Lux Map Editor in version 4.4

Lux maps won't make themselves.
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mbauer
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Lux Map Editor in version 4.4

Post by mbauer » Wed Dec 01, 2004 8:42 pm

First of all let me say I'm really glad you(Dustin) are making a map editor because MapSpinner does NOT rock like Lincoln or Figs or Ducks. I think that if you get this feature perfected it would definately be grounds for an increase in the price of lux and possibly could even be sold as a seperate "plugin" or companion software.

1.) As it exists now I can't seem to find a way to assign countries to continents. In other words there can only be one big continent if you start from scratch. Am I missing something and this is another one of my jumping to conclusions and asking a dumb question? :lol: Or have you not added that yet?

2.) I think that rather than a drop down menu for "editing mode" there should be a seperate tool bar window with the different options. A tool bar is much easier to use in a program such as this.

3.) I would like to see standard polygon shapes like square, circle, Hex :wink: , etc. under the draw shapes tool (or in a sperate toolbar window *see number 2 above) because those shapes, especially a circle are pretty difficult to get perfect freehand with the mouse.

4.) In very complicated maps with lots of continents the "move continent labels" can be a very excruciating process. Sometimes it takes several clicks in order to "grab" the correct label. I think that maybe when the "move continent label" tool is active a drop down should appear in the bottom with all of the continents available. The user can then select the continent that needs to be moved and that label becomes active and isolated in the screen so that it can be moved easily (does that make sense)

5.) The "Connect countries" tool is another godsend that makes life alot easier on us map makers. However, there needs to be at least one more option to it and that is "one way connections" for maps like Scaluxtric.

6.) The "Set continent Names and Data" tool is kinda wierd as to how it works. I think that it should simply work where you select the desired continent from a drop down menu and the info on the continent appears on the bottom where it can be changed. Rather than the whole "next" thing.

7.) It would be nice if the program could somehow show the thickness of the borders as you draw them with the "Draw Shapes" tool so that one could better line up the borders without having to preview and edit so much. I know the thickness level varies from user to user but it could show the thickness of what the map builder has it set to.

That is all for now, I'm sure I'll think of more later.

Again, I think it is a great addition to Lux

Thanks and Great Work!,
mbauer

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Post by ThirdParty » Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:34 pm

Hi! I've abandoned the javascript tool I made for "Mediterranean Lux" (it was roughly equivalent to the "place shapes" tool, although it was able to handle continents and lines too) in favor of the 4.4 editor, which I'm using for my current map (which is currently in testing, will be released soon). I have a few additions to mbauer's list:
  • It occasionally loses data. (This is really, really annoying, especially since I'm dealing with a geography that's not at all familiar to me and so it takes me twenty minutes of research to recover a name if it gets misplaced. I've been making backups regularly, but country names are still changing daily as I learn more.) In particular, if I edit a country or continent name but then change the editing mode before clicking "next", the name (and value etc. for continents) is blanked out. Editing a country's shape can sometimes also lose the name, I think, but I haven't sorted out the pattern for that, so I'm not sure. A way to display the names of all countries at once would also be helpful, since I don't always notice when a name that had been entered days ago gets deleted.
  • Changes in continent colors are not saved unless the continents already had color tags.
  • When I go to set the theme in the map info, it gives me no choice other than "none".
  • Edit shapes needs a way to add extra points, not just to move them around.
  • Need a way to draw lines.
  • "Set Continent Names and Data" needs to go to a continent if I click on that continent. Instead it somehow resets the selection so that I have to click "next" just to get to continent 0.
  • It would be helpful to have an "are you sure?" dialog box when closing the map editor without having saved the map.
  • Sometimes when switching to "set continent names and data" it leaves the previous entry area and appends the continent name/value/color entry area to the bottom of the window instead.
  • It should not be possible to connect a country to itself.
  • Editing of shapes should be done on a country-by-country basis. There is almost always more than one point at a given location (since the border of one country tends also to be the border of the country on the other side of the border), and it never guesses right about which one I want.
--Evan Williams

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dustin
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Post by dustin » Mon Dec 06, 2004 7:37 pm

Cool, thanks for all your notes. Finishing up the Map Editor is what I am working on currently, so I will try and address all of them.

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