More Control Over Effects

Request changes or additions in functionality.

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SilverSurfer1221
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More Control Over Effects

Post by SilverSurfer1221 » Wed May 19, 2021 6:44 pm

... and, well, more effects. ;)

I'll start by saying that I love Other World Mapper. I have a license to Wonderdraft and Campaign Cartographer 3+. Both are interesting programs, to be sure, but I keep coming back to Other World Mapper for mapping. Wonderdraft has a few interesting features (like how you can paint colors onto areas, like you're in Photoshop, as compared to creating vector areas of solid colors), but is relatively feature-light when compared to either CC3+ or OWM. CC3+ has a ton of features, many of which I wish OWM had, but it is old, overly complex, and slow (even on a high-end PC). CC3+ is like working on software made for Windows 98!

Having said that, there is one thing that I do really like about CC3+ that I wish we had in OWM, and that's the control it has over effects for ... well ... everything. Here's a screen shot of what you get if you right-click on a landmass (for example), turn on Effects, and click on Add:

Image

As you can see from the screen shot, you can set up effects for land, see, roads ... everything you need to make a map. And when you turn on effects and click Add, you get an Add Effect panel with a long list of effects you can add to whatever feature you've selected - bevels, edge fades, glows, hue and saturation, and more. Clicking on any of these will bring up another panel with controls for that particular effect. Using these, I can set up many different things that will effect every landmass, every road, or whatever I create. It makes it very easy to set up the particulars for any map I'm working on.

Now, OWM has some of this. But it's limited to things like solid fill color, outline color, glow, texture, and background image. So, OWM is part of the way there. I like the way I can access this in OWM better than in CC3+, to be sure. It's all right there, easy to find, and easy to make changes. But there needs to be more, I think. I've already requested a beveled look (and have heard it's being added - YAY!), but the more effects we can have and apply, the more unique maps we can make in OWM.

Again, I don't like working in CC3+. Not in the least. But I can get the look I am after there, despite how much I don't like the software. I can't always get what I want in OWM ... and that's a shame because it's the best one, in my opinion.

So, yeah, more effects please ... and more control over them. :)
Last edited by SilverSurfer1221 on Thu May 20, 2021 9:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

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SilverSurfer1221
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Re: More Control Over Effects

Post by SilverSurfer1221 » Wed May 19, 2021 6:47 pm

I should add that the list of effects you see there in the CC3+ screen shot only tells a part of the story. You may notice that with Land selected, there are TWO Glow effects. That's because you can stack effects in CC3+, adding as many (or as few) of any effect you like, combining them in unique ways to get the map look you want for any feature (landmass, sea, etc.). So, you want two bevels? Go for it and determine how they blend together. Want three or four glows to create a gradient of sorts, go for it, you can.

Currently, in OWM, we can enable a glow and tune that one glow. But that's it. So, CC3+ has the advantage of letting the end-user stack effects together.

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Balmung
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Re: More Control Over Effects

Post by Balmung » Thu May 20, 2021 1:35 am

The image is not showing.

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Kanchou
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Re: More Control Over Effects

Post by Kanchou » Thu May 20, 2021 10:15 am

Balmung wrote:
Thu May 20, 2021 1:35 am
The image is not showing.
It's showing for me, forums may have been slow at the time. They do that occasionally ....
Alejandro S. Canosa
Three Minds Software

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Kanchou
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Re: More Control Over Effects

Post by Kanchou » Thu May 20, 2021 10:31 am

SilverSurfer1221 wrote:
Wed May 19, 2021 6:47 pm
I should add that the list of effects you see there in the CC3+ screen shot only tells a part of the story. You may notice that with Land selected, there are TWO Glow effects. That's because you can stack effects in CC3+, adding as many (or as few) of any effect you like, combining them in unique ways to get the map look you want for any feature (landmass, sea, etc.). So, you want two bevels? Go for it and determine how they blend together. Want three or four glows to create a gradient of sorts, go for it, you can.

Currently, in OWM, we can enable a glow and tune that one glow. But that's it. So, CC3+ has the advantage of letting the end-user stack effects together.
There's been a few professional cartographers that have asked for this because otherwise they end up exporting the final map in layers and then doing the last post production in Photoshop. We've wanted to do this for a while as there's no engine restrictions, you could stack effects as much as you want as long as your RAM and CPU can handle it.

The main issue is that of UI changes and us wanting to keep it simple for the everyday user. Perhaps we should have two modes for the properties a simple one and an advanced one where you can just stack effects as you want? We'll do some brainstorming, but suggestions are welcome!

- Alejandro
Alejandro S. Canosa
Three Minds Software

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Balmung
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Re: More Control Over Effects

Post by Balmung » Thu May 20, 2021 1:01 pm

Kanchou wrote:
Thu May 20, 2021 10:15 am
Balmung wrote:
Thu May 20, 2021 1:35 am
The image is not showing.
It's showing for me, forums may have been slow at the time. They do that occasionally ....
Now it's there :)

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SilverSurfer1221
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Re: More Control Over Effects

Post by SilverSurfer1221 » Thu May 20, 2021 2:36 pm

The main issue is that of UI changes and us wanting to keep it simple for the everyday user. Perhaps we should have two modes for the properties a simple one and an advanced one where you can just stack effects as you want? We'll do some brainstorming, but suggestions are welcome!
Currently, the effects show up on the right-side toolbar at the bottom (outline, shadow, texture, etc.). What if these still showed, just as they are, so the everyday user can instantly access them. But, beneath them, there could be a button with a plus sign. If the end-user clicks that button, a floating menu appears offering more effects (including the ones already there). If you select one, it gets added to what's already there on the right-side, defaulting to the bottom (below Solid Fill, if nothing else has been added). The end-user can then click+drag to stack the effects in any order they please. So, let's say the end-user adds a second Outline. This one is smaller than the first (the first is 10 px and the second is 6px). The end-user could drag the second Outline to place it above the one that was on top. This way, the landmass would have two outlines (the 6px one over the 10px one).

So, to recap:

- Offer the current selection of effects so they are always there for the everyday user
- Add a Plus Button to access more effects
- Added effects (and all present effects) can be click+dragged to any order the end-user desires to get the effect they want

Also, there should be a way to remove unwanted effects, too (so, a negative button for each effect?).

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evildmguy
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Re: More Control Over Effects

Post by evildmguy » Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:07 pm

I merely wanted to say I love these ideas!

Thanks!

Jon
aka edg

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evildmguy
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Re: More Control Over Effects

Post by evildmguy » Wed May 25, 2022 10:10 pm

Any more thoughts on this?

Thanks!

edg

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Kanchou
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Re: More Control Over Effects

Post by Kanchou » Thu Jun 02, 2022 10:26 am

evildmguy wrote:
Wed May 25, 2022 10:10 pm
Any more thoughts on this?

Thanks!

edg
Planning on going with SilverSurfer1221's suggestion :). Changes are coming with the new V1.1X branch and that's how we'll handle additional options that we don't want to overload the UI with.

- Alejandro
Alejandro S. Canosa
Three Minds Software

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