Using google sketchup as a battlemap

[megrim]

hello there its been a while... i will be trying to run scepter tower of spellguard module by making the maps 3dish and using them directly in Google sketchup, while this is not very practical my layers have liked the idea of seeing the dungeons in 3d. let me know what you think.

http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z...t=dungeon1.jpg

http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z...current=R1.jpg

[Steel General]

Neat idea...the first image is very dark but I could make out enough .

[megrim]

Neat idea...the first image is very dark but I could make out enough .

hehe that was me testing the fog feature, for when i use dark maps, or dungeons with no illumination.

[Ascension]

I think that it's a great idea to do some 3d dungeons...gives the player a real sense of space. As to the rats you might want to try doing something like the people and trees and other objects that you can import...they look sort of flat like a "shrinky dink". I have never made one myself but maybe there's a tut somewhere. Good start though.

[megrim]

I think that it's a great idea to do some 3d dungeons...gives the player a real sense of space. As to the rats you might want to try doing something like the people and trees and other objects that you can import...they look sort of flat like a "shrinky dink". I have never made one myself but maybe there's a tut somewhere. Good start though.

true but imagine having to do that for every monster i use... imagine rendering a hydra! i am not much of a modeler and most likely will only use it for this module if not ill have.As for the 2d images i tried looking for a tutorial and did not find it, maybe its the lack of time... scepter tower has alot of maps!
but anyways ill be posting more screens of other dungeons! thanks for the input!

[Ascension]

I'm not talking about full 3d renders, I'm talking about something like the default people objects...like the one of the girl holding books when you start a new image, standing by the x, y, and z, coordinate lines. There's a bunch of those that can be imported from one of the SU folders that gets installed. It's basically just an image, a line drawing. If we could find a way to make any image like those into an object then that would be sweet. I'd make me some dragons

[torstan]

Nice stuff!

[eRaz0r]

Thanks Torstan! That means a lot to me, coming from you .. I love your work - just downloaded all your free art for maptools. I am working on a top-down battlemap for a D&D session this weekend, but if I don't finish in time, I may need to use your excellent MineEntrance map - It's not a perfect fit for the scenario, but I may just change the scenario just to use that map

[tilt]

looking really good - and I agree on using 2D "cut-outs" in the 3D world is just...well, a world easier
When 4e D&D came out 2 years ago, they talked about that they would supplement the pen-and-paper rpg with online functions - they showed a really nice demo of a 3D dungeon, with lighting and all. Your torches would light up what you actually could see, you could import your character from the character sheet (also 3D) and use as a miniature and of course the whole Monsters Manual would be available for the GM ... it looked really cool and as a great improvement over fantasy grounds (which is an ok program). But unfortunatly it looks like the limited wizards/Hasbroe resources can't finish the program - there hasn't even been a single statements since about how far along it is...

[Aval Penworth]

looking really good - and I agree on using 2D "cut-outs" in the 3D world is just...well, a world easier
When 4e D&D came out 2 years ago, they talked about that they would supplement the pen-and-paper rpg with online functions - they showed a really nice demo of a 3D dungeon, with lighting and all. Your torches would light up what you actually could see, you could import your character from the character sheet (also 3D) and use as a miniature and of course the whole Monsters Manual would be available for the GM ... it looked really cool and as a great improvement over fantasy grounds (which is an ok program). But unfortunatly it looks like the limited wizards/Hasbroe resources can't finish the program - there hasn't even been a single statements since about how far along it is...

Yeah I remember that! I got really excited and showed my Rolemaster group the teaser videos. If anything was going to bring me back to D&D that would have been it. Ah well..