Object Embedded VBL

With the upcoming release of MapTool 1.4.2, GMs will be able to add a layer of Vision Blocking to stamps and tokens. This means Players will be able to see an object but that object will block all light and sight from passing through it. This comes in handy for doors, statues, vehicles, and large tokens. When combined with MapTools Macro…

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Draw Explorer: Get/Set Properties

6With the release of Maptool 1.4.2 you will have the ability to get a drawing’s properties and apply those to another drawing.   You can try this functionality in the Dev/Test Build of MapTool now but we don’t recommend using Dev/Test for your gaming sessions unless you’re the adventurous sort.

Drawing properties are the selections you make in the Drawing dialog shown to the right. The power of this functionality comes into play when you want to redo a map with a new texture, border, or transparency. You’ll be able to update your drawing rather than redraw with new settings. It should be a great time saver for users who draw their maps rather than import them.

The Get Properties function is simple to use. You simply select the drawing with properties you want to mimic in the Draw Explorer, right click, and select the Get Properties option from the popup menu. To apply these properties, select another drawing and perform Set Properties on it.

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Draw Explorer: Merging

merge4With the release of Maptool 1.4.2, you will have the ability to merge different drawn elements of your map together. You can try this functionality in the Dev/Test Build of MapTool now but we don’t recommend using Dev/Test for your gaming sessions unless you’re the adventurous sort. If you’re unfamiliar with the Draw Explorer, we detailed its initial functionality in a previous post.

Merge Drawing is somewhat like Group Drawings where you can work with a series of individual elements as one but the true power comes when working with transparencies. When using a non-100% transparency setting for overlapping drawings, the opacities will add, causing the transparency to be more opaque. The effect: overlapping shapes spoil the transparency effect. To correct this, you can now merge drawings into a single object.

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Draw Explorer: Cut example

The new feature provided by the Draw Explorer is the ability to group elements of your drawing together. Grouping draws these elements as one effective object. How this differs from elements drawn normally becomes apparent when you include cuts or erasings in your group. You draw a tower, starting with a circle. You then hollow it out using a circle cut and…

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New Functionality: Draw Explorer

MapTool added the Draw Explorer as a new feature in release 1.4.0.1. This innovation gives GMs access to a tree view of drawings and templates on the current map. From this view, users see a list of elements created with the Drawing and Template Tools. Note: for the purposes of this article, both templates and drawings will simply be called drawings.…

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