contour regions: colours

[SilverSurfer1221]

The theme name you are accessing is displayed in the box next to Theme at the top of the panel. The reason it says "My Theme" in my screen shot, is because I had created my own custom theme to test things and named it, 'My Theme". I have several other themes, like Etrea, which is for a RPG world my wife created for her D&D campaign. She wanted her map to have a certain look, so I created it and called it Etrea. I can access that theme by simply clicking the drop-down box (next to Theme at the top of the panel). And then I can save the new contour regions to that particular theme. This way I can append any existing theme with my own custom contours (and other stuff, too).

This is the standard way OWM works to create and add custom content to just about anything in the program. Select what you want to customize, make sure you have the theme you want to add it to, and then go to town.



Basically, "My Theme" is a play area I created to test my ideas before adding them or creating them for my own custom themes.

[Balmung]

"My Theme" is the also the default theme in the demo.

[SilverSurfer1221]

BTW - One of the reasons (I believe) that OWM allows you to select ANY theme for land masses, contours, etc., is because you are free to mix-and-match things. Just because you are working with a theme, whether one that comes with OWM or one you've created yourself, doesn't mean you are forced to ONLY use what's created for that theme. You can use elements from ANY of the themes at ANY time, mixing and matching as you like. Therefore, the drop down is always available to the end-user at the top of the right-side panel.

[SilverSurfer1221]

Think of it this way - A theme is just a collection of presets. Just because you can start a new map with a theme of your choice, does not mean you are locked into using only what's with that theme. You can use what you please from any of the themes and even custom create your own, mixing and matching that as you like to create the map you want.

I find it easier to create my own theme and include in it everything I want for the map I am creating (just to ensure a consistent look throughout), but this is not required by OWM. So, think of "themes" more as "containers" that hold specific visual ideas for creating maps. Like an artist with a palette of paints, you are free to pick and choose what you want from any palette.

[nDervish]

SilverSurfer's covered the presets and themes side of things pretty well, but I'll also add that, if you're only concerned with a single map (rather than reusing presets/themes across multiple maps), you can also just select the existing object (region, contour set, whatever), right-click, and either "copy/paste properties" if you want to assign the same settings to another existing object, or "set tool properties" if you want to create additional objects with the same settings.