World Making

[Lubrol88800]

Sorry, some of this was poster in the "errors" forum. I really need to go back to the root of the alpha forum each time

1) As you can tell for the emailed map, the two maps I've started with are the entire globe. It would be very useful to have a circle tool so that the edges of the globe can be shown. My intention would be to use the "link tool" on each land mass to pull in the plain view of each landmass. Not having the circle representing the edge of the world it a bit annoying as it mean I need to keep an image in place or things look very strange.

2) I realize the software is not going to be able to do equal-area, Mollweide or Mercator projections but having some predefined page layouts which mimicked those could be helpful; the current method of scaling pages is awkward at best.

3) A "centering" feature: horizontal, vertical or both relative to a page would be very convenient. It's so easy to get of centered and trying to manually center things is tough.

4) Having some pre-defined pages and/or a different method of defining the page stats would be useful. The current method is less than intuitive to me. I know the diameter of my world so I would want to define a page that has the requisite width to fit say 8 of an 8.5" width page. The current dialog means I need to do manual conversions to determine the number of miles per pixel. It might make more sense to define a new page (or redefine an existing page) but specifying a pixel resolution (based on the installed printer?) in ppi, the page size (8.5x11, A3, B4, 11x17, etc) and the distance to be utilized. Let the computer do the calculations of what the miles per pixel turns out to from there.

All these may be planned; in which case - sorry for the repetition.

[Kanchou]

Sorry, some of this was poster in the "errors" forum. I really need to go back to the root of the alpha forum each time

No worries! Thank you for your help!

1) As you can tell for the emailed map, the two maps I've started with are the entire globe. It would be very useful to have a circle tool so that the edges of the globe can be shown. My intention would be to use the "link tool" on each land mass to pull in the plain view of each landmass. Not having the circle representing the edge of the world it a bit annoying as it mean I need to keep an image in place or things look very strange.

One of the features from the campaign is "Option to have a circle or ellipse represent the edge of a flat map (instead of rectangular edge)." Would that work for the map you are making? I'm curious if that would fit into what you are trying to do. The circle/ellipse would be constrained by the width/height of the map.

2) I realize the software is not going to be able to do equal-area, Mollweide or Mercator projections but having some predefined page layouts which mimicked those could be helpful; the current method of scaling pages is awkward at best.

We'll have an "Option to show parallels and meridians that correspond to various map projection types (Mercator, Elliptical, Gauss conformal, etc). " This is basically an overlay showing those parallels and meridians, so it won't actually be calculating projections based on a flat map, but I think it covers what you mentioned

3) A "centering" feature: horizontal, vertical or both relative to a page would be very convenient. It's so easy to get of centered and trying to manually center things is tough..

That sounds good! I added it to our tracking list.

4) Having some pre-defined pages and/or a different method of defining the page stats would be useful. The current method is less than intuitive to me. I know the diameter of my world so I would want to define a page that has the requisite width to fit say 8 of an 8.5" width page. The current dialog means I need to do manual conversions to determine the number of miles per pixel. It might make more sense to define a new page (or redefine an existing page) but specifying a pixel resolution (based on the installed printer?) in ppi, the page size (8.5x11, A3, B4, 11x17, etc) and the distance to be utilized. Let the computer do the calculations of what the miles per pixel turns out to from there.

Yes, the current dialog is too simple. We are planning to add most (if not all) of what you are suggesting.

Thank you again!!

- Alejandro

[Lubrol88800]

One of the features from the campaign is "Option to have a circle or ellipse represent the edge of a flat map (instead of rectangular edge)." Would that work for the map you are making? I'm curious if that would fit into what you are trying to do. The circle/ellipse would be constrained by the width/height of the map.

That would work perfectly. It would clarify the boundary of the planet; the rectangular limit of the paper is more like a convention fold-up paper amp. The expectation is that is continues in one or more directions. By having an ellipse (a circle simply being a special case ellipse) you clearly define the boundary condition. So, that works excellently well.

We'll have an "Option to show parallels and meridians that correspond to various map projection types (Mercator, Elliptical, Gauss conformal, etc). " This is basically an overlay showing those parallels and meridians, so it won't actually be calculating projections based on a flat map, but I think it covers what you mentioned

This certainly addresses things; since we are dealing with fantasy worlds, no one can say, "well, that isn't right, the size of Largania is 3 times the size a Smallatania but the map doesn't show that. Overlays are also advantageous as you can typically turn them on and off as needed to change the appearance for different purposes.

I'm quite impressed, and will continue working it the alpha as time (and work) allows.

[Lubrol88800]

Two requests:

(1) I suspect that this is not a small feature request but it would certainly simplify working with paths: right no the remove path points require you to click on each point, it would be most convenient if you could select all the points in a region and delete then in mass. Among other things it would help correct errors or make changes much easier. I have fairly bad arthritis and often seem to create loops in the paths which make moving points very tough without creating loops or very sharp point.

(2) The mountain stamping tool is quite useful, but I really could use a line-based one: similar to a road but with the same fading coastline type feature showing the foothills.

And an observation:
In using the river or rad tool you have to click on the "select arrow" to stop the tool. It would be nice to be able to use the escape key or something similar when you have completed a path.

[Kanchou]

(1) I suspect that this is not a small feature request but it would certainly simplify working with paths: right no the remove path points require you to click on each point, it would be most convenient if you could select all the points in a region and delete then in mass. Among other things it would help correct errors or make changes much easier. I have fairly bad arthritis and often seem to create loops in the paths which make moving points very tough without creating loops or very sharp point.

Keep in mind that you can add new control points and move control points, which move groups of path points. But, adding the ability to select multiple "individual"/path points to move them together, delete them together, etc. is planned for the next time we revisit that part of the OWM graphics engine. It's probably something that we won't get to add until Beta release 2, but will be a part of the final release for certain.

(2) The mountain stamping tool is quite useful, but I really could use a line-based one: similar to a road but with the same fading coastline type feature showing the foothills.

We have a couple of features planned for Alpha release 3 to make adding symbols easier. One is regions of symbols (with fade) and the other is symbol patterns. I think this will be close to want you are requesting, but if it doesn't we can talk about it more once this feature gets included to OWM

In using the river or rad tool you have to click on the "select arrow" to stop the tool. It would be nice to be able to use the escape key or something similar when you have completed a path.

Right click "ends" the shape for all shapes. If it's a closed shape it will add a segment between the current point and the start point. If it's an open shape it will just end the shape as it is so far.

Thank you very much for all your work with OWM!!

- Alejandro