you want, the staggering amount of detail that is incorporated can lead to a file size larger than 10M, making it cumbersome when I am loading/unloading from my Yahoo briefcase to go from work to home.  Though it is nice, as I have been adding additional hex grid sizes to break up the 12 mile hex grid I have, and from there add in 5'x5' square grid to run encounters.  

I thought about using hatching for each 12 mile hex such as that used in Campaign Cartographer, but thought better of it in order to keep it more loose.  I used splines to demarkate where the hatching is, freeze the splines, and can change the hatching scale to meet whatever size plot I want to get.  Hatching can overlap to indicate forested hills or a marsh in the forest, and have done so for the large overland map.  Now I am going back through and adding the nuances as necessary for the areas in which the PCs have explored.  

Add in a pond or two at 1/4 mile long, more trails, location of the last encounter, freeze the overland grid, show the 1-mile grid, then print a 8.5x11 2 miles wide by 3 high - instant map for the players.  Now turn on your DM notes about where the next wilderness encounters are, how many, etc., print, and you have the exact same thing as the players except yours is full of DM material.  

I am working on adding other 5'x5' grid plans for larger areas that would cover a half-mile or so, such as towns, and they show up rather well for close encounters.  I will WBlock out any taverns I make a floor plan for, and with easy rotation I can plop them down at any odd angle to keep the overall map correct and can rotate the grid around it if necessary.

Let me know if you would also like me to send you what I have so far, as it may save you the time of creating layers or symbols.


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## mikebr99 (Feb 27, 2004)

MarauderX said:
			
		

> Let me know if you would also like me to send you what I have so far, as it may save you the time of creating layers or symbols.



Thanks a lot!

I'll get back to you on whether I can receive this at work or not... It would take forever on my home connection unfortunately...


Mike


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## MarauderX (Feb 27, 2004)

It's sent... not a lot of symbols attached since I stripped it down to get a smaller size, but you should get the idea just the same.  Let me know if you have any questions -
~MX


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## MarauderX (Feb 27, 2004)

Update:  After the file size surpassed 100M, I found that waiting for the memory and processor to catch up when doing a zoom-extents was too long to handle.  I will not be able to throw everything into 1 mega-file as I had hope, and will be begin breaking it down into separate WBlocks for easier management, then referencing into one another.  Final file size, not including images, fonts, pdfs, excel sheet(1), word files(1): 178,024 kb.  It was a dream, a dream nearly realized.   <sob>

How did the file get that big?  Splines, hatching, and grids mostly.  Using 3 different grids across the whole map (12 mile hex, 1 mile hex, and 5'x5' square), then bringing in blocks of city & castle maps just began to blow it over the top.  I had used hatch patterns to indicate the plains, forests, hills, etc, and even at higher scales began to increase the file size considerably.  Now imagine exploding all of the hatching... ouch.  

Now I have a new project - assembly of the pieces of my former mega-file.  Again, should anyone like the slimmer 2.2M version let me know, as it could save you a few hours.


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## ProphetPX (Feb 13, 2019)

i know this is 15 years too late lolllllllllllll but HATCHING was your worst and first mistake.... ouch.  i would not have done any of that until the final plot or print out for final product....
Hatching takes up MEGA GOBS of memory.  BAD BAD IDEA unless and until you are ready to finalize plot or product.


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