Drawing with a grid and then removing the grid

[Darksamusz]

Exactly what the topic title says. My goal is to draw a custom map with pinpoint accuracy compared to what I envision it as. So, I want to use a grid that I can fill in the individual sections of to help me create this image, and then remove the grid afterwards when I finish, or at least make it completely invisible.

Is there anyway to accomplish that?

[pdnnoob]

Add a new layer (ctrl+shift+n) and use the gridlines plugin to make your grid there, then select the original layer and draw there. If the gridlines are getting in the way, edit the opacity in the layer properties (double-click on the grid layer)

[Darksamusz]

I added another layer and continued my drawing on the original, but when I use a filling tool (the paint bucket), all it does is fill the entire layer with color, rather than an individual hexagon (hexagonal grid). Changing a few settings around failed too. I also tried making a grid on the original layer and drawing on the new one, which turned out the same.

[delpart]

Hex grid is most frustrating to do something like this with ... those off angles never work out right to merge the gaps using something like Median. So my first question is, how do you feel about little white dots or possibly switching to a standard grid? Probably not, so I beat myself up a little trying to figure out if median will work. There may be some other way, but I dont know of it.

Maybe someone else has a better idea but here's what I was thinking:

You can basically draw a 2 pixel width grid with standard squares in black. Fill in your areas. Then use white (or whatever color you want your background as long as it doesn't match anything in the grid more or less) to erase the grid to wipe it clear.

Then use median on 1, percentile 0 to fill in the gaps of the squares more or less ... It can be more but you start to get overlap then.

Example of what that can wind up looking like:

But this is squares and you said hex ...

The same thing can more or less be done with hex grid. Draw black, the wipe it with white then median to fill the gaps. Only problem is the lines drawn, even with AA have flaws and are never really the same two passes in a row. The AA looks solid, but zoom in and you'll see how random the grey fill dots are. What you tend to see trying to keep the hex shape when using median is a few 1 pixel or half pixel shading points in between.

Though if you work at say 4 times larger than needed and reduce the final to 25% of that, it will get rid of most of them. Especially with a slight Gaussian blur set really low. Though this causes some distortion and may or may not accent a white dot or such ...

No setting recommendations on the hexgrid other than small as possible while getting the paint bucket to still work without bleeding into the next hex over. At 1 with no AA this will happen. At 2 with AA on you usually wont see it happen, but you get more artifacts. At 2 without AA you most likely wont have a problem, but the artifacts look bigger than they are ... Removing the background and then using other blurring or clean-up may work like AA assistant, but I dont have enough patience tonight to keep trying different levels here to see how far you could take the clean-up.

Problem again is the over-write of the black lines. More than likely you will have to use a 4 pixel width grid to write over the top of even a non AA 2 width grid. Hence the gap issues.

Example of the dots you may see and other issues with using the median approach to wipe the grid --

Base w/ 2pixel AA grid and some color spots. Black on white:

Grid removed using 4 pixel white hexgrid:

Median at 2,0:

Median then reduced 50%:

Median then reduced 25%:

Okay, hope that helps some. And welcome to the forum.

Edited March 8, 2012 by delpart

[Darksamusz]

I know this is a horribly late response, but thank you for helping out a newcomer like me so much! I have only recently started working with this program and never would have been able to figure certain tools out like Median without your post. This is definitely exactly what I needed - my world map is pretty large, so the hexagonal grid is really small, and after applying Median there is no way to see distance between the colors.

Your help is definitely appreciated.

[delpart]

I know this is a horribly late response, but thank you for helping out a newcomer like me so much! I have only recently started working with this program and never would have been able to figure certain tools out like Median without your post. This is definitely exactly what I needed - my world map is pretty large, so the hexagonal grid is really small, and after applying Median there is no way to see distance between the colors.

Your help is definitely appreciated.

You're most welcome and thank you for posting the question.

I'm still trying to learn and digging into some of these questions has been as much help as tutorials in refining my own use of PDN. So it's really a win-win.