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COMPUTER CARTOGRAPHY FOR KRIEGSSPIELERS
..USING THE FREE .SVG MAKER ‘INKSCAPE&=
#8217;
If a picture is worth a
thousand words, a map is worth a thousand more. In its most basic form, a m=
ap
is simply the visual representation of spatial data: how far the coast is f=
rom
the mountains. At the same time, a map can be a beautiful work of art, wort=
hy
of framing.
For the Kriegsspieler,
maps serve many practical purposes. They are used to plan and run the sessi=
on,
and to tell the story of a battle in a battle report. Ambitious Kriegsspiel=
ers use
maps to run complex campaigns by email or over multiple sessions.
Especially with the lat=
er historical
periods, it is sometimes possible to find maps on the internet or elsewhere=
that
can be used by the Kriegsspieler. However it fa=
lls to
the Kriegsspieler to make it himself if the
appropriate map isn’t available.
While pencil and paper,=
pen
and ink are still staples, computers are becoming a popular choice for the
creation of maps. A computer allows a Kriegsspieler
to quickly colour a large area with a single cl=
ick.
It is much easier than dragging out the pencils, crayons or watercolours.
This article will focus=
on
the use of a specific graphics program that is free and can run on almost a=
ny
computer whether it is running Windows, Linux or Mac. Specific steps will be
provided, so that even someone new to computing can follow along. It is ass=
umed
that the reader is already familiar with map-making without a computer and =
will
have some idea of the type of map they want to make.
Introduction to Inkscape
The first step in creat=
ing a
map on the computer is finding the right program to use. There are professi=
onal
cartography programs, amateur cartography programs and generic graphics
programs available. Both the professional and amateur cartography programs =
cost
money, with the amateur programs being much more affordable. Personally, I =
find
that all the maps made by one popular amateur cartography program end up
looking the same.
A graphics program, whi=
le not
designed specifically for map-making, is designed to make all types and sty=
les
of graphics. These programs are tools, like a pencil, which can be used to
create anything the user wants to create. Another advantage to generic graphi=
cs
programs is their price. While it is possible to spend a great deal of mone=
y on
a graphics program, there are many free applications that are very powerful=
. Inkscape is one of them. Though free, it works on most
Operating Systems, is easy to use, and is a perfect tool for the Kriegsspieler who wants to quickly create a map for t=
heir
webpage or club campaign.
There are other free gr=
aphics
applications, but it is the fact that Inkscape =
uses
vectors in order to create its graphics that makes it special to the amateur
cartographer. Vectors are mathematical expressions of geometric shapes. The=
re
is a lot to vectors and their colleagues, rasters,
but it isn’t necessary to take up space explaining them here. It is
sufficient to say that vector images are easier to create and edit than mor=
e common
raster images, making it more suited for mapping. [Think of vectors as fill=
ed
drawings, like cartoons or animations, and rasters or
‘bitmaps’ as photographs, consisting of millions of tiny dots or
pixels.]
Inkscape can be downloaded for free from www.inkscap=
e.org
, so go right ahead and do so as your first step! [Mac users will need to be
using at least Mac OSX 10.4 (Tiger) and ensure that they have the X11 platf=
orm
installed, which is one of the Developers’ Tools supplied on the inst=
allation
disc.]
Creating a new image
The first thing to do a=
fter
installing Inkscape is to open the program and =
take a
moment to look over your new toy. Experienced computer users can probably s=
kip
this section, but it’s important for those that aren’t as famil=
iar
with computers.
At the very top is the =
Menu
Bar where most of the tools are accessible. Click on a menu, such as File, =
and
you will see a list of options called a dropdown list. Items with a black
triangle to their right can be clicked on or moused-over
(moving the cursor over something without clicking on it) to reveal an
additional dropdown list. Wha=
t the
image looks like within Inkscape.
Below the Menu Bar are =
two
toolbars that contain icons representing frequently used tools. It is possi=
ble
to customize these toolbars, but for the purposes of this article it is bes=
t to
leave them alone. The top toolbar is the Command Bar which performs commands
such as Grouping and Ungrouping Objects, Undoing mistakes or Editing Object=
s.
The Tool Control Bar is used the change the properties of the specific tool=
you
are using. It will change depending on which tool is chosen from the Tool B=
ox.
Along the left side of =
the
screen is another toolbar called the Tool Box. I=
t contains
tools specifically used for creating and manipulating vector objects. Any i=
cons
in a toolbar can be moused-over in order to bri=
ng up
a tooltip (a short explanation of the specific tool).
The Workspace is the la=
rge
white space with the rectangular box in the middle. On the top and left of =
the
Workspace are two rulers that can be helpful for keeping things to scale. <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The multi-coloured
bar below the Workspace is the palette, where you can quickly choose colours. Clicking on a colour
selects it as the fill colour; holding Shift wh=
ile
clicking a colour selects it as the stroke colour. The currently selected fill and stroke colours can be seen in the top-right corner above the
Workspace.
At the very bottom of t=
he
screen is the status bar. It shows important information about the tool you=
are
using or the object you are manipulating. The left of the status bar shows =
the
fill and stroke colours of the object currently
selected. The middle suggests keys that can be pressed to change how the to=
ol
behaves. For example: with many tools holding Ctrl while using the tool will
constrain any action to just the horizontal or vertical.
Inkscape uses the left-click for the majority of actions.
Double-clicking, if called for, is always with the left mouse button. Multi=
ple
objects can be selecting by holding Shift and clicking each one in turn, or by clicking and holding the mouse button while
moving the mouse over the objects to be selected. A box will appear with one
corner located where you first clicked with the opposite corner following t=
he
mouse.
When Inkscape
is first opened, it automatically creates a new image based on the
program’s defaults. These defaults can be modified in the Document
Properties editor located in the File menu. They can be edited at any time.=
The
page size will not constrain the size of the image on the screen; it is onl=
y a
reference for printing. Begin by playing around a bit and clicking on some =
of
the buttons or menus that you see. Don’t worry, there’s nothing
there that will cause your computer to explode!
Now that you’ve
thoroughly messed-up the Workspace it is time to get rid of it and create a
new, fresh Workspace. Click on either File/New/Default or the Create New
Document command in the Command Bar. If you decide that=
what
you’ve created is worth saving, click File/Save As or the Save Docume=
nt
command. Save As saves the image as a new file. Save or Save Document
will save the image as a new file if it hasn’t already been saved, otherwise it
will overwrite the existing saved file. Pay attention to the difference, as
sometimes it’s important to Save As in ord=
er to
keep the original file intact. When
saving files a window will appear asking you what you want to save the file=
as,
what you want to name the file, and where you want to save it. If the folder
shown in the Save in folder prompt is not the folder you want to save the f=
ile
in, click on the plus sign next to Browse. This will expand the window and =
show
more options.
The left box is a selec=
tion
of frequently used folders. Double-click on one of these folders to move to=
it.
The middle box shows you the contents of the folder you are currently looki=
ng
at. The right box will show a preview of the currently selected file if one=
is
available. Below that is a dr=
opdown
list where you can choose the file type. Best leave it as “Inkscape SVG”; other file types may change the =
way
the image works. For example, saving the file as a JPG will automatically
convert the image into a raster image, which negates the advantage of using=
vectors.
Loading files works in
exactly the same way, either through File/Open or the Open Existing Document
command. The difference is that you are opening an existing file instead of
saving one. Opened files will open in a separate window so that you can sti=
ll
access the file you are currently working on. Objects can be copied between=
two
open files. If you want to open a file as part of the image you are current=
ly
working on, choose File/Import to do so. That’s the basics of Inkscape without getting into object creation and
manipulation.
Starting a map
Now comes the fun part:
creating the map. Throughout the article I will describe different techniqu=
es
for creating objects used in a single map. Readers can follow along to crea=
te
their own map while learning the application. There are three types of maps
commonly used by Kriegsspielers: campaign maps, scenario maps and battlereport maps. The last two are fairly similar, b=
attle-report
maps having additional information such as troop movements and status. I wi=
ll
create a map that can be used as the basis for a scenario or battle-report =
map,
which will allow me to create basic shapes without havi=
ng to do too much work deciding=
where
to place mountain ranges, tow=
ns,
etc. It can be helpful to begin with a sketch, especially if re-creating a
battle, but it isn’t necessary.
The battlefield
The first step is to de=
fine
the battlefield. Click on the blue square in the Toolbox to select the Squa=
re/Rectangle
tool. Draw a large square; this will be the border and background of the ma=
p.
It doesn’t really matter how big it is, as we can scale and zoom late=
r. Everything
will be inside this square, make it fairly big. If you haven’t made it
big enough, there are tiny squares in the top-left and bottom-right corners=
of
the box, called handles. Grabbing one of these handles will allow you to re=
size
the box.
In the Tool Control Bar=
there
is an option to change the width and height. You can enter numbers there to
precisely control the size of the box. In this case, we’ll specify the
size of the box to make it the dimensions we want. We’ll use pixels as
our unit of measurement in Inkscape. There are usually 72 pixels to the inc=
h when
viewing on your computer screen. To change what unit of measurement is used,
open File/Document Properties and set Default Units to px for pixels. We’ll use a scale of 1R=
21; on
the tabletop =3D 20px. Our 6’ x 4’ table therefore becomes 1440=
px
wide and 960px high. This scale is arbitrary; the image can be enlarged or
shrunk as needed.
Now you have a rectangle
which, depending on whether you played with the Palette or not, may be any
combination of Stroke and Fill colours. To chan=
ge the
colours, click the Edit Object’s Style command in the Command Bar. A =
new
window will open allowing you to edit the Fill and Stroke of an object. For
Fill, there are a number of options: Solid, Linear Gradient, Radial Gradien=
t,
Pattern and No Fill. We’ll choose Solid Fill for now.
We’ll use green f=
or our
battlefield. There are four ways to choose colours, each with their own qui=
rks.
We will use HSL which stands for
Adding a grid
A grid will help when
determining where a unit or terrain item should be placed on the map. Click=
on
Draw Bezier Curves in the Toolbox and draw a straight, vertical line at lea=
st
960px long. The length is shown in the status bar; holding Ctrl while drawi=
ng
will keep the line vertical. =
Click
once to start the line, click again to end it, and press Enter to finalize =
it.
Copy this line by using the Select tool to select the line – a dashed=
box
will surround it – then clicking Edit/Copy followed by Edit/Paste. Th=
is
will create two vertical lines. To align these lines with the battlefield,
select one line and set the X to 480. Select another line and set X to 960.
Select both lines, either by clicking and dragging a box around them, or by
holding shift and clicking on each in turn. Set Y to 0 and the H to 960. Re=
peat
the process, but this time for a single horizontal line 1440px wide located=
at
0X, 480Y. Select all three lines and click Path/Combine. This merges all th=
ree
lines into one object. Select the grid and the battlefield, click on Align =
and
distribute objects in the Command Toolbar. In the Align window, select Cent=
er
on Vertical Axis and Center on Horizontal Axis. This will position the grid
directly above the battlefield. Later we can modify the line width and styl=
e. We can make it dashed, dotted or sl=
ightly
translucent.
A basic hill
A basic hill is our fir=
st
complex shape. Again we will use the Bezier tool; this time we will use it =
to
draw curved lines. Drawing cu=
rves
with the Bezier tool is more complicated than drawing straight lines. To cu=
rve
a line you must adjust the handles of the nodes you are drawing. Nodes are =
the
points that Inkscape uses to create shapes. The=
box we
created had a node at each corner; the lines, a node at each end. The line
between the nodes is a segment. Clicking and dragging when creating a node =
will
drag the handle and curve the line. It’s a little tricky at first, so
take a little time to master it.
You can add, delete and=
edit
nodes to get the shape you want using the Edit Paths tool. If you need more
nodes you can add more by eit=
her
selecting the entire shape and click
on Insert Node in the Tool Control Bar to add a new node splitting each segment, or by
selecting a segment by clicki=
ng on
it, or shift-clicking on the two nodes bordering it, and clicking Insert Node. Clicking =
and
dragging a segment will affect its curve, allowing you to shape the object.=
In the Tool Control Bar=
there
are other controls that you can modify to change the shape. You can make the
node a corner or smooth point, make the segment straight or curved, etc. A
quick way to rough in basic shapes is to just use straight lines to draw the
shape. Once it’s drawn, select all the nodes and click the Make Smooth
button to round them all. Delete and move nodes, curve segments and refine =
the
shape. There’s also a Draw Freehand Lines tool, which can be used with
node editing and the Path/Simplify command to refine the shape.
To show that this is a =
hill
we should show the slope. Cre=
ate a
copy of the hill and click Path/Dynamic Inset. Make sure you are using the Edit Pa=
ths
tool to see the white diamond handle which controls the inset. Drag this in=
ward
to shrink the shape. This is different from scaling the shape, as the edge =
will
keep a consistent distance from the original location.
Once you’ve start=
ed
insetting the shape, you can select both hills and align them like we did t=
he
grid over the battleground. It is easier to judge how far the inner shape
should be inset when the two shapes are aligned. Now we can edit the colours. To make the hill stand out from the battlegr=
ound,
we want to make the hill the same colour but sl=
ightly
lighter than the surface. We can either eyeball the co=
lour,
or copy the RGBA value from the battleground object and paste it into the
smaller hill shape. Moving L =
slider
to the right will lighten the colour without ch=
anging
hue or saturation. To copy and paste use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-C for c=
opy
and Ctrl-V for paste.
For the larger hill sha=
pe, create
a gradient to give the illusion of light hitting the slope. Click on the Cr=
eate
Gradient tool in the Toolbox and select the larger hill. Click and drag to start the gradien=
t. It
won’t look like much right away. Still using the Create Gradient tool,
select one of the stops of the gradient and edit its c=
olour.
Use the same colour
as the battleground, but make one stop lighter than the hill, the other stop
darker than the battleground. The stops of the gradient are like nodes on a
shape. They have a colour value which the compu=
ter
automatically blends together to create the gradient.
The final step is to gr=
oup
the smaller and larger hills together so they don’t move in relation =
to
each other. After grouping you can use the Select tool to move, scale, rota=
te
or skew the shape as needed. For example, if the shape is too small, select=
the
shape and click on one of the doublearrows in t=
he
corner. Drag this handle while holding Ctrl to scale the object evenly. Cli=
ck
in the center to change the handles from scale to rotate. Use the handles t=
o rotate
the object. If you want a two-tiered hill, follow the same steps but make t=
he
second tier smaller and slightly lighter in colour.
Group the two hills to keep them together.
Making a forest
Making the forest start=
s in
much the same way as making the hill, except we’re not creating an in=
set,
just the outline of the forest. Make a dark, forest-green fill, then size a=
nd place
the forest where you want. To create trees we’ll use a new tool, the
Star/Polygon tool. Click and drag to draw a star. Don’t worry too much about th=
e size
or number of points. These ca=
n be
edited just like everything else. Use the Tool Control Bar to change the nu=
mber
of corners to five or six. Th=
ere
are a couple of handles within the star, one on the inner corners and one on
the outer corners. Clicking and dragging these will change the shape of the
star. For now, drag the inner handle out until the rays of the star are sma=
ll
and stubby. Hold Shift and drag the handles to make the star rounded. Final=
ly,
hold Alt and drag the handles to make the star randomized.
We want to create an
irregular tree canopy shape. Use the Create Gradient tool to create a radial
gradient within the star, light in the middle, darker on the outside, but w=
ith the
darkest parts lighter than the forest floor we created earlier. This is our tree. To make the tree =
more
interesting, we can copy the tree several times, scale the copied trees down
and arrange them inside the tree to make it look bushy. Use the rotate feature or play with=
the randomness
of the star to make them all different. Group them all together so they can=
be
moved as one. Now, duplicate that tree two or three times and make each one
slightly larger or smaller. Make copies of those trees to fill the area def=
ined
by the forest. This effect can be enhanced by varying the shades of the
components that make up the trees and varying the shades of the trees
themselves. Group the whole f=
orest
together. If you have difficulty selecting
objects because a larger object below it keeps getting moved, hold Shift while dra=
gging
to tell Inkscape that you’re making a
selection, not moving an object.
The road
To make a road use the =
Bezier
tool again and draw a selection of paths or lines forming the borders of the
road. In order to create the
illusion of the road fading off into the grass we will not close the object.
This will allow us to have the stroke broken where the road fades away. Draw
the borders of the road as individual objects. Select all the paths making =
up
the road and group them. Make a copy of the group, click the Edit Nodes tool
and click Path/Combine to make all the paths in the group part of one objec=
t. Make the fill =
colour
a nice brown road colour. Unfortunately, it’s filling the wrong secti=
ons
of the road because the object is not closed. Find the open points of the
object and close them by selecting the two end n=
odes
and clicking Join Selected Endpoints with Segment. Once the object is close=
d,
the fill will jump to the inside. Combine the first road we created, but
don’t add a fill. Center the two roads over each other with the unfil=
led
road on t=
op.
You may have to adjust the position of the roads as they may not be perfect=
ly
centered. Using Edit Object’s Style, remove the stroke for the filled
road. You can also make a gra=
dient
for where the road fades out.
Cleaning up
The final step is to cl=
ean up
the map, to make sure no objects reach outside the border of the table and =
add
some final details. First, let’s clip off any objects overlapping the=
border
of the table. Copy the battleground and remove the fill. Align the new bord=
er
over the battlefield. Select any item that is overlapping the border, then =
the
border itself, and click Object/Clip/Set. This should clip the outside of t=
he
objects, leaving a nice, neat map. You may want to pull the gridlines forwa=
rd.
Select the grid and use Raise Selection to Top to put it above everything e=
lse.
Now’s a good time to play with the opacity and st=
yle of
the grid and adjust it so that it’s visible but not disruptive. A dotted,
slightly translucent grid is nice. Finally, a compass rose of previous crea=
tion
can be added.
One now has the basis f=
or a
map that can be used for a scenario or battle report. One can grab the hill=
and
save it as a separate SVG file, then import it into another map. In this wa=
y one
can create an object for every piece of terrain in order to quickly throw a
scenario or battle report map together.
Saving the map
Once the map is finishe=
d it
should be saved as a SVG file. This is the file Inksca=
pe
uses and will keep the map exactly as you left it. Not all applications can
read SVG files, so it may be necessary to make a copy in a JPG or PNG forma=
t.
Use the Save As or Export function to create the copy. Now the image can be
uploaded to a website or sent in an email, and anyone with a web browser
installed on their computer will be able to view it.
Conclusion
Map-making with Inkscape allows the easy creation of campaign maps,
scenario maps, maps for hidden deployment and movement, and for battle repo=
rts.
The simplicity and price of t=
he
program leaves more time and money for the Kriegsspiel=
er
to plan and write scenarios, since that, and not map-making, should be the
focus of the hobby. Hopefully you will end up with some great maps that will
enhance your experience without taking away too much of your time. The skil=
ls
learnt making maps could also be applied to the art of designing waterslide
transfers and flags. The scalability of vector images makes them very power=
ful.
Adding a free tool like GIMP (www.gimp.org) that can handle rasters will allow even more complex maps.