|
I bought the Cartographer set. I found that It was way too hard to use.
You pretty much need a CAD degree to use it.
Instead, what I do is I just use the clip art and textures from CC, and drop it into files I make on Powerpoint. Map making is a bit like building a collage.
I then took a flat screen TV, and I covered the face with plexiglass (attached with Velcro). This lets me lay the TV on it's back, and PRESTO! A virtual tabletop!
I scale the powerpoint slides to be 1" = 5' ON the TV, This is easy if you know the settings.
The files are huge, but my computer handles it just fine. I just plug the TV into my laptop using a VGA cable.
the cool part is I can add animations and such using powerpoint, so when a trap is sprung, I can make it appear. I cover up sections of dungeon and have them "fade in" when the party enters the area, or opens a door. I even had a mine cart fly across a trestle at one point, knocking characters into a pit full of black mist (zombie plague mist).
Finally, I can cut and paste art off of the internet, and alter it (crudely) using functions in powerpoint. At one point I had Ozzy Ozborn's face as the statue of a demon prince (he blew the same black mist out his mouth). It makes for some really fun battle maps.
It works great! It's a lot of work, but that's how it is with hobbies. Besides when I don't feel like building a map, I can just scan one, and use that.