Quote Originally Posted by dormouse View Post
Thanks for the recommendation - and it is nice to see that you are so keen on it.

But, as I promised Redrobes, I have already tried it. I found it incredibly slow and I can understand why you found personal tutorials helpful.
The tutorials weren't about its speed, on my machine the pan and zoom is so fast I sometimes overrun and have to back up! It was just getting my head around some of the initial learning curve since the program works like no other I've experienced. Having said that, it was a fairly shallow learning curve, and I'm sure when Redrobes has time he'll include some of these things in a helpfile update - I might even send him a draft to peruse if I get time first.


Well, I'm not sure I understand the bit about the DF grid being a cage. You can rescale any object on the map at any time.
Oops, I'd forgotten this bit. It's been a while since I used DF. I sorta stopped using it - I had a couple of big projects I wanted to do, and I was waiting for the zoom to be fixed...


it can go much more detailed than nearly all the images available on the net) and obviously it is up to you what scale the grid represents.
True, I mainly used the 20x20 scale, that's what I had in mind when I mentioned detail. DF can handle detailed images.


I didn't really see VD being a tile mapper but more of an image placer (I might be wrong on this though). If that's the case, then the grid has a different function in the two progs.
What's in a name? VD has a snap to grid and path feature which enables you to lay down repetitive 'tiles' quickly, but you can turn the grid off and place images wherever you want.


I'm not intending to be negative about VD generally - it just didn't work well on my system though it clearly does on lots of others, including yours.
Likewise me with DF, I found it to be a very useful program for producing small maps on the fly and if the updates had happened, I might never have looked for a replacement. In fact, I did use it only last week to send a quick sketch-plan to someone.


Will probably have another look at MapTools soon. BRPG's own mapping ability has improved over time, and I assume MapTools will have done too, though I don't expect VTTs to compete with mapping progs for basic mapping.
I haven't seen Maptools. I stumbled across VD by accident and Redrobes personally sold me on it via email correspondence - his 'before sales service' was excellent, including his advice on upgrading my computer to run VD.

What I like most about it is its ability to act like a 2D virtual universe experience - there are no separate maps in separate files, you just pan and zoom to go anywhere on a planet, and you can jump to any planet. It's a 'universe in a box'. Of course, you have to create the universe first...

Redrobes produced this video sequence, not sure if the link is still live:

http://www.viewing.ltd.uk/Temp/CG/VD_Demo5/Universe.avi