Foreground Map Layer

I regret that I have but one +1 to give!

+1

+1 from my side

So yeah, is this gonna be a thing now? Just one single extra layer would solve so many issues I currently have with mapping, and it seems like such a little thing to implement.

Before we get too excited about a foreground layer (which I have already clicked the vote for) please understand its not "easy".  If it was easy, it would have been added before the "translate to other languages" option.  And considering  I only speak/read one language poorly, I am quick to admit this isn't a quick or easy adjustment.  

Though favored.  

This suggestion surpassed the Jukebox Playlists suggestion in vote numbers about 6 months after I posted it (which was the highest voted uncompleted suggestion at the time).  After that it maintained a solid 50+ lead on any other suggestion, topping off at maximum lead of over 120 votes more than Fog of War for a few months.  Though a few months ago Fog of War came within 30 votes of toppling my streak.

Let's remember the Guidelines for the Suggestion forum: "...specifically NOT allowed:... ...Predictions about the response of the Dev Team or the likelihood that a suggestion will be implemented..."

Considering that the guidelines mention that the Dev Team would let us know if a feature was impossible.  In it's year and a half life (2 years this October), this Suggestion has never had a Dev response, which makes me optimistic about the future.  :)

Coal Powered Puppet said:

Before we get too excited about a foreground layer (which I have already clicked the vote for) please understand its not "easy".  If it was easy, it would have been added before the "translate to other languages" option.  And considering  I only speak/read one language poorly, I am quick to admit this isn't a quick or easy adjustment.  

Though favored.  

Actually... it should be pretty easy. The code is there already for various layers. Adding one more would mostly consist of copy/paste and rename, adding a new icon on the layers list, and making sure it's set properly in the z-order.

+1

+1

Additional layers would definitely make GMing more smooth. Even something as simple as an overlay and secondary background layer would be enough. This whole "oops, I accidentally sent that to the very back and now I can't get to it without moving all of the items I placed," is irksome. 

+1

How about "floor 2 map", "floor 2 token", "floor 3 map", "floor 3 token" layers (any more would be likely excessive), where we can change the transparency of a floor on the fly? I'm tired of having to do kludges for token elevation! 

Ideal you should be able to create layers arbitrarily. Then have per layer setting-

* Edit, granular, per player. (IE who can move stuff on this layer if they have control of the object)
* View, granular, per player. (Like DM layer is a token layer with view set to DM only)
* Fog of war per layer. (The FOW system ideally would have something like a master layer and child layers per player that anything you revealed on the master would trickle down, but you could reveal rooms to individual players as they see them if you like. EG the party splits. Ideally you could nest player layers to create sub groups for party splits)
*Dynamic lighting per layer. (Would work as above with the FOW settings. Basically the setting you get on the map page currently, but available to turn on and off per layer.) 

You could use such a system to create levels as well

Level 1 map with tokens and then a foreground nested.
Level 2 map with tokens and then a foreground nested.

Then you could just assign players visibility to the map layer and they'd acquire all the child layers.

In would also make indoor/outdoor areas a little easier as you could assign global illumination to the outside and then just make the inside another layer with its own dynamic lighting turned on. 

+1

+1

+1

+1

I need this so bad since I'm gming a game in a jungle. I want to have trees but the players being on top of them looks kind of stupid. +1

+1 
Dying for this to be a thing.. Kinda sick of watching my players walk over trees and such. 

I think the best way for the devs to make it work would be to have basic layers as is for free accounts. 1 or 2 additional layer for Plus and "unlimited" (5 would actually do but one can dream) for Pro.

Eric J. said:

I think the best way for the devs to make it work would be to have basic layers as is for free accounts. 1 or 2 additional layer for Plus and "unlimited" (5 would actually do but one can dream) for Pro.

"Unlimited" and technology are often at odds when it comes to performance. Each layer uses browser memory and system memory, so the devs will need to find the sweet spot. That's not to say they can't add more layers, but I'd be surprised if they ever said, "go nuts"

TheWebCoder said:

"Unlimited" and technology are often at odds when it comes to performance. Each layer uses browser memory and system memory, so the devs will need to find the sweet spot. That's not to say they can't add more layers, but I'd be surprised if they ever said, "go nuts"

Uhm, let's be reealistic.. nobody will have more than a handful of layers anyway, even if there would be a possibility to add an unlimited number of layers. You need to fill them with something, after all.

Well, unless we could have some crazy parallax effect on it - top layers moving slightly more than the ones below, so when you scroll, you get that 3D feeling.

Excuse me for a while, I'm sitting in my corner, drooling. 

Tom said:

Or even better, would it be possible to let us create custom layers and order them? Sort of like Photoshop, and we could give each layer certain characteristics, like "player visible/invisible" and "interactive/non-interactive" etc.

+1 and don't forget to add a tool to show what is on what layer. This would be great.

Like all features currently in the control set, this one needs a good solid meta management infrastructure that I just have not seen so far.  I've made many suggestions about the meta controls for adding, editing, deleting, and FOR SURE visually organizing the storing of <x> where <x> is:

maps, 
journal entries,
token macros,
general macros,
turn order lists,
control bar

and now we add in layers as a new item.

All of them need the same sweeping meta control changes these other items need.  The administrative coding is the same for all of them.  Break-out windows to avoid screen real-estate for each of these is also ideal (per yet another of my suggestions).  

Anyway, love the idea.  There is NO reason to arbitrarily set a limit to any <x> nor certainly no reason not to suspect that any given campaign owner/designer/user will not have a ridiculous number of <x> even if most users do not.  The proper meta management tools allow for open-ended expansion and management without arbitrary limits.

+1  

Additional and/or Custom layers like photoshop would be great.  Having 2 dynamic lighting layers that are interpreted as 1 so you can have permanent blocking layer on one, temp blocking on another (doors/closed windows).  Having a couple GM layers would be nice and allow quick drag box selecting without worrying about grabbing tokens you shouldn't be, i.e., 1 layer for tokens to mark traps/map locations/notes that should always remain hidden, 1 for hidden tokens that could become visible at some point, and so on.  2+ Map, 1 for the ground, 1 for buildings/cover/objects so you can 'switch' the encounter layout with just a opacity change of a layer rather than making a whole new page.

+1 and would like to add, if it is possible the ability to have layers in numbers.  The current system is somewhat fine, but adding the ability to add numbered layers to the "background layer" would allow much more diversity over all.

If every Current layer allowed say just a limit of 5 "numbered layers" inside - you can easily overlap items to create nearly any design your trying to make, any effect desired.  This is a standard of all modern day computer graphic editing soft wares.

I think adding an arbitrary number of layers would be great - whether unlimited or within some finite bound.  It could get tricky with... well, lots of these suggestions, as each layer might need its own options and controls.  But I know I'd immediately benefit from at least one more layer to play around with.  

Almost every session I end up screwing up and selecting a group of monsters from the GM Layer and pushing them to the Token Layer, only to grab something like room numbers or some other hidden GM-only token.  Then my player's are all "OH NO! A GIANT 3!" and I have to sheepishly hide it again.  

I mean, it's not the end of the world, but it's a bit much to manage sometimes with so much on the map.  I'd love to have that extra layer for monsters or whatnot that I could just grab and reveal rather than having to try to click on each one in order to not grab anything else...

The more the layers, the better. That's all I have to say for such an (already) immensly great website.

It's a shame I can only add one vote to this. :P

I know that I'm late to the party, but I'm definitely behind this idea. One of the biggest problems I encounter in designing maps is fighting the background with the objects in the background (i.e. furniture). In the case where I allow players to manipulate those objects, I have often found myself dragging the "floor" along with some objects. Understandably, I realize this will not be an easy thing to integrate, but I did want to show my support for the idea.

Being a marketplace artist, I could really integrate an extra layer into maps like separate layers for walls with shading, so objects can be placed under and still get the shadow effect and be seen, and DMs could manipulate objects easier. Also rafters and balconies would be awesome for this!

You know I was thinking this would make a cool effect with my environmental effects pack. Having another layer to add rain or fog or snow or nearly anything to have special effects of weather would be kool. I really like this idea and look forward to seeing it in the future. Sadly there no way for me to make a moving gif for weather effects, now that would be wickedly kool.

Joshua Kurz said:

You know I was thinking this would make a cool effect with my environmental effects pack. Having another layer to add rain or fog or snow or nearly anything to have special effects of weather would be kool. I really like this idea and look forward to seeing it in the future. Sadly there no way for me to make a moving gif for weather effects, now that would be wickedly kool.

You can do the environmental effects using the AP Script "Page FX" you can use it to make realtime fog, rain, and other effects using this script.

At least a second story for buildings, I can see it being a problem for the GM layer though.

I agree that this would be wonderfully useful. 

+1

+1

+1

+1, but the original post is 2 years old. #futile?

Vaxfiend said:

+1, but the original post is 2 years old. #futile?

We can still hope.

I don't understand how a topic can receive this much attention from the community and not even get a decent Dev respince.  Don't get me wrong Roll20 is amazing I just wish that some of these new employees they have been bringing on could talk to us once in awhile.  Between this, dynamic lighting fog of war, and syrinscape integration its just weird to me why we never hear anything but yet we are bringing on more help for the 5e content.  Bell the syrinscape forums have said they would love to work on it with them but can't.  Anyways sorry for the rant.  Still +1ing after many months

More Map layers would encourage me to sustain a Pro subscription indefinitely. In other words, I don't care if you make it a paid feature, Devs. Plz Give. +1

I was just thinking of this - while making a battlemap.

You could have your background layer and a second layer. (either above or below - depending on how you want to implement it).

Then you can have a FoW mask to reveal the layer. 
- I think revealing the layer below would be better. 
-- For example I have a cave room, that has a secret door. On one map (top map) I  have the room with no secret door. Then on the lower map is the exact same room with secret door. Then I can "reveal" the map by clearing FoW on the one layer to reveal the secret layer below (see example below).

I would absolutely adore having a layer above the objects layer, both for decoration and for functionality. There's been a bunch of times where I've had to meticulously move tiles forward and back to create the effect I want. But the best part would be having overhanging bridges and things that the players can be seen walking under. This definitely had my vote. I'd love more layers in general (and maybe better ways to move things behind and in front of each other).

+1
There's so many times this has been an issue for me.  Right now I'm attempting a foggy landscape, but all tokens stand on top of it, diminishing its effect.

100% +1!!

If you all missed the roundtable video Roll20 ran in March, they addressed this suggestion as well as a bunch of the other top suggestions.
https://youtu.be/cRrxsfMYCW8?t=9m22s

TL;DR, They (Roll20) want to do this, they just have to figure out how to do it right.

So keep voting on the Suggestions forum to show Roll20 what you want!

Ooh, thank you for highlighting that, Andrew!

+1  At least 1 more foreground layer would be glorious!

This was an idea I also asked and was just sent over to see this. I agree! This would be an amazing thing as the issue of having a grid layer resemble moving places could be a bit tricky when wanting to create a more aspect appeal. I agree with this 100%!