PDF Deck Plan Print Out

[rzg6f]

Hello,

I was curious if anyone had a solution for me. I have old deck plans (CT, FASA) as well as newer MGT on PDF. I am also using old "counters" (from FASA, Snapshot, etc) as miniatures are a bit pricey for me at the moment.

Can anyone explain to me how to print out the deck plan PDFs scaled to 15mm like the old CT standard?

Thank you for your assistance

 

[BytePro]

You need to scale the printouts - which means you probably need poster printing (i.e. multiple tiled sheets) ability.

If you are on Windows, I'd highly recommend PDFXchange viewer (Adobe removed this feature from the free reader some versions back).
It is free and there is a portable zip version (avoids any issues with other software or Adobe requirements on your computer) at http://www.tracker-software.com/product/downloads.

As to the scale - that will depend on the deckplan. When printing, most PDF viewers allow scale by %. You could printout and eyeball the difference (i.e. if the printout is about half size, set the scale to 200%), and experiment. Or numerically determine the %. Ex:

1. printout (at 100% or whatever you think is close)
2. P = measure a side of a deckplan square on printout
3. D = determine how long a side needs to be (for your counter/units)
4. Calculate the percentage (your computer has a calculator) using D/P
   - note: Percentage is 100 times 1 plus D/P, i.e. (1+D/P)*100

This requires a ruler (millimeter or a precision english) and some simple math.

As to what size the square should be (the D above) that is dependent on the scale of the deckplan (usually 1 square = 1.5 meters for the ones you mentioned) and the scale of the counters. You should just be able to measure your counter assuming 1 counter = 1 square.

 

[rzg6f]

Thank you soooo much

I have Mac OSX and a HP color laser printer. I will look for an OSX version of PDFXchange viewer, thanks for the tip and thanks for the scaling formula.

 

[Hemdian]

As to what size the square should be (the D above) that is dependent on the scale of the deckplan (usually 1 square = 1.5 meters for the ones you mentioned) and the scale of the counters. You should just be able to measure your counter assuming 1 counter = 1 square.

FYI: US designed deckplans using the so called "15mm scale" (like the AHL) actually had a 0.5inch square grid. And "25mm scale" used in TNE had a 1inch grid. o:

This caught out Games Workshop (UK company, not GDW) who at one time published 15mm grid paper for use with Traveller ... but if you try and match it to the AHL or other deckplans of the time the squares don't line up.

 

[BytePro]

I have Mac OSX and a HP color laser printer. I will look for an OSX version of PDFXchange viewer, thanks for the tip and thanks for the scaling formula.

Doh - same as me when visiting COTI! o:

Scaling is no problem - you might check out Adobe Reader about tiling - I don't load it on mine. I rarely ever print anymore, to be honest, my huge, $1600 HP color laserjet just sits collecting dust (heck, I've got 5 reams of glossy paper sitting here as well). My nickname used to be 'tree killer'.

Inexpensive large screens laid flat (careful of cooling though - I'd build a wooden frame with holes and a small DC fan - monitors are usually designed to dissipate heat from top edge and back!) with a plexi/glass cover might make an awesome 'deckplan board'. Or an iPad or other tablet, though they seem a bit small for the purpose.

Macs support Postscript and PDFs in the OS (built in distiller - which I love for PS to PDF for my hand coded prints), so there should be some good stuff out there (probably some command line stuff already...). Ghostscript would work - but it wouldn't be my first choice.

In the old days, I would just preload a persistent header (into LaserWriter), that would let me print at any scale/tiled pages. Don Lancaster probably has something to this effect. Should work on the HP, but, again its very 'manual' (you'd edit text files and 'print' to printer before a printout).

 

[rzg6f]

That's an idea I've been considering

Inexpensive large screens laid flat (careful of cooling though - I'd build a wooden frame with holes and a small DC fan - monitors are usually designed to dissipate heat from top edge and back!) with a plexi/glass cover might make an awesome 'deckplan board'. Or an iPad or other tablet, though they seem a bit small for the purpose.

for awhile now, and here is a very inexpensive one, and the directions how to do it
http://kingworkscreative.blogspot.com/search/label/Digital Game Table

 

[BytePro]

Hehe - I have a projector that I've used a WII remote and homemade control glove with 4 IR leds on the fingertips wired to lithium batteries and a custom program (Windows - C#), though not for RP gaming.

My projector is way too bright for the short throw of a tabletop and hot spots badly on anything I tried (best was frosted glass lot like what they used), not to mention its noisy to cool. At ~$300 per bulb, it's really not inexpensive

The problem with a tabletop is its not very portable (plus power cabling is intrusive) and setting things on top can be risky/interfering. A tablet (ala the iPad) is easy to transport, get out of the way, hide (from view) - just needs the right programs... I haven't done it yet.

However, I'm more for using a large screen and the Wii controller or, better yet, the Kinect (from XBox - haven't tried yet) and a full 3D deckplan walkthru.

BTW: found a free Mac program (console) for PDF tiled printing at http://pdfposter.origo.ethz.ch/.

 

[aramis]

BTW: found a free Mac program (console) for PDF tiled printing at http://pdfposter.origo.ethz.ch/.

Thanks!

 

[rzg6f]

Thanks a lot, BytePro

BTW: found a free Mac program (console) for PDF tiled printing at http://pdfposter.origo.ethz.ch/.

I appreciate that

 

[BytePro]

No problem!

Being 'new' to the Mac world - always on the lookout for useful free apps comparable to those I'm used to from the Windows world...

Other PDF related apps for Mac:
- Briss (cropping): http://briss.sourceforge.net/
- PDFLab (non-Snow Leopard - haven't tried): http://www.iconus.ch/fabien/products/pleng/pleng.html
- PDFView (haven't tried): http://pdfview.sourceforge.net/

The programs I miss the most regularly are Irfanview and Paint.NET. Gimp should replace the later... but Irfanview has so many awesome features (and is so stable) that I think it will be hard to match.