How do you draw a square/circle of a specific size?

For example draw a square that is 4 squares large or 20 ft large? Becasue slowly drawing lines while counting the number of squares is very annoying.

Token auras require a token, and unfortunately the aura is always one square larger than the actual area you want it to be (because its an aura)

As a GM, both physical and online, I've often made use of pre-made objects or shapes.

Physically, I use a collection of pipe-cleaners bent and connected to make the areas I need (10ft black for grease, really big green one for Entangle, etc).
Online, this can be accomplished by making or finding images to use on the token layer or map layer. (I usually use on the map layer so I don't accidentally click/move the effect).

If you're ambitious, you can find semi-transparent effects that won't completely obscure the background.

Yes but that requires the GM to put it there everytime a player wants to cast a spell or something.

Roll20 really should have some sort of easy drawing option that would let players just put like a 20 ft large square on the table that they can move around. Its a very basic feature that most tabletop RPG programs have.

They already have code that can instantly make a 20 ft square or circle but its only for auras...

I use a token that all players can control... combined with an API script that looks for a number on a status icon and then sets the aura to that size. It works really well. As for player drawings... that is already in Roll20. A player can click the drawing tool, select the square tool, and then draw a square in a matter of seconds. If it feels too slow to you... practice and get faster.

I already explained why the aura thing doesnt work very well, and the drawing tool forces you to count the number of squares as you draw it. It doesnt do what i said earlier (create an automatic square/circle of the exact size).

It takes all of two or three seconds to draw a square or circle the size you want.

Erm, not really, because you have to make it line up with the grid lines and when the square itself takes up most of the screen, counting 8 squares vertical and horizontal to get it exactly right does take some time. Its 2014, we really should not be counting squares manually. Again, this is a standard feature in tabletop RPG programs that roll20 really should have.

You can just randomly draw a square but it will likely not be exactly the number of squares you want (unless of course its a very small square that you can simply eyeball) and you cannot shrink or enlarge it. You cannot delete extra spaces, only the entire square, nor can you "add on" another square (without having an extra line in the middle). Functionality is pretty limited here.

This is a 20 ft radius square which is commonly used for spells : http://i.imgur.com/A3ri74x.png

I would suggest you post your ideas for improvement in the Suggestions & Ideas forum.

Specific Use is more about asking for help with the existing tools as they are. There have been a few decent ideas listed, generally for a GM's benefit. For drawing manually, I would suggest simply zooming out; it becomes far easier to draw any shapes you need when you can see 100x100 easily.

For accuracy, I honestly wouldn't worry overmuch. Many many folks out there frankly don't mind overmuch if a few lines are off. After all, when drawing on a physical table-top it's not an issue; it's more about the idea being conveyed and the game itself than the tool.

Cheers.

The problem is more that for some games you need to know exactly what a spell/weapon/whatever will cover so it needs to be exact in size...

Templates. Make them. Add them to the character sheets and give players control. Done.

https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/set/231/toas...

There's a bunch of templates already made.

I dont see any option ingame to make a template? Searching the wiki brings up nothing useful, and searching the marketplace gets me two pages of results before it abruptly ends...(and the one you linked costs money, and is too flashy)

Make one using gimp. Set the image as the default token for a journal entry. There is your template. Search the wiki and read some more.

You are really not helping. Im not sure what this default token thing has to do with being a template, since you are just describing a token that the GM has to place on every single map instead of the player simply drawing a new one by selecting automatic 20ft radius size.

And perhaps you would like to search the wiki for "template" and see what results you get...

I wish this was a feature as well.

The way around it for now is cCreating an image that is the right pixel size, making that a token, and then saving that as a character in the journal. You can then drag & drop it onto the map. Here are some templates I got from somebody else on the board (wish I remembered who so I could give credit):

http://www.paladinpgm.com/download/gaming/70px_Con...
http://www.paladinpgm.com/download/gaming/70px_LgB...
http://www.paladinpgm.com/download/gaming/70px_Med...

Use the tools provided. They do what you are wanting.

Folks, this is degenerating into an argument. We're all trying to help each other out so let's please remember the spirit of this community and try to do exactly that.

The recommendations that have been made are all valid. From a player's perspective, the tools are indeed somewhat limited in how they can manipulate the map. Gm's have a lot more flexibility in how they can use templates(many spell templates available on the marketplace, as linked above) or self-created shapes and other tricks.

For additional functionality, please post in the Suggestions forums as the appropriate location for such topics. If the suggested recommendations don't cover what you aim to accomplish, then I'm sorry about that. We do the best we can with the tools provided to us.

Ultimately, this is a free tool (an amazing one) and while it does many things for us, there are certainly limitations to what we can (and should!) expect from it. If we want to see it improve even more, I'd highly recommend supporting the dev team with a subscription or donation.

Search in tokens for "spell". This pulls up a large variety of spell tokens with predetermined sizes. Granted - the majority have a fire effect as the image. But its quite nice. When a player casts a spell, look up "spell" in tokens real quick and drag and drop. Resize as appropriate.

Alternately - do as others have said and create your own templates and drag and drop onto the map when needed. I have a page called NPCs and a page called Effects. On the Effects page, I have a host of spell effects (fog, black tentacles, etc...) all presized for appropriate AoE. Again - easy - just copy and paste. Done.

ALSO - man ... just saw you were talking about from the player perspective ...

So - here's the easies thing - use the Square drawing tool. If you click on the paintbrush that gives you freehand. Its tough to draw freehand. But there are other "brushes" and one is the square tool. It takes literally no time to draw a perfect square which is aligned to grid. If you need assistance, let me know and i'll get you in my construction game to show you how.

http://help.roll20.net/tabletop-toolbox-drawing-to...

So - to snap to grid instantly - using the square drawing tool, you hold down SHIFT and draw your square. Snaps to grid. Viola - instant perfect square.

For circles - hold down ALT and draw your 'square'. It draws a circle instead. To snap to grid instantly - hold down ALT and SHIFT and draw your square. Snaps to grid. Viola - instant perfect circle.

For cone effects - Use the polygon drawing tool. It wont be 100% perfect to the grid. It might be a pixel off. But a few pixels isn't going to make a difference.

Last edit - You can then select your drawing and rotate or move it around. So you can have a moving and rotating AoE as well. In case you deal with such effects.

Shift also works for the polygon drawing tool. The selected points will snap to the nearest intersection on the grid.