Easy way to match grid sizes?

I have a few maps on my computer that already have grids on them but I am having problems resizing them to match roll20's grid size. I've spent a couple hours fiddling with the height and width of the map but still cant get it to line up even after resizing the image in photoshop to make sure each square is 100pixels. Is there any way to do this easier?

Press 'alt' when moving or resizing an object to manipulate it independent of the grid. This should let you line up the map's grid as you want.

I find it's especially tricky if there's any padding on the border of the image (Unless the padding is equal to one square/hex), since even if you get the size right, the grids won't line up because of the padding. Best bet there is to use alt to position it free of the snap to grid, or to crop out any border on the image prior to uploading.

Ooooh, good to know about the Alt key.

Awesome, Was just looking for this! Will try the Alt key! :D

Using the ALT key to resize the map helps, but I am finding that it is still really difficult to get my map tiles sized to fit the grid in Roll20. Is there a way I can resize my images in my paint program to make sure that they will match the grid size in Roll20? In Tabletop Forge, for instance, the grid on the VTT is defined in pixels per inch. So if I define a 50 pixel by 50 pixel grid, as long as the image I upload are sized appropriately the grid will line up perfectly every time. I think that the ALT key would work better if there was some way to maintain the aspect ratio of the tile while I was resizing it. As it currently stands, it's hard to get the image sized perfectly on both the X and Y axises using the ALT+click and drag method.

@Ken Collier If you hold shift while resizing it will constrain proportions. As for resizing, what I've been doing is as long as you know your map size, you can size it in a matter of seconds usually. For example, if your map is 10 squares wide and 15 high, you can just size it to 50x75 and it should line up (if it doesn't, try shifting it using alt to ensure that a border's not getting in the way. Hope this helps!

" Is there a way I can resize my images in my paint program to make sure that they will match the grid size in Roll20? " - Ditto that. I have a bunch of White Plume Mountain image files that I'd like to use tonight, but I can't get them to size right. I've tried adjusting the pixel count, but my results so far are either too large or too small. What image type/format/size do I use that can be imported without resize?

Part of the problem is that it appears when I drop an image onto the table, the application is automatically downsizing the image if it is larger than a certain size. So, even if the image would match the grid size on the table, I still have to click+drag it up to the size it should be.

I think my map is too big for the game table. Is there any way to make the game table bigger?

You can change the size of the game table in the page settings. I'm looking forward to a feature that would allow me to visually change the Roll20 grid size to match, rather than change the imported map image size. I hate it when I find a perfect image, but when I increase it's size to match the grid the resolution is too low.

Any chance we can get Roll20 to keep the file we upload to the table top it's original size? There really isn't a need for me to resize my map when it's already set for 1" squares.

^^ This x100!

Yes, this is 100. But what is needed is to be able to upload a map at its native size and change squares size to fit the map instead of the reverse. Resized (mostly upsized) drawings tends to look worse.

This is exactly the issue. Increasing the size of imported images usually kills resolution. Being able to manipulate the Roll20 grid rather than the image is better, especially if it is a quick, visual adjustment. Yes, this is 100. But what is needed is to be able to upload a map at its native size and change squares size to fit the map instead of the reverse. Resized (mostly upsized) drawings tends to look worse.

It's not a quick visual adjustment, but you can adjust the grid size by typing any number you want into the grid size box on the page control panel. I usually use a 0.5 grid, and have tried 0.6 and 0.67.

i created some campaign using the dungeon generator (<a href="http://donjon.bin.sh/d20/dungeon/" rel="nofollow">http://donjon.bin.sh/d20/dungeon/</a>) and exported the map. the grid size in roll20 is 1.09 inches to fit those perfectly. just fyi though.

Thanks, it works, in a way. Not quite user friendly though. And not really logical. On a screen, pixels make sense, but inches.....

How about using a method similar to what FantasyGroundsII uses: you can draw a single square on the map and from this square's position and size the rest of the grid is built. This would allow a simple and accurate way to match the grid to any size (very handy if the map comes with a pre-printed grid).

I would prefer entering pixels values for accuracy instead of eyeballing it. If you miss your square size by one pixel when drawing your rectangle, it would mean a difference of 25 pixels at a distance of 25 squares. Does it not happen in FantasyGrounds?

I definitely wish I could use pixels for all the different map functions. If I could punch in an exact pixel size for the grid squares/hexes, or just right click an image and select 'actual pixels' to resize it to its ACTUAL size, that'd be awesome.

Yes, as I make all the graphic work on the maps and tokens before playing. The possibility to use actual size would be wonderful.

Hello, I just started learning how to use the application (looks wonderful so far btw) for a couple groups I DM. I started browsing the forums to find info on this specific topic. The alt-key basically answered my question for me (if it was in the tutorial video I may have missed it), but in trying to figure out a way to deal with it I got to thinking; is there any way to do a sort of curated image search where tokens, maps, etc. have a little up/down vote (the narwhal made me say it for karma) that can be seen community wide (and possibly included as an option in filters) for assets that have fit well with no adjustment needed? Ideally high ratings for an asset would mean it is easy to drag and drop with no re-sizing necessary, has a good native resolution when dropped into the gamespace, and potentially could consider other factors as well. Maybe you could right click on an asset and a dialog would pop up with 3-5 (not too big) criteria for an ideal game asset which you could put a check next to. That would give you the universally understood star rating with the exception that having even one good criteria places it above unrated pieces. Maybe instead of stars it could be called levels or something to avoid the negative connotations of the lower rating. Just my two cents, carry on gentlemen.

I've managed to get a properly lined up image myself... building a 12x12 inch square in photoshop gives you the real estate for a 60 foot by 60 foot grid (5 feet per 1 inch). In the case of my attached file, I've made both hexes and squares that are properly sized or rescale very easily... The only problem with hexes is the image still imports as a square regardless, but that's a limitation of file types. Yay for transparency. If you set up guides and build within the constraints of the 1"x1" grid you get a really nice in-scale image that can use Roll20's grid system as an overlay instead of needing to make it part of the image.

There is no real "with no adjustement needed", except if your maps are made exactly at 70px for a square and your tokens are made to fit exactly in a 70px square. I made a more compleat explanation of the scale problems in roll20 here: <a href="http://community.roll20.net/discussion/comment/7221#Comment_7221" rel="nofollow">http://community.roll20.net/discussion/comment/7221#Comment_7221</a> (at the end of the thread)

I was able to get the grid to match up properly after about a week of trying different procedures. This does not use the ALT button to size the map in roll20.net. 1) Download The Gimp and use it to open the map. 2) Crop the map including complete squares only, no partial squares. Try to be as precise as possible. 3) Count the grid to determine how many squares wide and tall the map is. (example: 25 width & 20 height) 4) Save the cropped map & import into roll20. 5) Change the roll20.net page size, to match the width and height of your map. (in this case 25 inches wide x 20 inches high, 1 inch=1 square 6) Drag your map to the top left corner, and stretch it down to the bottom right. If your crop was accurate enough it'll line up properly. Hit me up with any questions, I've done this twice and no problems. I really hope this helps everyone, its been driving me crazy for a while. Good luck!

You could also resize your cropped map whilst in GIMP (or Photoshop). The size in pixels should be equal to your size in squares X70. Any size above that is overkill and shall takes more time to load.

Fireworks for me defaults at 72 dpi, which normally gets the job done. Problem is my map is just so big regardless ;-;

72 dpi is just the normal screen resolution. It is not the same inches that the "inches" used by Roll20. That's a problem created by using the word inch for the size of the squares in Roll20. It has been announced that it is going to be solved.

This is how I do it.... 1. Crop the map using photoshop to get rid of areas outside the map layout. 2. Do a vertical and horizontal count of squares. 3. Set the map page 2-3 squares larger than the map, that way, I can make adjustments. 4. Drag the map in, then set it to "As Drawing", this seems to get rid of the map "snapping" to the grid. 5. Drag the map out to the size counted, then check for misalignment. 6. Align the map grid to the page grid, using the top left corner. 7. Make adjustments to the map size using "Alt+Shift" 8. Recheck, if it aligns well, leave it alone, if not, go back to 6. 9. Finally, get rid of excess page space by removing extra squares. This is how I Align my maps and I can get my map to match nearly spot on with the page grid. I hope this helps. Good luck to all of you on your campaigns!

I have been doing some experimenting with the grid sizes and yes the default grid size (which is labelled as 1 inch) actually maps to 70 pixels. I am not sure why the roll20 guys chose to label it in inches which is not a relevant measurement for any on-screen pixel based image. If you want a different grid size just increase it in the page settings, take a screenshot and measure the pixels of the new grid. (Also, always keep 72 DPI, this is the only relevant resolution on screen) It does seem the the program scales down larger images to an arbitrary size, this is probably not a bug as huge images might have the resizing control hidden off the grid which would make the object uneditable. Best practice is to just make images in 70 pixel blocks and name it with the proportion size (ie. 3x4 squares) so you know how big to adjust it to for no quality loss. Thirdly if you want images to look perfectly crisp right down at 150% magnification, simply make them 1.5 times bigger (eg. 105 pixels per square for the default grid). You may notice some slight quality loss at 100% but this should be fairly minor. SO, the key thing to take away here is that at the default grid size imported images with more than 70px per square (105px if you want max clarity at full zoom) is just wasting bandwidth, storage and everyone's time. ** Just for fun I uploaded an animated GIF to see if it would work. But for some reason the program blocks the animation. Shame as it would be cool to have animated tokens and maps. There is a slight chance animated PNGs will work but only Firefox and Opera can run them anyway.

Fireworks for me defaults at 72 dpi, which normally gets the job done. Problem is my map is just so big regardless ;-; Chris, to fix that I just make sure my crop is an even number for ease and reduce the grid by half, so if it's 20x10 inches, i drop it down to 10x5, then reduce the grid size to .5 inches. Which makes the image smaller. Is that what you're going for?

It is possible to use grid sizes other than 70px. You must open the map settings, enable the grid and change its size by a multiple. For exemple, to use a grid of 50px, you must input 0.7142857 as square size. Not very intuitive, but it works. To find the multiple, divide the size in pixels you want your square to be by 70. So, for exemple, if you want to use 100px squares, divide 100 by 70; that should be 1.4285714. The measure tool won't work, but you'll have squares adapted to your map.

So there is no easy way to do this? So there is absolutely no way to play pre-madess with roll20... that only pisses me off alittle... I can't get any of my maps to line up, even with doing everything you guys are saying...

All I've done with Hollows last hope for pathfinder is count how many squares the premade maps have, crop the image to this edge resize it in multiples of 70 pixels saving in 72dpi and then after creating a tabletop of the same size stretch the map to the edges. It's been pretty much pixel perfect each time

Fireworks for me defaults at 72 dpi, which normally gets the job done. Problem is my map is just so big regardless ;-; Chris, to fix that I just make sure my crop is an even number for ease and reduce the grid by half, so if it's 20x10 inches, i drop it down to 10x5, then reduce the grid size to .5 inches. Which makes the image smaller. Is that what you're going for? Sort of. Problem is I'm sketching this out on a work computer, and it looks like the full home map will take up 10 sheets of 8.5 x11 paper (estimating for overlap). At 72dpi, that's a lot of dots. And yes I'm aware about the difference between dpi and the 70x70 "inch" that roll20 uses. That's what custom gridlines are for :)

I have had problems with image resolution as well. In my experience, images that have a resolution of 96 and grids that are 72x72 work pretty well. Images with grids -- Here the problem is the area around the grid squares. If this is not some increment of the width of the grid on the map, you have problems fitting the image into Roll22. The best advice - as above - is to crop off the non-grid border of your image. Count the number of grid squares high and wide form this cropped image, and use these numbers in the settings box for the page in Roll20. But I have not tried the ALT thing. Images without grids -- The best solution here, in my experience, is to re-sample the image so that both the length and width of the image are exact multiples of the size of one grid square (e.g. a map 20 squares by 10 squares should be re-sampled to 1440 by 720 pixels if each grid is 72x72.) Depending on the original size of the image, you could loose some detail. Again use the page settings in Roll20. DIY images -- I did not like any of the map-making programs out there, so I made my own. If anyone is interested in trying it, give me a shout.