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Mapmaking: Are the individual tiles somewhere or is this done by freehand?

I think I might be missing something (also, I can't get back to the demo video).  Do you have to create maps completely by freehand drawing or are there tiles somewhere that allow you to assemble your maps square by square?  Scribbling this stuff together doesn't seem like it should be the way to do it.  There must individual blocks, tiles, somewhere I can use to build maps, right?
It is better to build your maps elsewhere and then import them into Roll20 as a completed map.  For example, I use MapTool to build my maps with tiles and layers and then bring them over into Roll20.
And where do you get the icons you use for characters?
I search the web and find some already made, like at the Market Place here on Roll20, or I make my own. &nbsp;The number of websites offering tokens for free is legion. &nbsp;I make my own tokens using the free RPTools program called TokenTool. &nbsp;Here is a link to the RPTools page with their free programs: <a href="http://www.rptools.net/index.php?page=tools" rel="nofollow">http://www.rptools.net/index.php?page=tools</a> I also use MapTools to build my map images.
If you want something prebuilt you can go look in the&nbsp; <a href="https://marketplace.roll20.net/" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.roll20.net/</a> for content. There are a ton of prebuilt map tile sets, icons, characters, etc. You can also use the built in image search in the sidebar or drag any images from your computer on to Roll20 and use those. For additional info take a look at: <a href="http://help.roll20.net/gm-overview/" rel="nofollow">http://help.roll20.net/gm-overview/</a> <a href="http://help.roll20.net/sidebar-art-library/" rel="nofollow">http://help.roll20.net/sidebar-art-library/</a>
The prebuilts can't be altered, though, can they?&nbsp; I'd need to go to maptools to do campaign-specific locations?&nbsp; So I might be able to do pre-builts for generic terrains, but I'm going to have create anything that I want look a specific way from scratch?
Sorry if it doesn't sound very helpful, but the answer is ...it depends.&nbsp; Any image can be used as a map. So, in a way, anything goes: hand drawn sketches, maps from the scenarios you may want to use, maps snatched from the internet, with or without changes from another program... Anything.&nbsp; You could sketch a map on a paper napkin during lunch, scan it and use it in Roll20. And every GM has his own solution. No standard way to do. One application I have found useful for making maps is Tiled. Basically, you can load any map you have into it, and then use parts from that map as tiles to make new maps.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.mapeditor.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.mapeditor.org/</a> &nbsp; For my own use, I am mostly drawing myself maps to use in the game.&nbsp; <a href="http://toybox-sw.blogspot.be/search/label/Maps" rel="nofollow">http://toybox-sw.blogspot.be/search/label/Maps</a>
1361062958
Gauss
Forum Champion
Mark: Roll20 is not an art program so you cannot create art style maps using it. However, there are quite a few resources out there on the internet that are useful for creating maps.&nbsp; What Roll20 does is provides a tabletop for you to put your maps on. If you are using a premade adventure you can copy the map image out of the PDF, paste it into an art program (such as MS Paint), save it as a jpg, and then load it into Roll20.&nbsp; You can find a variety of tokens and other images that you can use for tokens all around the net and Roll20's marketplace. Heck, in one instance I used photos of actual dolphins for dolphin tokens (I couldnt find dolphin tokens I liked so I just used photographs).&nbsp; - Gauss
Gauss said: Mark: Roll20 is not an art program so you cannot create art style maps using it. However, there are quite a few resources out there on the internet that are useful for creating maps.&nbsp; What Roll20 does is provides a tabletop for you to put your maps on. If you are using a premade adventure you can copy the map image out of the PDF, paste it into an art program (such as MS Paint), save it as a jpg, and then load it into Roll20.&nbsp; You can find a variety of tokens and other images that you can use for tokens all around the net and Roll20's marketplace. Heck, in one instance I used photos of actual dolphins for dolphin tokens (I couldnt find dolphin tokens I liked so I just used photographs).&nbsp; - Gauss We might want to mention here that there's a 5MB limit on the uploader (as far as I've noticed) so getting your extra large maps might be a bit of a hassle.
1362276304
IsItMyTurnYet
Marketplace Creator
Even though this post is old, others might want some more info: Here's a playlist of two videos that can help you out with mapmaking <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3US5KzwHKkUsYVSw25GKbKtCQRqx7LS6&amp;feature=mh_lolz" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3US5KzwHKkUsYVSw25GKbKtCQRqx7LS6&amp;feature=mh_lolz</a> There's also some resources in the vid description.
Modular design is key here; you want to create tiles similar to how WotC did their map tiles. Small, individual tile sets that you piece together like a jigsaw by either dragging into the browser or by uploading them into your art library and dragging them from them to create the maps as you go along through the dungeon (or piecing them together before the session and hiding via FoW). This allows for much more control over the design of the dungeon, and even allows you to create maps randomly and completely on the fly using some form of random dungeon design rolls. Throw in some preset encounters for your system (Respect the Ecology! :D) and you've got a dungeon you can blast together in no time and as the game is progressing. In terms of creating the actual dungeon tiles graphics themselves, you would have to use an external program. I use Photoshop to create various style tiles, dark caves, light caves, desert, snow, temperate, ect and then drop them in. They follow the typical '2x2', 2x4', '8x4', ect theme. You can do this with simple textures with very little changes by expanding them into a ratio that equals the size you want. Because I'm fussy, I create documents that are 70 x number of squares of the room, so for a 2x4 corridor, I'd create a 140x280px document and just paste the texture in. Figure out the size of your room in squares, or however you measure your system, ensure that checks up with the measurements with the page your working with in Roll20 (so a 15' by 20' room with each square being 5', you'd have 3x4 squares, multiplied by 70, or however many pixels you wish to use). Once you've done that, the rest is as simple as scaling it up in size to match the required grid size you use. If you stick to 70px per square (which is the default size for the Roll20 grid) then you can easily drag and drop. If not, you can set the dimension yourself easily.