Map previews - how to generate?

[jonbaer]

Hi,

I am curious to know how these map previews are rendered / generated.  Is there a special camera setup or are these done completely manual by hand?  Atlas? For example could someone generate one of these from a random generated map somehow?  Thanks.

- I was thinking Atlas but you can't seem to set the # of players to 0 to capture the entire map w/o territory like the attached.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Manual, with zoom out in Atlas.

Edited October 16, 2016 by wowgetoffyourcellphone

[fcxSanya]

@jonbaer I recently was making a preview for my own test map and wondered whether there are any tools/guides to assist, wasn't able to recall/find anything except http://trac.wildfiregames.com/ticket/1745 , end up making one manually in Atlas and adjusting it with Gimp.

[jonbaer]

Interesting, thanks.  I found an earlier thread of mine in regards to dumping video replays and I have an idea of how this could be done (possibly) programmatically by placing the camera (via command line argument), grabbing the frame, and exiting.  

I am realizing now after looking at https://wildfiregames.com/forum/uploads/monthly_2016_03/golden_island.jpg.c2d49d25456c383d3f990527ef838c5d.jpg that the territories are in fact there since you can see the civic centers.  It would be nice to see a Maps page on play0ad.com at some point since there are so many now.  If I get anywhere with the automation of it I will post back.

[FeXoR]

It would be nice to have better camera controll in Atlas e.g. setting the camera for a full map view straight down.

That also could be done for a default map preview. That could also include generating a screenshot and exporting it in a format usable as mappreview.

Would definitely be nice to have.

(I wonder though if that axcess in space in the mappreviews is more a hack than sane ;p

Yes, the vidget size might change but then it'd be preferable to automatically resample/cut a given mappreview to fit that widget...)

[elexis]

• The main reason to have a tool to take those screenshots is not because it's easier to use, but because it could enforce a standard format.
• 400 x 300 px² are used, but the image size must be 512x512 px²
• The preview image should show the entire map (see Red Sea preview image) and use as much of the screenspace as possible (well picked inclination)
• Some maps might look better with size normal, others better with size large. The used pixels of the resulting image should remain identical.

[jonbaer]

I made a little progress ... I was toying around with the Misc Hacks menu + w/ the Reset Camera option + was able to set the camera to center map, rotate 45, zoom out + WriteScreenshot() ... the one thing I can't figure out is how to set g_EnvironmentSettings.fogfactor to 0 (to remove from the screenshot on some maps) ... I think as a hack I would need to do this work + then set that back and then reset the camera again (for example if there was a button that said Generate Preview, etc).

I tried a straight 90 degree down on the camera but I don't think it picks up the height of the map that well.  It would great to figure out not just a standard preview image but also to generate a standard cinematic preview somehow :-\

Edited October 17, 2016 by jonbaer

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

I think 45 degree angle would be good. Also, for fog, I think some previews need the fog if fog in the map is a prominent visual feature (like for a Jungle map or Snowy map or a British map ). So many fog can be reduce by some set percentage that you deem is good.