Nice!! My group is on its way to Brinewall Castle and I would LOVE to have a map like this for them!!! Well-done!
I have used Photoshop and InDesign in the past to blow up a map to the correct size and then printed it out at Kinko's as a single poster. I have also used the tiling function to do what you did. As you say, it takes some work. I wish someone would make it easier to do!
That looks awesome! Glad to see people getting good use out of the interactive maps :)
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Now that you have printed out your color maps, protect them for easy storage (multiple posters will fit in one ACP sheet protector) and during play with these wet erasable, ziplocked blueprint protectors.
They will also hang flat for storage using this blueprint protector.
poster razor is great. I did the same as you, Andrew, with all the maps in CotCT, and the result was quite good. Had to enlarge the files from the map folio PDF, but still.
I also have done all the maps up to book 3 for my group. Admittedly I was using photoshop to handle all of the sizing and division.... as of now... Well that posterrazor program is about to save me some serious time :)
You'd have to resize the whole map at the appropriate dimensions before importing it to Posterrazor for slicing. I would just count the squares in one direction, then in Photoshop or GIMP (or whatever graphics app you are using) and increase the map to the desired total inches in size. Then save. Import to Posterrazor and slice it...
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Here is a re-post of info from another forum:
1. Extracted the images the PDF using SomePDF Image Extractor
2. Using an image editing program (GIMP in my case), I selected an area on the map image from the book that lined up along the grid and then cropped the image to that selection. I ended up with an image that is exactly x squares wide and y squares tall, no partial squares along the edges of my new image.
3. Again using the editing program, I rescaled the image using inches as my measurement instead of pixels. So if my image was 30 squares wide by 20 squares tall, I'd scale it to 30 inches wide and 20 inches tall. Voila, I now have an image where the squares are 1 inch.
4. I then use PosterRazor to create a multi-page PDF of my new image, as I can only print to standard 8x11 paper.
Its that simple; it takes longer to cut out and tape the sections together than it does to make the image. I've found that rescaling the image doesn't lose that much resolution, and PosterRazor makes a much better battlemats than the raster programs I used to use. Also, all of the software I used in the process is free/open source, so it didn't cost me a dime except for ink and paper.
Thank the Golarian gods, that I have a large format printer in my graphics shop (since I run Gamer Printshop, I print maps for others too), but I never need to 'posterrazor' slice my map into letter size chunks. I know this process to provide printable content for others as a PDF download. But when I do it myself, I print full size maps at scale in full color. I've printed maps up to 42" x 96" in dimension.
A final map as a one-piece print is much more impressive than one taped together from dozens of individual letter size pieces.
dot
Dotted.
I've created several battle maps using the method described above. And while very work intensive it's worked pretty well. I guess my question to Paizo is why isn't this style of image available as part of the map pack? I have had to jump through these hoops for many many PFS slots (although many use the flip-maps and map packs which is great albeit a tad generic).
I like the interactive portion of the map pack, but would be MORE interested in PDFs that came setup for printing battle maps. Perhaps just including a JPG that is squared with the grid and correctly sized (I know it would be large). Most of the battle maps are ones that have no room numbers or secret doors on them anyway.
Thanx,
Kizan
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Am I doing something wrong? I get grainy images.
I use SomePDF extractor to get the image. I take the 42 square by 32 square mape and resize it to 42 inches by 32 inches. It looks great in photosop elements. I then open it in Photorazor and it gets pixelated. I have tried to resize it only in Photorazor to the same effect. The squares are the right size but poor quality.
EDIT: I'm dtarting to think it gets grainey in photoshop elements.
PDF for print is usually set for 300 ppi, but PDF for download is generally 96 ppi. At 100% scale (scaled for the PDF) it looks fine, however enlarging a 96 dpi image it's going to get grainy, as the resolution is just not there.
I run Gamer Printshop, and I run into these problems all the time. While my large format printer does a better job at printing enlarged low resolution images, I can always do a better job with a high resolution file.
So it's not getting grainy in PSE, rather it's already grainy to start, just not so bad printing at 8.5 x 11. It's only noticable when you enlarge the image.
Ideally, you want the files from a Map Folio, that has true scale versions of the map. While still 96 ppi, the map is already scaled to full size in inches. Extracting this and printing will get a nice print.
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So to be clear, if I purchase the Jade regent poster map folio .
as a pdf, they are already the size I need (1 inch squares) and will look sharp when printing from Posterazor?
I was able to reduce the grainyness by copying the image from the pdf, opening a new file in PSE at 100 PPI and then pasting the image. It wasn't as grainy, but it was a bit blurry.
If I am understanding correctly about the map folio, it would be awesome!
I appreciate the help!
I would say it's true, but then I don't know if all the maps for the adventure are in the Map Folio - I don't have the Map Folio, so I don't really know.
As an aside, if you do get the map folio. The map of the City of Kasai, while the final is done by Paizo's inhouse cartographer, I am the cartographer that actually designed the city of Kasai in pen and ink. Even the map folio version is smaller than the map I designed, which was originally 36 x 54 in hand-drawn format.
The Map Folio is not what you want if you're after battle maps. In the Jade Regent Map Folio, there is a map of the Crown of the World, a map of Tian Xia as a whole, and a map of Kasai, the capital of Minkai. These are large scale maps, not adventure locations, as they are intended (these days) to be useful for people who aren't even playing the Adventure Path, since they are part of the Campaign Setting line.
That said the poster map folios are still quite good, the map of Tian Xia is great if you intend to adventure on that continent.