Using Pixelmator for Role Playing Games online

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2022-02-14 12:31:17

Hello,

I have contacted support but in the meantime, the advice is to come here for help.

I have maps for an online roleplaying game, D&D to be precise on a platform called Foundry VTT.

Before I buy I would like to know if there is a facility to be able to apply a layer over the map, just a black layer and then be able to reveal parts of the map week by week, but have this as a live document that I can reveal even after saving the picture.

At the moment I have to use preview to crop out parts of the map from a copy of the original each time I need to reveal some more of the map. Which is an industry in itself.

Thank you
Garry
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2022-02-14 14:40:05

Hey there Garry! In Pixelmator Pro, you can do both — use layer masks to hide or reveal specific parts of layers, and save your projects in an editable format — PXD — for future use. However, you won't be able to share these files with someone who doesn't own Pixelmator Pro, unless you export them to a regular image format, like JPEG or PNG.
If you haven't already, I'd suggest taking Pixelmator Pro for a spin and see if it works for your purpose. There's a free trial you can download right here. And if you have any questions, feel free to let us know either here or via email. We'll do our best to help! :)
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2022-02-14 14:44:26

Hello,

Thank you, I have downloaded the free trial and have been playing about for a few minutes and not really getting my head round it, what you have said above is ideal, I want to save an editable version but then make a JPEG or PNG and upload that to the Virtual TableTop each week.

I think I may need to watch the video on layer masks a few more times, I have zero experience in these kinds of apps.

Thank you for replying. I am sure I will get my head round this within the 15 day trial.

Garry
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2022-02-15 12:53:28

If I understand what you're going for correctly, the following steps should work for you:

1. Open your map image in Pixelmator Pro
2. Choose Insert > Layer (or Shift+Command+N) to create a new empty layer
3. Choose the Color Fill tool (N) and fill the added layer with black
4. Control-click the black layer and, in the contextual menu, choose Add Mask
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5. To temporarily see the map layer underneath, reduce the opacity of the black layer to ~50%
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6. Then, paint the mask with black to reveal parts of the map or with white to hide them. You can either paint manually using a brush (B) or use selection tools, such as the Quick Selection tool to select objects in a map, then fill these selections with the Color Fill tool.
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At this stage, the objects that will show in the final image should be lighter than the rest of the image. The good thing about layer masks is that they are nondestructive, which means you can paint on them as many times as you want, to reveal objects that have been previously hidden or vice versa.
7. After you're done working with the mask, you can bring back the black layer opacity to 100% to have a solid color background again.
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Once you're done with the image, choose File > Save, to save your project file somewhere on your Mac for your future editing sessions, then choose File > Export, to export the image with the currently revealed objects to JPEG or PNG.

Hope that helps!
User avatar

2022-02-15 19:47:19

WOW!

That is exactly what I want/need, thank you so much for going to the effort for this demo.

You have got a sale! The opacity part was really baffling me, I was wondering how I can know what parts to reveal if I couldn't see the map somehow.

Thank you so much :smile:
User avatar

2022-02-16 13:49:19

Hello there,

I have opened Pixelmator and as usual it asked if I wanted to carry on with the free trial or buy, I chose buy and it opened my App Store in my Mac, clicked to buy and it is just going round in circles.

TAKE MY MONEY PLEASE!!

Please help? I am worried if I click off and buy another way, it will charge me twice.

Thank you

Garry
User avatar

2022-02-17 14:28:45

by Garry Miller Hello there,

I have opened Pixelmator and as usual it asked if I wanted to carry on with the free trial or buy, I chose buy and it opened my App Store in my Mac, clicked to buy and it is just going round in circles.

TAKE MY MONEY PLEASE!!

Please help? I am worried if I click off and buy another way, it will charge me twice.

Thank you

Garry
If you've bought the App Store version, you might have to remove the free trial from your Mac just so they don't get in each other's way. Feel free to try that and let us know if that helps!
User avatar

2022-02-17 17:06:01

It’s ok I contacted Apple direct and a very helpful person talked me through what I needed to do and it is all sorted and I have the Pro version now.

Thank you for all your help.
User avatar

2022-02-21 13:32:23

by Garry Miller 2022-02-15 17:47:19 WOW!

That is exactly what I want/need, thank you so much for going to the effort for this demo.

You have got a sale! The opacity part was really baffling me, I was wondering how I can know what parts to reveal if I couldn't see the map somehow.

Thank you so much :smile:
Sorry, I've been away last week but I'm glad to hear the steps worked for you and that you got the trial situation sorted out. Hope you'll have fun with the game and Pixelmator Pro! :)