In Joel T’s video he shows how using the ctr key with the arrows resizes the hex grid. The text in the editor window also states that will happen. However, when I try to resize the grid using those keys, it only moves, doesn’t resize. Are there a new set of commands to do that? I’m using a windows PC if that matters.
Also, can I make a circular zone, or a rectangle with rounded corners?
Thanks,
Chris
The “grid” the players see is usually whatever is printed on you map. 90% of the modules I have seen vassal has the grid visual turned off. The goal of the grid is mostly to get the counters to snap to the center of the space, regardless of shape. You could even use multiple Zones each with their own Grids.
Now if you want vassal to number multiple “grids” to simulate one larger grid it gets much trickier.
Thanks, I’m not planning to leave the grid on, just using it to get the counters to snap to the middle. It seems odd that if I know the exact size of the pixels on the map itself that when I set that size on the edit grid page it doesn’t line up correctly. I’m a bit confused.
I figured out I can use a square or rectangular grid for round map spaces and that works just fine for my purposes.
Chris
The grid is resizing; you have to keep in mind that it’s anchored at the top left corner (IIRC) of the map window, so if you’re viewing the grid in any other location, you’ll be seeing the effect of the size change shifting all the other hexes to fit.
See the below images:
Edit grid editor window
Define grid shape editor window
Define grid shape with 3 points
The top image shows the grid editor window. Note that I made the grid (temporarily) visible with a clear colour (red) to make it stand-out. Also note the button Set Grid Shape, which the mouse hovers over. The middle picture shows the dialog that pops up if you press that button.
By clicking 3 adjacent points on the board image, you can define the exact shape of the grid. This is shown in the bottom picture.
Note that the width and height numbers set for the hexes is somewhat oddly calculated. See the picture below.
The dimensions w and h are set the same way whether the hexes are placed edge or vertex up. Note that w is the horizontal offset between hexes in neighboring columns, while h is the horizontal distance within the same column.
Note, for ϑ=60° cosϑ=½ and sinϑ=√3/2≈0.866
When you say “resize the grid using those keys” are you sure you hold down Ctrl while pressing ←, →, ↑, or ↓? Also check that you haven’t mapped your Ctrl (left or right) to some other key-code.
That is correctly remembered - except its really relative to the image - not the window (minor detail, but sometimes important). Also note, that an offset of (0,0) means that the first hex is centred in the top-left corner - i.e., only a quarter of the hex will be visible. To make the hex fully visible you need offset=(2*w/3,h/2) if edge-up and offset=(h/2,2*w/3) if vertex-up.
Zones are always defined as (possibly irregular) polygons. See the image below - specifically the coordinates of the polygon vertices in the bottom-left.
That means, if you want to make a circular zone you need to build it up through small line segments (not too small, as it will then mean an excessive number calculations needs to be done).
If you want a “circular” zone, and know the centre of the zone - say cx,cy, the radius r, and the number of segments you want, you can calculate the vertices with (Python code)
from numpy import pi, cos, sin, linspace
n = 10
cx = 100
cy = 100
r = 50
a = linspace(0,2*pi,n+1,endpoint=True)
ca = r * cos(a)
sa = r * sin(a)
print([' '.join([f'{x+cx},{y+cy}' for x,y in zip(ca,sa)])
You can then copy’n’paste that output into the dialog you get from pressing Set coordinates directly in the zone editor window. If you want a rectangle with rounded corners, centered at cx,cy, of width w, height h, and rounding radius r, and n segments per rounded corner, then
from numpy import pi, cos, sin, linspace
n = 10
cx = 100
cy = 100
r = 3
w = 50
h = 30
a = linspace(0,pi/2,n+1,endpoint=True)
ca = r * cos(a)
sa = r * sin(a)
print(' '.join([f'{ x+w/2-r+cx},{ y+h/2-r+cy}' for x,y in zip(ca,sa)]+
[f'{-y-w/2+r+cx},{ x+h/2-r+cy}' for x,y in zip(ca,sa)]+
[f'{-x-w/2+r+cx},{-y-h/2+r+cy}' for x,y in zip(ca,sa)]+
[f'{ y+w/2-r+cx},{-x-h/2+r+cy}' for x,y in zip(ca,sa)]+
[f'{ca[0]+w/2-r+cx},{sa[0]+h/2-r+cy}']))
Finally, please remember to flag the answer that best helped you (as detailed in How to report problems) and possibly leave a 
on those posts that helped you. This will help other users with the same or similar problem more easily identify useful answers. This also goes for Adding Layers Trait in a Prototype then adding selected image to layers for each unit and Absolutely beginner wondering about software options for image editing with iPad
Yours,
Christian
Again, thank you for taking so much time to reply in so much detail. I’m not sure I’ve got the ability to comprehend all of what you’ve said here, but it is helpful and, again, I appreciate the thoughtfulness and time that went into this answer.
Thank you, I’ll double check but I believe the grid itself was not resizing. It may be as said below a problem with key mapping, but all other ctrl related functions seem to work. I’ll try on my home PC.