Usually, they're locked behind a Patreon (at least in the case of bailywiki. I'll make the small backlog I have publicly available in the coming week. To be honest I don't use prefabs that much myself, an ask around on the DungeonDraft Subreddit might lead you to more!
Awesome tips, thank you for the quick, to the point video. Question! Your art style assets look different from that which is stock Dungeondraft. Which one do you use?
I've not used rol20 often and am not entirely sure what ou mean with half-lighting, but I believe the best is to turn off lights in the export and just add them within roll20!
I can't figure out how you can swap directions on the shadows, like flip it. I've seen in this video and in other videos that some do that, but I can't seem to figure out how to do that, and I can't find any keyboard shortcuts that lets me do that. Anyone know how I can do that?
I'm still unsure if I want to get this although your two tips videos have shown a lot of features I miss in the programm I use atm. So I figured I'd join the discord to see what others make and so on but it turns out the invite doesn't work anymore. Your latest video also doesn't have an invite, any chance you're posting a new one?
I still keep track of all my videos, or at least I try to. :D I got them from kragers shadows and lights pack on cartography assets if I recall correctly. Link to the pack: cartographyassets.com/assets/7713/kragers-shadow-light-pack/
Love this! But could you elaborate a bit more on the “turning off lighting for exporting to VTT?” Is that only if you’re exporting in the universal VTT format? Or does that go for exporting as images, as well? What exactly does that do? Also, do you have any videos where you talk about the best export settings for VTTs? I’d love to know more about that. I’m getting better at working in Dungeondraft, but I’m still having a rough time getting the map to look good in roll20 while staying under the 10mb file limit.
I think this topic does deserve a video of it's own (I don't have one for it just yet) but it basically boils down to this: The export for VTT function, as I understand it, provides a file that software like Foundry VTT can read in order to determine where walls, doors and windows are. I'm not sure what else a VTT can take from the file because my experience with it is rather limited at the time. It could work for other VTT's though I'm currently not aware which ones those are. That would require me to do a bit of research, but I've been toying with the idea on a video series about what to do with your map after it's finished, so I might include it in there. I've been asked to include the VTT format with the maps that I produce though, so it has some added value over the regular flat PNG's. When I export the VTT file I know for a fact that it will be used in a VTT software. So I always uncheck the grid and lighting option for the export. Those can be added & manipulated in the VTT software, so it's easier to just set that all up in there. I also delete all the lights and light related shadows (but not the basic shadows). The basic shadows are the simple, relatively small shadows around for example a table, in order to pull it away from the floor. If go into more depth in my shading tutorials if you'd like to know more. Light related shadows are the shadows that are cast by an object due to the proximity of a lightsource. Those lightsources however are something you can add in a VTT as well, so you'd want to break out all of that to make the map look at its best when in a VTT. With regards to roll20 and staying below the 10MB file limit: PNG's are what they call uncompressed image files. Meaning they're high in quality but also extremely large in filesize. To reduce a filesize you basically have two options, JPEG and WEBP. Both of these are significantly smaller than a PNG of the same resolution. Though JPEG has one drawback, It compresses the image with a loss of quality. I don't know al the technical details, but for a battlemap in an online programme you nearly always want to go with WEBP. I understand though that WEBP isn't supported in Roll20 so you'll have to make do with JPEG. My PNG's I export at 256ppi. However, with JPEG I go significantly lower. (I toy around with the settings a bit, as it varies depending on the map size what ppi brings you below 10MB) Generally it set the ppi at about 100 and then export as a JPEG. If that's still to large I go to about 80. These images should still do just fine as battlemaps, they're just not as pretty as a full quality PNG. I also heard of a method that requires some additional software to bring a PNG down in size. I can't rememberhow it worked exactly, but I'll be sure to add that in a video when I make one. This should hopefully help you out a bit though!
@@fakefairytale05 Thank you for that thorough explanation! I definitely would love to see a video about what to do with your map when you’re done. I’m actually pretty familiar with lossy vs. non-lossy formats - my day job is as a web developer! But what threw me for a loop recently is that the “roll20” image export setting exports at 70ppi, whereas the native resolution in DD is 256ppi. So my maps were looking like crap in roll20, especially zoomed in, because the ppi was too low (combined with the 10mb file size limit that made increasing the ppi much more challenging). Someone on the DD Discord helped me out by suggesting that I export at 256ppi at 80% quality, and that has worked beautifully. Oh, and roll20 actually does support WEBP (that was news to me, too!) As far as I know roll20 does *not* support universal VTT files, however, so I will have to stick to flat images for now. It’s mildly annoying to have to place all the dynamic lighting boundaries manually, but fairly straightforward once you’ve done it a few times. (I’m sure someone will say “ you should use a better VTT,” and maybe I should, but at this point I’m so invested in the roll20 ecosystem, there’s a bit of a sunk cost fallacy thing going on. Also I love playing virtually, so I don’t anticipate a lot of print maps in my future, lol). Randomly, if I might ask, what is your accent? I’m guessing Nordic of some flavor? Feel free to ignore this somewhat rude question; I’m just fascinated by accents and language.
I appreciate you don't pad out these videos and just get straight to the point.
Thanks man, appreciate that!
Your maps are incredible! I hope I'll be able to make them the same way someday. The rotating light is something I didn't know, thanks for the tip!
Thanks you so much. :D I takes a bit of practice but you'l get the hang of it, I'm sure!
This is pure gold!!!
Why thank you! You're too kind. :)
Fantastic video. Thank you!
Wow, thanks! Glad you liked it!
Super useful, many thanks!!!
Beatiful, amazing
Great video !
Thanks! :D
Excellent
Amazing content as always! Where can I find your Prefabs or those of other creators?
Usually, they're locked behind a Patreon (at least in the case of bailywiki. I'll make the small backlog I have publicly available in the coming week. To be honest I don't use prefabs that much myself, an ask around on the DungeonDraft Subreddit might lead you to more!
Awesome tips, thank you for the quick, to the point video. Question! Your art style assets look different from that which is stock Dungeondraft. Which one do you use?
You’re very welcome! I use the Forgotten Adventures Dungeondraft integration! So almost all assets I use are theirs!
What do I select on export for lighting when I want to use it for roll 20? Do I use full, half, none? I will be using dynamic lighting.
I've not used rol20 often and am not entirely sure what ou mean with half-lighting, but I believe the best is to turn off lights in the export and just add them within roll20!
Great job, as usual! ^_^
Thanks! Nice to see you here! ^^
I can't figure out how you can swap directions on the shadows, like flip it. I've seen in this video and in other videos that some do that, but I can't seem to figure out how to do that, and I can't find any keyboard shortcuts that lets me do that. Anyone know how I can do that?
Any reason you don't use the wibbly wobbly step instead of the wibbly wobbly line + shadow paths? More control maybe?
Not specifically, that's a good point. I use them interchangeably. Both are fine though. :D
I'm still unsure if I want to get this although your two tips videos have shown a lot of features I miss in the programm I use atm. So I figured I'd join the discord to see what others make and so on but it turns out the invite doesn't work anymore. Your latest video also doesn't have an invite, any chance you're posting a new one?
Hey man, probably you won't see this, but how did you get all those shadow paths? I just have a 40% shadowpath
I still keep track of all my videos, or at least I try to. :D I got them from kragers shadows and lights pack on cartography assets if I recall correctly.
Link to the pack: cartographyassets.com/assets/7713/kragers-shadow-light-pack/
@@fakefairytale05 TYSM, I didn't have expectations on you answering me hahaha. Again, tysm.
@@oglabongaishere4376 no problem! Happy to help. :)
Love this! But could you elaborate a bit more on the “turning off lighting for exporting to VTT?” Is that only if you’re exporting in the universal VTT format? Or does that go for exporting as images, as well? What exactly does that do?
Also, do you have any videos where you talk about the best export settings for VTTs? I’d love to know more about that. I’m getting better at working in Dungeondraft, but I’m still having a rough time getting the map to look good in roll20 while staying under the 10mb file limit.
I think this topic does deserve a video of it's own (I don't have one for it just yet) but it basically boils down to this:
The export for VTT function, as I understand it, provides a file that software like Foundry VTT can read in order to determine where walls, doors and windows are. I'm not sure what else a VTT can take from the file because my experience with it is rather limited at the time. It could work for other VTT's though I'm currently not aware which ones those are. That would require me to do a bit of research, but I've been toying with the idea on a video series about what to do with your map after it's finished, so I might include it in there. I've been asked to include the VTT format with the maps that I produce though, so it has some added value over the regular flat PNG's.
When I export the VTT file I know for a fact that it will be used in a VTT software. So I always uncheck the grid and lighting option for the export. Those can be added & manipulated in the VTT software, so it's easier to just set that all up in there.
I also delete all the lights and light related shadows (but not the basic shadows).
The basic shadows are the simple, relatively small shadows around for example a table, in order to pull it away from the floor. If go into more depth in my shading tutorials if you'd like to know more. Light related shadows are the shadows that are cast by an object due to the proximity of a lightsource. Those lightsources however are something you can add in a VTT as well, so you'd want to break out all of that to make the map look at its best when in a VTT.
With regards to roll20 and staying below the 10MB file limit:
PNG's are what they call uncompressed image files. Meaning they're high in quality but also extremely large in filesize. To reduce a filesize you basically have two options, JPEG and WEBP. Both of these are significantly smaller than a PNG of the same resolution. Though JPEG has one drawback, It compresses the image with a loss of quality. I don't know al the technical details, but for a battlemap in an online programme you nearly always want to go with WEBP. I understand though that WEBP isn't supported in Roll20 so you'll have to make do with JPEG.
My PNG's I export at 256ppi. However, with JPEG I go significantly lower. (I toy around with the settings a bit, as it varies depending on the map size what ppi brings you below 10MB) Generally it set the ppi at about 100 and then export as a JPEG. If that's still to large I go to about 80. These images should still do just fine as battlemaps, they're just not as pretty as a full quality PNG.
I also heard of a method that requires some additional software to bring a PNG down in size. I can't rememberhow it worked exactly, but I'll be sure to add that in a video when I make one. This should hopefully help you out a bit though!
@@fakefairytale05 Thank you for that thorough explanation! I definitely would love to see a video about what to do with your map when you’re done.
I’m actually pretty familiar with lossy vs. non-lossy formats - my day job is as a web developer! But what threw me for a loop recently is that the “roll20” image export setting exports at 70ppi, whereas the native resolution in DD is 256ppi. So my maps were looking like crap in roll20, especially zoomed in, because the ppi was too low (combined with the 10mb file size limit that made increasing the ppi much more challenging). Someone on the DD Discord helped me out by suggesting that I export at 256ppi at 80% quality, and that has worked beautifully. Oh, and roll20 actually does support WEBP (that was news to me, too!)
As far as I know roll20 does *not* support universal VTT files, however, so I will have to stick to flat images for now. It’s mildly annoying to have to place all the dynamic lighting boundaries manually, but fairly straightforward once you’ve done it a few times.
(I’m sure someone will say “ you should use a better VTT,” and maybe I should, but at this point I’m so invested in the roll20 ecosystem, there’s a bit of a sunk cost fallacy thing going on. Also I love playing virtually, so I don’t anticipate a lot of print maps in my future, lol).
Randomly, if I might ask, what is your accent? I’m guessing Nordic of some flavor? Feel free to ignore this somewhat rude question; I’m just fascinated by accents and language.
Moulk's Fading Shadow Paths for stairs: cartographyassets.com/assets/16299/moulks-fading-shadow-paths/