How to do rivers, caves, etc... for maps & games

[markem]

Using Visio 2003:

Hello! For years now I have been trying to get a variable width line only to be disappointed every single time. I've tried VBScript and all sorts of other things but nothing worked.  Well, I finally figure out how to do this easily in Visio and thought I'd pass it along. :-)

Ok. bring up Visio. Then go to View->Drawing Explorer Window (so you see the Drawing Explorer Window). Right-Click on "Line Pattern". Select "New Pattern". Give it a title. Save it. Then left-double-click on the new line pattern. This will put you in the "Edit the Pattern" window.

Here is the secret - lines that are going to be continuous MUST be created going from left to right and MUST go all the way from the left side of the pattern page to the right side. If your pattern doesn't go all the way across then you will have a gap in the pattern. So that is rule #1.

Let's say we want to draw a cave. We want the cave to be kind-of the same but kind of different for each segment of the cave. So what we do is - you have to find the CENTER vertical line. Everything rotates around this area in a line of this type. Once you have found the center vertical line you move up about an inch and, using the drawing pen make a wavy, kind of jagged line from one side of the page to the other. Then go about an inch down from the center line and do the same thing from the left side to the right. Be sure to go all the way to the edge. If you go farther than the edge that is ok - you can adjust it later.

Once you have done that do a select all, convert everything to line geometry. (Right-click on one of the lines and find the 'Convert to Line Geometry' option.) Now that the lines have been converted you can grow/shrink them as needed so they go all the way to the edge of the page.

At this point you are already ready to make a tunnel. So now you close (via the 'X' in the upper right corner) the pattern page. Visio will ask you if you want to save your changes - say 'YES'.

Go to your worksheet (or maybe I should say layout sheet) and draw a line. You can make a straight line, an arc, a curvy line, or you can even use the drawing pen again and convert that line to a regular geometric line. Once you have your line you need to go to FORMAT->LINE. Select the pattern you just made, and hit Apply. And nothing happens does it? That's because I wanted to go "This guy is nuts! He doesn't know what he is talking about!"

Actually though, the problem is - the line is too thin. Go back to the FORMAT->LINE go to the line weight pull down and go down to 'Custom...' In order to see the line you have created you have to set the line weight to be something like '1.0'. (You can play around with this later.) Notice in the little window at the bottom it shows a bunch of disjoint line segments. Ignore it. You can apply the changes and see that the line is one continuous segment. You now have the capability to make continuous sections of a tunnel (or cave tunnel).

Depending upon which of the edge modifiers you select - the line will actually change and you can easily create different looks to everything.

'But I want color! Not some sleasy black and white thing!' you say? Well, that is easy. Or at least it is easy in Visio 2003 so I am sure it has to be just as easy in the later versions. What you do is to go back to the line pattern and you do the following:

1. First, make a square that is big enough to ocver both the top line and the bottom line.
2. Send the square to the back.
3. Now, hold down the shift key and select the two lines.
4. Now go to SHAPE->OPERATIONS->FRAGMENT.
5. This will cut the square/rectangle up into three parts. These are: 1)The area above the tunnel, 2)The tunnel, and 3)The area below the tunnel.
6. Delete sections #1 and #3 and now you have a tunnel you can color.

'But I want Stalagtites and Stalagmites!" you scream?  Easy, just use the drawing pen and draw some on top of the colored tunnel. Next, select everything and do the 'Convert to Line Geometry' again. Poof! Now you have a tunnel with Stalagmites and Stalagtites.  Want a gap to show up? Easy! Just draw it and add it to the drawing. You will probably have to go back and re-fragment everything. (which unfortunately also means you lose the coloring you did to the tunnel - but you can always put it back again.)

So now you are going "But the lines a HUGE and chunky!" Well, that's because you didn't set the line width on the line pattern page. Just go back and set the lines to however large you want them (or just tell it there are no lines which gives a nicer, smoother shape.

So how does it work for making rivers? Exactly the same way. What if you want to put a riverbank alongside the river? That is easy too! All you do is to copy/paste the top line and then move it around a bit until you have an area that you like. Do the same for the bottom line. Make the rectangle that covers everything, fragment everything, and then use the gradient ability to refine how the river bank looks.

But there's MORE! (There is always more. :-) ) The neat thing about this is - you can apply the line pattern to anything that has a line. So draw a square and apply the line pattern to it. Now you have a square tunnel or river. But wait - NOW the corners are broken.  This is where you change the edges to be curved for the square - not the line pattern. Once you do that - the tunnel will go around the square. The only problem with this is - Visio does a really funky job of filling in the square/rectangle you drew. This is because Visio conforms to what it thinks the square looks like and not the line pattern.  In this case, just draw another rectangle behind the first one and then it will fill up the inside of the square properly (or at least looks like it does).

Well - that's it! I finally can create semi-random rivers in two different ways: First, I can simply adjust the width of the river as needed, or Second, I can make multiple line patterns that are slightly larger or smaller and use them.

Later everyone!

[Yacine]

  cool

[Paul Herber]

I am in a maze of twisty passages, all different.

[Hey Ken]

Markem:
   Excellent stuff.  My gastrointestinal doctor would love it!

Paul:
   Great throwback!  (As in, "Throw bird at snake".)

   - Ken

[Paul Herber]

Paul:
   Great throwback!  (As in, "Throw bird at snake".)

   - Ken

Plugh

[Hey Ken]

Paul:

   LOL!  So does this thread now continue in another part of the forum??

   We're either: A) Showing our age; or B) Confusing everyone.  Likely both.

   For the confused, here's an explanation.  I first saw it running on a TI 9900—the first 16-bit microprocessor—way back in 1978. Time sure flies when you're having fun.

   - Ken