Hey Everyone! New to making VTT/Animated Maps

[valkurbattlemaps]

Hey everyone, as the title notes, I've started making VTT/animated battlemaps for tabletop games (D&D really since I started making them for my use, but nothing stopping people from using them elsewhere).

Having said that, I wanted to see if anyone else who might be doing the same has an input to provide on what has worked well for them or not worked? I'm using a few different programs for making textures and 3D modeling, purchasing assets to supplement that, building/lighting/rendering in Unreal Engine, then touchups and grids done in photoshop before resizing with Handbrake to make them manageable.

I posted a sample (still and 4k) on the Patreon I opened for this if you want to look. I'm happy to get some feedback, and as noted above, some pointers from anyone already doing something similar would be amazing.

Thanks!

[Severaph]

I know nothing about D&D and VTT Maps but welcome to the guild !
I'm sure some of the other members will be happy to help you though. Hope you'll have a great time here !

[Redrobes]

Just to say that generally for VTTs you dont put the grid on the map itself as the VTT software will overlay a grid for you. Then all of the icons will line up with the software grid. Now some of the VTTs can stretch a background image and so long as the bitmap grid is square then you can make it align but not all of them can so its better to not have one. Or at least generate two maps one with and one without a grid.

Of course generally your map features often will align to a grid or a 5x5 / 10x10 spacing of features but if the software grid is a little out on those you wont notice but if you have thin line grid on it then it will.

[valkurbattlemaps]

Just to say that generally for VTTs you dont put the grid on the map itself as the VTT software will overlay a grid for you. Then all of the icons will line up with the software grid. Now some of the VTTs can stretch a background image and so long as the bitmap grid is square then you can make it align but not all of them can so its better to not have one. Or at least generate two maps one with and one without a grid.

Of course generally your map features often will align to a grid or a 5x5 / 10x10 spacing of features but if the software grid is a little out on those you wont notice but if you have thin line grid on it then it will.

Thanks! I have been generating the maps without a grid and ensuring there are copies both with and without the grid. There's a bit more freedom to make the grid look nice when creating it in photoshop, but definitely more flexibility in the gridless map and applying a grid with whatever VTT software is being used.

[Redrobes]

Yes, the other top tip is that in general for a VTT, all of the stuff which is moveable is not on the map itself but is in the icons / tokens of the VTT. All the fixed stuff is in the the background map. So maybe doors are a bit of an in between. If you like to have your doors move then dont put doors on a dungeon. But maybe its easier if you map them. Some VTTs will calculate the light source / pattern or the player visibility / Fog of War for you. So if you have the doors moving then it can change when you open them. Not sure how you might choose to do it but its something to think about.