What software do I need to do this?

[ZDPhoenix]

I'm looking for an extremely simple way to take tiles and essentially stamp them onto a grid snapped in line, so I'm not having to measure every tile. Then I wish to be able to import my own tiles into the map. Like stuff I've made in photoshop.

I have a very weak eye and have an immense amount of trouble lining stuff up on tiles by myself in Autorealm, Fractal Mapper 8, and Dungeonforge.

THIS: http://www.rpgobjects.com/etile/tile_frame.php is exactly what I'd like.

It's a perfect example of what I want to do. To the T, minus having to be limited to Skeleton Key Games tiles and not my own. I'd want to print maps out where every square is one inch, but that's another story altogether.

[ravells]

Something like inkscape or illustrator? Photoshop would work too. You just need to make the tiles and set your grid to the appropriate size and snap them into place. It would probably be easier with a vector programme though.

[Redrobes]

Well I would say that you could do it with a paint package but a stamp based mapping app is better. I write ViewingDale which would be ideal for this. There is DungeonForge and Dundjinni too as both are well set up for this kind of thing too and I would have thought that FM8 would have been capable too. Still, if you say that DungeonForge and FM8 are off the list then try mine and Dundjinni and see how you get on. Theres a free limited demo on ViewingDale on the web site. Not sure if Dundjinni is doing demos. In a similar vein some of the VTTs can do the same kind of thing so you can add BattlegroundsRPG and MapTool to the list as well. There was a chap Toga Mario doing something like this too but cant remember what his app is or was called but his name is pretty unique to get into a search engine.

If you want a video demo of mine then shout.

[tilt]

you can snap to grid in both programs - Illustrator also have smart guides that show up when your on alignment. Other than I've heard about a program called maptools, try looking at that

[ZDPhoenix]

Well it looks like after a whole day futzing around with it, I see DungeonForge can do what I need. Although clumsily. It is free though, which means more money towards tiles and less towards tools.

But I can't get any of the png's that I made myself to show up on the selector without having to manually add a .tileinfo file for each graphic. Anyone have an inkling as to why?

Also, is there a way for me to enlarge tiles?

The tiles I made are one inch, but the DF tiles are 1/9 of that in size.

[dormouse]

Well it looks like after a whole day futzing around with it, I see DungeonForge can do what I need. Although clumsily. It is free though, which means more money towards tiles and less towards tools.

But I can't get any of the png's that I made myself to show up on the selector without having to manually add a .tileinfo file for each graphic. Anyone have an inkling as to why?

Old thread; I'm afraid I didn't see it until now - I don't go looking for questions about DF in other forums very often. If it's OK, I will at least answer it now in case anyone else is ever interested. I don't remember the question being asked on the DF forum; it would have been answered fairly quickly if it had.

Objects can be placed on maps in DF without any tileinfo set. They can also be set to align with the grid.

But if you want to use them as tiles, the program needs to know how you want the image to tile. You may have a 200x200 image that you want just to use as a single tile (ie covering 1 square in the grid) - but you may want it to work as a 2x2 (covering 4 squares) or some different dimension. The tileinfo needs to be set, so that it knows what is wanted. You can do this in the program one image at a time, or you can add a tileinfo file manually; if you want tomake a folder of images tileable, then you can use the TTSTool (available on site) or you can run a batch script. Instructions for all these are on the site.

Being able to do this means that you have a lot of control over how much of a grid each image covers when it tiles, rather than simply assuming that an image will fill one square.

You will need them as tiles if you want them to be available for wall fills or to fill an area that you draw quickly.

Also, is there a way for me to enlarge tiles?

The tiles I made are one inch, but the DF tiles are 1/9 of that in size.

Tiles, by definition, will fill one square on the grid - though you can change the scale of the grid as you wish.
So, if you have a bigger image that you want to cover more squares of the grid, you have to set that in the tile info.
You can make the image 9x bigger (by area) by setting the tileinfo to 3x3; or if you want it 9x bigger by dimension, you would set it to 9x9.

Objects, of course, can be individually zoomed as desired.

[jfrazierjr]

Not quite sure what your after, but Fractal Mapper 8(and I expect previous versions also) can snap to grid.

[Mark Oliva]

I have a very weak eye and have an immense amount of trouble lining stuff up on tiles by myself in Autorealm, Fractal Mapper 8, and Dungeonforge.

I think it's just a question of your not having learned how to do it yet in Fractal Mapper 8, because it hardly could be simpler than there:

1) Click the menu option Map.
2) Click the option Grids.
3) Set the grids to the scale size of the stamping symbol.
4) Click the menu option Map again.
5) Click the option Snap-to-Square-Grids
6) That's it. Start stamping.

If the first stamped symbol is too big or too small, resize it as desired. The following stamped symbols all will be of the new size.